In a lab setting experiment, Scientists have perfected a cutting-edge drug to protect the brain against the damaging effects of a stroke, thus accelerating the process to reduce thousands of stroke-related deaths.

Over 1,000 attempts to develop such drugs worldwide have failed to be translated to a stage where they can be used in humans, leaving a major unmet need for stroke treatment.

Stroke deprives brain regions of blood and oxygen, which causes a complex sequence of chemical reactions in the brain, leading to neurological (nerve or brain cell) impairment, paralysis or death.

Developed by the Toronto Western Research Institute (TWRI), the drug is the first to achieve a neuroprotective effect in the complex brain of primates, in settings that simulate those of human strokes, the journal Nature reports.

Their study shows how the drug, called a "PSD95 inhibitor" prevents brain cell death and preserves brain function when administered after a stroke, according to a TWRI statement.

"We are closer to having a treatment for stroke than we have ever been before. These findings are extremely exciting and our next step is to confirm these results in a clinical trial," said a jubilant Michael Tymianski, TWRI senior scientist who led the study.

"Stroke is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide and we believe that we now have a way to dramatically reduce its damaging effects," added Tymianski.

The study used cynomolgus macaques, which bear genetic, anatomic and behavioural similarities to humans, as an ideal model to determine if this therapy would be beneficial in patients.

Animals that were treated with the PSD95 inhibitor after a stroke had greatly reduced brain damage and this translated to a preservation of neurological function.

These improvements were observed in several scenarios that simulated human strokes. Specifically, when the treatment was given either early, or even at three hours, after the stroke onset, the animals exhibited remarkable recoveries.

Nicotine patches dont help pregnant women quit smoking, suggests a new study from the UK in part because so few women use them as prescribed.

While there's evidence that the patch ups the chance most people will be able to kick the habit, researchers generally haven`t found the same benefit in pregnant women.

"I dont think its an issue so much with the way the nicotine patch works. The big issue is whether people are going to use it and adhere to it," said Dr. Gideon Koren, head of the Motherisk program at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, who wasn`t involved in the new report.

Without extra counselling encouraging women to stick to their quitting plan, he said, "the typical attempt is likely to fail."

Pregnant women may be extra likely to give up on the patch because as their metabolism increases, women`s bodies process the nicotine in the patch much faster than they otherwise would making the therapy less effective at reducing cravings and withdrawal symptoms.

The good news, researchers said, is that nicotine-replacement therapy didn't seem to increase the risk of a miscarriage or stillbirth, or cause babies to be born any earlier or lighter.

That means that conducting an experiment with a higher-dose nicotine patch could be a next step, according to Dr. Tim Coleman from the University of Nottingham and his colleagues.

For their study, the researchers randomly assigned more than 1,000 pregnant British smokers, generally in their second trimester, to use a nicotine patch or an identical drug-free "placebo" patch for two months.

The women initially had an in-person counseling session, followed by phone check-ins about their cigarette use.

During the first month of treatment, 21 percent of women on the nicotine patch stopped smoking, compared to less than 12 percent with drug-free patches.

However, only nine percent of women in the nicotine patch group and eight percent in the placebo group were still smoke-free by the time they delivered -- a difference that could have been due to chance.

LOW ADHERENCE

Coleman's team found that only seven percent of women used their nicotine patches consistently for more than a month, and three percent kept using the drug-free patches after the one-month check in.

"Its really hard to help pregnant women quit smoking when they don`t use the treatment," said Kathryn Pollak, who has studied smoking cessation at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.

That`s not for lack of drive, said Pollak, who wasn`t involved in the new study. But the women who don`t quit as soon as they find out they`re pregnant are probably the ones who rely heavily on cigarettes and need lots of help with the process, she said.

Because nicotine is cleared from the body so much faster toward the end of pregnancy, Pollak said that this study may be an example of "under-dosing," and that the nicotine in standard patches might not work well enough to help women avoid cigarettes without suffering withdrawal.

But some researchers are wary of driving the dose up too high, because of possible effects on the fetus.

"We have to be really careful of how much nicotine we`re giving," Pollak said. "We have to find that fine line of enough to help, but not too much."

In the UK study, there was no evidence of a higher risk of birth defects, premature birth or other pregnancy complications in women assigned to the nicotine patch, the researchers reported Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Koren said that even at the dose used in the study --15 milligrams for 16 hours -- the patch may help women who also get regular, face-to-face counseling.

Psychotherapy is the typical treatment that doctors recommend for pregnant women trying to quit smoking, in part because it`s drug-free.

"STICK IT OUT"

Nicotine patches typically run for about $2 per day, and can be bought without a prescription.

The study, which was funded by the National Institute for Health Research in the UK, doesn`t suggest that it`s time to give up on nicotine-replacement therapy completely, researchers said.

"Outside of pregnancy, (the patch) seems to work even at the dose we used very effectively, and even with very minimal behavioral support," Coleman said.

"If you`re considering becoming pregnant, try your hardest to use any drugs that are available before you become pregnant," since afterward it may be that much harder to quit, he advised.

Pollak said that pregnant women can still benefit from nicotine replacement as long as they don`t give up on it.

"Talk to your doctor about the costs and benefits and know that nicotine replacement only works when you do it for the length of time that`s prescribed," she said.

"You just kind of have to stick it out."

The self-inflicted removal of one or both eyes, which has traditionally been attributed to sexual guilt, is, in fact, caused by untreated psychotic illness, such as schizophrenia, researchers have revealed.

This type of self-inflicted mutilating injury is fortunately very rare, the researchers noted, but over 50 cases have been published in medical journals over the past 50 years.

The phenomenon, which is variously referred to as oedipism, self enucleation or auto-enucleation, has been linked to sexual guilt - an association that stems from both classical Greek mythology and the Bible.

In Sophocles' tragedy, Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex), it is prophesised that the protagonist will kill his father and sleep with his mother, and he ends up stabbing himself in both eyes.

This type of incestuous sexual attraction was popularised by the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud in the 19th century who attributed it to some of his patients, in what he described as the Oedipus complex.

A more persistent belief is that self enucleation is specifically associated with Christian religious guilt, as all the published cases have come from countries that were predominantly Christian, and some patients seem to have been influenced by a passage in the Gospel of Matthew.

This says: "And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."

But the researchers, who have carried out two systematic reviews of published case reports of self enucleation and major self mutilation, conclude that self enucleation is invariably associated with psychotic illness, particularly untreated schizophrenia.

This is because the cases reported to date have come from a wide range of cultures, including China and Japan, and none described events remotely similar to Oedipus Rex.

And in almost every one, the patients held bizarre delusional beliefs about their eyes and had associated hallucinations, said the researchers.

"We concluded that cultural beliefs are not likely to be the cause of self enucleation because they are shared by a large number of people and cannot be a good explanation for the actions of the tiny minority who self enucleate," they wrote.

"In contrast, the rare and disturbing psychotic symptoms are a more plausible explanation for self enucleation than Oedipal conflicts or religious guilt," they stated.

The sexual guilt theory has persisted for as long as it has because the act of deliberate self blinding is so shocking and hard to comprehend, they suggested.

"Each case is disturbing and it is perhaps not surprising that doctors have sought to explain the patients' behaviour in the secure frameworks of their religious and cultural beliefs," they asserted.

"However, a more helpful way of understanding and responding to self enucleation is to recognise that it is a rare complication of severe psychosis that requires urgent medical attention," they concluded.

A chemical that causes bad breath can be used to convert dental stem cells into human liver cells, a finding which scientists say could help repair the key organ if damaged.

Researchers at the Nippon Dental University in Japan found that Hydrogen sulphide- the gas famed for generating the stench in stink bombs, flatulence and bad breath- can be harnessed to create liver cells which could prove a valuable treatment for patients. According to the scientists, small amounts of hydrogen sulphide are made by the body. It is also produced by bacteria and is toxic in large quantities.

The scientists found that the gas increased the purity and proportion of the stem cells.which were converted to liver cells when used alongside other chemicals.

"High purity means there are less 'wrong cells' that are being differentiated to other tissues, or remaining as stem cells," lead researcher Dr Ken Yaegaki said.

One of the concerns with dental pulp as a source of stem cells is the number that can be harvested. However, the study, which appeared in the Journal of Breath Research, did not say how many cells were actually produced.

Prof Chris Mason, a specialist in regenerative medicine at University College London, said, "It would be interesting to see how hydrogen sulphide works with other cells types."

Overeating has been linked to a host of health hazards like high blood pressure, diabetes and stroke. Conditions such as memory loss, dementia and even Alzheimer's may also be added to the list soon, according to a new study.

Preliminary findings of a study on ageing conducted by the Mayo Clinic indicate that overeating may greatly increase the risk of memory loss for elderly people.

The results found a correlation between caloric intake in the elderly and the onset of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) -- the stage between normal age-related memory loss and early Alzheimer's disease.

In 2006, the Mayo Clinic chose a random sample of 1,233 people in Minnesota, aged between 70 and 89 years, with none previously diagnosed with dementia.

They asked the participants to fill out a questionnaire describing their diets over the previous year. On the basis of their answers, the researchers grouped the participants into three categories: those whose daily caloric consumption was between 600 and 1,526 calories; between 1,526 and 2,143; and between 2,143 and 6,000.

Each participant then underwent a series of MRI brain scans and cognitive tests. Correlating caloric intake with test performance, the researchers found the odds of having MCI more than doubled for those in the highest calorie-consuming group compared with those in the lowest calorie group.

"With MCI, the person is not demented. But when you test them on certain memory tests they do poorly as compared to their age-, education- and sex-matched peers," study author Yonas Geda was quoted as saying by Scientific American.