Medical and Health News: Impact

Showing posts with label Impact. Show all posts

Friday, April 8, 2011

Self-Adjustable Glasses Voted Most Likely To Make The Biggest Impact On Healthcare By 2020 At Healthcare Innovation Expo

Main Category: Eye Health / Blindness
Also Included In: Medical Devices / Diagnostics
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Professor Josh Silver's self-adjustable glasses have been voted the idea most likely to make the biggest impact on healthcare by 2020 at the Healthcare Innovation Expo.

The idea impressed the panel, which consisted of Dr Fiona Godlee, Editor in Chief of the BMJ, Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS Medical Director, Dr Andy Goldberg OBE, Founder, Medical Futures and Vivienne Parry, Science Journalist and ex Tomorrow's World presenter, as well as the Expo audience who proclaimed Professor Silver's idea as the winner.

Professor Silver is the inventor of the world's first universal self-adjustable glasses - Adspecs. Self-adjustable glasses are low-cost glasses with adjustable lenses, the power of which is set by the wearer by looking through the lenses and turning a dial until they can see clearly. The glasses have a number of advantages for the developing world in that those distributing the glasses need not be highly trained, distribution is quick and easy, and almost any organisation working in the developing world can add vision correction to the services they provide.

Professor Silver is Director of the Centre for Vision in the Developing World, a research institution based in Oxforddedicated to researching the best ways of providing vision correction in the developing world.

The Centre estimates that 1 billion or more people in the world lack a pair of glasses that they need to see clearly, and a lack of optometrists and eyecare facilities is the key issue preventing them from receiving these glasses.

The four short listed "Innovation Champions" were:

Professor Josh Silver, Director of the Centre for Vision in the Developing World - Self-adjustable glasses

Professor Sir Rory Collins, Chief Executive of UK Biobank - Creation and maintenance of database of large UK population for longitudinal study of factors affecting disease and well-being

Professor Robert Chambers, Institute for Development Studies - Facilitating developing world communities' adoption of practices to end open defecation and the associated risk of disease

Dr Patty Kostkova, Head of City University ehealth Research Centre - Use of social networks accessible via mobile phone to track disease

To view the BMJ's online video of the Healthcare Innovation Expo visit here.

Source:
Vane Percy & Roberts

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Wednesday, April 6, 2011

The Impact Of Eating Disorders On Native-Americans Revealed By New Study

Main Category: Eating Disorders
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry
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Scientists in Connecticut have carried out one of the first psychological studies into eating disorders in Native American (NA) populations. The research, published in The International Journal of Eating Disorders, provides new insights into the extent to which Native American populations experience eating disorders, revealing that women are more likely to report behavioral symptoms then men, while challenging views that NA men and ethnically white men will experience different psychological symptoms.

The team, led by Professor Ruth Striegel-Moore from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, studied data taken from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health for over 10,000 men and women with a average age of 22. Of these, 236 women and 253 men were either Native American or Inuit.

Research into eating disorders in Native Americans has lagged behind research of other mental disorders, leaving many unanswered basic questions about prevalence in major demographic groups of populations indigenous to the US, including Native American, Native Hawaiian, or Alaskan Natives.

"Little is known about eating disorder symptoms in Native American populations for several reasons," said Striegel-Moore. "Even though the U.S. government recognizes over 500 NA tribes one of the biggest research challenges is to find an adequate sample size. Our aim was to examine prevalence of behavioral symptoms of eating disorders in a public access data base to get an initial estimate of the extent to which young NA adults experience such problems."

The team confirmed the theory that NA women were more likely than NA men to report behavioral symptoms of eating disorders, revealing that regardless of race, ethnicity or nationality, research consistently shows that women are more vulnerable to developing disordered eating behaviors or full syndrome eating disorders than men.

The team also found a parallel between NA women and ethnically white women when considering the prevalence of binge eating, purging and "ever having been diagnosed with an eating disorder."

"This commonality between NA and white women refutes the myth that eating disorders are problems that only affect white girls and women" said Striegel-Moore.

Finally the team found that there was no significant difference between NA men and ethnically white men, again demonstrating how the affects of eating disorders are not restricted by racial groups.

While this research was one of the first into the psychological effect of eating disorders in NA populations it can now lead to further, longer studies. The team's findings were based on 7 days which is shorter than similar studies conducted over 28 days. Further research will also be conducted into the attitudinal symptoms of eating disorders, compared to the behavioral symptoms being discussed in this paper.

"This research provides us with a first glimpse into the extent to which young adult NA populations experience behavioral symptoms of eating disorders," concluded Striegel-Moore. "In the eating disorder field this type of epidemiological study has lagged behind other research, but now we have a foundation to study the distribution of eating disorders and identify psychological risk factors in Native American populations."

Source:
Ben Norman
Wiley-Blackwell

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Thursday, March 24, 2011

New Technology Promises To Have A Major Impact On Supply Of Malaria Treatment Across The Developing World

Main Category: Tropical Diseases
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology; Pediatrics / Children's Health
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Canada is delivering on its commitment to help the world's most vulnerable, thanks to new developments which will provide an affordable, reliable, and stable treatment for malaria that will save millions of lives, especially those of women and children in Africa. The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology, along with Mr. Brad Trost, Member of Parliament for Saskatoon-Humboldt, announced the breakthrough and highlighted the Government's research support.

"Our government is committed to improving the health of women and children in developing countries," said Minister Goodyear. "This new development in the production of a malaria treatment represents a major development in the fight against the disease. It will strengthen Canada's position as a world leader in health research and provide a reliable and affordable solution."

This announcement is a result of The Artemisinin Project, a public-private partnership led by OneWorld Health in collaboration with sanofi-aventis, Amyris, the University of California at Berkeley, and the National Research Council of Canada. Artemisinin is a natural compound found in a traditional Chinese medicinal plant grown mainly in Africa and Asia to treat malaria. The Government of Canada's investment of approximately $869,000 in this research has led to technology that can produce a stable and affordable supply of artemisinin for the developing world on a not-for-profit basis.

"Collaboration on the development of this new technology promises to have a major impact on supply of malaria treatment across the developing world, which will be an important contribution towards the global effort to combat malaria," said Dr. Richard Chin, Chief Executive Officer of OneWorld Health.

According to the World Health Organization, malaria causes approximately 250 million illnesses and more than one million deaths each year, of which 90 percent occur in Africa, mostly in pregnant women and in children. The disease is endemic in nearly 100 countries, including 28 on the African continent. This project is expected to help treat 200 million cases and prevent over one million deaths annually.

Source:
Media Relations
National Research Council of Canada

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