Health

Updated at: 1017 PST,  Sunday, May 02, 2010  LONDON: In a remarkable research, scientists have unveiled a novel way of treating leukemia cells quicker and more effectively: using a common white flower known as Baby's Breath. The discovery is contemplated as a major breakthrough as it could revolutionize the leukemia treatment and save millions of lives. Scientists working for the charity Leukaemia Busters, based in Southampton, Hants, are the masterminds behind this breakthrough. The charity is run by David and Bee Flavell whose son Simon Flavell died with an incurable form of childhood leukaemia in 1990, at the age of 10, reported the Daily Mail. The scientists found that an extract of the white bloom may up the efficiency of anti-cancer drugs by a whopping one million times. They anticipate that the breakthrough might also aid in treating other types of cancer. In a bid to test the efficacy of the white bloom, they carried out a lab experiment and found that a compound of the flower known as saponins created holes in the cancer cells and appeared to break down the cell membrane. They then introduced special antibodies with toxins and found that the immunotoxins penetrated the leukemia cells and killed them faster. The results showed that 99.9 percent of the leukemia cells were killed in much less than an hour’s time. It took the researchers 12 months to do the research and testing to arrive at these findings. Despite the promising outcome, the research team conceded that it is yet not clear what effect the treatment will have on human subjects. Therefore, the scientists are now getting ready for clinical trials. If successful, the trials may pave way for new types of treatments for the condition which could be made available for commercial use within the next three to five years. Dr David Flavell was quoted by the BBC as saying, "I think it is very exciting. This will allow us to do things I think which we were not able to do before in patients. "It will open up a whole new revolution in this kind of antibody therapy - if we can make it work in people." The findings were presented at one of the world's biggest cancer conferences, organized by the American Association for Cancer Research in Washington, last week. Leukemia is a cancer of the blood cells. It starts in the bone marrow, the soft tissue inside most bones where blood cells are made. Risk factors of the condition include increased exposure to radiation or certain type of chemicals at work, Down’s syndrome or other genetic problems, smoking, etc. According to WebMD, common symptoms of leukemia include fever and night sweats, headaches, bruising or bleeding easily, bone or joint pain, swollen lymph nodes in the armpit, neck, or groin, getting a lot of infections, feeling very tired, losing weight and not feeling hungry.

WASHINGTON: Called Provenge it works by encouraging the body’s immune system to fight tumours. Unlike traditional vaccines, it is not designed to protect men from developing the cancer but rather help those already in an advanced stage of the disease. Tests show that it can prolong the life of terminal patients by around four months, one month longer than traditional chemotherapy. It has now been licensed for use in America but is not yet available in this country, where more than 37,000 men a year in Britain are diagnosed with prostate cancer. Because each vaccine has to be individually tailored it is expected to cost around £45,000 per patient. John Neate, from The Prostate Cancer Charity, said: “The news that this type of immunotherapy may offer additional survival benefit is promising. “There are still questions to answer, even if the treatment fulfils its early promise. “At present, we believe there are currently no laboratories in Europe equipped to undertake this treatment. “Furthermore, this treatment is not currently approved in Britain and it will still be some years before doctors know enough about its long-term effectiveness and side effects to be confident about its potential place in the armoury against advanced prostate cancer.” "We will monitor further developments closely."

  Updated at: 1353 PST,  Saturday, May 01, 2010
 SYDNEY: A 10-year-old Australian girl who survived being stung by the world's most venomous creature, the deadly box jellyfish, may have rewritten medical history, an expert said.

Schoolgirl Rachael Shardlow lost consciousness after being badly stung by the jellyfish while swimming in a river in eastern Queensland state with her brother in December, but lived to tell the tale.

"When I first saw the pictures of the injuries I just went, 'you know to be honest, this kid should not be alive'," said Jamie Seymour, professor of zoology and tropical ecology at James Cook University.

"I mean they are horrific. Usually when you see people who have been stung by box jellyfish with that number of the tentacle contacts on their body, it's usually in a morgue," he told public broadcaster, the ABC.

Often deadly, the box jellyfish has long, trailing tentacles and is able to squeeze through even the smallest of nets as it is only the size of a fingernail.

The venom is so overpoweringly painful that victims often go in shock and drown or die of heart failure before reaching shore.

There is no effective antivenom for its sting, which attacks the heart, nervous system and skin, inducing shooting muscle pain, vomiting and a rapid rise in blood pressure.

Rachael was pulled from the Calliope River, near the town of Gladstone, by her 13-year-old brother with the jellyfish's tentacles wrapped around her legs.

Before passing out, she told him could not see or breathe.

After the rescue, she spent six weeks recovering in hospital before returning home.

"I don't know of anybody in the entire literature where we've studied this where someone has had such an extensive sting that has survived," said Professor Seymour, adding that scientists were keen to monitor her recovery.

"From our point of view it's really useful information that you very seldom, if ever, get your hands on."

The young girl's father, Geoff Shardlow, told the ABC that his daughter had suffered scarring to her legs and some short-term memory loss.

"We've noticed a small amount of short-term memory loss, like riding a pushbike to school and forgetting she's taken a pushbike," he said.

"The greatest fear was actual brain damage (but) her cognitive skills and memory tests were all fine."

Updated at: 0658 PST,  Saturday, May 01, 2010  NEW ORLEANS: Dozens of species of land and sea animals, along with the fisherman who live off the bounty of the Gulf of Mexico and coastal wetlands off Louisiana, are under threat by a massive oil slick hitting the southeastern US shore. At the epicenter of what could be the worst manmade ecological disaster to ever hit the United States -- the spot in the Gulf where 5,000 barrels of oil are spewing each day from a leaking sunken oil rig -- bottlenose dolphins and sperm whales are especially threatened, environmentalists told media. Closer to shore, Louisiana's shrimp industry, which locals say is the source of most of the shrimp that goes onto dinner tables around the world, was looking at a doomsday scenario. Fisheries officials opened the shrimp season Thursday at noon, at least a week before it was due to start, Margaret Curole, a former commercial shrimper and now a self-described fisheries activist, told media. "They called the emergency opening of the season so the guys could try to go out and get a few shrimp before the oil gets here," she said. On Friday, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal announced that many offshore shrimp fisheries and oyster beds had been shut and those closer to land would only remain open for a few more hours as the slick closed in. The vast majority of shrimp fished in the Gulf are spawned in estuaries running from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Atchafalaya basin further west, Curole said.

Updated at: 1614 PST,  Friday, April 30, 2010  HILSINKI: Strenuous exercise for just half an hour a day can reduce a person's risk of dying from cancer, says a new study. Jogging, swimming, rowing and games like squash or football all lead to a lower risk of developing cancer and dying from it. However, the study found people must exercise for at least 30 minutes a day to gain any benefit, reports The Daily Express. The study's boffins, from the universities of Kuopio and Oulu in Finland, believe that vigorous physical activity is best for lowering the risk of cancer, and particularly of lung and gastrointestinal cancers. They say: "The intensity of leisure-time physical activity had a strong and independent association with cancer mortality. "It should be at least moderate so the beneficial effect of physical activity for reducing overall cancer mortality can be achieved." To reach the conclusion, researchers followed 2,560 men aged from 42 to 61 from eastern Finland with no history of cancer and tested them to measure the intensity of their exercise. The study has been published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.