only two countries, plus the European Space Agency, that have achieved Mars orbit (by launch year):
  1. United States 1964
  2. United States 1969
  3. Soviet Union 1973
  4. United States 1975
  5. United States 1996
  6. ESA 2003
  7. United States 2003
  8. United States 2005
  9. United States 2007
  10. United States 2011
And there are only two countries that have successfully landed on Mars (by landing year):
  1. Soviet Union 1971
  2. United States 1976
  3. United States 1997
  4. United States 2003
  5. United States 2008
  6. United States 2012
Japan launched a probe, but it failed to achieve orbit (it "missed the planet") and China had a joint venture with Russia that never left Earth's orbit. Wikipedia has a nice graphic [wikimedia.org] illustrating the history of Mars exploration.


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Now, brain 'pacemaker' for Alzheimer patients

IANS | Dec 14, 2012, 12.00 AM IST
READ MORE William|Johns Hopkins|trial|patients|Pacemaker
Now, brain 'pacemaker' for Alzheimer patients
Surgeons implant brain 'pacemaker' for Alzheimer's (Thinkstock photos/Getty Images)
In a pioneering feat, Johns Hopkins researchers surgically implanted a pacemaker into the brain of an early stage Alzheimer's patient.

The device, which provides deep brain stimulation, can potentially boost memory and reverse cognitive decline.

The implantation is part of a federally funded, multi-centre clinical research designed to slow or halt the ravages of the disease.

Instead of focusing on drug treatments, with reported failures in recent trials, the research relies on low-voltage electrical charges delivered directly to the brain, according to a John's Hopkins statement.

The first US patient in the new trial underwent surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and a second patient is scheduled for the same procedure in December.

The surgeries at Johns Hopkins are being performed by neurosurgeon William S. Anderson.

"Recent failures in Alzheimer's disease trials using drugs such as those designed to reduce the build up of beta amyloid plaques in the brain have sharpened the need for alternative strategies," said Paul B. Rosenberg, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and site director of these trial.

Some 40 patients are expected to receive the deep brain stimulation implant over the next year or so at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere as part of the Advanced Study led by Constantine G. Lyketsos, professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and Andres Lozano, chairman of the neurology department at the University of Toronto.

Only patients whose cognitive impairment is mild enough that they can decide on their own to participate will be included in the trial.

By 2050, the number of people age 65 and older with Alzheimer's disease may triple, experts say, from 5.2 million to a projected 11 million to 16 million, unless effective treatments are found.
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A compound may restore memory loss in Alzheimer’s

PTI | Jan 4, 2013, 07.25 AM IST
READ MORE TFP5 treatment|National Institutes of Health|Alzheimer
WASHINGTON: Scientists including an Indian-origin researcher have discovered a new compound that can restore memory loss and reverse symptoms in Alzheimer's.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health in the US found that when a molecule called TFP5 is injected into mice with disease that is the equivalent of human Alzheimer's , symptoms are reversed and memory is restored — without obvious toxic side effects.

"We hope that clinical trial studies in Alzheimer's patients should yield an extended and a better quality of life as observed in mice upon TFP5 treatment," said senior researcher Harish C Pant. "Therefore, we suggest that TFP5 should be an effective therapeutic compound."

Pant and colleagues used mice with a disease considered the equivalent of Alzheimer's . One set was injected with the small molecule TFP5, while the other was injected with saline as placebo.

The mice, after a series of intraperitoneal injections of TFP5, displayed a substantial reduction in the various disease symptoms along with restoration of memory loss. In addition, the mice with TFP5 injections experienced no weight loss, neurological stress or signs of toxicity.

The disease in placebo mice progressed normally.
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