Drinking age of 21: review confirms it saves lives

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, approximately 5,000 US youths under the age of 21 die from unintentional injuries, homicides and suicides related to alcohol consumption every year. But a new review states that if the age-21 drinking law was not in place, these numbers would be even higher.

The review was recently published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Under the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, also known as the Federal Uniform Drinking Age Act, all US states are required to prohibit individuals under the age of 21 from purchasing or publicly possessing alcoholic beverages. By 1988, all US states had adopted this minimum drinking age.

But in 2006, this federal law was challenged. A nonprofit organization called Choose Responsibility began campaigning for a reduction in the legal drinking age, stating that young adults between 18 and 20 years old should have the ability to make mature decisions regarding the place of alcohol in their lives.

In 2008, presidents of universities and colleges over the US created the Amethyst Initiative. This group called for a re-evaluation of the legal drinking age.

According to Prof. William DeJong, of Boston University School of Public Health in Massachusetts, these campaigns received a lot of media attention.

This led public health experts to carry out new studies in order to analyze the impact of the age-21 drinking law.

Age-21 law 'reduces alcohol consumption and drunk-driving accidents'

Prof. DeJong and colleagues conducted a review of research that had been conducted since 2006.

Nanoparticles used to target inflammation-causing immune cells

A system for precisely targeting "out-of-control" immune cells - without interfering with correctly functioning immune cells - has been developed using nanoparticles.

Nanoparticle research is currently described as being the most studied branch of science.

Nanoparticles - tiny objects that behave as a whole unit in terms of their transport and properties - have applications in all kinds of medical fields.

They have been used as delivery systems for drugs and genes, for detecting disease or proteins, in tissue engineering and for destroying tumors, among other things.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have now made nanoparticles from tiny pieces of protein that bind to a type of immune cell responsible for acute and chronic inflammatory responses.

'Pile-ups' of neutrophils contribute to inflammation

These cells - called neutrophils - should normally accumulate at an injury in a damaged blood vessel to prevent bacteria or bits of injured tissue from causing infection. But in chronic inflammation, these neutrophils pile up at the location of the injury, sticking to the walls of the blood vessel and damaging tissue.

Acupuncture 'could treat inflammation and save lives'

In Western medicine, the jury is still out on whether acupuncture delivers health benefits. But now, a new study adds further evidence of its worthiness, as scientists have shown a direct connection between acupuncture and physical mechanisms that heal sepsis, a common condition in hospital intensive care units that springs from infection and inflammation.

The researchers, from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, published their results in the journal Nature Medicine.

They note that sepsis causes around 250,000 deaths in the US each year, making it a major cause of death.

"But in many cases patients don't die because of the infection," says lead author Luis Ulloa, an immunologist at Rutgers. "They die because of the inflammatory disorder they develop after the infection. So we hoped to study how to control the inflammatory disorder."

Although acupuncture has been practiced for thousands of years in Eastern countries, it is relatively new to Western medicine. The technique works by stimulating specific points on the body with tiny needles that penetrate the skin.

Researchers from this latest study say they already knew that stimulating the vagus nerve - a major nerve in the body - activates mechanisms in the body that reduce inflammation.

As such, they tested whether electroacupuncture - a form of acupuncture that involves sending a small electric current through the nerves - reduces inflammation and organ injury in mice with sepsis. This type of electrification has been approved by the FDA for treating pain in humans.

Half of septic mice who received electroacupuncture survived

By increasing the electrical current, Ulloa explains that it heightens the effect of needle placement. As predicted, when they performed the electroacupuncture on septic mice, the researchers found that cytokines - molecules that help reduce inflammation - were stimulated.

Rare polio-like disease strikes five kids in California

Researchers have identified a polio-like disease that has caused severe weakness or rapid paralysis in one or more arms and legs in five children from California since 2012. They are presenting their findings at the 66th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Philadelphia, PA, at the end of April.

One of the researchers, Dr. Keith Van Haren, of Stanford University, says:

"Although poliovirus has been eradicated from most of the globe, other viruses can also injure the spine, leading to a polio-like syndrome."

He explains that in the last 10 years, researchers have identified strains of enterovirus linked to polio-like outbreaks among children in Asia and Australia, and adds:

"These five new cases highlight the possibility of an emerging infectious polio-like syndrome in California."

Polio, or poliomyelitis, is an infectious viral disease that can strike at any age and cause paralysis. From the late 1940s to the early 1950s, polio crippled more than 35,000 Americans a year, but thanks to an effective vaccine, the US has been polio-free since 1979, say the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In 1988, polio was endemic in more than 125 countries, but through a series of immunization efforts, the incidence has fallen by more than 99% since then. In April 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced they aim to eradicate polio by 2018.

Dr. Van Haren and his colleagues had noticed cases of this new polio-like disease at their medical centers and decided to find out how many there might be altogether in California.

Researchers counted cases over 12 months, excluding illnesses with similar symptoms

The team looked for all polio-like cases among children whose samples were sent to the Neurologic and Surveillance Testing program in California between August 2012 and July 2013.

They counted only cases where the illness caused paralysis in one or more limbs, accompanied by spinal cord MRI scans that explained the paralysis.

Additionally, they excluded cases due to illnesses that can cause similar symptoms, such as Guillain-Barré syndrome and botulism.

The cases involve five children whose illness had left them paralyzed in one or more limbs, and had come on suddenly, reaching peak severity within 2 days of onset. All of the children had received polio vaccinations beforehand, and three of them had a respiratory illness before their symptoms started.

The children's symptoms did not improve with treatment, and their limb function was still poor 6 months later.

While no cause was identified in three of the children, the other two tested positive for a rare virus - enterovirus-68 - that has previously been associated with polio-like symptoms.

Dr. Van Haren says their findings will help efforts to monitor, test and treat the mysterious disease. Although he says the syndrome appears to be very rare, he also urges:

"Any time a parent sees symptoms of paralysis in a child, the child should be seen by a doctor right away."

The McHugh/Sprague Award from the Lucile Packard Foundation funded the case investigation.

Written by Catharine Paddock PhD



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Mature, functioning liver cells made from skin cells

There have been several reports in recent years of scientists reprogramming skin cells so they transform into cells that are similar to cells from other organs, such as the heart, the pancreas and even brain cells. However, these have fallen short of producing mature, fully functioning versions of organ cells - essential if they are to be of any use in life-saving regenerative medicine.

Vitamin D and calcium disparities found among American subpopulations

Many Americans do not meet recommended intakes of calcium and vitamin D, despite the important role these vital nutrients play in bone health during all stages of the lifecycle. Researchers set out to determine calcium and vitamin D intakes among specific subpopulations of Americans in order to identify those most in need of fortification/enrichment and supplementation. Their findings are now available in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, the Official Publication of the American College of Nutrition and a publication from Routledge.

Robot 'REX' helping wheelchair patients walk

A world first wearable robot known as REX that helps wheelchair users stand and walk will be available in Australia within three months. The forty kilogram device known as REX comprises more than 8000 components and 29 custom onboard computers. It allows users to stand, walk on flat surfaces and turn in any direction. Unlike any other exoskeleton, REX does not require crutches or a walking frame, leaving the hands free to do other things and eliminating the risk of shoulder injury. The robot is simple and easy to use, with users manoeuvering it via a user friendly keypad and joystick.