Leukemia patient Mai Duong is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant -- something doctors say the Montreal resident requires within a matter of weeks. While finding a well-matched stem cell donor is already a difficult task, the 34-year-old mother of one faces an added challenge: shes Vietnamese. Duong was first diagnosed with acute leukemia in 2013, when she was 15 weeks pregnant with her second child. She was forced to terminate the pregnancy as she underwent seven months of chemotherapy, putting her cancer into remission for seven months. But it returned in May, and doctors gave her two months to find a stem cell match. "The only option for me to get cured is with the generosity of people," she says. Duongs case is raising the alarm about a need for stem cell donors among Canada's minority groups, as those in need of transplants are more likely to find a donor from the same ethnic background. Canadian Blood Services says less than 25 per cent of individuals in need of a stem cell transplant will be able to find a match within their own families and will have to turn to the public inthe hopes of finding a … Continue reading →

Leukemia patient Mai Duong is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant -- something doctors say the Montreal resident requires within a matter of weeks. While finding a well-matched stem cell donor is already a difficult task, the 34-year-old mother of one faces an added challenge: shes Vietnamese. Duong was first diagnosed with acute leukemia in 2013, when she was 15 weeks pregnant with her second child. She was forced to terminate the pregnancy as she underwent seven months of chemotherapy, putting her cancer into remission for seven months. But it returned in May, and doctors gave her two months to find a stem cell match. "The only option for me to get cured is with the generosity of people," she says. Duongs case is raising the alarm about a need for stem cell donors among Canada's minority groups, as those in need of transplants are more likely to find a donor from the same ethnic background. Canadian Blood Services says less than 25 per cent of individuals in need of a stem cell transplant will be able to find a match within their own families and will have to turn to the public inthe hopes of finding a … Continue reading →

In a novel initiative, Benaras Hindu University (BHU) has launched a campaign to make people living in naxal-infested villages of North India aware about epilepsy and various myths associated with it. As part of its celebrations of the first World Brain Day tomorrow, the university, which started the campaign nearly two weeks ago, is providing free medicines, diagnosis and treatment to epilepsy patients in those areas through a mobile van that is equipped with all medical facilities. "We are providing free of cost medicines, diagnosis as well as proper treatment to epilepsy patients in naxal-infested regions of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand as well as other states," Vijay Nath Mishra, a neurologist at Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS), BHU, said. "The awareness campaign is an initiative of the BHU's Institute of Medical Sciences, Department of Neurology, which has been running epilepsy awareness camps all over North India since the last one year," he said. Mishra said epilepsy patients in naxal-hit areas have little access to hospitals and medicines which force them to visit unqualified doctors or traditional healers for cheap medication. "In naxal areas, where government hospitals are at a far distance, patients are either forced to consult traditional healers … Continue reading →

July 21, 2014 redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports Your Universe Online The majority of the genetic risks for developing autism can be traced to common versions of genes, not rare variants or spontaneous mutations, according to the results of a National Institutes of Health-funded study that appeared in Sundays edition of the journal Nature Genetics. In total, approximately 52 percent of the risk for autism was traced to common or rare inherited variation, while spontaneous mutations comprised just 2.6 percent of the overall risk, a team of researchers led by Dr. Joseph Buxbaum of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) in New York reported in the paper. In addition, heritability was also found to outpace other risk factors. The study is said to be the largest of its kind, and the Population-Based-Autism Genetics and Environment Study (PAGES) Consortium researchers behind the paper claim that their findings indicate that inheritability outweighs environmental risk. Dr. Buxbaum and his colleagues conducted a rigorous analysis of DNA sequence variations from an ongoing, comprehensive study of autism in Sweden. Health registry data from 3,000 patients, some of whom were autistic individuals and some belonging to a control group, was analyzed for the … Continue reading →

Cleveland Clinic to Launch Mobile Stroke Unit to Treat Patients Faster Cleveland Clinic Mobile Stroke Treatment Unit is one of the first in the country. It's designed to get stroke patients potentially life-saving care faster by... By: Cleveland Clinic … Continue reading →

Dave Griffin. Brenda Griffin said her phone and social media page had been ''red hot'' since the Otago Daily Times this month featured the treatment her husband Dave received in Los Angeles. The treatment involves injecting etanercept, a drug usually used for arthritis, in the base of the neck, and turning the patient upside down for 10 minutes. Mr Griffin's speech, walking, fatigue, pain levels and reading have improved. An Auckland couple recently flew to Dunedin to spend the day with the Griffins to discuss the treatment, which they hoped might improve the husband's recovery from stroke. Their GP and neurologist had advised against it, telling them to save their money. However, the couple are going through the process of attending the LA clinic, which involves a pre-approval consultation. ''They met us and realised we are not involved in any big scam - just genuine people that gave it a go and it helped, [and] they were a lot more comfortable.'' More recently, Mrs Griffin had also liaised with a couple from near Christchurch who are in Los Angeles for the treatment. Mrs Griffin referred to a recent English pilot study that demonstrated etanercept's effectiveness against Alzheimer's disease, which showed … Continue reading →

22 July 2014 University of Georgia researchers and their collaborators have developed a new technique to enhance stroke treatment using magnetically controlled nanomotors to transport a clot-busting drug to blockages in blood vessels. The only drug currently approved for the treatment of acute stroke - recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) - is administered intravenously to patients after the first symptoms of ischemic stroke appear. The protein in the drug dissolves blood clots that cause strokes and other cardiovascular problems, such as pulmonary embolisms and heart attacks. Our technology uses magnetic nanorods that, when injected into the bloodstream and activated with rotating magnets, act like stirring bars to drive t-PA to the site of the clot, said Yiping Zhao, co-author of a paper describing the results in ACS Nano and professor of physics in UGAs Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Our preliminary results show that the breakdown of clots can be enhanced up to twofold compared to treatment with t-PA alone. By collaborating with their medical partners, the researchers tested their approach in mice that mimic blood clots in humans. Once a clot was formed, they injected a mixture of t-PA and a small number of magnetic nanorods measuring 300nm … Continue reading →