Changing the appearence of a part of the body, either because it is damaged by injury such as burning or cutting, by diseases such as breast-cancer, or as a natural consequence of ageing, is the domain of the plastic surgeon. But what sort of alterations are possible? George Lamberty, consultant plastic surgeon, joins us to talk about it.
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A serious problem with many anti-cancer therapies is their failure to selectively target the tumour, avoiding collateral damage to other healthy tissues. One way to surmount this problem is to engineer viruses which selectively multiply within tumour cells, and not within healthy tissue. This is the strategy adopted by Professor Moira Brown who is using the HSV strain 1716 mutant for Glioma therapy.
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For Brain Awareness Week, the Naked Scientists talk with Professor Joe Herbert about what is depression, what is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), how depression can harm the brain, how disease can affect the brain, including causing memory loss and mood changes, and how we can treat psychological diseases.
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Peter Brennan, an expert on smells and odours, discusses how the nose picks up smell, why animals have a more sensitive sense of smell than people, what is a smell, what are pheromones, including how pheromones work, and how is smell important for sexual attraction.
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Peter Weissberg, consultant cardiologist from Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, talks about causes of heart disease, what is a heart attack, treatments for heart disease, including coronary bypass surgery, angioplasty and coronary stenting, and symptoms of a heart attack.
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Transplantation, including kidney transplants, liver transplants, heart and lung transplants and even bowel transplantation involves taking an organ from one person and putting it into another to correct a disease process. But what does transplant surgery involve, including immunosuppression, what are the success rates for organ transplants and how long does a transplanted organ survive ?
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Lake Vostoc is the world's largest sub-glacial lake and has remained sealed off from the outside world for millions of years. Scientists are debating whether the lake contains life, how to access the lake without contaminating it, and what Lake Vostok can tell us about the prospects of finding life in outer space.
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Dr. Vincent Janik, from St. Andrews University, describes dolphin, whale and other marine mammal communication, how to study dolphin behaviour and dolphin language, and why whales beach themselves.
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The Around The World Yacht Race is one of the most gruelling challenges. Successful participant Dr. Chris Price, who is also a physician researching strokes, describes his experience of sailing around the world, including how to make fresh water, how to plot your course and position, why some people are seasick and who makes a better sailor - a man or a woman !
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Neurologist Roger Barker, from the Cambridge Brain Repair Centre, discusses what are stem cells, how can stem cells be used to treat degenerative brain diseases including Parkinsons Disease and Alzheimers Disease, and can animal stem cells remedy human brain injury.
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