Talking
therapy offers `little help` for schizophrenics
A new study has revealed that talking therapies offer
‘little benefit’ to people with schizophrenia.
A team of scientists at University of Hertfordshire analysed
over 50 studies on the use of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) from around
the world and found that it only had a ‘small therapeutic effect’ on
schizophrenic symptoms, the BBC reported.
The study led by Keith Laws, professor of cognitive
neuropsychology at the University of Hertfordshire, found that CBT did have a
small benefit in treating delusions and hallucinations – which are
characteristic symptoms of the disease.
However, according to the researchers, who looked at 52
studies carried out over the last 20 years, even this small effect disappeared
when only studies using ”blind testing” were taken into account.
The study was published in the British Journal of
Psychiatry.
Source: http://health.india.com
04.01.2014
Discovered – our body’s own immune ‘killer’ cells that
can kill bacteria in TB!
A special
class of immune cells called ‘invariant natural killer T cells’ keep the deadly
tuberculosis infection in check – a heartening news for India that has the most
number of tuberculosis cases in the world.
‘Mycobacterium
tuberculosis is a major cause of death worldwide. Most healthy people can
defend themselves against tuberculosis, but they need all parts of their immune
system to work together. We were interested in identifying the mechanisms that
different types of T cells use to control Mycobacterium tuberculosis
infection,’ said senior author Samuel Behar of University of Massachusetts
Medical School, US.
His team
found that when ‘invariant natural killer T cells’ encounter infected
macrophages – the human target cells of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) – T
cells somehow prevented Mtb from growing and multiplying inside the
macrophages.
Using a
number of cell culture systems and experiments in mice to dissect the
interaction, they found that when T cells are confronted with Mtb-infected
macrophages, they respond in two different ways.
One is
that they produce and release interferon gamma, a broad-spectrum immune system
activator. But when the scientists blocked interferon gamma action, they found
that the T cells could still inhibit Mtb growth in the macrophages, said the
study published in the journal PLOS Pathogens.
‘Understanding
how such T cells contribute to the control and elimination of Mtb could lead to
novel therapeutic approaches that strengthen their activity and boost the
overall immune response during infection,’ concluded the study.
Source: http://health.india.com
04.01.2014
No comments:
Post a Comment