Health and Medicine

White tea extract reveals anti-cancer, anti-aging properties

Scientists at University Hospitals of Cleveland and Case Western Reserve University have proven that ingredients in white tea are effective in boosting the immune function of skin cells and protecting them against the damaging effects of the sun. The discovery that white tea extract protects the skin from oxidative stress and immune cell damage adds another important element in the battle against skin cancer.

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Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that immune cells called B cells and the antibodies they produce play a critical early role in defending the body against West Nile Virus. The results are published in the February issue of the Journal of Virology.

Mice that lacked B cells and antibodies were completely unable to combat the virus. They developed serious brain and spinal-cord infection and ultimately died.

“These findings may help expla

Glucosamine supplements reduce knee pain in people with cartilage damage and possibly the degenerative joint disease osteoarthritis, concludes research in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Glucosamine is produced naturally in the body and found primarily in joint cartilage, damage to which often precedes osteoarthritis. Glucosamine capsules are widely available from health food shops, supermarkets, and over the internet

The researchers conducted a small trial in which 24 patie

A new brain imaging method pioneered by a German research group from several institutions can now produce images that localize the areas of the brain involved when test subjects perform physical activities, and can show how portions of the brain interact with each other. The technique, dubbed synchronization tomography, involves mapping the fluctuating magnetic fields produced by tiny electrical currents in the brain, and determining which brain regions are synchronized with an activity – such as a t

A new study suggests that brief exposures to pure oxygen not only help chronic and other hard-to-heal wounds heal completely, such exposures also help wounds heal faster.

Ohio State University surgical scientists used topical oxygen therapy to treat 30 patients with a total of 56 wounds. The therapy required placing a bag containing pure oxygen over the wound for 90 minutes a day. More than two-thirds of the difficult wounds healed with the oxygen treatment alone.

Wounds in this cl

Treatment appropriate for some patients who are not good surgical candidates

A minimally invasive, experimental treatment is proving successful in removing small kidney tumors from appropriate patients, report researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). In a study in the February 2003 issue of Radiology, the MGH team describes how a technique called radiofrequency ablation (RFA) destroyed all renal cell carcinoma (RCC) tumors less than 3 cm in size and some larger tumors, d