Pharma pulse

                    Pharma pulse-   Linu mohan

                          BREATHE TEST- FUTURE ALTERNATIVE TO ENDOSCOPY 

The researchers from China and Israel developed a simple test that analyses the chemical nature of a patient's exhaled breath, which helps to diagnose stomach cancer. Usually endoscopy is costly and time consuming, as well as unpleasant to the patient, where a specially trained medical professional looks at the inside of the stomach via a tube inserted down the patient's gullet. So the scientists hope that, the breath test will offer an easier screening tool than endoscopy,  to diagnose stomach cancers, as well as more benign complaints, could be a future alternative to endoscopies.

For this latest pilot study, the researchers used nanomaterial-based sensors to analyse breath samples from patients who had undergone endoscopy, some with biopsy. The nanomaterial sensors showed an over 90% success rate in distinguishing the patients with stomach cancer from those with more benign complaints. The procedure uses a method called "discriminant factor analysis (DFA) pattern recognition", to detect specific combinations of different exhaled chemicals and find recurring patterns in people with the same stomach complaint.

As most stomach cancers are diagnosed at stages that are too advanced for surgery, and usually early stage symptoms are vague, this test will be useful tool for medical practitioners.

      

 RETINAL IMPLANT FOR RARE EYE DISEASE APPROVED BY FDA

The light-sensitive cells that line the retina become harmed with the rare condition known as Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). Normally, in people with no eye problems, light rays are altered into electrical impulses by these cells and then are sent through the optic nerve to the part of the brain that turns the impulses into an image. The light-sensitive cells of people who have RP degenerate over time, causing progressive loss of night vision and side vision, and ultimately central vision. RP may result in blindness.

The U.S. FDA approved the device to help adult patients with advanced retinitis pigmentosa (RP) regain some sense of vision. The device consists of: a small video camera, video processing unit (VPU), transmitter mounted on a pair of eyeglasses, and an artificial retina (implanted retinal prosthesis)

The portable VPU and an array of electrodes that are implanted into the person's retina. The VPU transforms images from the video camera into electronic data that is wirelessly transmitted to the electrodes. The electrodes transform the data into electrical impulses that stimulate the retina to produce images. The function of degenerated cells in the retina, a membrane inside the eye, becomes replaced with the device, and the ability to perceive images and movement improves.

This new surgically implanted assistive device provides an option for patients who have lost their sight to RP - for whom there have been no FDA-approved treatments. The device may help adults with RP who have lost the ability to perceive shapes and movement to be more mobile and to perform day-to-day activities.

                   

MEDICAL SEALANT- USED TO STOP LEAKS IN BLOOD VESSELS.

On 1^st March 2013 FDA had given approval for a surgical sealant, (ArterX) which is a medical sealant that is used to help stop leaks in blood vessels. It is made of two components, bovine serum albumin (BSA) and polyaldehyde. The BSA component is derived from cow (bovine) tissue. The two components are contained in separate barrels of a syringe. During surgery, the two components are mixed together and applied to locations where blood vessels or grafts have been sutured together to form a glue that seals gaps and holes. It is used during surgical procedures to help seal leaks around sutures in natural or artificial blood vessels.

                                            

A NEW ERA IN BLOOD GLUCOSE MONITORING

Continuous glucose monitoring is considered the most significant breakthrough in diabetes management in the past 40 years. The traditional standard-of-care for glucose (blood sugar) measurement has been a finger stick meter. Although they remain an essential part of a comprehensive diabetes management program, finger stick meters are inherently limited by the fact that, like a photograph, it only provides data for the specific moment in which the measurement is completed; it doesn’t show whether glucose is going up or down – or how fast.

Dexcom, a US based company recently developed Dexcom- G4 PLATINUM  a Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) System which continuously measures and displays glucose values. In addition to reporting glucose values every five minutes, the system reports trending information in real-time for up to seven days. CGM System includes three components: a sensor, transmitter and receiver. The glucose sensor is a small wire that is inserted under the skin of the abdomen and measures glucose values in the fluid between the body’s cells (interstitial fluid). The glucose values are sent through the transmitter to the hand-held receiver, where they are displayed for the user.

CGM System aids in the detection of episodes of high blood glucose (Hyperglycemia) and low blood glucose (Hypoglycemia), to help with both short-term and long-term therapy adjustments, which may minimize these highs and lows in blood glucose.