Scientists from San Antonio make a breakthrough when they discover a new drug which is said to be greatly effective in curing hepatitis C, a disease that damages the liver of the patient. The hepatitis C virus or HCV is spread by blood to blood contact. Most people infected by the disease do not show any sign or symptoms initially, yet once established, chronic infection can damage the liver. It is estimated that around 300 million people worldwide are infected by hepatitis C.

In a test conducted at the South West Foundation for Biomedical Research, 35 chimpanzees from north-west San Antonio was used to fight against the killing disease. As Chimpanzees are the only animals that can be infected by hepatitis C other than humans, they play a key role in this test.

Over the past few years, Robert Lanford, Ph.D. and his team members had been conducted a half a million study. It is called the locked nucleic acids which is a DNA based therapy that does not directly target the virus, but creates blockage for a molecule in liver that is required for the replication of the virus. In this way, the invader is essentially starved. Result from the study show an amazing 350 fold drop in the virus levels after the treatment. It is more surprising that the virus levels continued to decrease even after 3 months of stopping the therapy.

With the use of liver biopsies, a medical test involving the removal of cells or tissues for examination, scientist found that the livers of the chimpanzees were becoming healthier, even when the experimental therapy was taking place. Lanford added that the best part of the therapy is that no anti-viral resistance was created by the drug.

Santaris Pharma A/S, the company from Denmark which produces the drug, is starting to conduct the test on humans. The company claims that, it will take 3 more years before the drug will become available in the market.

In the mean time, the scientists are happy about what can be a new way for targeting other diseases as well. Lanford said that they already expected that the drug will be effective in lowering HCV levels, but they had no idea that the test will be successful to such a great extent. He said that they feel that it will be a very safe medicine that can be consumed for a long term. As per Lanford’s opinion, this is a key breakthrough.

All around the world, 170 million people are suffering from hepatitis C, which serves as one of the main reasons for liver transplantations. Around 4% of adults in America are infected by the disease and this report should give some new hope to them.

More great news to follow as a recent report has revealed that mental illness or problems like schizophrenia and depression could be easily diagnosed by plugging some electrode into the person’s ear and rocking them over a chair. This efficient invention has come from the researchers at the Monash University and they strongly believe that this invention could bring wonders and also revolutionize the treatment and diagnosis of various mental related illness. Brian Lithgow, Biomechanical engineer, Monach University, calls this invention as “electrovestibulography”. Explaining this in common terms, Brain says this method is something similar to an Electrocardiogram, ECG for mind. The new method analyzes the electrical signals in the brain just as ECG which is used to detect heart related problems.

The electrode which is place in the patient’s ear is used to detect the changes in electrical patterns in the balance system of the patient which is normally linked to the naïve parts of one’s brain relating to behavior and emotions. Brain has been working with psychiatrists in running tests and conducting surveys from Monash University’s MAPrc (Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre). He had been doing this to see if he can find out the unique and special electrical signals that are attached to mental illness like bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia.

The university is also developing the new device with some corporate partner in order to get a patent and market the technology. Speaking about this, Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, head of MAPrc, said that the newly invented device could prove to be a finest solution and also a breakthrough in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. She also insisted that the average time to diagnosis a bipolar disorder today takes around 12 years. She also added that in this time span if the problem was not picked up, it could lead to lots of social, relationships and even career damages and suggested a solution that if these disorders are picked up earlier they could be easily treated with the help of mood stabilizers.

Apart from diagnosing the disease, the new device also helps to track the patient’s response to the medication and can help in finding out whether it works in controlling the disorder. Kulkarni also stressed that it is still early days as only few papers are published and smaller number of people are tested with this new technique. She even said that they wont be confident to say this is the effective solution until it is tested among thousands. Speaking further she said it is too early to clearly say that the device could detect the minute signals to diagnose mental illness which would qualify it for a screening. ”We have to be very careful when thinking about using this device as screening for mental illness as still there is some sigma attached to it,” Kulkarni said to the press.

Hard work never fails has been proven again as a recent medical trial has come out with the first positive step in the long race in search for efficient HIV vaccine. The trials conducted over a period of six years by a group of researchers in Thailand are the most promising ones in this field as it prevents people from the dangerous HIV virus – though it is still not a fully usable vaccine.

For decades researchers had been working to find the effective vaccine for HIV, Human Immunodeficiency Virus. A recent study was conducted in Thailand that involved sixteen thousand healthy people, aged 18 to 30. The trials were conducted in main areas that are considered as high HIV risk areas. Some areas to name are provinces of Rayon and Chonburi, the city of Pattaya and more. This region was chosen as the perfect place to execute the trial as this was also the hotspot for migration from and to Cambodia.

The trial started 6 years ago in Oct 2003 and was wrapped up some months ago with positive results. The results were really amazing and provided the glimpse of hope that researchers were looking for all these years. It showed that the risk of getting infected by HIV fell almost 30% for those who were vaccinated than those who were not.

When asked about this Dr. Supachai Rerks-Ngarm, Thailand Ministry, Public Health said that it is still unknown as what attributes to the success of the vaccines but the results are a real breakthrough and sign of relief. He also added that it was the first project across the world where a vaccine is designed not only to be safe but also to reduce the probability of the infection. It really gives the hope that an effective HIV vaccine is possible in the near future.

Don Baxter, Australian Federation of AIDS Organizations, however says that it is rather unlikely that this vaccine will be available to general people in the near future. Don also said that this is the first in the class of HIV vaccine that has shown positive results. He added that 30% is really a low number to risk putting this to the general public as this would in turn reduce the use of condom and may result in more infections.

The $140 million trial was funded by US Army in order to ensure that its troops are protected from the virus as they travel to different parts of the world. Speaking about this, Eric G John, United States Ambassador to Thai, said that this trial will surely brings scientists and researchers close to the solution and will help them find the vaccine for the HIV virus. He added that this is the largest attempt in its class that has been concluded with great results and brought scientists closer to the effective HIV vaccine.

United Nations has also welcomed this result as it offers new ray of hope to almost 40 million HIV patients across the world.