What the scientists are saying…

Vegetative state “recovery”

A 35-year-old who had been in a vegetative state for 15 years after a car accident has been restored to partial consciousness by a pioneering nerve stimulation technique. Doctors in Lyon, France, attached a bioelectronic implant to the vagus nerve in the man’s neck, through which they delivered a 30-second pulse every five minutes. As well as being the main communication channel between the brain and the body’s vital organs, the vagus nerve connects directly to the thalamus, a region of the brain thought to act as a “gateway” to consciousness. The theory was that the electronic pulse would help coax this, and other parts of the man’s brain, back to life. And indeed, after a month, he recovered some degree of consciousness, becoming able to track objects with his eyes and stay awake when read to. Eventually, he could even turn his head upon request. Scans of his brain confirmed that there was significantly more activity in regions linked to movement, sensation and awareness. The treatment challenges the long-held belief that patients lose all hope of recovering consciousness once they have been in a vegetative state for more than 12 months.

Rapid test for heart attack

A new blood test for heart attacks, which takes just 15 minutes to work, could lead to hundreds of thousands of patients being spared long and anxious waits in hospital. Of the more than a million people who arrive at A&E departments in Britain each year complaining of acute chest pain, only around 10% have actually had a heart attack. But to give patients the all-clear often requires a battery of tests and, in some cases, they may need to stay in overnight. Currently, all victims of suspected heart attacks are given an ECG and a blood test to detect their levels of troponin – a byproduct of heart damage. This test must be carried out twice, with a hour interval. The new test looks for a different protein, cmyc – levels of which rise more quickly after a heart attack, and show up more prominently – and needs to be carried out only once. “Our research shows that the new test has the potential to reassure many thousands more patients with a single test,” said Dr Tom Kaier, a cardiologist at King’s College London. At his own hopsital, St Thomas’ in London, Kaier said that the test had the potential to save £800,000 a year in reduced admissions. Though it’s still in the trial stage, he hopes the test will be rolled out across the NHS within five years.

The honest placebo

Placebos can work even when patients know they are taking a dummy pill – but it helps if people understand how the placebo effect works. In a study designed to test the performance of “open” placebos against “deceptive” ones, scientists from Harvard University asked 120 volunteers to put their arm on a metal plate that was warmed until they couldn’t stand the pain. Afterwards, they were all treated with the same inactive cream, but were told different things about it. One group was told the cream was a painkiller; another was told it was a placebo, but received no additional information; a third were told the cream was inactive, and were given a short lecture about the placebo effect. The researchers discovered that the people who had the “concealed placebo” and those who had the “open placebo with rationale” reported about the same level of pain reduction – which was greater than the patients who had had an open placebo but no explanation.

Nuts for breastfeeding mothers

Several studies have found that feeding babies peanut-based products can help stave off nut allergies (current NHS advice is that babies can be given crushed nuts from six months if there is no family history of allergy). Now, scientists think that to reduce the risk further, mothers should also eat nuts while breastfeeding. Researchers in Canada have found evidence that delivering peanut traces with breast milk can “prime” babies’ immune systems to cope with the food later. The study tracked 342 children at high risk of developing allergies, and found that those whose mothers consumed peanuts while breastfeeding, and were then introduced to the food soon after weaning, had a 1.7% chance of becoming allergic; for children whose parents did one but not the other, the incidence was around ten times greater.