Cloned dog raises ethical questions
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South Korea’s Woo-Suk Hwang has reached the highest peaks of cloning and stem cell research, but critics say he has taken science onto a steep and slippery slope and raised alarming questions about interfering with life.
On Wednesday, Hwang was all smiles as he put on a lab coat and frolicked with an Afghan hound puppy named Snuppy, the world’s first cloned dog, which he helped create.
The dog was named after Seoul National University, where Hwang’s lab has produced results that have put his team at the forefront of cloning and stem cell technology.
Provigil may perk up sleepy shift workers
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Provigil, a drug used to treat Narcolepsy and excessive sleepiness resulting from sleep apnea, may also reduce sleepiness due to shift-work sleep disorder—that is, excessive sleepiness during night work and Insomnia when trying to sleep during the day.
In a 3-month study, Dr. Charles A. Czeisler from Harvard Medical School in Boston and colleagues randomly assigned 209 shift-workers with chronic sleep disorder to take Provigil (known generically as modafinil) or an inactive “placebo” before the start of each shift. One hundred fifty-three participants completed the study.
Vietnam vaccinates poultry to fight bird flu
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Vietnam has begun to vaccinate 210 million poultry as part of an all-out effort to eradicate the deadly bird flu virus that has killed 42 people in the country, half of them since December.
The Agriculture Ministry said it would use more than 400 million batches of vaccine imported from China and the Netherlands to inoculate chickens, ducks and quails against the deadly H5N1 virus.
“All efforts are for the health of the people. We will have to take whatever action required, regardless of the cost,” Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat said this week as he launched the vaccination campaign.
Topamax may help alcohol-using smokers quit
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The anti-Epilepsy pill Topamax (a.k.a. topiramate) is a safe and promising treatment for helping alcohol-dependent smokers quit cigarettes, according to the results of a new study.
In a previous study, Dr. Bankole A. Johnson, of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, and colleagues showed that topiramate is an effective treatment for alcohol dependence. In a further analysis, they examined whether the drug improved the smoking cessation rate among the cigarette smokers in the earlier study.
China in new push to curb addictive online gaming
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China is preparing to introduce new rules to deal with the growing problem of addictive behaviour in the nation’s booming online game sector, one of the country’s top game operators said on Wednesday.
Industry regulator the General Administration of Publication and Press is in the process of formulating the new rules, called “anti-fatigue” rules by some, said Michael Tong, chief operating officer of No. 2 online game operator NetEase.com Inc.
China swine flu outbreak fails to worry residents
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Near the epicentre of China’s worst outbreak of swine flu in years, Lao Luo is too busy stuffing his face with pork dumplings to care.
“It’s all under control,” Luo said between mouthfuls as fat dribbled off his chin at a roadside diner in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, China’s second-most populous province.
That a region famous for its fiery cuisine, bamboo forests and lovable pandas is now host to a bacterial scourge that has killed 37 and infected 205 is dismissed with a shrug and another mouthful.
People with mental illness often victims of crime
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More than one-quarter of people with severe mental illness say they were victims of a violent crime within the past year, giving them a more than 11-fold higher risk than that seen in the general population, according to new study findings.
Study author Dr. Linda A. Teplin of Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, noted that for people without mental illness, being the victim of a crime can be very upsetting; the effect could be even more destabilizing for someone who has a mental illness. “Imagine if you’re already vulnerable,” she said.
False beliefs about junk food could help diet
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For some people, simply suggesting that they had a bad childhood experience with a certain food may cause them to think twice before eating it again, researchers reported Monday.
The implication, they say, is that false beliefs about food could serve as a basis for a whole new form of dieting—where, for instance, parents of a junk-food-loving teen tell him that a doughnut made him sick when he was 4.
U.S. drug makers to review advertising complaints
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Drug makers will set up an office to review complaints about the marketing of prescription drugs, industry officials said on Tuesday as they moved to quiet rising criticism of glitzy commercials and magazine ads.
That pledge, and voluntary guidelines urging balanced and informative ads, failed to appease critics who say drug promotions exaggerate the benefits of some drugs and prompt unnecessary prescribing to patients who may not need them.
HK experts see no mutation in swine flu - paper
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A deadly pig-borne disease that has killed 36 people in southwestern China is caused by one type of bacteria and is not a mutated or new strain, a Hong Kong newspaper said on Tuesday.
Three Hong Kong health experts investigating the outbreak in Sichuan province have identified the bacteria as Streptococcus suis and found no evidence that the victims had been infected by any other bacteria, the South China Morning Post reported.
Athletics - U.S. propose life bans for steroid offences
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The United States will urge the world governing athletics body this week to impose life bans on any athlete testing positive for steroids.
The U.S. motion is one of around 300 tabled for debate at a two-day meeting of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) congress starting on Wednesday in advance of the 10th world championships opening on Saturday.
At present first time offenders who test positive for steroids are banned for two years. Lifetime bans follow a second offence.
Russian region culls birds after flu outbreak
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Russia’s Siberian region of Novosibirsk said on Tuesday it will slaughter 65,000 birds in 13 locations as more cases were confirmed of a strain of bird flu dangerous to humans.
“It has been decided to slaughter all hens, ducks, geese and turkeys at farms where the virus had been detected. The farms’ owners will be paid compensation for all the birds that are killed and provided with safe poultry meat and eggs at a discount price,” a Novosibirsk administration spokeswoman said.
China farmers ignore swine flu hygiene orders
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Many frugal farmers in southwest China are refusing to bury infected pigs safely, Chinese media said on Tuesday, raising fears that a deadly swine flu could spread further after infecting almost 200 people and killing 36.
Draconian measures were in place around the Chinese capital to prevent infection. The Beijing News said city authorities had blocked inward shipments of about 4,000 tonnes of pork and pork products from stricken Sichuan province up to July 31.
Romanian heatwave kills 56
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A heatwave gripping Romania since last week has contributed to the death of 56 people, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
With temperatures reaching 36 degrees Celsius (96.80 Fahrenheit), 1,000 people were in hospital with heat-related problems, it said.
“Those who died suffered from chronic illness, heart or neurological problems,” the ministry said in a statement.
Tax assessor threatened in Florida anthrax hoax
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A federal health agency worker was charged with making a false threat to infect Florida property assessors with anthrax for revoking her tax exemption, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Michelle Ledgister, who works at the National Institutes of Health in Rockville, Maryland, was arrested in Maryland on Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. An anti-terrorism law enacted last year makes it a federal crime to convey false information about anthrax exposure, punishable by up to five years imprisonment.
