Online Medicine

An important choreographer of the complicated dance of signals, enzymes and proteins that takes embryonic stem cells through the steps to becoming a beating heart muscle cell is the gene Sox17, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in a report in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. To be precise, Sox17 is critical in transforming primitive mesoderm (an early layer of tissue in the embryo) into the more specialized cardiac mesoderm from which heart muscle develops, said Dr. Michael Schneider, senior researcher of the report. "Heart muscle formation by embryonic stem cells is a complex, multi-step process," said Schneider, professor of medicine, molecular and cellular biology, and molecular physiology and biophysics at Baylor College of Medicine. "We have succeeded in uncoupling the formation of cardiac mesoderm from its antecedent steps. That discovery provides immediate insight into how one might …

Before letting young athletes play like the pros, know the risks – both physical and mental – of putting undeveloped muscles and bones to the test. Dr. Joseph Chorley, assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, suggests parents wait for indicators of physical maturity before allowing their children to engage in intense, physically demanding activities and year-round sports. Indicators for boys include needing to shave and for girls, the beginning of menstruation, said Chorley, who is also a sports medicine specialist at Texas Children's Hospital. "It is difficult to set an age at which kids should be allowed to throw a curveball (which puts undue stress on the shoulder and elbow) or play their sport of choice year-round," he said. "At 14, kids are at such different developmental stages than one another that the decision needs to be individualized." Exposing a body too soon to intense physical …

Often when I talk to new moms about benefits of meditation they, “I can’t do that, I can’t sit still.  My mind is too busy with thoughts.”  My advice is to close your eyes and say a mantra such as “My baby is beautiful and healthly”.  On the inhale you say quietly to yourself “My baby is” and on the exhale “beautiful and healthy”.  Repeat the breath and the mantra as long as you feel comfortable.  Notice how much more relaxed and connected to your baby you feel after completing your meditation.

Drug maker Matrix Laboratories Ltd said on Friday three Merrill Lynch units acquired a further 0.77 per cent in the company, raising their stake to 5.43 per cent.

Pratap Reddy-led healthcare major Apollo may evaluate a bid for UK-based Abbey Hospitals, which is on the block, sources said.