Medicinal herb receives a diabetes-fighting boost

                                                                                                                          

Commonly known as Paneer dodi, the herb Withania coagulans has been used in traditional Indian medicine for many years now – among other things, it is claimed to help control diabetes. A new study shows that it indeed may do so, particularly when it's ingested within special capsules.

Scientists  started by extracting plant steroid compounds from W. coagulans berries. When tested in the lab, those compounds were found to increase insulin secretion by mouse pancreatic cells in a dish.

Unfortunately, however, the berries are very bitter – this makes it quite difficult to consume a sufficiently-sized dose of an extract obtained from them. Additionally, even if someone were able to eat or drink enough of that extract, much of its medicinal content would likely be destroyed by their stomach acid.

With that in mind, the researchers encapsulated their W. coagulans steroids within nanoparticles made of chitosan, which is a natural substance derived from shellfish exoskeletons. Those particles were in turn coated in a food-based starch, making them better able to withstand acidic conditions. This was done so that they could pass through the stomach, not dissolving and releasing the steroids until reaching the small intestine.

After the nanoparticles had been fed to diabetic mice over a period of five days, the animals' blood glucose levels were found to have dropped by about 40 percent – presumably due to the rodents' increased production of insulin. A further five days after the treatment period ended, that number increased to 60 percent, suggesting the particles' gradual-release mechanism was still having an effect.

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Now, a syringe to help seal gunshot wounds in 15 second

A new pocket-sized syringe that can seal gunshot wounds within just 15 seconds has been developed by scientists. 

The syringe Called XStat, developed by Oregon-based RevMedx, injects specially coated sponges into wounds. 

The device could boost survival and spare injured soldiers from additional pain by plugging wounds faster and more efficiently than gauze, 'Popular Science' reported. "That is what we pictured as the perfect solution: something you could spray in, it would expand, and bleeding stops," said John Steinbaugh, former US army special operations medic. 

The team used ordinary sponges and cut them into 1cm circles. They then injected the bits of sponge into an animal injury. "The bleeding stopped. Our eyes lit up. We knew we were onto something," said Steinbaugh. 

Researchers settled on a sponge made from wood pulp and coated with chitosan, a blood-clotting, antimicrobial substance found in shrimp shells. They added X-shaped markers that make each sponge visible on an x-ray image in order to ensure that no sponges are left inside the body accidentally, the report said. The sponges expand to fill the entire wound cavity in just 15 seconds, creating enough pressure to stop heavy bleeding. 

ps- this is only for information, always consult you physician before having any particular food/ medication/exercise/other remedies.

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Injectable `smart sponges` may revolutionise diabetes treatment

 A new drug delivery technique for diabetes treatment has been developed, in which a sponge-like material surrounds an insulin core. 

The sponge expands and contracts in response to blood sugar levels to release insulin as needed. 

The technique could also be used for targeted drug delivery to cancer cells.

"We wanted to mimic the function of health beta-cells, which produce insulin and control its release in a healthy body," Dr. Zhen Gu, lead author of the paper.

"But what we`ve found also holds promise for smart drug delivery targeting cancer or other diseases," the researcher said. 

The researchers created a spherical, sponge-like matrix out of chitosan, a material found in shrimp and crab shells. 

Scattered throughout this matrix are smaller nano-capsules made of a porous polymer that contain glucose oxidase or catalyse enzymes. 

The sponge-like matrix surrounds a reservoir that contains insulin. 

The entire matrix sphere is approximately 250 micrometers in diameter and can be injected into a patient.

When a diabetic patient`s blood sugar rises, the glucose triggers a reaction that causes the nano-capsules  enzymes to release hydrogen ions. 

Those ions bind to the molecular strands of the chitosan sponge, giving them a positive charge. 

The positively charged chitosan strands then push away from each other, creating larger gaps in the sponge`s pores that allow into the bloodstream. 

As the insulin is released, the body`s glucose levels begin to drop. This causes the chitosan to lose its positive charge, and the strands begin to come back together. 

This shrinks the size of the pores in the sponge, trapping the remaining insulin.


ps- this is only for information, always consult you physician before having any particular food/ medication/exercise/other remedies.


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I've not given details about designs, but those interested are free to mail me for the same.