LONDON: Using small nets to extract blood clots from patients' brains instead of a coil may improve their recovery, two new studies have claimed. The latest methods involve a tiny wire cage instead of a coil. This pushes the clot up against the walls of the artery and enmeshes the clot in the wires, allowing doctors to pull the clot back out of the groin.
Two similar devices were compared with the current coil methods. One trial of 113 patients showed 58% had good brain function after three months, compared with 33% of those treated with the coil method, as well as a lower death rate.
Clots block blood vessels, starving parts of the brain of oxygen, which leads to symptoms such as paralysis and loss of speech. Two studies, presented in the Lancet medical journal, suggest extracting clots with nets could improve recovery, the BBC reported. There are already techniques for reopening blocked blood vessels in people's brains.
Some patients will be given "clot-busting" drugs, but this needs to be in the hours just after the stroke and is not suitable for everyone.
Now, permanent cure for high blood pressure PTI | Aug 28, 2012
LONDON: Scientists have developed a radical therapy that could provide a permanent cure for high blood pressure by zapping the kidneys with radio waves.
The breakthrough by researchers from Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute of Melbourne, Australia could bring hope to thousands of patients who do not respond to drugs.
The procedure known as renal denervation may be available on UK's National Health Service as early as next year after trials showed it produced dramatic improvements in the condition, the Daily Mail reported.
High blood pressure is a risk factor in heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure. Changes in lifestyle, such as cutting back on salt and alcohol and exercising, can control blood pressure and there are a number of drug treatments available. Many who are on medication, as many as five different types, still have difficulty with it. It is this group who can be helped.
The technique uses a burst of radiofrequency energy delivered through a catheter to knock out a number of tiny nerves that run in the lining of the arteries of the kidney.
High blood pressure is sometimes caused by faulty signals from the brain to these nerves. Latest findings from a trial showed reductions in blood pressure persist for at least 18 months after treatment.
The breakthrough by researchers from Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute of Melbourne, Australia could bring hope to thousands of patients who do not respond to drugs.
The procedure known as renal denervation may be available on UK's National Health Service as early as next year after trials showed it produced dramatic improvements in the condition, the Daily Mail reported.
High blood pressure is a risk factor in heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure. Changes in lifestyle, such as cutting back on salt and alcohol and exercising, can control blood pressure and there are a number of drug treatments available. Many who are on medication, as many as five different types, still have difficulty with it. It is this group who can be helped.
The technique uses a burst of radiofrequency energy delivered through a catheter to knock out a number of tiny nerves that run in the lining of the arteries of the kidney.
High blood pressure is sometimes caused by faulty signals from the brain to these nerves. Latest findings from a trial showed reductions in blood pressure persist for at least 18 months after treatment.
'Alien encounter may not be happy one'
It is probably unwise for human beings to be telling aliens where we are, Nobel laureate Brian P Schmidt has said.
"I think it is probably not the smartest thing to tell the aliens where we are, as any encounter with aliens may not be a happy one," Xinhua quoted Schmidt as saying at the 28th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union currently going on the Chinese capital.
Schmidt shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics with Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess for providing evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.
"Aliens may not be something that we need to worry about. It will be so far away and it takes so long to travel from point A to point B in the universe that it won't be a problem. But it will happen when it happens," said Schmidt.
Before their discovery, it was commonly thought that the expansion of the universe was slowing down. However, their findings showed that dark energy pushes every galaxy apart and the universe will continue to expand at a quicker pace and eventually fade away.
According to Schmidt's research, it will be harder to reach another planet in an accelerating universe, meaning it is less likely to meet higher intelligent extraterrestrial life in the future.
"The future of the universe seems to be dark. Things are getting faster and faster. In terms of looking for aliens, it's gonna be quite a challenge. It may never happen. Things like us are probably very rare in the universe," he said.
In 2010, Stephen Hawking, one of the world's most famous theoretical physicists, said humans should be extremely cautious of extraterrestrial life and attempts to make contact with alien races is "a little too risky".
Schmidt said he agrees with Hawking. He said humans have more things to worry about.
"The reality is that the sun is going to give out on us in about four billion years, and is becoming very hot. So in the future about 800 million years from now we need to figure out how to deal with that first."
"I think it is probably not the smartest thing to tell the aliens where we are, as any encounter with aliens may not be a happy one," Xinhua quoted Schmidt as saying at the 28th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union currently going on the Chinese capital.
Schmidt shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics with Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess for providing evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.
"Aliens may not be something that we need to worry about. It will be so far away and it takes so long to travel from point A to point B in the universe that it won't be a problem. But it will happen when it happens," said Schmidt.
Before their discovery, it was commonly thought that the expansion of the universe was slowing down. However, their findings showed that dark energy pushes every galaxy apart and the universe will continue to expand at a quicker pace and eventually fade away.
According to Schmidt's research, it will be harder to reach another planet in an accelerating universe, meaning it is less likely to meet higher intelligent extraterrestrial life in the future.
"The future of the universe seems to be dark. Things are getting faster and faster. In terms of looking for aliens, it's gonna be quite a challenge. It may never happen. Things like us are probably very rare in the universe," he said.
In 2010, Stephen Hawking, one of the world's most famous theoretical physicists, said humans should be extremely cautious of extraterrestrial life and attempts to make contact with alien races is "a little too risky".
Schmidt said he agrees with Hawking. He said humans have more things to worry about.
"The reality is that the sun is going to give out on us in about four billion years, and is becoming very hot. So in the future about 800 million years from now we need to figure out how to deal with that first."
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