Global Health and Travel January 2016
DUBAI Ripe and ready for medical tourism
THAILAND ON TOP
Bernstein-GHT index demines Asia’s top medical tourism destination
SPROUTING CONTROVERSY
Medication designed to restore women’s sexual appetite takes a beating
THE BEEF WITH PROCESSED MEAT Will it give you cancer?
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DUBAI: Ripe and ready for medical tourism
January 2016 S$ 10.90 (inc. GST) ₹300 THB 300 RM 21.50 (inc. GST) DHS25 (Dubai) US$15 (USA) € 12 (Europe)
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CancerNews Health + Wellness
‘Designer’ immune cells reverse cancer in one-year-old Doctors describe effects of pioneering cell-based treatment as “almost a miracle”
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one-year-old British baby has become the first person in the world to undergo a pioneering genetic therapy that effectively reversed her cancer, according to a report in the Guardian. Layla Richards, who had an aggressive form of leukaemia, was given only a few months to live after the failure of conventional treatments. However, a team from Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London treated the girl with ‘designer’ immune cells that only target leukaemia cells, keeping healthy cells safe. ‘Microscopic scissors’, or DNA-cutting enzymes called TALENs, were added to donor immune cells, making them specifically engineered to attack cancer cells but not healthy ones, according to the BBC. Layla was then injected with a vial of these cells. The experimental, cell-based treatment had previously only been tested on mice by researchers at University College London (UCL), and doctors had to seek special approval from an emergency ethics committee before proceeding, the report said. Although Layla’s recovery has been described as “almost a
miracle”, doctors are still cautious about using this treatment again. “We have only used this treatment on one very strong little girl, and we have to be cautious about claiming this will be a suitable treatment option for all children,” team lead Waseem Qasim, a professor of cell and gene therapy at UCL’s Institute of Child Health and consultant immunologist at GOSH, was quoted as saying, Although it could be more than a year before doctors can be sure if this new form of therapy has completely cured the cancer or simply delayed its progression, Qasim noted that this is a landmark in the use of new gene engineering technology and “the effects for this child have been staggering”. : BBC.COM : NATURE.COM : THEGUARDIAN.COM
Kidney cancer risk increases with higher intake of charred meat Researchers find link between high temperature cooking of animal meat and cancer risk
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eople genetically susceptible to renal cell carcinoma who consume large amounts of barbecued meat have a higher risk of developing the disease, according to a new study published in the journal Cancer. The study, conducted by the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, is the first to identify a link between kidney cancer risk and a carcinogenic mutagen called MelQx found in cooked animal meat, Reuters Health reported. The research compared the dietary patterns and genetic risk profiles of 659 people newly diagnosed with kidney cancer to that of 699 people without the disease. Researchers found that people with two gene variants – one involving lipid signalling in the cells and another that encodes for the activation of other genes during low oxygen levels – appeared to be more susceptible to the mutagens in cooked meat.
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Previous studies have shown that harmful substances in cooked meat, called heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, cause changes in DNA that increase the risk of certain types of cancer, including that of the colon, pancreas and prostate. Because the kidney’s function is to filter harmful toxins from the body, the risk of it developing cancer is higher if it is exposed to carcinogens through diet, said Xifeng Wu, senior author of the study, in an interview with Reuters. Wu added that although the study may show that these carcinogens doubled kidney cancer risk, the lifetime risk of the disease is still low for most people and more studies are needed to further understand the link. : REUTERS.COM
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16/12/15 9:22 pm
Brain barrier successfully breached to deliver chemotherapy drugs Non-invasive method first in the world; could be used for dementia and Parkinson’s anadian scientists have successfully breached the brain’s protective barrier to deliver chemotherapy drugs in a patient, according to a press release on the Focused Ultrasound Foundation website. Although the protective function of the brain’s bloodbrain barrier is critical in keeping out pathogens and toxins, it also hinders treatment for brain diseases as it deters drugs from entering the brain. Direct injections also cannot be used as they could lead to haemorrhage, infection or damage to brain tissue from the needle. But doctors at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto have now found a way to get past the brain’s defense mechanism safely, the BBC reported. They injected tiny, gasfilled bubbles in the bloodstream of a 56-year-old woman with a brain tumour and then applied a beam of focused ultrasound waves to her skull, causing the bubbles to vibrate and push their way through the blood-brain barrier. This created a safe passage for the chemotherapy drugs to enter the brain. The success of the procedure was encouraging and opens up more opportunities to apply this “revolutionary approach”, lead researcher and neurosurgeon Todd Mainprize told Science Daily.
PHOTO CREDIT: SUNNYBROOK HEALTH SCIENCES CENTRE
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Six to ten more patients would undergo the same procedure as part of a trial to establish the “feasibility, safety and preliminary efficacy” of the focused ultrasound method in opening up the blood-brain barrier, according to Science Daily. If proven to be successful, this non-invasive method could be used for other brain diseases like dementia and Parkinson’s. : BBC.COM : SCIENCEDAILY.COM
Ultrasound increases breast cancer detection rate Technique is more accurate in identifying cancer than mammography alone
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ombining ultrasound with standard mammography tests would improve early detection rates of breast cancer, according to a firstever study conducted in Japan. Researchers from Tohoku University held a trial involving more than 70,000 women aged between 40 and 49 from 2007 to 2011, as part of the Japan Strategic Anti-cancer Randomised Trial (J-START), the Japan Times reported. The women, who had no history of any cancer in the previous five years prior to the study, were divided into two groups and underwent mammography combined with ultrasound or mammography alone. Results from the J-START tests, held twice over two years, showed that ultrasound testing combined with mammography was more accurate in identifying cancer than mammography alone, and had a 91 percent sensitivity rate compared to 77 percent for single testing. www.GlobalHealthAndTravel.com
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The ultrasound-mammography technique also detected nearly twice as many early-stage cancers – 144 at stage 0 or 1 versus 79 detected by mammography alone. Fewer interval cancers, which develop after a negative test result between screenings, were also found in the women. Researchers concluded that the addition of ultrasound to mammography was more effective in identifying early cancers. Mammography is the only proven method for breast cancer detection so far, but has been criticised for often missing tumours in young women or women with dense breasts. Although the results are promising, a health official told Japan Times that it was still too early to ascertain whether ultrasound would be integrated in state-sponsored screening programs. : ASIANSCIENTIST.COM : JAPANTIMES.CO.JP
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