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Diet has a very important role in man’s struggle against diseases and disability.
Latest research finds that eating enough quantities of nutritious diets in along with proper exercise are the major contributing factors to one’s physical fitness and health. The research was conducted to American people. It showed that one out of every three Americans is obese. These individuals who are obese are at greater risk for additional diseases, since obesity leads to other health problems, such as diabetes. A team of researchers has examined the effect of exercise on fat accumulation in a new study involving five obese women. In one session the women overate and did not exercise; in a follow-on session they overate and did exercise. The researchers found out that the body’s fat-burning oxidation rate was reduced after one day of overeating; conversely, just one session of exercise increased the rate of fat-burning oxidation; and exercise increased the amount of fat that would eventually be stored in the muscle.
Losing an arm or a leg - or worse, both - in an accident or because of a sickness can be a truly devastating experience. Once the initial shock wears off though, the greatest challenge for the survivors is how they could cope with their new life. Doing simple tasks that were often neglected before could prove to be difficult at first. But over time and with practice, most amputees learn to cope with their loss.
However, scientists from the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and Northwestern University give new hope to amputees as a new study could one day enable them to feel with an artificial limb as though it were their own. In an experiment done with the help of two patients who lost their arms, scientists rerouted key nerves to their chests. According to the patients, they could feel their missing arms and hands when pressure, heat and cold, and electrical stimulus were applied in the nerve areas.
Photo credits: Carlos Sarasola Orio
In organ transplants, patients need to take anti-rejection drugs after the operation. Otherwise, their body’s immune system shall reject the organ because it recognizes that the transplanted organ is a foreign one. The patient has to take the medicine for an undetermined length of time and it could be for the rest of his life including its side effects.
One way of avoiding the need for anti-rejection drugs, which is currently undergoing extensive study, is to infuse the donor’s marrow to the patient such that the latter’s immune system can recognize the new organ as its own. This approach had its initial taste of success but it’s not yet perfected. Patients who have undergone this treatment need to take the anti-rejection drugs for less than a year and have not needed to take them again.
The recent application of brain implants now includes connecting a person’s brain to devices around him. A paralyzed man was fitted with brain implants in able to link him to a computer. And the computer is connected to other devices around him. He was able to operate the computer by simply imagining the movement of his arms, and consequently, the devices linked to the computer.
Also known as neuron implant, this device is placed in the person’s brain, ordinarily on the surface. Commonly used for biomedical prosthesis, this recent development shows that the application of brain implants might have no boundaries and only time can tell how far this technology can alleviate the lives of people with physiological problems.
