4, July 2014

Indian-origin researcher creates first molecular map to detect vision loss

An Indian-origin researcher-led team has created the most detailed map to date of a region of the human eye, long associated with blinding diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration.

By seeing differences in protein abundance in this eye region, researchers can figure out which proteins may be the critical actors in vision loss and eye disease.

Understanding eye diseases is tricky enough. Knowing what causes them at the molecular level is even more confounding.

The high-resolution molecular map catalogues thousands of proteins in the choroid that supplies blood and oxygen to the outer retina, itself critical in vision.

‘This molecular map now gives us clues why certain areas of the choroid are more sensitive to certain diseases, as well as where to target therapies and why,’ said Vinit Mahajan, assistant professor in ophthalmology at University of Iowa.

What vision specialists know is many eye diseases, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), are caused by inflammation that damages the choroid and the accompanying cellular network known as the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE).

Mahajan and Jessica Skeie, post-doctoral researcher in ophthalmology at University of Iowa, created a map that catalogues more than 4,000 unique proteins in each of the three areas of the choroid-RPE – the fovea, macula and the periphery.

‘This has helped explain why certain genes are associated with macular degeneration and helps point us to new treatment targets,’ Skeie concluded in a paper published in the journalJAMA Ophthalmology.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

04.08.2014

Writing can help breast cancer survivors

Writing down fears, emotions and benefits of a cancer diagnosis may improve health outcomes for Asian-American breast cancer survivors, a research reveals.

‘The key to developing an expressive writing intervention is the writing instruction. Otherwise, writing is just like a journal recording facts and events,’ said Qian Lu, assistant professor and director of the culture and health research centre at University of Houston (UH).

In her research, Lu found some of the challenges with the Asian-American breast cancer survivors were feeling stigmatised, shame associated with cancer, cultural beliefs of bearing the burden alone to avoid disrupting harmony and suppressing emotions.

Lu’s research team asked participants to write 20 minutes each week for three weeks.

Three sealed envelopes were mailed simultaneously to the participants with each envelope containing different writing instructions for the corresponding week.

The findings suggest participants perceived the writing task to be easy, revealed their emotions, and disclosed their experiences in writing that they had not previously told others.

‘Participants reported that they wrote down whatever they thought and felt and perceived the intervention to be appropriate and valuable,’ Lu added.

Previous research has found that writing about emotionally difficult events for just 20 to 30 minutes at a time over three or four days increased the immune function.

The release offered by writing had a direct impact on the body’s capacity to withstand stress and fight off infection and disease.

‘In my research, I found long-term physical and psychological health benefits when research participants wrote about their deepest fears and the benefits of a breast cancer diagnosis,’ Lu contended.

The study appeared in the journal Health Psychology. 

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

04.08.2014

Be with those who bring best in            you…..and not stress in you