HEalth issue: MIND TRICKS About BAd Dreams

Nightmares? Relax, you can control dreams      Troubled with bad dreams? Scientists believe they can ease nightmares by teaching a modern version of self-hypnosis.         According to "Twenty-four Hour Mind' by Rosalind Cartwright, a pioneer in sleep research, even worst night terrors can be soothed. Few people can control dreams in the way the character played by Leonardo Di Caprio steals corporate sereats from the sleeping mind in the film 'Inception'. But dreamers can learn to "guide" them, says Cartwright.         Cartwright says that in the "downtime" of sleep, brain neurons randomly refire images and emotions from the day and "mash them up" into dreams. However, the brain tries to protect the dreamer by releasing chemicals that cut short the worst nightmares.          At dream clinics sufferers are taught "Lucid dreaming", or how to become aware they are in a dream. Once that happens, they can control the narrative in many cases, Shelby Harris, who runs a behavioural sleep program clinic, helps sufferers to write such"scripts" by focusing on an image from a recurring dream and taking control of what follows in a manner of self-hypnosis.          One patient, who had dreamt of being surrounded by sharks, transformed them into dolphins; another changed a chasing man into chocolate and ate him. The trick, said Harris, is to turn the nightmare into fun.

Read more...

Health Issue: Creation Of Artificail Tissues

Soon, Lab-made cornea to offer a ray of hope Creation Of Artificial Tissues Will End Reliance On Donations Beijing: Chinese scientists are cultivating human cells in a laboratory in a bid to produce artificial cornes, bringing hope to over five million people suffering from corneal blindness in the country.       The cornea, a vulnerable shield protecting the eye, plays a key role in creating vision. The team from Ocean University of China (OUC) is expected to produce a complete cornea and begin clinical trials in three to five years. Fan Tingjun, deputy dean of College of Marine Life Science at OUC, said.       An artificial cornes, each expected to cost $1,475 to $2,950, would provide analternative to those patients anxiously awaiting donated corneas for transplant, Fan said. The team had made a major breakthrough recently by using tissue-engineering technologies to create a tissue similar to the endothelium, the innermost layer of cells essential in keeping the cornes clear, Fan said. The creation of endothelium was a key barrier in the global study of artificial corneas because the cells of the endothelium do not regenerate, he said.       The team has successfully cultivated a large quantity of normal human endothelieal cells with the assistance of supports made of human amnion - innermost membranous sac enclosing the developing embryo.        Now the team is working on the production of stroma, which accounts for 90% of the thickness of the cornea and serves as a bridge between the endothelium and epithelium, the outmost layer of the cornes, to block outside dust and bacteria from reaching the eye, as well as absorb oxygen and cell nutrients from tears.

Read more...

Health Issue: Niracle Delivered

Fetus Kicks tumour in womb, saves mom London: You may callit a miracle - a baby saved his mother's life before he was even born just by kicking in the womb only to alert doctors of a tumour inside.       Mother-to-be Claiire feared she was losing him 18 weeks into the pregnancy. But, doctors discovered the "miscarriage" was actually a tumour of the womb-which her unborn son had kicked free, the Nes of the World reported.       Claire, 26, was advised to have an abortion immediately so her cancer could be treated.But she said, "I couldn't end my baby's life when he had just saved mine.       "The cancer had been growing for months - if he had not kicked the tumour it would have carried on growing until it was too late. I knew if anything happened to me, this baby would be loved, so I was willing to take that risk."         She continued with the pregnancy untiol 26 weeks. when the tumour had trebled in size. Then doctors told beautician Claire and her partner Harry they had to deliver her baby then - but gave him only a 40% chance of survival.         Little Harry weighed just a little over two pounds when he was born at St Thomas's Hospital in London. Claire said, "He was so tiny. We were just praying he would pull through. They showed him to me and then auickly rushed him down to intensive care."        The boy is a healthy two-year-old. "We were both allowed home on the same day, which was lovely. I feel like the luckiest mum in the world, for both my son and I to have survived," Claire said.        Robert Music of Jo's Trust said, "This really is quite remarkable. We have never come across anything like this before. Claire was extremely lucky it was detected in this way."

Read more...