April 13th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Research
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Researchers at the University of Florida in Gainesville have developed a vitamin E-secreting contact lens that can bring the valuable antioxidant directly to eyes.
Vitamin E is packaged into clusters within the lens and the aggregate works to slowly release the chemical while remaining invisible to the eye.
“These vitamin structures are like ‘nanobricks’,” said Anuj Chauhan, Ph.D., lead researcher of the study. “The drug molecules can’t go through the vitamin E. They must go around it. Because the nanobricks are so much bigger than the drug molecules -– we believe about a few hundred times bigger –- the molecules get diverted and must travel a longer path. This increases the duration of the drug release from the lenses.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
April 3rd, 2010 by DrCharles in Better Health Network, Humor, True Stories
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“Will you grab that spider web?” my grandmother said abruptly. We were sitting on an old bench overlooking the river. It was September. I had sprung her from the assisted living home earlier that day.
“Which spider web are you talking about, Gram?” I asked her. My eyes were sleepily watching the timeless flow of the big river, the eddies and swirls along the banks, and the gracefully bending boughs of the old oak trees as they waltzed with the wind.
“There to the left!” she said with certainty, reaching her bony hand into the sky and grasping at thin air. “Get it, will you?”
I looked again but there was nothing. I knew that my grandmother’s mind had developed a little static among the signals, a few crackling wires in the electric grid of her brain, and I figured that her eyes were playing tricks on her.
“I don’t see it, Gram. What does it look like?”
She seemed a little disappointed that I did not share her perception. “It’s feathery, and it’s drifting just over the river. It’s actually quite pretty.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Examining Room of Dr. Charles*
January 27th, 2010 by StaceyButterfield in Better Health Network, News, Research
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This week’s obvious news consists of findings that you might have hoped weren’t true, but really you already knew they were.
First, sending your spouse off to war will make you unhappy, according to the New England Journal. “Among wives of soldiers deployed for up to 11 months, researchers found almost 3,500 more diagnoses of depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and other mental health issues than among wives who husbands stayed home,” reported HealthDay. Guess these women actually liked their husbands!
Then, it turns out that diabetics should not pig out, especially on salt, according to the Archives of Ophthalmology via HealthDay. A study of black patients with diabetes found that those who ate more calories and more sodium were more likely to develop diabetic retinopathy. “These results suggest that low caloric and sodium intakes in African-American individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus…might be part of dietary recommendations for this population,” the authors concluded. Shoot, now we will have throw out those “hot dog a day keeps the doctor away” guidelines.
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Hospitalist*
January 7th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, Medical Art, News
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PaPaLaB Co Ltd, a Japanese firm, has announced their development of the “YC-3300,” a camera they claim can capture the exact same colors as seen by the human eye. The camera is designed for archiving and medical applications. While cameras with similar technology currently exist, they are too large and expensive to be practical. The YC-3300 is currently priced at $140,477, with more affordable models in the pipeline.
Technology like this will be crucial with cameras in medicine taking an ever larger role in research, education, and diagnosis.
(Hat Tip: Engadget)
Read more at Tech-On…
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
November 24th, 2009 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, Research
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Researchers have been trying to coat contact lenses with light sensitive dyes to have them turn dark during bright lighting conditions. Glasses with this property have existed for decades, but the same coating methods are not applicable to contacts.
Technology Review reports on work by the Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) in Singapore to use the entire volume of the lens to contain the dye: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
