MOVEMENT DISORDERS; ALTERNATIVE TO MUSCLE BIOPSY

Pharma Pulse by Linu Mohan

MOVEMENT DISORDERS; ALTERNATIVE TO MUSCLE BIOPSY

The muscular system is responsible for the movement of the human body. Different types of muscles have different jobs. Attached to the bones, there are about 700 muscles that account half the body weight of a man.Muscle tissue is also found inside of the heart, digestive organs, and blood vessels.

Muscles are affected with many diseases. Muscle disorders can cause weakness, pain or sometimes paralysis. Causes of muscle disorders include sprains, cramps, muscular dystrophy, myositis, infections, cancers and certain medicines also result in muscle injury.

Muscle impairment is usual in diseases like, stroke, parkinsonism, spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy etc. So it is important to diagnose the degree of muscle impairment and its relationship with physical function and disease management.

To measure the movement of sarcomeres, which generates muscle force is the existing method for characterising human muscle health.

Recently the scientists have come up with a minimally invasive, fiber-optic technique that accurately measures the passive stretch and twitch contraction of living muscle tissue. This technique can be used as an alternative to the painful muscle biopsies used to diagnose and treat a wide range of movement disorders. In a fraction of a millisecond, the tool measures the length of thousands of sarcomeres making it possible to quickly identify issues and develop personalized treatment plans for patients.

This technique is based on  a laser source continuously sweeps across and illuminates muscle through a very thin fiber optic probe, which is inserted directly into the muscle belly and positioned parallel to sarcomeres. The same optical probe collects reflected light from the muscle, and these data are then used to calculate sarcomere length.

The scientists hope that, this new method can measure protein-scale interactions during muscle movement, which lead to better understanding and maintenance of human muscle health.

CONTINOUS GLUCOSE MONITORING-MOBILE SYSTEM

Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by hyperglycaemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both. The origin and etiology of diabetes can vary greatly but always include defects in either insulin secretion or response or in both. The importance of regular follow-up of diabetic patients by the health care provider is having great significance in averting any long term complications.

It is recognised that, control of glycaemia delays the onset and slows the progression of micro vascular complications, including nephropathy, retinopathy, and neuropathy.

To successfully manage diabetes, a monitoring system is needed to consistently check the glucose levels and the most common glucose monitoring methods are blood glucose meters and continuous glucose monitoring systems. FDA had recently given approval for such a system whichconsists of an external glucose sensor that continuously measures glucose levels and displays the values. In addition to reporting glucose values in every 5 minutes, the system reports information in time for up to one week.

This device uses a small flexible metal wire which acts as a sensor that is inserted, below the skin and generates a small electrical signal in response to sugar level of the blood. This electrical signal is converted into a blood glucose reading and transmitted wirelessly every 5 minutes to a receiver or compatible mobile device such a mobile phone or tablet.

This continuous glucose monitoring device also helps in the detection of episodes of high and low blood sugar level facilitating both acute and long-term therapy adjustments.

People with diabetes can use the information from this device to make diabetes treatment decisions making and keep blood glucose levels in a safe range. The system also alert users when glucose values are approaching dangerously high or low levels.