Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label new research

How 'amazing' is the migraine jab?

Today may be a normal day for all of us, we get up to go to work, university or school and carry out our daily routine… but this is most of us - not all of us. We may be the lucky ones who have not been cursed with dreaded migraines, causing the most unfortunate of us to seek refuge in our bedrooms like owls who only appear during the night. Robyn*, a migraine sufferer has seen her mother and her auntie go through a difficult time with migraines and at the age of 40, she became a victim herself. On the days she yearned to be outside, sociable, proactive, she was imprisoned in a dark room, no sound, no lights and no smells (they all make her headaches worse and make her throw up). She’s tried a lot of medications, none seem to at least shorten the time period that the dark cloud takes over.  But now, thanks to science, she may be able to experience a brighter future. This is because of a new advancement in migraine history. The first migraine drug to prove successful in 20 years

We have a new organ in our bodies!

Doesn't that sound crazy? After years of research, scientists have discovered that we have a new organ in our bodies. You'd think that with all of the dissections of the human body over 100 years of anatomy study, that we would know everything about the human body by now, but no! There is still more to learn and I wonder what else do we not know about our bodies? The new organ is located in our digestive system, specifically connecting the abdomen and intestines and it looks like this and it's called the MESENTERY: Image courtesy of The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology and Science Alert For hundreds of years, the mesentery had been considered a fragmented structure made up of multiple separate parts. However, research by Professor of Surgery at UL’s Graduate Entry Medical School, J Calvin Coffey, found the mesentery is one, continuous structure. J Calvin Coffey, University of Limerick  said: “In the paper, which has been peer reviewed and assessed,

Women are less likely to get the flu than men, thanks to Estrogen

This blog post was previously titled: Females are less prone to influenza than males, thanks to Estrogen.  E strogen and its derivatives have been found to protect against respiratory infections such as influenza, in females more than males. This new study was published in the American Journal of Physiology-- Lung Cellular and Physiology. A virus usually works/makes you ill by invading a cell in your body and making and replicating itself within the host cell. After being released from the host cell, the virus can go on to infect other cells in the body and also other people.   The less a virus replicates, the less severe the infection and the lower the risk it will be spread onto other people. The researchers used human nasal epithelial cells (hNECs) from male and female donors- which are the main cells which the flu virus targets - and exposed the nasal cells to  17β-estradiol   (i.e estrogen) or select estrogen modulators (SERMs) (these include natural and synthetic comp

Reversing Type 2 Diabetes Just by Losing Weight

Its not easy living with type 2 diabetes and regulating your own blood sugar levels, through diet and exercise. Around 9% of the worlds population live with type 2 diabetes, with 80% coming from poor background and developing countries and it is now being found in young adults and children, after it was renowned for being as an "adult-onset" disease. Type 2 diabetes c auses too much glucose in the blood due to the pancreas not producing enough insulin -- a hormone which breaks down glucose into energy in the cells -- together with insulin resistance, a condition in which the body responds poorly to insulin. The scientific team at  Newcastle  university  found  that by reducing the fat accumulating in the pancreas, even only one gram of fat, via  weight  loss can reverse diabetes.  Via bariatric surgery   In the clinical trials, 18 people with Type 2 diabetes and 9 people who did not have diabetes were measured for weight, fat levels in the pancreas and i

Stem Cells Do What They Do Because They Discriminate

Stem cells are the clean slates of the human body. They're the cells (usually found in bone marrow) that are stored till they have a significant job. Stem cells remain stem cells until they need to differentiate into a specific type of cell i.e  a heart cell, a kidney cell or even a skin cell. New research goes into the way stem cells differentiate and what goes into the process. The study (conducted by the Institute of Biotechnology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)) suggests that asymmetric apportioning of old cellular components during cell division may represent an anti-aging mechanism utilized by stem cells. They focus on tissue stem cells, that continuously renew our tissues which divide asymmetrically to produce 2 types of daughter cells: one a new stem cell, the second one will become the differentiating cell of a tissue. Stem cells undergo this technique to prevent cellular damage. Extra damage can cause stem cell fatigue and less tissue regeneration an

The Newest Way to Get Rid of Acne & Spots

It is everyone’s desire to have beautiful, clear skin but sometimes that’s not always possible. Especially in our teenage years spots start to appear and if you’re really unlucky it turns into acne.  Although acne can take a long time to go away, there are lot of treatments for it available today; and here’s the newest, method of acne treatment & prevention. Pimples form when follicles get blocked by sebum, an oily, waxy substance secreted by sebaceous glands located adjacent to the follicle. Excretion of sebum is a natural process and functions to lubricate and waterproof the skin. Occasionally, however, the openings of the follicles (pores) get blocked, typically by bits of hair, skin, dirt or other debris mixed in with the sebum. Overproduction of sebum is also a problem, which can be caused by hormones or medications. Changes in the skin, such as its thickening during puberty, can also contribute to follicle blockage. Whatever the cause, the accumulating sebum holds bact