Posts tagged health

For the first time, scientists have successfully plotted the paths of sperm in 3-D, revealing corkscrew, like trajectories and “hyperactive” swimmers. By placing sperm on a silicon sensor, not unlike those found in smartphones and digital cameras. Then the researchers set red and blue LED lights on the sperm. The sperm cast two different-colored shadows, which they recorded. Later, they used a computer program to reconstruct the movements of the sperm cells based on the shadow movements, producing a holographic image.They found that most sperm move in straight, linear directions. But some are what they called “hyperactive,” with jerky direction changes and sometimes careening in reverse. Others swam in corkscrew, cyclical patterns, which had only been hinted at with microscope results.

(Source: futurenow321)

(Source: futurenow321)

For more than 3,000 years, traditional Chinese medicine has been an integral part of Chinese culture and the predominant medical treatment for a large part of the population. In recent decades, the practice has gained popularity in countries around the world, creating a multimillion-dollar global industry. Despite the popularity if a given traditional Chinese medicine, the actual contents frequently in the form of a pill, powder or tea are often hard to ascertain. Undeclared or mislabeled ingredients can pose serious health risks. In the 1990s, for example, the toxic herb Aristolochia fangchi was confused for the anti-inflammatory plant Stephania tetrandra,leading to more than 100 women suffering kidney failure, many of whom later developed cancer of the urinary system. In addition to the mislabeling, a big problem with the medicines was their lack of dosage instruction. Typically, the packaging did not include labels describing how much of a particular ingredient is included in each serving, what dosage people should take or how often they should consume it.

(Source: futurenow321)

UK, US and Australian scientists used satellite technology to trace and count the iconic birds, finding them to number almost 600,000.

Their census technique relies in the first instance on locating individual colonies, which is done by looking for big brown patches of guano (penguin poo) on the white ice.

High resolution imagery is then used to work out the number of birds present.

It is expected that the satellite mapping approach will provide the means to monitor the long-term health of the emperor population.

(Source: futurenow321)

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. will invest $65 million into China Cord BloodCorp, the country’s largest operator of services for umbilical cord blood that is rich in stem cells, to capitalize on China’s fast-growing health-care services industry.

Listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 2009, CCBC was the first licensed cord-blood banking operator in China, providing collection, testing, processing and storage services. CCBC runs the largest cord-blood banking network in China in terms of geographical coverage, with exclusive licenses to service Beijing, Guangdong Province and Zhejiang Province. This area covers more than 180 million people and has 1.9 million new births annually.

Cord blood contains large quantities of stem cells that, if stored properly, can later be used to treat life-threatening diseases. The applications of cord-blood stem cells are expanding, and can be used to treat more than 80 types of diseases, such as leukemia, lymphoma, and inherited immune system disorders.

(Source: futurenow321)