| Health issues of 2008 |
Compiled by Moumita Das
In 2008, world focused on the need to protect health from the worst effects of climate change. WHO selected this theme for World Health Day in respect that climate change is posing an ever growing threat. The year 2008 also brought many of the important inventions and modern techniques to fore- from face transplant to stem cell operations. The most important thing which took place in this year in India was the ban on smoking in public places from 2nd October.
Face Transplant
The first face transplant took place in the US in the month of December, 2008. A team of eight transplant surgeons in Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, USA, led by reconstructive surgeon Dr. Maria Siemionow, age 58, successfully performed the first almost total face transplant in the US, and the fourth globally, on a woman so horribly disfigured due to trauma, that cost her an eye. Two weeks ago Dr. Siemionow, in a 23-hour marathon surgery, replaced 80 percent of her face, by transplanting or grafting bone, nerve, blood vessels, muscles and skin harvested from a female donor`s cadaver.
Stem cell operation
In the last half of this year, doctors in UK successfully carried out the world`s first airway transplant on a young woman using an organ partly grown from her own stem cells in a groundbreaking operation which scientists believe will transform the future of surgery.
According to a latest research it has been found that single adult stem cells can self-renew, repair damaged tissues in a live mammal. The transplanted adult stem cell and its differentiated descendants were found to restore functioning of hind limb muscle tissue damage in mice. Adult stem cells used in the study, conducted by Stanford University, were isolated from a mixed population of satellite cells in the skeletal muscle of mice.
Detecting breast cancer
Researchers from the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center found that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) alternated with mammography at six-month intervals can detect breast cancers not identified by mammography alone.
MRI is known to be more sensitive in detecting breast cancers than mammography, with a 71 - 100 % accuracy compared to a 16 - 40 % accuracy for mammography.
Cancer treatment by linear accelerator is a reality now
On October 5th, 2008 the first patient was successfully treated by the state-of-the-art technology in radiotherapy – linear accelerator, which began functioning at RR Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Sri Ram Murti Smarak Institute of Medical Sciences (SRMSIMS), Bareilly in India. A linear accelerator (LINAC) is the device most commonly used for external beam radiation treatments for patients with cancer.
Obesity `is in the genes`
A flat stomach and a bodylicious persona are the dreams of hundreds of thousands of men and women now-a-days. But many of them have to go through sleepless night mulling the flab they are putting day by day. Apart from junk food, one can now blame it on their genes, for, a study has suggested that obesity is pre-programmed into the body.
Researchers in Britain came to the conclusion after identifying six new genes which "predispose their carriers to becoming heavily overweight", the `Nature Genetics` journal reported. In fact, according to them, the genes actually cause carriers to eat more, rather than affect their body`s ability to process fat.
Obesity is common in North America, Australia and Europe. Indians are genetically susceptible to weight accumulation especially around the waist and 5% of the population suffers due to obesity in India.
According to a study, the states which ranks the rate of obesity are:
Punjab: 30.3 % Males, 37.5 % Females
Kerala 24.3 % Males, 34 % Females
Goa 20.8 % Males, 27 % Females |
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