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SEPTEMBER 15, 2000 VOL. 26 NO. 36 | SEARCH ASIAWEEK


Wei Leng Tay for Asiaweek.
Extracts from unpeeled fruit have greater cancer-battling properties.

Apple's Protective Power
Better to munch on fresh fruit than pills

Most people are familiar with the old adage about eating apples. Now it turns out the fruit is better for health than we realize — it's a cancer beater too. Laboratory tests conducted at Cornell University in the U.S. show that natural chemicals in apples will slow the growth of human colon-cancer and liver-cancer cells. Scientists believe this is the protective effect of plant antioxidants, chemicals that prevent or delay deterioration caused by oxidation. According to the journal Nature, extracts from unpeeled apples, which are particularly high in antioxidants, had the greatest inhibiting effect on cancer cells. While their study did not attempt to trace specific protective compounds, the Cornell researchers suggest that natural antioxidants from fresh fruit are more effective than supplements such as Vitamin C tablets — and they taste better too. Pill poppers take note.

Saving Skin Blood banks can make the difference between life and death. But storing organs, skin for example, is a much more difficult exercise. Scientists haven't been able to keep a usable supply — until now. Japanese researchers have devised a simple, reliable — and inexpensive — way of maintaining a skin bank. They first dunk the tissue in a simple solution of ethylene glycol and buffered saline, and then chill the samples by plunging them into liquid nitrogen. Such cryogenically preserved skin can be stored for some three weeks, reports the Journal of Burn Care and Rehabilitation. Scientists from Sapporo Medical University and Kyorin University in Japan found that the treated samples were just as viable as fresh and refrigerated skin. The treated tissue even proved effective in skin grafts — good news for burn victims.

Cool Treatment Perhaps more than dying, it's the prospect of paralysis that is most terrifying about a stroke. Now a cool new idea may significantly reduce brain damage in patients. Danish researchers have showed that people suffer significantly less nerve trauma if their body temperatures (and blood to the brain) can be lowered by about 1.3 Celsius soon after an attack. Dr. Lars Kammersgaard and his colleagues in Copenhagen induced mild hypothermia in stroke victims by wrapping them up in special thermal blankets and pumping in chilled air. Tracking such indicators as power in the limbs and memory loss, the researchers found that people receiving this therapy suffered moderate brain damage, those who didn't fared worse. What's more, it worked on conscious patients, unlike past procedures which were conducted under anesthesia. In eliminating this step, the Danes may have found a low-cost and easily administered treatment.

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