FDA Campaign Warns Consumers About Risks of Online Pharmacies

On Friday, FDA launched a new national campaign -- called BeSafeRx -- and an accompanying website to educate U.S. residents about the prevalence of fraudulent online pharmacies that sell counterfeit medications that could be harmful or fatal, the AP/Boston Globe reports.
FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said the new campaign's goal is to "increase awareness" and encourage individuals to "use appropriate [online] pharmacies."
The initiative -- which involves the collaboration of several federal agencies and departments -- was developed amid growing evidence that consumers increasingly are shopping for their medications online in an effort to save time and costs.

However, many of the drugs disbursed by pharmacies have been found to have numerous defects. For example, they might be:

• Contaminated;
• Expired;
• Contain no active ingredient; or
• Include the wrong amount of an active ingredient.

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, which represents state pharmacy boards, said it found that just 3% of the thousands of online pharmacies it reviewed follow state and federal laws.

Details of the Website

The campaign's website, FDA.gov/BeSafeRx, provides consumers with a list of the few dozen pharmacies that it has verified as legitimate and following the rules, such as requiring a valid doctor's prescription for medicine and having licensed pharmacists available to answer questions.

The site also offers tips on how to identify illegal pharmacies, links to state databases of licensed pharmacies and explanations of the dangers of using rogue online pharmacies.

In addition to sending fake drugs to consumers, illegal online pharmacies could:

• Infect consumers' computers with viruses;
• Sell consumers' personal or financial data to other rogue websites; or
• Charge consumers for products they never ordered or received (Johnson, AP/Boston Globe, 9/28).

Animals suspected in spread of new virus

LONDON (AP) — Britain's Health Protection Agency has published an early genetic sequence of the new respiratory virus related to SARS that shows it is most closely linked to bat viruses, and scientists say camels, sheep or goats might end up being implicated too.

So far, officials have only identified two confirmed cases and say the virus isn't as infectious as SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed hundreds of people, mostly in Asia, in a 2003 global outbreak.

In Geneva, World Health Organization spokesman Glenn Thomas told reporters Friday that so far the signs are that the virus is "not easily transmitted from person to person" — but analyses are ongoing. The agency said it's too early to tell how big a threat the new virus will be since it is unknown how exactly it spreads and whether it will evolve into a more dangerous form.

Global health officials suspect two victims from the Middle East may have caught it from animals.

"It's a logical possibility to consider any animals present in the region in large numbers," said Ralph Baric, a coronavirus expert at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Biologists now need to go into the area and take samples from any animals they can get their hands on, including camels and goats," he said. Baric said it was crucial to find out how widespread the virus is in animals and what kind of contact might be risky for people.

Baric suggested bats might be spreading the virus directly to humans since the two confirmed infections happened months apart. "If there was an established transmission pattern from other animals, we probably would have seen a lot more cases," he said.

WHO said it is considering the possibility the new coronavirus sickened humans after direct contact with animals. The agency is now working with experts in the Middle East to figure out how the two confirmed cases got infected but could not share details until the investigation was finished.

One patient was a Saudi Arabian man who died several months ago while the other is a Qatari national who traveled to Saudi Arabia before falling ill and is currently in critical but stable condition in a London hospital.

Earlier this week, WHO issued a global alert asking doctors to be on guard for any potential cases of the new respiratory virus, which also causes kidney failure.

Saudi officials have already warned that next month's annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage, which brings millions to Saudi Arabia from all around the world, could allow the virus to spread. As a precautionary measure, they are advising pilgrims to keep their hands clean and wear masks in crowded places.

Experts said knowing where a virus comes from provides clues on how to stop it.

"This means we could prevent the fire before it starts instead of rushing towards it with fire trucks and water hoses afterwards," said Michael Osterholm, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Minnesota.

Osterholm said it was possible bats had simply passed on the virus from other animals and that there could be a complicated transmission chain that ultimately ended in humans.

Viruses reproduce as they infect animals and people, giving them more chances to evolve into a deadlier version.

"We don't know enough about coronaviruses to predict which mutations might make them more lethal or transmissible," Osterholm said. "But you don't want to tempt genetic fate with microbes because you're bound to lose most times."

____

Michael Casey in Dubai and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.

New 'Sars-like' not easily transmitted says WHO

A new respiratory illness - from the same family as the Sars virus - appears not to spread easily, experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) say.

A Qatari man, 49, with the virus is being treated in London. The first person known to have had it, in Saudi Arabia, died.

The WHO said on Friday that it appeared the new virus "cannot be easily transmitted from person to person."

The Sars virus, which emerged in China in 2002, killed hundreds of people.

Both Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and the new, un-named, virus - as well as the common cold virus - belong to the coronavirus family

But this new virus is different from any coronaviruses previously identified in humans.

Both of the patients known to have had the virus experienced kidney failure.

 

Zoonotic

The WHO said it would continue to monitor the situation but was not recommending any travel restrictions for Saudi Arabia or Qatar.

However it said it was working closely with Saudi authorities in advance of the forthcoming Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

The WHO also announced diagnostic tests were being developed by scientists around the world as quickly as possible.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), which monitors disease in the European Union, said initial findings suggested the virus may have originated in animals - diseases known as zoonotic.

Writing in the journal Eurosurveillance, they said: "It is quite probably of zoonotic origin and different in behaviour to Sars."

The rise of clean teeth

 

• History of teeth-cleaning reaches as far back as 5000 BC, when Egyptians made tooth powder with ox hooves, myrrh, powdered and burnt eggshells, and pumice
• Romans and Greeks also used tooth powder but added crushed bones and oyster shells
• Toothpowder became available in England in 18th Century and included abrasive substances such as brick dust, crushed china, earthenware and cuttlefish
• Bicarbonate of soda used for basis of most toothpowders and the poor applied this directly with fingers
• William Addis credited with making first toothbrush in 1780 made from cattle bones and wild boar hair
• First synthetic toothbrush developed in 1930s America

A Point Of View: Mouthing off

Modern society is on the hunt for better teeth, but what is it that makes our pearly whites so alluring, asks Sarah Dunant. 

For moneyed Americans, perfect dentistry is a matter of course. When they venture out to local markets or mix with the older Florentines in bars or cafes I suspect they are taken aback by how other people's mouths don't come up to their standard.

Probably they don't register how we (I include myself - for my teeth are a more European affair) - stare at them in similar disbelief.

It's partly that we outnumber them. Not only in the present. The artistic revolution that marked Florence as the cauldron of the Renaissance covered its walls with vibrant images of its citizens; an unprecedented commentary of life and looks 500 years ago.

Inside the excuse of Biblical stories you meet all manner of Florentines, young, old, important, unknown, rich, poor, beautiful and ugly. But when it comes to open-mouthed smiles there are almost none on display. 

The acme of female beauty around this time was golden hair, dark eyes, lily-white skin and rose or pomegranate lips. Teeth if mentioned are tiny pearls glimpsed under the upper lip.
The most reproduced woman of Western art, Mary, mother of God, never really opens her mouth at all, even when a miracle is happening.

In Renaissance art, the annunciation - a moment where some joy might seem in order - is actually a study of a woman's complex emotional, spiritual journey: fear, incomprehension, wonder and quiet acceptance. To crack a big smile would be - well - too forward.

In portraits of ordinary men and women, smiles are equally rare. Being recorded for posterity was a serious business.

We could do a whole point of view on Mona Lisa's teasing little pout (Giorgio Vasari, 50 years later and not always reliable, writes that Da Vinci, while he was painting her "employed singers and musicians to keep her full of merriment".)

 

 Mary is not often pictured smiling, even when witnessing miracles

More telling perhaps are the Venuses that follow her. After Botticelli come an army of bathing, sleeping, lounging beauties covered only by their hair and then not even by that. Titian's famous Venus of Urbino, is brash enough to stare directly out from the canvas making eye contact - clearly modesty had its limits. Her lips however stay compressed.

I know what you're thinking. Tooth decay. Bad breath. They don't show their teeth in the past, because they all went black and fell out early.

Well, certainly there is some truth in that. Recipes for preserving and whitening teeth are everywhere, everyone from Hildegard of Bingen to Nostradamus - fennel, lovage, mint, rubbing with salt and sage, rinsing with alcohol, all have recognisable elements of modern mouth hygiene, though pulverising crystal, marble, glass, cuttlefish bone, fragmented pearls and riverbed stones into a paste makes one doubt Nostradamus' accuracy in others area of prediction. 

The first recognisable manufactured toothbrush arrives in Europe in the late 18th century, and proper toothpaste only really gets going after the Second World War.

But before we get too smug about modernity, we should factor in that it was the arrival of sugar as part of everyday diet that really accelerated rot. Forget whiteness and start contemplating the exquisite agony of toothache.

History again was on our side. The first ever public surgery using anaesthetic took place in 1846 in Boston general hospital (in a theatre now known as the ether dome). The procedure? The removal of a tumour in the neck. The surgeon: a dentist.

Back for a moment to those mouths of the past. Because that coyness when it comes to teeth - certainly female - is rich in subtext. The image of toothy open mouths - smiling or not - denote something - well something more predatory and sexual.

Let me be elliptically crude for a moment.

Think Chaucer's wife of Bath: large hips, scarlet stockings, a string of husbands and - very important - gap teeth: a sure sign to other pilgrims of possible lasciviousness.

Then there is that most dangerous of all women in mythology, Medusa. So horribly lovely - wild writhing snakes for hair - that she can only be safely viewed - and slaughtered - by reflection. Images of Medusa's decapitated head - from classical Greek through the great masters are unmissable: gaping mouth, teeth bared in violent fury.

 

The Wife of Bath: "God bad us for to wexe and multiplye"

Think Vampires - always most alluring in the body of lovely young women eager to test their canines on a male neck. Or the even more potent myth of vagina dentata - I trust you can manage that translation - the ultimate male nightmare which so continues to fascinate and appal that only few years ago it surfaced again in a rather splendid independent American movie - half comedy, half horror.

And finally imagine, if you will, those images of Monica Lewinsky that sped around the world: the young eager intern, flowing dark locks and wide generous mouth rising up from the crowd to greet the President of America, a man she would be happy to serve in whatever way she could.
Whether we are discussing the past or the present, the open smiling female mouth, carries with it definite psychosexual power.

How even more fascinating then to remember that perfect American teeth arrived during what masquerades as the chirpiest, cleanest decade of all - the 1950's. What provoked it? Well, certainly Americans were brushing more - GI's brought the institutionalised habit back from the army.

 

 Mitzi Gaynor was renowned both for her smile and her hair-washing abilities

But it's more than that. There is also the rise and rise of the Kodak camera (say "cheese") and arrival of Technicolor.

Think of the change from black and white dustbowl images of American men and women, blackened teeth and blank eyes staring into no future to that cinematic Doris Day smile, or more precisely the all American girl Mitzi Gaynor "washing that man right out of her hair" amid the technically enhanced colours of South Pacific, and you have a cultural shift as dazzling as the teeth that proclaimed it.
Post-war American optimism: the house, the car, the kids, the wife and the teeth to match the fridge doors behind her.

Here in Britain, with dentistry hanging on the tails of the NHS it was all a bit more hit and miss. Many baby boomers had some brush (I refuse to apologise for the word) with orthodontics.

trampolines are a danger to kids

US doctors say children should be discouraged from using trampolines because they are a health hazard.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) estimates that almost 98,000 people are injured each year in the US on trampolines and many of these are children.

UK safety experts say recreational trampoline use is growing in popularity and related injuries are on the rise.

But they say trampolining can be a healthy way to exercise and good fun.

 

The renewed advice from the AAP says paediatricians need to "actively discourage" recreational trampoline use.

Dr Michele LaBotz, who co-authored the AAP report said: "Families need to know that many injuries occur on the mat itself, and current data do not appear to demonstrate that netting or padding significantly decrease the risk of injury."

The researchers found that most injuries occur when more than one person is on a trampoline.
Children under five are more likely to suffer serious injury, with 48% of injuries in this group resulting in fractures and dislocations.

Some injuries may even be fatal - failed attempts at somersaults and flips frequently cause cervical spine injuries, resulting in permanent and devastating consequences, says the AAP.
 

Supervision

 
But the UK's Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa) says trampolining can be enjoyed safely if a few simple rules are followed.

For example, put the trampoline on a softer surface like the lawn rather than concrete and consider using safety netting.

"But a safety net is not a substitute for adult supervision," a spokesman added.

More than half of all trampoline accidents occur while children are being watched by an adult, but using trained supervisors can greatly reduce this risk, says Rospa.

Latest UK figures show that, in 2002, 11,500 people in the UK ended up in hospital after a trampoline accident - an increase of more than 50% in five years.

Non-addictive, 'heroin-like' medicine may soon crush major depression

What could easily be the most important advance in the pharmacologic treatment of major depression and anxiety disorders is now unfolding.

A new investigational drug, currently known as ALKS 5461, could deliver all the mood-enhancing and anxiety-lowering effects that lead people to use opiates like heroin and Oxycontin—without the potential for getting high or addicted. That’s right: ALKS 5461 could be a non-abusable, non-addictive heroin-like compound.

ALKS 5461 is actually a combination of two molecules. The first is buprenorphine, which is already used to provide some of the benefits of opiates, without many of the worst side effects, allowing people to get off of street drugs (as an alternative to methadone). The second molecule is now known as ALKS 33—and that’s the magic part.

ALKS 33 interferes with the binding of buprenorphine to the receptors that are involved in making people feel euphoric. Those are the receptors also involved in getting people to crave opiates like alcoholics crave alcohol.

In a double-blind, placebo controlled study (meaning, the participants had no idea whether they were getting ALKS 5461 or a sugar pill), ALKS 5461 was rapidly effective in relieving symptoms in 32 patients with major depression. All 32 patients responded to the medicine—with results evident by seven days.

What’s more, all of them had failed to respond adequately to traditional antidepressants like Prozac or Effexor.

Ultimately, I believe ALKS 5461 could revolutionize the pharmacologic treatment of major depression and panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

It should come as no surprise that ALKS 5461 is the brainchild of scientists at Alkermes Pharmaceuticals, the same company, which invented and markets Vivitrol, a monthly injection that can take away the “high” of using alcohol and street drugs—and in my opinion, ought to be something that every family member of every addict clamors to get their loved one to take.

If ALKS 5461 comes to market (and I believe it will), then that scourge we call major depression will be dealt a massive blow. It will still be imperative to use insight-oriented psychotherapy to get to the bottom of what unique psychological issues have fueled each person’s depression, but that should be easier—not harder—when folks aren’t struggling just to get out of bed and over to their psychiatrists’ offices.

Weight training: Do's and don'ts of proper technique

Effective weight training depends on proper technique. Follow these do's and don'ts to maximize your weight training program. 

You don't have to be a bodybuilder or professional athlete to reap the benefits of weight training. When done correctly, weight training can help you lose fat, increase your strength and muscle tone, and improve your bone density. If done incorrectly, however, weight training won't give you these benefits — and may even lead to injury.

Check your technique

You might learn weight training techniques by watching friends or others in the gym — but sometimes what you see isn't safe. Incorrect weight training technique can lead to sprains, strains, fractures and other painful injuries that may hamper your weight training efforts.
If you're just getting started, work with a knowledgeable weight training specialist — a physical therapist, athletic trainer or other fitness specialist who's familiar with proper weight training technique. If you've been using weights for a while, consider scheduling time with a trainer to demonstrate your technique and identify any changes you may need to make.

Weight training do's

When you're weight training, do:

• Lift an appropriate amount of weight. Start with a weight you can lift comfortably 12 to 15 times. For most people, a single set of 12 repetitions with the proper weight can build strength just as efficiently as can three sets of the same exercise. As you get stronger, gradually increase the amount of weight.
• Use proper form. Learn to do each exercise correctly. The better your form, the better your results — and the less likely you are to hurt yourself. If you're unable to maintain good form, decrease the weight or the number of repetitions. Remember that proper form matters even when you pick up and replace your weights on the weight racks. If you're not sure whether you're doing a particular exercise correctly, ask a personal trainer or other fitness specialist for help.
• Breathe. You might be tempted to hold your breath while you're lifting weights. Don't. Holding your breath can lead to dangerous increases in blood pressure. Instead, breathe out as you lift the weight and breathe in as you lower the weight.
• Seek balance. Work all of your major muscles — abdominals, legs, chest, back, shoulders and arms. Strengthen the opposing muscles in a balanced way, such as the front of the shoulder and the back of the shoulder.
• Rest. Avoid exercising the same muscles two days in a row. You might work all of your major muscle groups at a single session two or three times a week, or plan daily sessions for specific muscle groups. For example, on Monday work your arms and shoulders, on Tuesday work your legs, and so on.

Weight training don'ts

When you're weight training, don't:

• Skip your warm-up. Cold muscles are more prone to injury than are warm muscles. Before you lift weights, warm up with five to 10 minutes of brisk walking or other aerobic activity.
• Rush. Move the weight in an unhurried, controlled fashion. Taking it slow helps you isolate the muscles you want to work and keeps you from relying on momentum to lift the weight.
• Overdo it. For most people, completing one set of exercises to the point of fatigue is typically enough. Additional sets may only eat up your time and contribute to overload injury.
• Work through the pain. If an exercise causes pain, stop. Try it again in a few days or try it with less weight.
• Forget your shoes. Shoes with good traction can keep you from slipping while you're lifting weights.

Remember, the more you concentrate on proper weight training technique, the more you'll get from your weight training program.

 

Fix Your Form: How To Use The Assisted Pull-Up Machine

If you don't know your way around a weight room, heading to the gym can be intimidating -- and even dangerous. But paying attention to a few simple rules of proper technique can make you slimmer, stronger and healthier all over.

We spent an afternoon at Equinox with trainer and manager Rebecca Woll, learning the ins and outs of some of the most popular strength-training machines.
In the coming weeks, we'll be sharing Woll's thoughts on the biggest mistakes we all make while building muscle, plus her tips and tricks for better form. This week, we're perfecting the assisted pull-up
.
The Faux Pas: "The assisted pull-up machine works the same muscle groups as the lat pulldown, however you're standing up, so you need to fire more muscles," says Woll. If you don't do so correctly, though, you'll find yourself drifting backwards as you pull yourself up. "That's really common," says Woll, as is allowing the elbows to pop out as you reach the top of the machine and the shoulders to scrunch up toward the ears.

The Fix: Keep the chin tucked as you pull yourself up. Concentrate on moving forward through the movement, says Woll. (The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, after all, she points out.) Allow the elbows to move only slightly away from the body at the top of the machine and remember to keep the shoulders back and down.Tell us how it goes in the comments below, and be sure to check back over the following weeks to fix your form on the row machine, the seated fly and more.

Bizarre tumor case may lead to custom cancer care

It's a medical nightmare:.
 a 24-year-old man endures 350 surgeries since childhood to remove growths that keep coming back in his throat and have spread to his lungs, threatening his life. Now doctors have found a way to help him by way of a scientific coup that holds promise for millions of cancer patients. The bizarre case is the first use in a patient of a new discovery: how to keep ordinary and cancerous cells alive indefinitely in the lab.

 

 

Dr. Richard Schlegel, left, and research associate Aleksandra Dakic in his laboratory at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington in 2008. Georgetown University, via The Associated Press

 

The discovery allows doctors to grow "mini tumors" from each patient's cancer in a lab dish, then test various drugs or combinations on them to see which works best. It takes only a few cells from a biopsy and less than two weeks to do, with materials and methods common in most hospitals.

Although the approach needs much more testing against many different types of cancer, researchers think it could offer a cheap, simple way to personalize treatment without having to analyze each patient's genes.

"We see a lot of potential for it," said one study leader, Dr. Richard Schlegel, pathology chief at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington. "Almost everyone could do it easily."

An independent expert agreed.

For infections, it's routine to grow bacteria from a patient in lab dishes to see which antibiotics work best, Dr. George Q. Daley of Children's Hospital Boston and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute said in an email. "But this has never been possible with cancer cells because they don't easily grow in culture," he said.

The new technique may reveal in advance whether a person would be helped by a specific chemotherapy, without risking side effects and lost time if the drug doesn't work. "Pretty nifty," Daley wrote.

In the case of the 24-year-old, described in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, lab-dish tests suggested that a drug used to treat a type of blood cancer and some other unrelated conditions might help.

It's not a drug that doctors would have thought to try, because the man technically does not have cancer. But his lung tumor shrank after a few months of treatment, and he has been stable for more than a year. He still has to have operations to remove throat growths that keep coming back, but only about once every five months.

The man, an information technology specialist in suburban Washington who asked to remain anonymous to protect his privacy, has recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, or RRP. It's usually due to infection at birth with certain types of a virus, HPV, that causes genital warts.


The condition causes wartlike growths in the throat, usually around the voice box. These growths usually are noncancerous but can turn malignant, and even benign ones can prove fatal if they spread to the lungs. The main treatment is surgery, usually with lasers to vaporize the growths and keep them from choking off the airway or making it hard to talk.

About 10,000 or more people in the U.S. have the disease, said Jennifer Woo, president of the RRP Foundation. Woo, 29, is a medical student at Georgetown and one of the researchers on the study. She also has the condition but said it is confined to her throat and has required only about 20 surgeries so far.

The man in the study has a much more serious case.

"I was diagnosed when I was 3 or 4. At first, I had to have surgery every 7 to 10 days," the man said in a phone interview. "I get short of breath and my voice will get more hoarse."

Two years ago, the growths to his lungs became extensive and life-threatening, and his physician, Dr. Scott Myers, described the condition at a meeting of Georgetown hospital specialists. "It's crushing the airway," Myers said.

Doctors suggested that the new lab method pioneered by Schlegel and others might help. It borrows an idea from stem cell researchers: adding mouse cells for nourishment, plus a chemical that prevents cell death to an ordinary lab culture medium. That enabled healthy and cancerous cells to keep growing indefinitely.

Researchers grew "mini tumors" from the man's lung mass and from healthy tissue and screened various drugs against them. One proved ineffective. Another worked against the tumor but at too high a dose to be safe. The third did the trick.
.
A similar approach could let doctors screen drugs for cancer patients.

"What could be more personalized than taking this person's cell, growing it in culture, finding a drug to treat them and then treat them?" said Doug Melton, co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. The Georgetown method gives an answer quickly enough that it could save lives, he said.

Tyler Jacks, a cancer researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former president of the American Association for Cancer Research, said the next step is to show that this could work for many different cancers and that it leads to better outcomes in patients.

The National Institutes of Health paid for much of this work and has already sent research teams to Georgetown to learn the method. About a dozen other universities have done the same, Schlegel said.
So far, his lab has grown prostate, breast, lung and colon cancer cells.
Georgetown University is seeking a patent on the method.

Marilynn Marchione of The Associated Press wrote this report. Malcolm Ritter contributed from New York.

African mice give clue to 'self-repairing skin'

“‘Scar free healing’ in mice may give clues to human skin repair,” BBC News has reported. The broadcaster says that scientists are interested in figuring out “how the healing takes place and if it could apply to people”.

While some species are known to be able to regenerate their skin and, in some cases, entire body parts, it is thought that this ability is limited in mammals. However, the researchers who carried out this study had heard reports that a particular mouse called the African spiny mouse does have this ability.

The researchers trapped a number of these mice in central Kenya and took them to a laboratory for further testing. They found that the mice have skin that tears away easily, enabling them to escape predators. The mice regenerate the lost skin, and even grow new hair, instead of forming a scar.

The study challenges some of the conventional wisdom surrounding wound healing and regenerative processes in mammals. It is hoped that new understanding of these biological processes could lead to new treatments for skin damage, scalding and burns in humans. But this research is at a very early stage and whether these processes will one day help the regeneration of human tissue remains to be seen.

Where did the story come from?

The study was carried out by researchers from the Universities of Florida, Wyoming and Nairobi. No information regarding the funding was listed in the publication.

The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature.

This research was covered quite appropriately by the media, with the BBC being careful to emphasise that “working out what is happening and then trying to transfer the findings to people is likely to be a long journey”.

What kind of research was this?

This was an animal study that examined the wound healing ability of a specific type of mouse, called the African spiny mouse.

Several animals are able to lose (or ‘autotomise’) sections of tissue or whole limbs in order to escape capture by predators. After this tissue is lost, it is either:

• replaced through regeneration (as when salamanders – a type of lizard – regrow limbs), or
• is gone for good with a scar forming to seal the wound (as seen in most mammals)

This research looked at an unusual example of a mammal – the African spiny mouse – which is capable of regenerating lost tissue instead of simply forming a scar over the wound.

What did the research involve?

The researchers first set out to confirm anecdotal evidence (unverified ‘word-of-mouth’ reports) that the African spiny mouse does indeed autotomise its skin to evade predators. Once they had done this, they then examined the healing properties of these wounds, studying how quickly they healed as well as the processes involved. They also examined exactly how the tissue regenerated.

While most adult mammals are unable to regenerate skin and associated tissue after being injured, previous studies have shown that a few animals (including rabbits) are able to do so. To see if the African spiny mice exhibited the same capability, the researchers punched 4mm holes in the ears of the mice, and examined what types of tissues were regenerated.

What were the basic results?

The researchers found that handling of the African spiny mice often led to the tearing away of skin from the back, resulting in large open wounds. These wounds ranged from small areas to the loss of nearly 60% of the skin from the back. The researchers found that these wounds healed quickly, and that the mouse’s characteristic spiny hairs regrew as well, completely covering the wound.

When examining the wound healing process, the researchers found that, as with wound healing in other mammals, a scab formed quickly and bleeding stopped. However, new cells called epithelial cells formed on top of the wound after three days, more quickly than seen in other adult mammals. Also, as is seen in other rodents, the wound healed mainly by contracting, or shrinking the wound size. After 17 days, 95% of the wound closure had been due to this contraction of the tissue.

This is unlike other species, in which a thick web of collagen is laid down over the wound in order to seal it off and protect the body from infection, resulting in scarring. Because the mouse skin healed so quickly, less collagen was deposited, resulting in no visible scarring.


When they examined tissue regeneration after the loss of skin from the back, the researchers found that new skin cells and hair follicles (the cells embedded in the skin, from which hairs grow) were also regenerated in the deposited sections of collagen.

The African spiny mice were able to regenerate the lost ear tissue, growing new skin, hair follicles, fat cells, muscle and cartilage instead of forming scars. This finding was similar to previous results in rabbits.

Finally, during the ear experiment, the researchers found evidence to suggest that the tissue regeneration was due to the formation of a blastema, which is a group of cells that are responsible for the regrowth of lost limbs in salamanders.

How did the researchers interpret the results?

The researchers say their results suggest that the African spiny mouse uses a balance of scarring and tissue regeneration in wound healing. They say this “indicates that mammals may have a higher capacity for regenerations than was previously believed”.

Conclusion

This was an early stage animal study that describes an unusual phenomenon in mammal wound healing and provides a basis for future studies. These studies are likely to investigate the molecular processes that underpin the skin and hair regeneration in the African spiny mouse.

The researchers say that future investigations will focus on how the mice are able to control scar formation, and that this may “shed light on how regeneration and scarring can be balanced in the face of infection and inflammation”. They also say that this should allow for further research into tissue regeneration in mammals, and that the African spiny mouse may prove quite useful in finding ways to promote tissue regeneration instead of scarring.

When the molecular pathways that underlie the wound healing processes seen in African spiny mice are more thoroughly understood, researchers may begin to study whether they can be applied to wound healing and regenerative medicine in people. However, it is likely to be a long time until this intriguing piece of research leads to medical applications.

Scar free healing' in mice may give clues to human skin repair, says study

Mice with brittle skin, which tears off in order to escape predators, may offer clues to healing wounds without scarring, according to US researchers.

 Some African spiny mice lost up to 60% of the skin from their backs, says the study published in the journal Nature.

Unlike wounds in other mammals, the skin then rapidly healed and regrew hairs rather than forming a scar.

Scientists want to figure out how the healing takes place and if it could apply to people.

Salamanders, some of which can regrow entire limbs, are famed for their regenerative abilities. It has made them the focus of many researchers hoping to figure out how to produce the same effect in people.

 Mammals, however, have very limited ability to regrow lost organs. Normally a scar forms to seal the wound."

This study shows that mammals as a group may in fact have higher regenerative abilities then they are given credit for," said Dr Ashley Seifert from the University of Florida.

Regeneration hub 

 As well as rapid skin healing, the mice were also able to heal large circular holes punched in their ears - they regenerated hair follicles, sweat glands and cartilage.

Tests showed the mice produced a "regeneration hub" known as a blastema in order to repair the injury. It is this bundle of stem cells that is also used by the salamander to rebuild missing body parts.

Dr Seifert told the BBC: "It is thought that one of the main constraints on regenerating appendages in humans, or mammals for that fact, is the failure to form a blastema."

He wants to investigate how the structure forms in these mice.

Another difference was in the web of proteins that holds cells in place - the extracellular matrix.

He said: "These mice appear to deposit extracellular matrix into their wounds at a slower rate than mice, pigs or humans.

"Although many scienctists are trying to speed up the healing process, our studies on spiny mice and salamanders show that slowing things down is the path towards regeneration."

 However, working out what is happening and then trying to transfer the findings to people is likely to be a long journey.

 Commenting on the study, Elly Tanaka, from the Technische University Dresden, said: "These studies suggest that the pathways leading to regeneration, at least of the skin, that are normally associated with amphibians are also accessible in mammals."

She added that harnessing the process "in a controlled manner in other wound situations may help to promote scarless healing.''

Popping pills for sleep may be bad for health

London: Popping pills to overcome insomnia may not be good for your health in the long run.

 For instance, eight out of 10 cases of insomnia were caused by underlying health problems, either physical or mental, that should be addressed, according to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Attempting to treat sleeplessness without tackling its root cause was potentially dangerous. Causes of insomnia can include asthma, heart disease, anxiety or depression, the society said.

 A survey of 2,077 adults found 51 percent of insomniacs had bought over-the-counter sleeping remedies without seeking advice from a doctor or pharmacist beforehand. Three in 10 said they had taken them for more than a month without advice, and a further 14 per cent for over six months, the Telegraph reports.

Paul Johnson, a community pharmacist, said: "It`s worrying that so many people are over-using sleeping remedies. They can be effective for short-term treatment of mild insomnia but should not be taken for long periods without advice because they can hide a serious health problem which could get worse if it remains untreated."

He said there were a number of simple techniques people could use to get a better night`s sleep, including going to bed and getting up at the same time each day, avoiding caffeine and alcohol in the evenings, and eating heavily late.