How to stop the march of conjunctivitis
by Dr R. Kumar
CONJUNCTIVITIS is an inflammation of the conjunctiva — the transparent membrane that lines your eyelids and a part of your eyeballs. It may make you feel as though something is there in your eyes, and you can’t get it out. When you are awake in the morning, your eyes may seem to be pasted shut.

Drug to help prostate cancer treatment
LONDON: Researchers here have found that a drug designed to emulate the effects of "Vitamin D" hormone may be able to boost the effectiveness of radiation treatment for prostate cancer."About 30 per cent of men with locally advanced prostate cancer fail radiation therapy because the cancerous cells become resistant to treatment.

Gene therapy study for Parkinson’s disease
NEW YORK: Researchers have slipped billions of copies of a gene into the brain of a Parkinson’s disease patient, marking the first attempt to test gene therapy in a person with that disease. The patient, 55-year-old Nathan Klein of Port Washington, New York, said he was “feeling fine” in a telephone interview a few hours after the surgery.

Elderly's mental decline often missed
CHICAGO: Doctors accustomed to diagnosing physical ailments too often miss symptoms of mental decline that may be early signs of dementia in the elderly, researchers have said.

Homoeopathy & you
Tension headaches
by Dr Vikas Sharma
RAJEEV, a project manager in a software development company, had just entered his 38th year of his life and was nearing the completion of an important project assigned by the company. He knew that this could be a major turning point in his career if he could complete the project successfully and in time.

• What can be done?

How to stop the march of conjunctivitis
by Dr R. Kumar

CONJUNCTIVITIS is an inflammation of the conjunctiva — the transparent membrane that lines your eyelids and a part of your eyeballs. It may make you feel as though something is there in your eyes, and you can’t get it out. When you are awake in the morning, your eyes may seem to be pasted shut. The whites of your eyes begin to look pinkish, and you may not see as clearly as you did before. In conjunctivitis, inflammation causes small blood vessels in the conjunctiva to become more prominent, resulting in a pinkish or reddish cast to the whites of your eyes. In fact, pink eye and red eye are the terms that are commonly used to refer to all types of conjunctivitis.

The viral type that is raging in the city is extremely contagious. It should be diagnosed and treated early. This is especially important for preschool-age children. Keep hands away from the eye. Do not consult a non-doctor for diagnosis or treatment of eye disease. Bacterial infection may superimpose the viral infection and the two may co-exist.

The most common signs and symptoms of conjunctivitis include:

• Redness in one or both eyes
• Itchiness in one or both eyes
• Blurred vision and sensitivity to light
• A gritty feeling in your eye
• Discharge in your eye that forms a crust during the night
• Pain in the affected eye

Call your doctor if your eyes become red, watery and itchy, especially if there is a thick eye discharge that forms a crust on your eyelids. Call your doctor immediately if you have pain or swelling in your eyes, or if you develop blurred vision, high fever or become sensitive to light. Call your doctor immediately whenever an infant, especially a newborn, shows symptoms of conjunctivitis. If you are taking antibiotics to treat bacterial conjunctivitis, call your doctor if your eye redness continues after three days.

Prevention

It is possible to prevent infectious conjunctivitis. Wash your hands frequently and avoid touching your eyes. At home, never share towels, wash-cloths or facial cosmetics with others, especially eye makeup. Practising good hygiene is the best way to control the spread of conjunctivitis. Do not use antibiotic drops as a preventive measure on your healthy eyes. Once the infection has been diagnosed, follow these steps:

• Keep your hands away from your eyes.
• Wash your hands frequently.
• Do not shake hands with your friends and others.
• Change your towel and wash-cloth daily.
• Change your pillowcase each night.
• Replace eye cosmetics regularly.
• Do not share eye cosmetics. Discard eye cosmetics, particularly mascara.
• Don’t share towels or handkerchiefs with others.
• Discontinue the use of contact lenses.

The writer, a Chandigarh-based eye specialist, was earlier associated
with the PGI.

Drug to help prostate cancer treatment

LONDON: Researchers here have found that a drug designed to emulate the effects of "Vitamin D" hormone may be able to boost the effectiveness of radiation treatment for prostate cancer."About 30 per cent of men with locally advanced prostate cancer fail radiation therapy because the cancerous cells become resistant to treatment. Any agent that increases the cancer cells' sensitivity to radiation, without significantly affecting normal cells, would be of great benefit," the researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center report in the current on-line edition of the British Journal of Cancer.It may be noted that prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed non-skin cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States.

The researchers found that Zemplar, a drug manufactured to mimic vitamin D hormone worked in synergy with radiation therapy to kill cancer cells and prevent cancer cell multiplication, while having little effect on normal cells.

With the combination of Zemplar and external beam radiation therapy, researchers were able to lower the radiation dose by 2.4 times and get the same results as when radiation was the sole treatment.

"These results are very promising, but they must be duplicated in animal studies before being tested in humans," said Constantinos Koumenis, an assistant professor of radiation oncology.

The fact that Zemplar is already approved means it could be used in treatment sooner, said Koumenis adding, "We've shown that the combination of Zemplar and radiation are synergistic in tumor cells, but much less so in normal cells. This means we could potentially increase the killing of the tumor cells, while minimising the damage to normal cells." — ANI

Gene therapy study for Parkinson’s disease

NEW YORK: Researchers have slipped billions of copies of a gene into the brain of a Parkinson’s disease patient, marking the first attempt to test gene therapy in a person with that disease.

The patient, 55-year-old Nathan Klein of Port Washington, New York, said he was “feeling fine” in a telephone interview a few hours after the surgery.

Klein said the disease gave him a tremor in his right arm, and made him shuffle and have to catch himself sometimes from falling. Medicines offer some relief, he said, but when he heard about the new study he decided to volunteer.

With the disease, “you don’t want to go out,” Mr Klein said. “It’s embarrassing when you’re shaking a lot and you walk like an old man.”

Klein is the first of a planned 12 patients for the study, said the surgeon, Dr Michael Kaplitt of Weill Cornell Medical College. The research is focused on the procedure’s safety, rather than whether or not it relieves symptoms.

“Our whole goal here is to prove this is safe before we move on,” Kaplitt said.

He said it could take a couple of months before any effect could be expected from the procedure. With 12 patients participating at perhaps one a month, it could take a year before any effect of the overall study would be apparent, he added. — AP

Elderly's mental decline often missed

CHICAGO: Doctors accustomed to diagnosing physical ailments too often miss symptoms of mental decline that may be early signs of dementia in the elderly, researchers have said.

“As a result, these patients do not have the benefits of early medical treatment or the opportunity to make legal and financial decisions while they are still able,” psychiatrist Sanford Finkel of the University of Chicago Medical School told the Congress of the International Psychogeriatric Association. His study of 2,150 people in Illinois aged 65 or older, under way since 2000, found as many as 28 per cent of participants showed symptoms of cognitive impairment. Yet their physicians noted the symptoms in the medical records of only 6 per cent of patients and only 2 per cent were prescribed drugs.

In addition, doctors diagnosed only one-quarter of the 25 percent of participants with symptoms of depression.

“These statistics represent a major public health problem and have serious implications for our aging population,” Finkel said.

“Primary care physicians are very good at diagnosing the physical disorders associated with aging, but they often have not been trained to recognise early symptoms or don’t have the time to evaluate patients with the mental disorders that afflict a large proportion of elderly people,” he pointed out.

Doctors should look for changes in patients’ routine such as a lack of interest in shopping, housework or socialising; changes in sleep patterns; a lack of energy; sudden, unexplained weight loss; vague or tangential answers to questions; and an inability to follow instructions, such as failing to refill prescriptions. — Reuters

Homoeopathy & you
Tension headaches
by Dr Vikas Sharma

RAJEEV, a project manager in a software development company, had just entered his 38th year of his life and was nearing the completion of an important project assigned by the company. He knew that this could be a major turning point in his career if he could complete the project successfully and in time. So, both physically and mentally he started over-stretching his limits. Soon he was showing signs of it — by evenings a dull aching pain would start at the base of the neck and very soon would engulf the whole head. At times it would grow so worse that Rajeev was left with no other choice than to retire from work. His physician told him that he was suffering from tension headaches which were a direct result of the excessive physical and mental stress that he was undergoing.

Of all the types of headaches, the tension type is the most common. About 80 per cent people who suffer frequent headaches are victims of tension headaches. In most cases, tension headache is a dull, steady ache or a feeling of tightness or pressure on both sides of the head. The symptoms may be felt in the back of the neck and the head, in the temples, or as if there were a too tight band circling the forehead.

Tension headaches result from the contraction of neck and scalp muscles. One cause of this muscle contraction is a response to stress, depression or anxiety. Any activity that causes the head to be held in one position for a long time without moving can cause such headaches. Such activities include typing or the use of computers, fine work with the hands, and the use of a microscope. Sleeping in a cold room or sleeping with the neck in an abnormal position can also trigger this type of headache.

Other causes include eye-strain, fatigue, alcohol use, excessive smoking, excessive caffeine use, sinus infection, nasal congestion, over-exertion, colds and influenza. Tension headaches are not associated with structural lesions in the brain.

The writer is a Chandigarh- based homoeopath.