Same Blue Dye In M&Ms Linked to Reducing Condition Of Spine Injury

This is a article I found that talks about how the blue dye that is used in M&M's and Gatorade can improve conditions of patients with spinal injuries.

Same Blue Dye In M&Ms Linked To Reducing Spine Injury

Doctors in hospitals see all these people with spinal injuries who may never walk or talk again and yet, they have nothing that can even help with the condition. There may be a solution to this problem in the near future.

Scientists found that when they gave the compound, Brilliant Blue G (BBG)- a similar substance to food dye used in sweets and sports drinks - to rats with spinal injuries, they were able to walk again, although with a limp. The only side effect that came about was that the rat temporarily turned blue.

A molecule called P2X7 is what causes the disabilities in patients with spinal injuries. The BBG could prevent the P2X7 from functioning the way it normally would, therefore reducing the severity of the conditions. This means that a rat that would otherwise not be able to walk or make noises would now be able to make noises and walk with a limp. It is not a full cure, but it helps.

As of right now, 85% of patients that are admitted to the hospital with spinal injuries go untreated. The other 15% are being treated with steroids, that may, or may not help their condition. If scientists could determine how to get treatment to those patients, even it if doesn't totally cure the injury, it would be better to be 75% healed than not at all.

In order for the BBG to work to its full potential, it would have to be administered shortly after the accident. This is because if the P2X7 is given time to react, it will take over before the BBG even gets into the body. It would have to be something that is given before the patient gets to the hospital.

Scientists are currently working on putting together an application to be sent to the FDA to get permission to begin testing on humans. The goal is to get a medication that will decrease secondary damage that we would otherwise have to expect and not be able to do anything about.

Contacts Dispensing Medicine to Eyes

This is an article that I found talking about how contact lenses may soon be able to dispense drugs into the human eye.

Contact Lens Can Dispense Drugs To Eyes

So, I was reading this article and thought, what a great idea! I myself, wear contacts, and suffer from dry eyes. When they get really bad, I have to stop wearing my contacts and use eye drops for a while. It would be great if I could wear my contacts, and get the treatment I need to get better at the same time. I hate wearing my glasses out to places, and that just makes the process worse. Being able to wear my contacts even when I have dry eyes would be like a dream come true.

Studies show that more than 59% of glaucoma patients advised to use eye drops don't even when untreated glaucoma can lead to blindness. The times that they do use their eye drops, only 1 to 7 percent of the drop actually gets into the eye, while the rest of it just drips down their cheek or into their eye lashes. This means, that if you actually got all the medicine that you were supposed to get, you would get better 93% faster. If dry eye and glaucoma sufferers could wear contacts to get their treatment, all the medication that they were throwing away because it was running down their cheek would now be helping them. It would be coming right out of the contact lens and going directly into the eye. This would save money and time because you aren't wasting your drops and since you aren't wasting your drops, you don't have to spend as much time driving to the store to refill the prescription.

Drug dispensing contact lenses can be helpful in many ways. They save us from having to use messy eye drops and allow us to continue on normal life without worrying about glasses, or vision that is just not as good.

This experiment has been tried a few times before but has never been a full success. The contacts would either dispense a lot of the drug for a very short period or time, or an amount of the drug that is almost useless in a long period of time. Now, scientists have figured out how to produce the exact amount of the drug at a constant rate and make it last for 30 days or more. This is almost the perfect amount of time because most contact lenses, with the exception of some Acuvue lenses, are 30 day lenses.

As of right now, the testing of the lenses is only as far as a lab dish but animal testing is expected to be happening in just a few months. Scientists hope to be testing on humans in a year or so, but want to have it just right before that happens. They just have to make the lenses in a quality high enough to be used in the human eye.

If you suffer from dry eyes or glaucoma this could be the solution to all of your worries and could make the rest of your life much more fun. No more worrying about where your glasses are, or that you can't see your son or grandson at his first baseball game. All of that will be crystal clear, once again.