A group of scientists have used human neural stem cells to rebuild damaged spinal cord tissue in mice. This is very promising as it would help to regenerate tissue needed by those with broken backs. The cells themselves helped to rebuild what needed to be there on their own.
Category: Health
Third World First?
There arent that many things you expect to see unvieled in third world countires for their first global appearance. Luckily the Institute for OneWorld Health aims at reversing this trend for life saving drugs. With a business model thats a capitalists nightmare, the institute is a non profit organization that aims at developing drugs and other medicines specifially for third world diseases, at an affordable price. Currently their most promising drug is against visceral leishmaniasis, a disease spread by the bite of an infected sand fly that is associated with fever, weight loss, enlargement of the spleen and liver, and anemia. If left untreated, it is fatal to up to 200,000 people a year. It very encouraging to know serious funds directed towards common diseases that affect large numbers of people of little income are finally being addressed.
Frozen Ovary, or Frovaries
Women with ovarian cancer may soon have a new option, frozen ovaries. An ovary can be frozen and thawed than transplanted, a huge step for any transplanted body part.
The research is still in the testing phase with 6 out of 8 ovaries functioning perfectly after the transplant.
Increase in Aid
The Canadian government pledges $250 million to help fight AIDs and tuberculosis. This aid may not take the form of direct aid, but rather money for the recipient nations accompanied by Canadian experts to help create/ improve/maintain health infrastructure. That way when the money runs out the infrastructure will exist and be owned locally.
Europeans have pledged 4 billion in aid for life-saving vaccines. The scheme that the money is tied to is predicted to save between 5 million children over the next 10 years. The European plan (backed heavily by England) has been criticized because it encourages borrowing of finance, that may take more aid to pay off in the future. Many economists have argued that the numbers don’t mean that more debt is inevitable.
Nanotechnology Used to Kill Cancer Cells
Small nano-sized rods have been used to kill cancer by shining light on them. The rods are placed inside of cancer cells, many rods can fit in one cell. When the nano rods are exposed to near-infrared light they heat up and kill the cancerous cells.
The next step is making the rods target cancerous cells, as opposed to placing the tubes in each individual cell. Don’t worry the researchers are already working on that.