The Star Online: Lifestyle: Health
The Star Online: Lifestyle: Health |
- Lifelike ears created with 3D printing
- Sleep-deprived should watch their portion sizes: study
- How your diet could be causing you to break out: study
| Lifelike ears created with 3D printing Posted: 21 Feb 2013 11:48 PM PST Researchers said Wednesday they had engineered artificial human ears that look and act like the real thing thanks to 3D printing, giving hope to patients missing all or part of their ears. The new ears, practically identical to human ones, could provide the solution long sought by reconstructive surgeons to treat thousands of children born with the congenital deformity microtia, along with those who suffered ear loss to cancer or in an accident. In a study published online in the PLOS ONE journal, Cornell biomedical engineers and Weill Cornell Medical College physicians said the flexible ears grew cartilage over three months to replace the collagen used to mold them. "This is such a win-win for both medicine and basic science, demonstrating what we can achieve when we work together," said co-lead author Lawrence Bonassar, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Cornell. Bonassar and his colleagues first constructed the ears with a digitised 3D image of a person's ear that served to build a mould of a solid ear using a 3D printer. A high-density, injectable gel made of living cells helped fill the mould. Once the mould removed, cartilage was grown on the collagen. And researchers praised the speed of the process, noting it takes half a day to build the mould, about a day to print it, 30 minutes to inject the gel and the ear can be removed just 15 minutes later. "We trim the ear and then let it culture for several days in nourishing cell culture media before it is implanted," Bonassar said in a statement. Microtia, when the external ear is not fully developed, occurs in about 1 to four per 10,000 births each year in the United States. Although children born with the deformity often have an intact inner ear, they lose hearing due to the missing external structure. Weill Cornell associate professor Jason Spector noted that physicians could reduce the chances of rejection by using human cells from the same patient to build the ear. The best time to implant a bioengineered ear on a child would be around the age of five or six, when ears are at about 80 per cent of their adult size. Spector predicted that researchers could try the first human implant of a Cornell bioengineered ear in as little as three years. Replacement ears are usually built using materials with a foam-like consistency, or using a patient's harvest rib. But the process is often painful, especially for children, as the ears rarely look natural or perform well. - AFP |
| Sleep-deprived should watch their portion sizes: study Posted: 21 Feb 2013 11:13 PM PST If you've had a sleepless night, think twice before hitting the buffet line, suggest the findings of a new study that found that the sleep-deprived tend to eat greater portions of food. In the study, published online in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology this week, researchers out of Uppsala University in Sweden looked at the eating patterns of 16 normal-weight males under buffet-like conditions after they were forced to stay awake all night, and following a night of a solid eight-hour rest. Participants were asked to select their portion sizes of seven meals and six snack items in both states. "After a night of total sleep loss, [the sleep-deprived] males chose greater portion sizes of the energy-dense foods," said lead researcher Pleunie Hogenkamp. "Interestingly, they did so both before and after a breakfast, suggesting that sleep deprivation enhances food intake regardless of satiety." The Swedish study builds on a steady stream of research that has shown a link between sleep-deprivation and obesity. Another study published last year in The American Journal of Human Biology found that the sight of junk food following a sleepless night triggered the brain's reward centers, making the foods seem more appealing and tempting. And another study, published in the journal Sleep last year, also found that sleep deprivation and hunger differed among genders: the tendency to overeat among men, for instance, was found to be related to increased appetite, while for women it was related to reduced feelings of fullness. - Relaxnews |
| How your diet could be causing you to break out: study Posted: 21 Feb 2013 11:12 PM PST If you want a clear complexion, step away from the mashed potatoes and drop that piece of cheese, suggest the results of a new study. In the study, published in the March issue of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietics, researchers have found a link between acne and the consumption of dairy products and foods high on the glycemic index. After analysing studies between 1960 to 2012 investigating diet and acne, researchers from the New York Medical College and New York University concluded that the consumption of foods such as white bread, pasta, and rice -- which fall high on the glycemic index -- as well as milk and cheese can cause and aggravate the development of acne. The glycemic index measures how quickly blood sugar levels spike after eating certain foods. In the US, more than 17 million Americans suffer from acne. Meanwhile, research presented last year at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Dublin found that natural, herbal preparations of thyme applied topically can help kill acne-causing bacteria and also have a greater antibacterial effect that benzoyl peroxide. - Relaxnews |
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