Muscle disease treatment can now be monitored by your
smartphone
A smartphone-based technology can effectively monitor the
treatment progress of muscular dystrophy, a condition which causes the muscles
of the body to weaken. According to Michael S. Hughes from the Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory in Washington, DC, an ultrasound technique can be
incorporated into smartphones and other hand held devices to allow patients to
determine how they are responding to medication.
By using ultrasound, doctors can effectively distinguish
between healthy, damaged and treated muscles. Steroids are often prescribed for
the condition to slow muscle degeneration but they have serious side effects.
The researchers found that by collecting large amounts of data from ultrasound
images of the mice, they were able to effectively distinguish between healthy,
damaged and treated muscles.
In September this year, researchers were able to trigger muscle repair
in mice with muscular dystrophy. The findings were shared at the annual meeting
of the Acoustical Society of America in Indiana.
Source: www.thehealthsite.com
06.11.2014
Smoking indoors could harm your family hours after
your cigarette is stubbed out
A new research has revealed that thirdhand smoke continues
to harm health even hours after smoking ends. Scientists at the U.S. Department
of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) looked at
levels of more than 50 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and airborne particles
for 18 hours after smoking had taken place.
Lead author Hugo Destaillats said that in the U.S., the
home is now where nonsmokers are most exposed to second and third hand smoke
and the goal of their study is to provide information supporting effective
protective measures in the home. Destaillats added that many smokers know secondhand
smoke is harmful, so they don’t smoke when their kids are present, but if, for
example, they stop smoking at 2 p.m. and the kids come home at 4 p.m., their
work shows that up to 60 percent of the harm from inhaling thirdhand smoke
remains.
The study found that the total integrated harm rises sharply in the
first five hours after a cigarette has been smoked, continues to rise for
another five hours, and doesn’t start to level off until after 10 hours. The
study is published online in the journalEnvironmental
Science and Technology.
Source: www.thehealthsite.com
06.11.2014
One of the best feelings in the world is
knowing your presence and absence both mean something to
someone…..
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