Deans' stroke musings: Israeli study uses gold particles to ‘seek and destroy’ artery blockages

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Israeli study uses gold particles to ‘seek and destroy’ artery blockages

Right now this is just seek. You'll have to ask your doctor which way is best to remove the plaque.
Do you want the lawnmower?
http://www.articlecity.com/videos/health/Lawnmower-For-Clogged-Arteries-175286465.php
Or Drano? I would be worried about this, sloughing off chunks
http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=26404

Israeli study uses gold particles to ‘seek and destroy’ artery blockages

Israeli researchers are developing a novel method to treat life-threatening blockages in arteries, using gold nanoparticles to “color” potential problem areas, and possibly even to treat them.

A recent study by scientists at Bar-Ilan University examines the use of gold nanorods to help treat atherosclerosis — a vascular disease in which artery walls thicken over time due to build-up of plaque in the blood vessel. These fatty blockages can eventually cause heart attacks and strokes.

One of the major problems with treating atherosclerosis is the identification of the disease. Researchers are tackling this problem by taking advantage of one of the chief characteristics of atherosclerotic build-ups: they are rich in macrophages, a type of white blood cell that ingests foreign substances. Gold nanorods, meanwhile, have unique optical properties that allow them to be detected using laser scanners.

When injected into the body, the nanoparticles are absorbed by macrophages, essentially lighting up problem areas and allowing a fast, low-risk, non-invasive diagnosis, after which doctors can decide how to best proceed with treatment.

Prof. Dror Fixler, who is leading the research, noted that “tests offered today include ultrasound, CT scans and MRI, but these are costly, not readily available and include ionizing (and thus damaging) radiation. Our test method is non-ionizing.”

Prof. Dror Fixler, Bar-Ilan University (YouTube screen capture)

The team is also looking into ways to pair the nanoparticles with high-density lipoproteins (HDLs), also known as “good cholesterol,” which help break down fatty cells in blood vessels clear blockages. Thus the gold particles could potentially be turned into a targeted delivery system to both identify and treat vulnerable plaque areas.

The new study will be presented at the upcoming NanoIsrael 2016 conference, to be held at Tel Avuv University on February 22-23.