Delayed
clamping of cord can benefit newborn: Study
Melbourne:
A delayed clamping of the umbilical cord after birth can benefit newborn
babies, according to a new study. The study, reviewing 15 international trials
and involving nearly 4,000 women along with their babies, was done by La Trobe
University here.
Lead
author of `Midwifery` at the university, Susan McDonald, said the review found
babies` blood and iron levels were enhanced when the umbilical cord was clamped
later.
The
findings were published today by the Cochrane Collaboration, widely regarded as
the world`s leading independent provider of systematic health reviews.
The review
said that in many high-income countries, it was standard practice to clamp the
umbilical cord connecting mother and baby less than a minute after birth.
"However, clamping the cord too soon may reduce the
amount of blood that passes from mother to baby via the placenta, affecting the
baby`s iron stores," the review said, according to university statement. On
the other hand, it noted that delayed cord clamping, which is carried out more
than a minute after birth, may also slightly increase the risk of jaundice,
which is treated by light therapy.
"The benefits of delayed cord clamping needed to be weighed against this small additional risk of jaundice in newborns," the review said.
McDonald said the review supports the World Health Organization recommendation of cord clamping between one and three minutes after birth. The researchers looked at outcomes for mothers and babies separately, and at haemoglobin concentrations as an indicator of healthy blood and iron levels.
"While clamping the cord later made no difference to the risk of maternal haemorrhaging, blood loss or haemoglobin levels," the review said, adding, "babies were healthier in a number of respects."
"Delayed clamping meant babies had higher haemoglobin levels between one and two days after birth and were less likely to be iron-deficient three to six months after birth," it said.
Their birth weight was also higher with delayed cord clamping, the study said.
19.07.2013
Now,
`intelligent knife` that tells which tissue is cancerous
Washington:
Scientists have created an “intelligent knife," which will tell surgeons
whether the tissue they are operating on is cancerous or not.
In the
first study to test the invention in the operating theatre, the
"iKnife" diagnosed tissue samples from 91 patients with 100 percent
accuracy, instantly providing information that normally takes up to half an
hour to reveal using laboratory tests.
In cancers
involving solid tumours, removal of the cancer in surgery is generally the best
hope for treatment. The surgeon normally takes out the tumour with a margin of
healthy tissue.
However, it is often impossible to tell by sight which tissue is cancerous.
However, it is often impossible to tell by sight which tissue is cancerous.
The iKnife is based on electrosurgery, a technology invented
in the 1920s that is commonly used today. Electrosurgical knives use an
electrical current to rapidly heat tissue, cutting through it while minimising
blood loss. In doing so, they vaporise the tissue, creating smoke that is
normally sucked away by extraction systems.
The inventor of the iKnife, Dr Zoltan Takats of Imperial College London, realised that this smoke would be a rich source of biological information. To create the iKnife, he connected an electrosurgical knife to a mass spectrometer, an analytical instrument used to identify what chemicals are present in a sample.
Different types of cell produce thousands of metabolites in different concentrations, so the profile of chemicals in a biological sample can reveal information about the state of that tissue.
In the new study, the researchers first used the iKnife to analyse tissue samples collected from 302 surgery patients, recording the characteristics of thousands of cancerous and non- cancerous tissues, including brain, lung, breast, stomach, colon and liver tumours to create a reference library. The iKnife works by matching its readings during surgery to the reference library to determine what type of tissue is being cut, giving a result in less than three seconds.
The technology was then transferred to the operating theatre to perform real-time analysis during surgery. In all 91 tests, the tissue type identified by the iKnife matched the post-operative diagnosis based on traditional methods.
The findings have been published in the journal Science
Translational Medicine.
19.07.2013
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Things
turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out
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John Wooden
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