Miracles and wonders: video games, seeing again

Brain cells.

Here is the real future in our health care:

The tantalising prospect of treating a range of brain diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, all with the same drug, has been raised by UK researchers. They prevented brain cells dying in mice with prion disease. It is hoped the same method for preventing brain cell death could apply in other diseases. Many neuro-degenerative diseases result in the build-up of proteins which are not put together correctly - known as misfolded proteins. This happens in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's as well as in prion diseases, such as the human form of mad cow disease.

A video game developed at UCLA allows non-professional volunteers to accurately diagnose the presence of malaria in patients' red blood cells, aiding medical professionals in this time consuming process. Players are presented with a six-by-eight grid of neutral and infected cells representing a patient's biopsy, the object of the game being to neutralize the infected cells while preserving all the remaining healthy ones. Having gamers diagnose malaria not only saves time but researchers behind the new game say it improves the accuracy of results in the developing world where diagnosis tools are not always in plentiful supply.

Nanotechnology, which allows anti-cancer drugs to target specific tumor cells, has shown early success in human trials. In tests conducted by Bind Biosciences in Cambridge, MA, "multiple lung metastases shrank or even disappeared after one patient received only two-hour-long intravenous infusions of an experimental cancer drug. Another patient saw her cervical tumor reduce by nearly 60 percent after six months of treatment." The technology works by packing drugs inside nano-sized spherical structures which are made of polymers to protect the drug and shield it from the body's immune system.

Two previously blind British men have regained some vision after being fitted with a retinal implant developed by two opticians at the Oxford Eye Hospital and King's College Hospital in London. The two men suffered from a previously inoperable condition in which photoreceptor cells at the back of the eye gradually cease to function. The opticians developed a "wafer-thin, 3mm square microchip with 1,500 light-sensitive pixels that take over the function of the failed photoreceptor rods and cones." When light enters the eye, the chip sends a signal to the optic nerve and from there to the brain. "The end result is the perception of light."

Three studies published this week show that introducing new cells into mice can replace diseased cells — whether hair, eye or heart — and help to restore the normal function of those cells. These proof-of-principle studies now have researchers setting their sights on clinical trials to see if the procedures could work in humans. “You can grow cells in a Petri dish, but that’s not regenerative medicine,” says Robin Ali, a geneticist at University College London, who led the eye study. “You have to think about the biology of repair in a living system.”