Scientists find gene that controls chronic pain
Thu Sep 8, 2011 2:01PM EDT
By Kate Kelland
LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists have identified a gene responsible for regulating chronic pain, called HCN2, and say their discovery should help drug researchers in their search for more effective, targeted pain-killing medicines.
Scientists from Cambridge University said that if drugs could be designed to block the protein produced by the gene, they could treat a type of pain known as neuropathic pain, which is linked to nerve damage and often very difficult to control with currently available drugs.
"Individuals suffering from neuropathic pain often have little or no respite because of the lack of effective medications," said Peter McNaughton of Cambridge's pharmacology department, who led the study.
"Our research lays the groundwork for the development of new drugs to treat chronic pain by blocking HCN2."
Pain is an enormous health burden worldwide, estimated to cost more than 200 billion euros ($281 billion) a year in Europe and around $150 billion a year in the United States.
Studies show that around 22 percent of people with chronic pain become depressed and 25 percent go on to lose their jobs. A 2002/03 survey by a group called Pain in Europe estimated that as many as one in five Europeans suffers chronic pain.
Scientists have known about the HCN2 gene, which is found in pain-sensitive nerve endings, for several years, but had not yet fully understood its role in regulating pain.
Because a related gene called HCN4 plays a critical role in controlling electrical activity in the heart, McNaughton's team suspected that HCN2 might have a similar function and regulate electrical activity in pain-sensitive nerves.
For the study, published in the journal Science on Thursday, the researchers engineered the removal of the HCN2 gene from pain-sensitive nerves and then used electrical stimuli on these nerves in lab dishes to find out how the nerves had been changed by the removal of HCN2.
The scientists then studied genetically modified mice in which the HCN2 gene had been deleted. By measuring the speed the mice withdrew from different types of painful stimuli, the scientists were able to show that deleting the HCN2 gene took away neuropathic pain.
They also found that deleting HCN2 appeared to have no effect on normal acute pain -- such as the type of pain caused by accidentally cutting yourself or biting your own tongue -- a factor they said was important since this type of pain acts as a useful warning signal to the body.
"What is exciting about the work on the HCN2 gene is that removing it -- or blocking it pharmacologically -- eliminates neuropathic pain without affecting normal acute pain," McNaughton said in a statement about this work. "This finding could be very valuable clinically because normal pain sensation is essential for avoiding accidental damage."
Neuropathic pain, which is distinguished from inflammatory pain, is seen in patients with diabetes -- a condition which affects an estimated 280 million people around the world -- and as a painful after-effect of shingles and of chemotherapy in cancer patients. It is a also common factor in lower back pain and other chronic painful conditions.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Is this fate or karma(1)
Nanyang Polytechnic student, 19, dies after choking on orange
Singapore | Updated today at 06:00 AM
A 19-year-old student died on Tuesday, three days after she apparently choked on two slices of orange and lost consciousness.
Friends of polytechnic student Ailsie Lee Qiao Qi told The Straits Times that she had been eating oranges at home during breakfast last Saturday morning when she suddenly started choking and coughing, then fainted.
Her father is believed to have attempted unsuccessfully to resuscitate her.
She was rushed by ambulance to the National University Hospital, where she was warded for about four days.
Singapore | Updated today at 06:00 AM
A 19-year-old student died on Tuesday, three days after she apparently choked on two slices of orange and lost consciousness.
Friends of polytechnic student Ailsie Lee Qiao Qi told The Straits Times that she had been eating oranges at home during breakfast last Saturday morning when she suddenly started choking and coughing, then fainted.
Her father is believed to have attempted unsuccessfully to resuscitate her.
She was rushed by ambulance to the National University Hospital, where she was warded for about four days.
Is this fate or karma?
'I'm gonna die': 9/11 horror in victims' own words
World | Updated Friday
NEW YORK (AFP) - They called on God and they called for human help, but in the end the victims who phoned from 9/11's inferno knew there was no one to hear their screams.
Most of the nearly 3,000 people blown apart on Sept 11, 2001, when hijackers turned four planes into missiles against the Pentagon and New York's World Trade Center, died in their own, very private hell.
But thanks to the radios of first responders, mobile phones, the office phones in the Twin Towers and even onboard payphones in the hijacked airliners, some of the doomed were able to place a final message to the outside world.
Melissa Doi, a 32-year-old manager at IQ Financial Systems on the 83rd floor of the World Trade Center's South Tower, spoke to the emergency services for at least four minutes.
World | Updated Friday
NEW YORK (AFP) - They called on God and they called for human help, but in the end the victims who phoned from 9/11's inferno knew there was no one to hear their screams.
Most of the nearly 3,000 people blown apart on Sept 11, 2001, when hijackers turned four planes into missiles against the Pentagon and New York's World Trade Center, died in their own, very private hell.
But thanks to the radios of first responders, mobile phones, the office phones in the Twin Towers and even onboard payphones in the hijacked airliners, some of the doomed were able to place a final message to the outside world.
Melissa Doi, a 32-year-old manager at IQ Financial Systems on the 83rd floor of the World Trade Center's South Tower, spoke to the emergency services for at least four minutes.
Krabi trip - another aspect
During my previous write-up on the trip, I did not mention another side of the story. The gathering of my wife and her immediate family members. My wife enjoyed the trip very much especially the long bus trips to and back from Krabi. I told all of you that it was a good period of rest for me. Sleeping comfortably in the a big bus with lots of leg room but bored stiff at times.
Yes, then long bus rides confine my wife and my sister and brother-in-laws in the bus and they talk about my beloved father and mother-in-law and their childhoods. My Auntie also talk about the recent times with my father-in-law before he die and all of them was going down memory lanes and recapture the good and bad times of the past.
This situation was very rare and it shows that all of them missed their parent or partners very much and talk very passionately about them and each other.
The bond and the feelings was fantastic and non of them felt tired talking repeatedly of the same events and laughing over it. For those bystanders like me or my daughters who was not in the picture in past was not amusing at all. There was no feeling or excitement at all but become rather boring when it was repeatedly mentioned.
Now, with the demise of my father-in-law, it will be a real test whether their bond could still pull them together or not. The tie has broken and some of them will drift away from the group. It will depend on some cohesive bond whether it can continue to pull some of them together. Everyone is for themselves and each will have their own routine and activities and these will the factor which will be pulling them apart.
Life in a Chinese family is like that , it needs a reason to pull them together and very often , it is the parent. They are like a core with strings attached to the heart of the children and once awhile, they pull the strings to bring all the siblings together.
Lets hope the cohesive strength of their childhood bonds can tie some of them together and go on another trip down their memory lane. But , no more the crabby island of Krabi.
Namaste.
Can we change our fate ?
In Buddhism, there is a saying “ you reap what you sow”. The end is the cause of the beginning. Many people is asking “ why is this happening to me ?” Why am I so bad luck? The answer lies with you. If you cannot see it, then you are bluffing your self or have not gone it deep enough to find the answer or you only want to see the good things or unconsciously, we blind out the bad and focus only on the good.
Yes, the demerit may have happen in your past life and that is the reason , you may not have know of. When you did good things, good things should happen to you. When you give without thinking about it, some thing will come back to you silently or mysteriously.
In Tibet
Another belief is that we have aura or magnetic fields around our body and as we chant and rotate the wheels , it will light up the magnetic fields and our aura will shine brighter and our health and fortune will be better. Again this cannot be seen with the naked eyes but those people trained in meditation will be able to see clearly.
If we believe that we can change our fate, we can do it . The wise man say “ We continue to look for happiness , but the truth is that the happiness is already within us “.
Namaste.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Life style change reduce cancer cases (ext)
Healthier living could cut 2.8 million cancer cases
Wed Sep 7, 2011 12:44PM EDT
By Kate Kelland
LONDON (Reuters) - Healthier lifestyles and better diets could prevent up to 2.8 million cases of cancer each year, the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) said on Wednesday, calling on governments to "avoid a public health disaster."
The number of global cancers has increased by a fifth in less than a decade to around 12 million new cases a year, and along with other chronic diseases like heart and lung disease and diabetes are the world's biggest health challenges, the Fund said.
In a report released two weeks before a United Nations summit on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the charity said political leaders had a "once in a generation" opportunity to tackle a wave of cancer and other lifestyle diseases.
Global health experts say many deaths from NCDs, including around a third of all common cancers, could be prevented by curbing excessive alcohol intake, improving diets, discouraging smoking and promoting more physical activity.
But these measures often need government action such as taxation, regulation and advertising curbs, bringing politicians into conflict with tobacco, food and alcohol industries.
"With millions of lives at risk around the world, the stakes are incredibly high," said Martin Wiseman, WCRF's medical and scientific adviser.
"People are still unaware that risk factors such as alcohol and obesity affect cancer risk, while at the same time, from television advertising to the pricing of food, our society works in a way that discourages people from adopting healthy habits."
Non-communicable diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and respiratory diseases kill 36 million people a year, according to the U.N.'s Geneva-based health agency, the World Health Organization. Over the next 20 years, this epidemic is projected to accelerate and that by 2030, the number of deaths from NCDs could reach 52 million a year.
While they are often thought of as diseases of the rich world, NCDs actually disproportionately affect people in poorer nations. More than 80 percent of NCD deaths are among people living in low and middle income countries.
The WCRF said around seven million of the 12 million cancer cases diagnosed each year are in developing countries and that figure is also predicted to rise dramatically.
"Unless we act now..the charity appeals of the future will not be just for disasters and famines, but to pay for cancer care," Kate Allen, the fund's director of science and communications, told reporters at the briefing.
The U.N. meeting, slated for September 19 and 20 in New York, is only the second ever such high-level meeting to be convened on a threat to global health -- the first, a decade ago, was dedicated to fighting HIV and AIDS.
But there are already fears the summit could be ineffective, with major rich-world players such as the United States, Europe and Japan reluctant to commit to taxes, regulations and targets for reducing the burden of these diseases.
"The real problem is not coming up with new solutions, the real problem is having the will to implement what we already know," said Wiseman.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Rosalind Russell)
Wed Sep 7, 2011 12:44PM EDT
By Kate Kelland
LONDON (Reuters) - Healthier lifestyles and better diets could prevent up to 2.8 million cases of cancer each year, the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) said on Wednesday, calling on governments to "avoid a public health disaster."
The number of global cancers has increased by a fifth in less than a decade to around 12 million new cases a year, and along with other chronic diseases like heart and lung disease and diabetes are the world's biggest health challenges, the Fund said.
In a report released two weeks before a United Nations summit on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the charity said political leaders had a "once in a generation" opportunity to tackle a wave of cancer and other lifestyle diseases.
Global health experts say many deaths from NCDs, including around a third of all common cancers, could be prevented by curbing excessive alcohol intake, improving diets, discouraging smoking and promoting more physical activity.
But these measures often need government action such as taxation, regulation and advertising curbs, bringing politicians into conflict with tobacco, food and alcohol industries.
"With millions of lives at risk around the world, the stakes are incredibly high," said Martin Wiseman, WCRF's medical and scientific adviser.
"People are still unaware that risk factors such as alcohol and obesity affect cancer risk, while at the same time, from television advertising to the pricing of food, our society works in a way that discourages people from adopting healthy habits."
Non-communicable diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and respiratory diseases kill 36 million people a year, according to the U.N.'s Geneva-based health agency, the World Health Organization. Over the next 20 years, this epidemic is projected to accelerate and that by 2030, the number of deaths from NCDs could reach 52 million a year.
While they are often thought of as diseases of the rich world, NCDs actually disproportionately affect people in poorer nations. More than 80 percent of NCD deaths are among people living in low and middle income countries.
The WCRF said around seven million of the 12 million cancer cases diagnosed each year are in developing countries and that figure is also predicted to rise dramatically.
"Unless we act now..the charity appeals of the future will not be just for disasters and famines, but to pay for cancer care," Kate Allen, the fund's director of science and communications, told reporters at the briefing.
The U.N. meeting, slated for September 19 and 20 in New York, is only the second ever such high-level meeting to be convened on a threat to global health -- the first, a decade ago, was dedicated to fighting HIV and AIDS.
But there are already fears the summit could be ineffective, with major rich-world players such as the United States, Europe and Japan reluctant to commit to taxes, regulations and targets for reducing the burden of these diseases.
"The real problem is not coming up with new solutions, the real problem is having the will to implement what we already know," said Wiseman.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Rosalind Russell)
Contrast and yet comparable - is this so difficult to understand?
This is a heavy topic but lets make fun out of it to make it more understandable. Contracts and yet comparable is like the sun and moon or day and night , black and white, good and bad , man and female and the list will go very long and exhaustive.
Why like sun and moon ? One is bright and another is dim and its back ground is always in contrast. When the sun is around , the sky is clear and when the moon is around, it is at night fall. There is so much contrast but if without it, it will be only always day or night and it will be very boring without the change and the contrast. If there is a day , there must be a night and it is comparable or making it whole.
So what about black and white ? It is obvious as there is a color contrast. When we seek black, we will notice how the white is look like. Putting it side by side, you could see the contrast and yet it should together to enlighten up their differences. Some white is righteous and black is evil . When there is evil, we will understand better what is righteousness or it will automatically describe what is good. Without one or the other, the picture would not be complete.
Yes, like Man is from Mars and Women is from Venus. There are poles apart and yet there are not separable as normal nature. Without man, all will be lesbians and without women , all will be gay. A male and women is much in contrast in their behavior and yet , they harmonized as one.
So, contrast need not be in the opposition but can be complimentary. There is a saying “ we disagree to agree”. Nothing is so absolute and natures blended with each other and live in peace and harmony.
Namaste.
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