Pharma pulse-Leap of Medicine

Pharma pulse-Leap of Medicine

- Concept-    Linu Mohan,(Asst Prof)

EARLY DETECTION, KEY TO SURVIVAL

Centre for materials for electronics and technology (C- MET), has developed a device to detect breast cancer easily. The device strapped to the breast may read temperature changes, which is the sign of malignancy. Studies show that the temperature of cancer tissues is different from that of a normal tissue. Cancer cell consumes more glucose than the normal healthy cells and discharge more heat. The pattern of temperature of cancerous tissue is also different. So the device works with thermal sensors which is small and bio compatible and can detect temperature with an accuracy of 0.001 degree centigrade.

                                 The company claims that, young women with dense breast tissue are the most difficult to evaluate using breast palpitation, mammography and ultrasound examination. At least 10% of breast cancers cannot be identified by mammography even when they are palpable. Most breast cancers do not become palpable until they are greater than one centimeter. By then 25% of them would have been metastasized. The higher risk of developing breast cancer while young, can be accurately detected with C –MET`s system.

CRITICAL TUMOR SUPPRESSOR IDENTIFIED   

 Scientists from the Florida campus have identified a protein that impairs the development and maintenance of lymphoma (cancer of the lymph nodes), but is repressed during the initial stages of the disease, allowing for rapid tumor growth.

While the study, they largely focused on the role of this new tumor suppressor in lymphoma induced by Myc oncoproteins (the cancer-promoting products of Myc oncogenes). The Myc family of oncoproteins (c-Myc, N-Myc, and L-Myc) regulates critical pathways that contribute to tumors; c-Myc expression, which is activated in human Burkitt lymphoma, is sufficient to induce the growth of several tumor types in animal models.

 This circuit is apparently operational in all human tumors with MYC involvement, which is more than half of all human tumor types. This opens a new therapeutic avenue to exploit for cancers with Myc involvement—including relapsed metastatic tumors and refractory tumors, those that have not responded to treatment.

CONTACT  LENSES  MEDICATE  EYES

Only about one to seven percent of eye drop medications are absorbed in to the eye, because most of it drips out. Moreover the patient finds use of eye drop is difficult and often forgets to use it. A new medical invention has been created by the scientist at Harvard Medical School. The new invention is a contact lens that can dispense a regular dose of antibiotics to the eye for more than a month. A bio degradable polymer film is mixed with a medication and coated with hydro gel, which is the same material used to make contact lenses. The films slowly release the medication in to the eye. Eye drops are used to dispense most eye medications but they are inefficient, which is why scientist believe this new medical invention will dispense eye medication more easily and effectively.

EQUIPMENT MAKES DRAWING BLOOD EASIER

A blood test is a laboratory analysis performed on a blood sample that is usually extracted from a vein in the arm using a needle. Blood tests are used to determine physiological and biochemical states, such as disease, mineral content, drug effectiveness, and organ function. Usually it makes the visit of patient to the clinic unpleasant if he is asked to draw his blood. It becomes bad, if the person drawing the blood can not seem to find the vein, there by having to stick the patient with a needle couple of times.

AccuVein LLC has developed a device that offers hand-held, non-contact vein illumination, which shows the person drawing your blood where exactly they should stick that needle. The device, weighing only 10 ounces, works by detecting and highlighting hemoglobin, and also scans up to 8mm below the skin’s surface.

                                            

The device enables healthcare professionals to see a vein map on the skin, which represents an exciting medical innovation striving to improve the time, comfort and cost of care and also improves patient satisfaction.