Stem Cell Contact Lenses Cure Blindness in Weeks

“Three patients had their sight restored in less just weeks by contact lenses cultured with their own stem cells. All the patients were blind in one eye and researchers extracted stem cells from their working eyes, cultured them in contact lenses for 10 days, and placed the lenses onto the blind eye. Within 10 to 14 days of use, the stem cells began recolonizing and repairing the cornea.”

“Of the three patients, two were legally blind but can now read the big letters on an eye chart, while the third, who could previously read the top few rows of the chart, is now able to pass the vision test for a driver’s license. The test patients have been enjoying restored sight for the last 18 months, which is very encouraging. The simplicity and low cost of the technique also means that it has potential in very poor nations where blindness is rampant.”    Story

When does a child need professional help?

“How do you decide whether to seek professional help in dealing with a child’s misbehavior…context is crucial, and the most obvious context is the age of the child. Shoplifting a candy bar, for instance, can mean very different things when the culprit is 4 and when he’s 14.”  Full Story

BP Drugs To All, UK Study Concludes

“London, UK - Blood-pressure-lowering drugs should be offered to everyone, regardless of their blood-pressure level, as a safeguard against coronary heart disease and stroke, researchers conclude in the May 19, 2009 issue of British Medical Journal.

“Guidelines on the use of blood-pressure-lowering drugs can be simplified so that drugs are offered to people with all levels of blood pressure,” write Drs Malcolm R Law and Nicholas Wald. “Our results indicate the importance of lowering blood pressure in everyone over a certain age, rather than measuring it in everyone and treating it in some.”   Article

Drinking from Plastic Bottles Poses Risk

” New research by Harvard School of Public Health found that participants who drank for a week from polycarbonate bottles showed a two-thirds increase of BPA in their urine…BPA has been shown to interfere with reproductive development in animals and has been linked with cardiovascular disease and diabetes in humans.”   Story

What Makes Us Happy?

Is there a formula—some mix of love, work, and psychological adaptation—for a good life? For 72 years, researchers at Harvard have been examining this question, following 268 men who entered college in the late 1930s through war, career, marriage and divorce, parenthood and grandparenthood, and old age. Here, for the first time, a journalist gains access to the archive of one of the most comprehensive longitudinal studies in history. Its contents, as much literature as science, offer profound insight into the human condition…”     Full Story from The Atlantic

Blind to be cured with stem cells

“Scientists have developed the world’s first stem cell therapy to cure the most common cause of blindness and surgeons predict it will become a routine procedure, available in 6-7 years…The treatment involves replacing a layer of degenerated cells with new ones created from embryonic stem cells.”     Full Story

Adult Stem Cells Makes Cloudy Corneas Clear

“…an exciting new study today showed that corneal stem cells hold great promise to treat patients with corneal blindness and cloudy vision from eye trauma and scarring. Researchers injected corneal stem cells into mice with cloudy vision and three months later their vision problems were repaired, restoring clear vision…the corneal stem cells didn’t trigger a significant immune response, causing a problematic rejection of the cells. The researchers speculated that the cornea and its stem cells may be “immune privileged,” meaning the cornea can easily accept and adapt to the injection of new stem cells.”   Full Story

Feeling Happier: 9 Tips To Feel Better in a Crisis

“When something bad happens, how do you make yourself feel better? Maybe you’ve lost your job. Maybe you’ve been crushed in a relationship. What can you do to lift your spirits?”   Full List

Heart Attack During Brain Surgery

“An Italian doctor completed a brain operation despite having a heart attack.  Surgeon Claudio Vitale started feeling pains in his chest half way through the operation but refused to stop despite his team’s urging and the pain worsening.  After the surgery, he had an angioplasty to treat his attack.

Vitale insists he’s not a hero, but that he couldn’t leave the patient “at such a delicate moment.”  Both doctor and patient are recovering.”   Full Story

10 Most Revealing Psych Experiments

“Some of the experiments psychologists have conducted over the years reveal things about the way we humans think and behave that we might not want to embrace, but which can at least help keep us humble.”    The 10 Experiements