Thursday, March 11, 2010

“Elderly fallers in Wii Fit study (BBC News)” plus 3 more

“Elderly fallers in Wii Fit study (BBC News)” plus 3 more

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Elderly fallers in Wii Fit study (BBC News)

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 06:13 AM PST

Elderly people in Essex who suffer from recurrent falls are to take part in a study to find out if using games consoles can improve their balance.

Essex University and Colchester Hospital University Foundation Trust will ask patients to use Nintendo Wii Fit as part of their physiotherapy.

The university hopes "having fun" will encourage greater take-up of rehabilitative exercises.

The Wii Fit teaches exercise routines and records each user's progress.

It focuses on balance and has been described by the university as a great research tool.

Quality of life

The research is being lead by Dr Murray Griffin and Dr Matthew Taylor of the Department of Biological Sciences.

Colchester General Hospital, which will assist with the study, teaches techniques to to help people who fall often to address the problem.

'It is all about improving their quality of life and wellbeing so they have more confidence,' explained Dr Griffin.

'As many people think the Wii is fun, we are hoping more people will do the exercises.

"If compliance goes up it can have a positive effect on incidences of falling."



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Research sheds light on the inner workings of the inflammatory response to Leishmaniasis (EurekAlert!)

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 05:27 PM PST

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 11-Mar-2010
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Contact: James Reed
jr576@york.ac.uk
44-019-044-32029
Public Library of Science

The secret world of inflammation is slowly being revealed by the application of advanced techniques in microscopy, as shown in a study published March 12 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens. Researchers at the Hull York Medical School and the University of York used 2-photon microscopy to identify how killer T lymphocytes behaved when they enter sites of inflammation caused by the parasite Leishmania donovani, and which infected cells they were able to recognise.

Leishmaniasis is a globally important but neglected disease, affecting approximately two million people every year. For most people, infection results in a slow-to-heal skin ulcer. In others, however, the parasite targets the liver, spleen and bone marrow, leading to over 70,000 deaths annually.

The Leishmania parasite is eventually contained by a characteristic type of inflammatory response that forms cellular structures called 'granulomas'. Little is known about the inner workings of these granulomas, in spite of their occurrence in other human diseases, from tuberculosis to rheumatoid arthritis.

The York-based research team used an advanced laser-based microscopy technique, called '2-photon imaging', to view the inner workings of the granuloma in mice infected with Leishmania. This enabled them to study how killer lymphocytes, such as those that can be induced by vaccination, are able to enter into the granulomas, penetrate deep into the core of the structure and seek out specific types of parasite-infected cells.

Although this technique can not be used currently for the study of inflammatory disease in humans, the insights provided into the biology of granulomas and the hidden world of inflammation should help to improve vaccines and drugs, and allow researchers to now construct in silico models for this type of inflammatory process.

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (#077503 to DFS; #084534 to PMK and AK) and the U.K. Medical Research Council (G0400786 to PMK). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

COMPETING INTERESTS: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

PLEASE ADD THIS LINK TO THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1000805 (link will go live upon embargo lift)

CITATION: Beattie L, Peltan A, Maroof A, Kirby A, Brown N, et al. (2010) Dynamic Imaging of Experimental Leishmania donovani-Induced Hepatic Granulomas Detects Kupffer Cell-Restricted Antigen Presentation to Antigen-Specific CD8+ T Cells. PLoS Pathog 6(3): e1000805. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1000805


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2 types of doctors differ in training (Honolulu Advertiser)

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 07:34 AM PST

Q. What's the difference between a naturopathic doctor and a medical doctor? What kind of medicine is each type of doctor best at, and what distinguishes naturopathic medicine from conventional medicine?

A. Both naturopathic doctors and medical doctors are licensed physicians who diagnose and treat disease. The difference between the two begins with their training. Both are required to study the same core medical sciences and diagnostic techniques, but their training diverges sharply when it comes to the study of therapeutics — methods of treating disease and restoring health.

Although naturopathic medical students receive training in pharmaceutical drugs, their education focuses mainly on treating and preventing a wide range of conditions with nontoxic, natural therapies — such as botanical medicine, nutrition, vitamin therapy, hormone balancing, structural adjustments, homeopathy, lifestyle modification and more. The training of medical doctors, on the other hand, focuses to a much greater extent on acute care and symptom management through the use of pharmaceutical drugs and surgery for a broad variety of health problems.

As a result of this key educational difference, naturopathic doctors generally prescribe therapies and procedures designed to stimulate your body's natural ability to heal itself, whereas medical doctors tend to prescribe pharmaceutical drugs for numerous conditions.

The two approaches reflect different philosophies regarding health and the role of medications in your life. Naturopathic doctors believe drugs should be avoided whenever possible because they can mask your symptoms without treating your underlying problem, and may have harmful side-effects. The naturopathic doctor aims to prescribe the least-toxic, least-invasive means of creating health in your body, and empower you with ways of staying well.

As primary-care physicians, naturopathic doctors are highly trained in preventive care. They excel at helping you identify and treat the underlying causes of conditions like hormone imbalances, immune deficiencies, digestive problems such as irritable bowel syndrome, autoimmune conditions, joint pain, rashes, migraines, body aches, chronic fatigue, vaginitis and many other conditions.

Some medical doctors are primary-care physicians, but most specialize in a particular area. Medical doctors excel in situations that require pharmaceutical or surgical intervention — such as if a patient suffers a heart attack, has a broken bone, needs chemotherapy, requires major surgery, needs pharmaceutical pain management or needs a drug to stop a major infection. Medical doctors are invaluable in emergency situations.

Laurie Steelsmith is a naturopathic physician and licensed acupuncturist in Honolulu, as well as author of "Natural Choices for Women's Health." See www.DrSteelsmith.com.

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Massage no better at beating stress than deep breathing and soft music (Daily Telegraph)

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 11:49 PM PST

By Heidi Blake
Published: 7:30AM GMT 11 Mar 2010

People who lay taking deep breaths in a dimly lit room with soft music emerged just as relaxed as those who underwent massages or sessions of thermotherapy, in which their arms and legs were wrapped with warm towels, researchers found.

While all three methods are equally effective at easing anxiety, simple relaxation techniques can be practised at home for free, whereas massage and thermotherapy sessions can cost £90 an hour.

Scientists at the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle said the feeling of relaxation people experience during a massage could be a product of the soothing music played during the session, rather than the treatment itself.

During the study, 68 patients suffering from anxiety were split into groups and given 10 sessions of one of the three forms of alternative therapy.

All three treatments were conducted in a dimly-lit room with soft music, and participants were instructed to breath deeply to help them relax.

Unlike the two control treatments, the massage was specifically designed to enhance the function of the parasympathetic nervous system, which controls muscle contraction, and relieve symptoms of anxiety including knotted muscles.

When asked by researchers to rate their anxiety levels after the sessions, all three of the groups said their symptoms had decreased by about 40 per cent by the end of the 12-week treatment period — and by about 50 per cent three months later.

As well as a decline in anxiety levels, patients reported fewer symptoms of depression and less worry and general disability.

Karen Sherman, a senior researcher at the Seattle-based health co-operative, said: "We were surprised to find that the benefits of massage were no greater than those of the same number of sessions of 'thermotherapy' or listening to relaxing music.

"This suggests that the benefits of massage may be due to a generalised relaxation response.

"Treatment in a relaxing room is much less expensive than the other treatments like massage or thermotherapy, so it might be the most cost-effective option for people with generalised anxiety disorder who want to try a relaxation-oriented complementary medicine therapy."

The findings were published in the journal Depression and Anxiety.

Massage is among the most popular forms of alternative therapy for anxiety and practitioners claim it decreases tension in the muscles and improves blood circulation.

But scientists at the University of Ontario in Canada claimed last year that massage actually cuts blood circulation to the muscles and hinders the removal of lactic acids by as much as 25 per cent.

Proponents of the treatment say it is impossible to measure the its benefits because of wide variations in the techniques used and the ability of practitioners.

Thermotherapy is designed to ease muscle tension by intermittently wrapping hot pads and towels around the arms and legs, while relaxation therapy simply involves lying down and breathing deeply with mood music in playing in the background.

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