Health

A US soldier whose leg muscles were destroyed by a bomb in Afghanistan has been able to start walking again after using a radical therapy that enabled his body to regrow the lost tissue.

Marine Corporal Isaias Hernandez lost 70 per cent of his right thigh muscles in the blast, an injury so severe that amputation is normally the only treatment.

Corporal Hernandez was, however, offered a therapy in which his remaining muscles were impregnated with an experimental growth promoting substance extracted from pig bladders. It prompted the muscles to regenerate to a point that Corporal Hernandez has regained most of his strength — via redwolf.newsvine.com

An international team co-led by scientists at Queen’s University, Belfast, has developed a new drug for Cystic Fibrosis sufferers.

The drug specifically targets the so-called Celtic gene which is common in Ireland.

But the researchers believe the breakthrough will have significant implications for all CF sufferers.

The drug should be available to patients next year. Patients take two tablets a day — via redwolf.newsvine.com

One study asked heterosexual men how comfortable and anxious they are around gay men. Based on these scores, they then divided these men into two groups: men that are homophobic, and men who are not. These men were then shown three, four-minute videos. One video depicted straight sex, one depicted lesbian sex and one depicted gay male sex. While this was happening, a device was attached to each participant’s penis. This device has been found to be triggered by sexual arousal, but not other types of arousal (such as nervousness, or fear – arousal often has a very different meaning in psychology than in popular usage) — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Melbourne researchers have developed smart bandages that change colour to reveal the state of the wound beneath.

Their invention could reduce the $500 million cost of chronic wound care in Australia.

We hope that the dressing could lead to more rapid and effective treatment of chronic wounds such as leg ulcers, saving time and money, as well as improving patient well-being, says the lead inventor Louise van der Werff, a CSIRO materials scientist and Monash University PhD student — via redwolf.newsvine.com

The brains of people with autism are chemically different to those without autism, according to researchers.

A study, published in the journal Nature, showed the unique characters of the frontal and temporal lobes had disappeared.

Different genes should be active in each region, but autistic brains had the same pattern of gene expression.

The National Autistic Society said the results could be important for future treatments — via redwolf.newsvine.com

A comparatively cheap vitamin D supplement could change the way sufferers of multiple sclerosis are treated for the disease — via redwolf.newsvine.com

An extended family in Colombia struck by hereditary and very early onset Alzheimer’s is taking part in a new drugs trial that doctors hope will lead to a cure for sufferers worldwide — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Doctors have declared a man cured of HIV five years after he received a bone marrow transplant and radiation therapy — but keep wearing those condoms as in the short term that cure will only work for a very small number of people — via redwolf.newsvine.com

CSIRO scientists have shown that a new experimental vaccine helps to protect horses against the deadly Hendra virus.

Dr Deborah Middleton from CSIRO’s Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) will announce the successful progress to develop the vaccine at the Australian Veterinary Association conference in Adelaide today — via redwolf.newsvine.com

The malaria parasite can ensure it keeps a host body all to itself by preventing further malarial infections, according to international researchers — via redwolf.newsvine.com