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.

Acne is perhaps the cruelest thing that can happen to teenagers. It attacks their face which is the most visible part of the body at an age when they are the subject of gaze for many around them. That is the reason why many teenagers who suffer from acne also suffer from serious mental stress and depression.

Because of this, an international team of researchers that included scientists from the Harvard Medical School, Boston and University Medical College, Tibet, decided that the relation between acne and depression needs to be further investigated. The intriguing new paper of the team, published recently in the BMC Public Health, an open-access journal, confirms that the acne is directly related to anxiety and depression and also that the mental distress in the teenagers may also contribute to worsen their skin’s condition.

A dermatologist at University of Oslo, Norway, Jon Halvorsen, led the study which was launched by the researchers in the year 2004. This study invited all the 18 and 19 year old teenagers in Oslo. They were asked for answering some questions regarding zits and other things. The participants completed the questionnaires about severity of their acne condition along with how much depression and anxiety they experience. They also record what they normally eat and whether they drink and smoke. Apart from that, the researchers also collected the socio-economic data on the teenagers from the nation’s central information gathering agency.

The results of the study show that the mental stress levels that the teenagers reported were strongly related to how much acne they had according to them, independent of some of the other factors such as lifestyle and diet. About 19% of the teenagers who said that they suffer from symptoms of depression and anxiety also said that they are suffering from acne compare to only 12% with no mental stress. Boys with anxiety and depression were 68% more apt to report acne than their peers who had no such symptoms. Girls who have mental stress were twice as apt as those who did not have acne.

For the first time, a linear relationship has been found between pimples and mood. It is possible that the relationship simply means that the teenagers who have feelings of depression are more apt to report that they are suffering from bad acne, even if they are not. But some previous studies have shown that dermatologists also agree with the self-reports of the teenagers’ acne condition. Some anxious and depressed teenagers in the study of Norway may have exaggerated their condition of acne, but it is not likely that most of them did.

There is a theory which suggests that people who have mental distress tend to eat more junk food. One of the teen lore mentions that if a person over-indulges in potato chips and chocolate, pimples will be exacerbated. According to the study, this is only a myth although they have supported the notion that diet also plays a key role. The study also found that the girls who ate few vegetables tend to have worse acne than those who eat lots of green vegetables. But as far as the boys are concerned, diet is entirely an irrelevant factor.

The authors of the study have offered a few hypotheses. For example, mental stress may lead to stimulation in the growth of the nerve fibers that are present near the sebaceous glands. This contributes to an increase in the production of sebum, the fatty substance which combines with the cell debris and the dead skin cells to from pustules and black heads. This is an unproven theory but previous research upon the effects of acne drugs suggested that the theory might be true. For example, it is a known fact that anti-depressants are able to improve acne conditions. We are also aware that Accutane (isotretinoin), a drug widely used for treating acne, is also associated with increase in the depression, although no casual links have been established so far.

There are some obvious shortcomings in this new study, especially that it is entirely dependent on self-reports from self-selected group of respondents. More researches have to be done to understand the relation between pimples and mental illness, and also the main cause of bad cases of acne.

Olympic champion rower Pete Reed underwent LASIK surgery by the world’s best provider of laser eye surgery, The Optical Express. Pete Reed is a two time champion in men’s coxless fours. He also won gold medal in 2008 Beijing Olympics. After winning the gold medal in Beijing he returned to his naval duties being a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy. He was the British navy’s ‘Sportsman of the Year’ in 2005.  In 2009 he was appointed Member of the British Empire. The champion looks forward to competing in the 2012 London Olympic Games and is undergoing training.

The surgery was done by Rodney Blumenfield, an experienced ophthalmologist who has done over 22,000 surgeries. He used Wave front and Intralase technologies for the LASIK surgery. Reed was impressed by the results of the surgery. He was enthralled with his new perfect vision from Optical Express. He said it allowed him not only to see better than 20/20 but also to get rid of contact lens and glasses for training and racing. He was greatly satisfied about the quality of care and customer service offered by Optical Express. He applauded the swift procedure straight from booking to verification of clarity of vision, the short recovery time taken and the aftercare provided by Optical Express.

Being an athlete whose excellence depends on his ability of clear vision, Reed wants to encourage others to take laser eye surgery for better eye vision and that there is no risks and is perfectly safe. He also wished he had under it a bit earlier.

The Optical Express Group was founded in 1991. It is now world’s leading health service provider and specialized in optician services. The Optical Express group includes optical stores, refractive laser eye surgery, spectacles, contact lenses, dental clinics, state-of-the-art medical hospitals and cosmetic treatment centers. It employs trained specialists for detection of eye problem, uniquely solving the problem using advanced eye surgery treatments and catering to specific needs of the patient. It performs most advanced eye surgery treatments such as Advanced CustomVue Wavefront and Intralase as well as LASIK. Optical Express optometrists are members of the General Optical Council. Hence patients can be assured that only best quality lenses are supplied through the group. The Optical Express also allows online shopping with local aftercare and advice through Optical Express network of UK stores.