A new method to detect diabetes, even before symptoms occur, is being developed by a team of endocrinologists, engineers and microbiologists. A device projects light to the skin which measures levels of blood sugar, or the presence of advanced glycation endproducts. This device is called The Scout. Different wavelengths is flashed to the skin to determine diabetes risk. This will help patients go on a preventive health maintenance program. With this method, diabetes can actually be prevented. It is already being tested in several US hospitals. The new method is expected to cost about the same as existing diabetes testing methods.

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This technique is envisioned to replace the traditional methods of developing flu vaccines wherein chicken eggs are used. The old method takes too long. With the new method, an outbreak may be prevented if suitable vaccines are developed at a shorter time, and are administered to patients before it’s too late.

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A new strategy in designing and manufacturing novel pharmaceutical compounds is being developed in the University of Buffalo. A rhodium-based catalyst of 1 gram can produce 10,000 grams of a pharmaceutical product. This catalyst – rhodium metal – is ten times more expensive than gold. It is available only through chemical supply companies.

This new synthesis strategy generated compounds that react to diseases such as cancer, and inflammatory and microbial diseases.

The new method allows a molecule to be transformed from a simple structure to a more complex drug-like material. The resulting compounds are mirror-images, but are closely studied as opposite mirror-images have different biological effects which may be harmful.

Read the full article on this new technology.

Thousands of people suffer heart attacks each year, but only 5 to 10 per cent of people are successfully resuscitated. A defibrillator machine, which delivers electric shocks, is usually used to get the heart to restart.

Brain cooling is being heralded as the technology with the greatest potential to improve survival rates.

Two studies in 2002, published in the New England Journal Of Medicine, established the importance of body cooling after cardiac arrest. Researchers found patients whose bodies were cooled had improved survival rates and that their brains functioned better in the months following the arrest.

A new portable cooling device, called the BeneChill, can be used conveniently and easily, even without medical training.

The device was invented by Dr Denise Barbut, a UK-trained neurologist now living in New York. She took advantage of the unique anatomy of the nose, which contains many blood vessels designed to warm the air you breathe in.

The device uses perfluorochemicals (PFCs) chemicals already widely used in eye surgery and for liquid ventilation of the lungs that are stored in small canisters and delivered to the nose in a fine mist through a nasal tube inserted into each nostril.

Once PFCs hit the back of the nose, they evaporate and remove heat from the nose. The resulting temperature drop transfers directly to the brain, which lies adjacent to the nasal cavity. BeneChill can achieve a two degree drop in one hour up to six times faster than many other available methods.

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New research raises the possibility that long-term treatment with rosiglitazone, as Avandia is also called, could lead to osteoporosis. The diabetes drug is used to improved response to insulin.

Researchers found that in mice, the drug increased the activity of the cells that degrade bones, according to a report in this week’s online issue of Nature Medicine.

The finding “has led to a better understanding of the challenges associated with long-term treatment of patients with Type II diabetes,” said Ronald M. Evans of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., lead author of the report.

“The long-term use of rosiglitazone should be cautious in patients with higher risk of fractures such as older women,” he added. Using it in combination with anti-osteoporosis drugs could be beneficial, he said.

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Researchers at the University of Kentucky has created a cancer-resistant mouse. They have found in the prostate a tumor-suppressor gene called Par-4. It kills only cancer cells, and spares normal cells from damage. They have discovered that mice with this gene do not develop tumors. There is a great potential in developing treatment for cancer that do not have the side-effects experienced by patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

The mice under study have been bred and observed, and so far, the results showed that the gene did not harm the next generations of mice. It will still be a long way before this is developed and tested on humans, but it is the way forward.

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Results of a 5,000-patient study showed Crestor was no better than a placebo, although it did cut levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol and C-reactive protein and reduced hospitalizations for cardiovascular causes. AstraZeneca said that the study had been “novel and challenging” and, though unsuccessful, had established Crestor’s safety in heart-failure patients.

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