Malaria vaccine to be widespread by 2015
A pharmaceutical company has revealed that the first ever malaria vaccine could be in widespread use by 2015, after getting “significant” results from an ongoing clinical trial. Researchers have reported at a malaria conference in Durban, South Africa, that the injection continues to protect a considerable proportion of babies and young children, after 18 months of being given the vaccination, Sky News reported. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which makes the vaccine, has said that it is going to apply for a license from the European Medicines Agency in 2014, while World Health Organisation aims to support the use of the vaccine, if it proves to be safe and effective. GSK has promised to sell the vaccine, code name RTS,S, at 5 percent more than the cost price, so that the fund could help in further research of tropical diseases. The latest results, which were done on 15,000 babies and children in seven African countries, show that are far from perfect, but still offers major protection. According to the study, young children were 46 percent less likely to suffer clinical malaria, eighteen months after a three-dose vaccination programme. The results also show that 21 cases of severe malaria were prevented out of the 1,000 children vaccinated, but the vaccine was less effective in babies, and infants who had the jabs when they were just a few weeks old were 27 percent less likely to suffer from the disease. Scientists are now investigating the possibility of a booster dose that can increase protection in the longer term. (ANI)
‘266 mn Chinese suffer from hypertension’
One in every five adults has high blood pressure in China where a total of 266 million people suffer from hypertension, a top health official said. A total of 266 million Chinese suffer from hypertension and among those aged 15 and above, about 24 per cent have the condition, said Shi Xiaoming, head of the chronic diseases division at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. An estimated 40 per cent of patients are not aware of their hypertension and only about 25 per cent of patients receive treatment, Shi said as the country marked National Hypertension Day. About 15 per cent of adolescents and 30 per cent of obese adolescents have blood pressure levels that are higher than the expected level, but still within the healthy range, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Shi as saying. High blood pressure is a main risk factor for heart attacks, heart failure, stroke and other arterial diseases. Arterial diseases have been a serious public health problem in China, Shi said. The increased incidence of hypertension has been caused by changes in lifestyle and diet and preventing the condition requires not only medication but also people’s awareness, he said. (PTI)
If mother smoked, baby born with smaller brain: Study
Children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy have smaller brains and are likely to be more prone to stress and anxiety, according to a study. A study done on more than 200 children found that those whose mothers were regular smokers during pregnancy are more likely to become moody and depressed than other boys and girls, the Daily Mail reported citing Neuropsychopharmacology journal report published Tuesday. Scientists suspect tobacco could affect development of foetus by destroying neurons and reducing oxygen supply to the womb because of the narrowing of blood vessels. After comparing the result of the study with 113 children not exposed to smoking in the womb, researchers found that those whose mothers continued smoking had smaller brains with less grey and white matter. (ANI)
Billion-pound brain development project underway
The billion-pound neuroscience project entitled ‘The Human Brain Project’, which will take a decade for its completion and aims to remodel our understanding of the human brain, has begun. Scientists from 135 institutions, mostly in Europe, will be involved in the HBP that has been co-funded by EU, the BBC reported. The goal of the project is to develop the technology needed to create a computer simulation of the brain. Prof Henry Markram, director of the HBP at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, in Switzerland, said that the project is an attempt to build completely new computer science technology that will enable us to collect all the information we have built up about the brain over the years. (ANI)
Why triathletes are so tough
Researchers have claimed to have found why triathletes, who participate in a gruelling endurance sport, swimming, bicycling, and running long distances without rest, are tough and feel less pain than casual exercisers. Prof. Ruth Defrin from Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine said that in their study, triathletes rated pain lower in intensity, tolerated it longer, and inhibited it better than individuals in a control group. Nineteen triathletes and 17 non-athletes participated in the TAU researchers’ study. All the participants were put through a battery of psychophysical pain tests, involving the application of a heating device to one arm and the submersion of the other arm in a cold-water bath. They also filled out questionnaires about their attitudes toward pain. In the tests, the triathletes identified pain just as well as non-athletes, but they perceived it as less intense and were able to withstand it longer. The researchers explained that the triathletes reported fearing and worrying less about pain, which could help explain their higher tolerance. (Ani)
They also showed a better ability to inhibit pain than non-athletes, as measured by conditioned pain modulation- the degree to which the body eases one pain in response to another.
Another explanation could be that they have taught their bodies to respond powerfully to painful stimuli through their intense training.
The researchers said that their study- along with existing literature- suggests that psychology and physiology together enable triathletes to do what they do.
The study is published in the journal Pain. (ANI)
