Scientists have figured out how mice that lose the ability to walk after a spinal-cord injury can regain it, a finding that could someday help human patients, Scientific American reports. When the long nerves that run from the brain to the base of the spine were severed, shorter nerves in the area were repurposed—not regrown, as was previously believed. 

People suffering from a bipolar disorder or the so-called manic depression are living life on an emotional rollercoaster. They can be extremely happy for one moment then for the next few hours they can be dreadfully depressed. There seems to be no in between.

It’s sad to know that there is no cure for bipolar disorder but good thing there is a way to treat it effectively. Doctors treating patients with bipolar disorder have been using lithium carbonate for 50 years now however, it’s found not effective for everyone. To solve this problem, doctors
started giving the patients anti-depressant and anti-psychotic drugs.

For patients with bipolar disorder, life is never easy for it is a series of extremes. But with the advancing medical technologies we can just hope that soon the rollercoaster ride for them will be completely over.

Photo credits: Maciek Sliwinski

Hospitals are turning to technology to cut down on incidents of doctors sewing up surgical patients with sponges and other items left inside, the Chicago Tribune reports. A bar-coding system to ensure what goes in comes back out is one solution; another involves tagging items with chips that allow them to be detected with a radio-frequency wand.

Fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome has long been one of the most complex medical situations that has baffled many doctors. Recent years has shown little improvement in the cure of the disease although the only way doctors dealt with the sickness was through trial and error.

In June this year however, a new medicine called Lyrica was approved by the FDA and is said to be the first drug especially made to treat fibromyalgia. Dr. Lucinda Bateman, who has been working with the condition for more than a decade now, says that nationwide there are three to six million people suffering from it. One of them is Maureen Higham, who has been suffering for almost a decade already.

“You go through a period where you start to doubt yourself and you think ‘maybe I am crazy’ Do crazy people think they are crazy?” says Maureen.

For nine years this has been her life; doctor after doctor, test after test, frustration after frustration.

“There was one doctor as we were trying so hard to find answers, he said to me well at least it is not life threatening, and I looked at him and I thought I’d rather it be life threatening. This is life stealing,” says Higham.

Unfortunately, Maureen is not one of those who are greatly benefiting from the new medicine. But other people like Richard Sloan report positive effects.

“After about 3 or 4 months I was like, ‘wow this stuff really works’,” says Sloan.

Today, thanks to Lyrica, he’s running and training for a career in law enforcement.

“I’m able to spend better quality time with my children I don’t think enough can be said for the amount of energy that I feel. I have now,” says Sloan

Photo credits: Lisa Fanucchi

Since it’s a part of many medical procedures however, there’s no way around getting shots until new ways of dispensing specific medicines or vaccines can be found. This might soon change though thanks to the medical researchers at Georgia Tech and Emory University who have teamed up to create a flu vaccine that is painless, convenient, and hassle-free.

“We’re developing a technology we like to call microneedles. These are needles that we make by using the technology that’s used to make integrated circuits for computers,” said Georgia Tech Professor Mark Prausnitz.

Prausnitz says microscopic needles are coated with flu vaccine that can be barely seen or felt. It allows the vaccine to get into the body.

“Without those tiny needles, if you put the flu vaccine on your skin, none would go in,” according to Prausnitz.

Emory University’s Dr. Ioanna Skountzou says the technology is promising and easy to use. “This is something we hope to put in practice in the very near future. You can apply the patch yourself like a band aid, keep it on for only a short period of time and then dispose it.”

Learn more about this breakthrough here.

Photo credits: Ruud de Jong

A Harvard Medical School study indicate that it may be possible to stop type 1 diabetes and renew the insulin-producing beta cells that are destroyed by the disease. The scientists used a mix of three drugs designed to tame the out-of-control immune response attacking the pancreas, and an enzyme called alpha 1 anti-trypsin, which is normally produced by the body to ease inflammation.. This has only been tested on mice so far but trials with human patients will be run soon.

At the same time, progress is also being done towards a cure for type 1 diabetes in Sydney, Australia. Scientists from Westmead Hospital transplanted islet cells from a donor’s pancreas into patients’ livers, where the new cells began to produce insulin. This procedure was successfully done on eight patients and the results were very promising: the patients’ need for insulin shots dropped dramatically, to zero in some cases.