(^32) DAILY MIRROR TUESDAY 30.07.2019
DM1ST
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DR MIRIAM STOPPARD
Helping to keep you fit and healthy
Medication
droplet gels
Chemical engineers at the
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in the US have
devised a way to create
microscopic droplets of one
liquid suspended in
droplets of another, known
as nanoemulsions.
This is like when you
shake oil and vinegar
together to make salad
dressing, but imagine it’s
with much smaller droplets.
The researchers went on
to convert the liquid
nanoemulsions into a gel
when at body temperature.
This finding could mean
that new materials could
deliver medication when
rubbed on the skin, and to
demonstrate this, the
researchers incorporated
ibuprofen into the droplets.
By changing the size of the
emulsion droplets, the
scientists found that they
could fine-tune the gels,
including the temperature at
which the nanoemulsions
become a gel.
Such products could be
used to help heal burns or
other types of injuries.
HEALTH
NEWS
[email protected]
@MiriamStoppard
SORRY BUT I CAN’T ANSWER LETTERS PERSONALLY
1
Peaches are a
source of fibre,
essential for
digestion and a
healthy colon –
especially if
you eat the skin.
2
Peaches are
rich in vitamin C,
an antioxidant which can help
combat the formation of free
radicals, involved in ageing and
cancer.
3
They’re also a good source of
vitamin A and betacarotene,
which is essential for vision and
maintaining healthy mucus
membranes and skin.
4
Other important
vitamins in peaches
include vitamin E
(antioxidant), vitamin K
(helps blood
clotting), and six of
the B-complex
vitamins (thiamine,
riboflavin, vitamin B6,
niacin, folate, and
pantothenic acid), which are all
needed.
5
Peaches contain minerals such as
potassium, fluoride and iron.
Potassium is important for levelling
blood pressure, while iron is essential
for healthy blood and the delivery of
oxygen to all the body’s organs.
5 REASONS TO...
eat peaches
NHS opens young people’s addiction service
The NHS is to open its first gambling clinic for children this year. It comes amid
growing concern about young people affected by problem gambling, fuelled by
online gaming sites and targeted adverts. The National Problem Gambling Clinic
in London will cater for addicts aged 13 to 25. NHS England is also opening new
gambling clinics for adults in Leeds, Manchester and Sunderland. The Gambling
Commission estimates that 450,000 young people gamble regularly in the UK,
and 55,000 of them have a gambling problem.
GOOD NEWS
Why
do I
itch
all the
time?
Symptoms:
6
You’ve been
taking
advantage of this hot
weather and
sunbathing whenever
you can, you have an
itchy, prickly feeling
in your skin and
small, red spots.
6
Last night you
had tiger
prawns for supper
and woke this
morning with a red,
itchy rash and your
nose feels blocked.
6
You take
simvastatin for
high cholesterol and
you’ve noticed your
skin’s becoming
increasingly itchy,
you’re scratching all
the time.
It could be:
6
Prickly heat
(heat rash) which is
uncomfortable but usually
harmless.
6
An allergic reaction to
the prawns. Most
allergic reactions are mild
and affect more than one in
four people in the UK at
some point in their lives.
Many are lifelong.
6
A reaction to the
simvastatin making
your skin itch even without
a rash. Several drugs cause
itching like high blood
pressure drugs, water
tablets (diuretics) and drugs
for heart rhythm problems.
Stop it:
6
While prickly heat should clear
up on its own, keep your skin
cool so you don’t sweat and irritate
the rash. Wear loose cotton clothing
and get calamine lotion,
antihistamine tablets and
hydrocortisone cream from the
pharmacist.
6
Avoid prawns in the future as
next time your allergic
reaction could be much more
serious. See your pharmacist for
the rash and possibly get ibuprofen,
antihistamines and a mild steroid
cream. See your doctor in 2-3 days
if the rash isn’t subsiding.
6
Check with your doctor and
possibly change to another
statin. When you scratch, use the
back of your fingernails not the
front. Avoid long baths or showers
and perfumed products.
WHAT ARE THEY? Extrasystoles
I get occasional extrasystoles myself – they’re additional
heartbeats to the normal heart rhythm.
Extrasystoles are also known as skipped heartbeats,
heart hiccups or palpitations, and medically they are
classified as a form of cardiac arrhythmia. Usually, the
additional heartbeats can hardly be felt.
It’s the next regular heartbeat, which is slightly later
and stronger, that’s usually the one we notice.
e,
.
in C,
whichcanhelp
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niaci
Protein-buster crucial
in Parkinson’s battle
P
arkinson’s disease, much like
Alzheimer’s, is caused by the
accumulation of clumps of an
abnormal protein in the brain.
It’s toxic and is thought to kill nerve
cells responsible for producing
dopamine, which acts as a chemical
messenger in the brain sending
messages to different parts.
Low levels of dopamine cause the
symptoms seen in patients with
Parkinson’s, including a mask-like face,
tremors, slowness of movement and
smaller and smaller writing.
Cambridge University researchers
have come up with an answer. They
believe they’ve discovered how to stop
Parkinson’s in its tracks.
Giving a particular protein-busting
molecule has reversed signs of the
disease. The molecule, called anle138b,
stopped the build-up of toxic protein
clumps in the brain and could prove
crucial in halting the progression of
the condition in patients.
Parkinson’s is quite common,
affecting one in 500 people. Around
127,000 people in the UK and one
million in the US live with it.
Parkinson’s is debilitating, and
without sufficient dopamine,
muscles become stiff, there’s jerky
slowness of movement, shaking, sleep
disturbance, chronic fatigue, and a
poor quality of life leading to severe
disability.
At the moment there’s no cure
and no way of stopping the disease
from progressing, but hundreds of
trials are under way in an effort to
change that. This new research was
done in mice and while we aren’t
rodents, the results, nonetheless, give
us reason for hope.
In the study, year-old mice with
Parkinson’s disease were given
anle138b, and in three months big
improvements were noted.
The rodents had fewer protein
clumps in their brains meaning fewer
brain cells had been destroyed. This
protected their dopamine levels and
prevented more nerve cell death.
Consequently the way they walked
improved, according to researchers
led by Professor Maria Grazia
Spillantini.
Parkinson’s UK, which funded the
research, claimed that the molecule
“effectively reversed several of the
symptoms”.
Dr Beckie Port from the charity said:
“We have no treatments that can slow
or stop the progression of Parkinson’s
and the discovery may prove to
be crucial.
“It is vital we continue to support
world-leading academics... and ensure
results like these are turned into the
future treatments that are so
desperately needed.”
This is just a first step but it’s an
encouraging one for doctors and for
everyone working in this field – and
especially for people suffering from
Parkinson’s and their families.
The molecule
stopped the
clump build-up
tuis.
(Tuis.)
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