Hypnotherapy for irritable bowel
Hypnotherapy could help relieve symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), finds a study. The findings have been published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology journal. Hypnotherapy might help relieve irritable bowel syndrome complaints for some patients for as long as nine months after the end of treatment, according to a randomised controlled trial of 354 adults with IBS in primary and secondary care. After three months of treatment, adequate relief of IBS symptoms was reported by more patients who received individual (40 per cent; 41/102 for whom data were available) and group hypnotherapy (33 per cent; 31/91) than that given education and supportive care (17 per cent; 6/35), and these benefits persisted at nine months follow-up (42 per cent [38/91]. Importantly, the findings suggest that group hypnotherapy is as effective as individual sessions, which could enable many more patients with IBS to be treated at a reduced cost.
Can Sciencehelp with Peanut Allergy?
For children with a peanut allergy, every bite of food outside the home stirs up anxiety. Exposure to trace amounts of peanuts in cookies, cakes, or other foods from cross contamination can end with a severe allergic reaction and even hospitalisation. The results of a new study may lead to the approval of a new treatment that reduces the risk of these kinds of potentially deadly reactions, providing relief not just for children, but also for their parents. The treatment is not a cure for peanut allergy. The goal is to allow them to tolerate small amounts of peanuts. “Being able to safely eat one or two peanuts is a huge improvement in terms of kids’ quality of life — such as when they go to a friend’s house overnight or to a potluck,” said Dr Stephen Tilles.
Gene-edited babies in china?
A Chinese researcher claims that he helped make the world's first genetically edited babies — twin girls whose DNA he said he altered with a powerful new tool capable of rewriting the very blueprint of life. If true, it would be a profound leap of science and ethics. A US scientist said he took part in the work in China, but this kind of gene editing is banned in the United States because the DNA changes can pass to future generations and it risks harming other genes. Many mainstream scientists think it's too unsafe to try, and some denounced the Chinese report as human experimentation. The researcher, He Jiankui of Shenzhen, said he altered embryos for seven couples during fertility treatments, with one pregnancy resulting thus far. He said his goal was not to cure or prevent an inherited disease, but to try to bestow a trait that few people naturally have — an ability to resist possible future infection with HIV.