World's Smallest, Lightest Telemedicine Microscope

Researchers at The California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA (CNSI) have developed a tiny telemedicine microscope for imaging blood samples or other fluids, testing water quality or other public health need in resource-limited settings.

From the press release:

Slightly wider than a US quarter and weighing just 46 grams, the lensless microscope is a self-

Beware If your girlfriend loves chocolate

Research in Archives of Internal Medicine shows those who eat at least a bar every week are more glum than those who only eat chocolate now and again.

Many believe chocolate has the power to lift mood, and the US team say this may be true, although scientific proof for this is lacking.

But they say they cannot rule out that chocolate may be a cause rather than the cure for being depressed.

New Studies Eat Into Diet Math

How many calories must a dieter cut to lose a pound?

The answer most dietitians have long provided is 3,500. But recent studies indicate that calories can't be converted into weight through a simple formula.

The result is that the 3,500-calorie rule of thumb gets things very wrong over the long term, and has led health analysts astray. Much bigger dietary changes are needed to gain or shed pounds than the formula suggests.

Consider the chocolate-chip-cookie fan who adds one 60-calorie cookie to his daily diet. By the old math, that cookie would add up to six pounds in a year, 60 pounds in a decade and hundreds of pounds in a lifetime.

But new research—based on studies of volunteers whose calorie consumption is observed in laboratory settings, rather than often-unreliable food diaries—suggests that the body's self-regulatory mechanisms tamp down the effects of changes in diet or behavior.

Eccrine Spiradenoma - Images

There were multiple nodules like this, in this case

Two type of cells, dark ones in periphery, light ones in centre. Cells are arranged around small lumina containing eosinophilic material.

Well circumscribed and not attached to epidermis

Eosinophilic material prominent here.

Cystic changes are seen in some (degenerative or ancient changes)

Lymphocytic infilteration is common in this tumor.

Case - ?lipid storage

Male 12 year, presented with severe anemia, moderate splenomegaly, moderate hepatomegaly, PS shows microcytic hypochromic anemia (Hb 3.5), with rouleaux formation, platelet low normal, total count appear low normal with neutrophils 70%. BM examination done 3 days after first BT given on the day of admission. cilincally ??acute leukemia. On bone marrow, there was mild erythroid hyperplasia, prominent toxic granulation in neutrophilic precursors. No significant number of blasts. Megakaryocytes appear within normal limits. Now after almost ruling out acute leukemia, second clinical possibility remains is of ?lipid storage or ?some chronic infection. I am posting few pictures here, does it suggest any storage disorder or just arteffects. Kindly give your opinions. I feel it is some chronic infection, but not sure. MP negative by slide and card. Kindly give your comments. Will try to post more pictures soon.

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Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome

At age 12, most kids are concerned with finding a ride to the movies and making it through middle school. Ashley Upchurch was younger -- 11 -- when she became addicted to inhaling air dusters as a way to get high. 

"It was a cheap high, it was instant, and it was intense," Upchurch, now 17 and sober for over two years, said today in a Washington D.C. seminar about the danger inhalants pose to children. 

New data released today by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) indicates that 12-year-old kids are more likely to get high from common, legal household substances including aerosol computer cleaners, air fresheners, hair spray or shoe polish than use cigarettes or marijuana. 

Stem Cells May Provide Vaccine For Colon Cancer

Immunology experts in the US and China have discovered human stem cells that "fool" the immune system may provide a vaccination for colon cancer.

The study was led by Dr. Bei Liu and Dr. Zihai Li in collaboration with stem cell expert Dr. Renhe Xu at the University of Connecticut Stem Cell Institute and is to be published in the journal Stem Cells.

The study builds on an old notion that immunizing with embryonic materials might produce anti-tumor responses, but this has only been shown in animal studies.