Herbal combo to fight colon cancer
A team of researchers may have found a herbal way to fight off colon cancer. Saint louis University scientists showed that a combination of two plant compounds that have medicinal properties — curcumin and silymarin — holds promise in treating the disease. Curcumin is the active ingredient in turmeric, and silymarin is a component of milk thistle, which has been used to treat liver disease. The researchers and their students studied a line of colon cancer cells in a laboratory model. They found that treating the cells initially with curcumin, then with silymarin was more effective in fighting cancer than treating the cells with either phytochemical alone, said scientist Uthayashanker Ezekiel. “The combination of phytochemicals inhibited colon cancer cells from multiplying and spreading. In addition, when the colon cancer cells were pre-exposed to curcumin and then treated with silymarin, the cells underwent a high amount of cell death,” he noted.
Warming self could banish the blues
Heating the body may be a new way to treat depression. In a recent trial, US psychiatrists showed patients who spent two-and-a-half hours in a heated chamber reported a significant drop in symptoms after a single session. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, believe their results suggest that depression may be linked to the body’s temperature control mechanisms; raising body temperature helps by ‘resetting’ the brain signalling system that controls heat and mood. Depression affects about one in 10 adults according to the NHS. Treatment typically involves medication thought to affect levels of brain chemicals linked to low mood.
Robot therapy for strained muscles
Suffering from back painIJ A robotic massage therapist developed by a Singapore-based start up may help relieve muscle strains and injuries. Emma, or short for Expert Manipulative Massage Automation, a robotic arm with a 3D-printed massage tip, can resolve some of the challenges faced by sports therapy clinics, such as a shortage of trained therapists and a need to deliver high quality therapy consistently. Developed by AiTreat, a start-up company founded by Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) graduate Albert Zhang, Emma is undergoing user trials at a medical institution that offers sports injury rehabilitation and pain management. “We have designed Emma as a clinically precise tool that can automatically carry out treatment for patients as prescribed by a physiotherapist or Chinese physician,” said Zhang, who graduated in 2010 from NTU.
