Skin care: new research into scar-free healing
New research from the University of Bristol shows that by suppressing one of the genes that normally switches on in wound cells, wounds can heal faster and reduce scarring. This has major implications not just for wound victims but also for people who suffer organ tissue damage through illness or abdominal surgery.
When skin is damaged a blood clot forms and cells underneath the wound start to repair the damage, leading to scarring. Scarring is a natural part of tissue repair and is most obvious where skin has healed after a cut or burn. It ranges from trivial (a grazed knee) to chronic (diabetic leg ulcers) and is not limited to the skin. All tissues scar as they repair; for example, alcohol-induced liver damage leads to fibrosis and liver failure, and after most abdominal surgeries scars can often lead to major complications.
New Implantable Lenses Can Reduce the Need for Glasses After Cataract Surgery
Cataract surgery involves removing a clouded natural lens from inside the eye and replacing it with a plastic one. While the operation itself hasn’t changed much over recent years, the plastic lenses have. The biggest advantage of the newer lenses is their ability to reduce the need for glasses after surgery, says a newly updated report from Harvard Medical School.
The Aging Eye: Preventing and Treating Eye Disease explains that the older types of plastic lenses help people see well at one distance—be it close up, far away, or at a medium distance. Two newer types of lenses, accommodating and multifocal, let the eye focus at varying distances, so fewer patients need glasses for reading or distance vision.
The accommodating intraocular lens has hinges on its sides that permit it to move as the eye’s ciliary muscle contracts or relaxes. This improves the ability to change focus from near to far. The multifocal intraocular lens uses a new type of refractive technology to provide focus for multiple distances.
Prostatitis May Effect Up To One-half of All Males During Their Lifetimes
Estimates on the number of males in the United States who will experience prostatitis during their lifetimes range up to 50 percent. Many urologic disease experts feel that from 5 to 10 percent of males are experiencing prostatitis at a particular time, making it one of the most common urologic diseases in the U.S.
Prostatitis is an infection or inflammation of the prostate gland that causes intense pain, urinary complications, sexual dysfunction, infertility, and a significant reduction in the quality of life Prior to the mid-1990s, very little research had occurred that could lead to improved diagnostic techniques and a cure.
Prostatitis is difficult to diagnose and treat, and has a wide range of debilitating and troublesome side affects. Unlike prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), prostatitis often affects the lives of young and middle-aged men.
