EU ministers hold emergency bird flu talks
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EU foreign ministers held emergency talks on the approaching danger of avian flu on Tuesday, as Greece investigated what could prove the first appearance of the deadly strain in an EU member country.
Swiss drugmaker Roche, pressed to raise output of antiviral flu drug Tamiflu, said it would consider allowing rival firms and governments to produce it under license for emergency pandemic use. A Dutch company said it was working on a vaccine.
UK scientists seek global fight against bird flu
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British experts from the body that discovered the flu virus in 1933 will travel to southeast Asia to boost global cooperation on fighting bird flu and other new infections, the Medical Research Council said on Monday.
Scientists from the MRC, Britain’s main publicly funded biomedical research organisation, will go to China, Vietnam and Hong Kong to discuss research on infections with epidemic or pandemic potential before a global conference in December.
Prescription sleep aid use soaring in US: study
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The number of younger Americans reaching for prescription drugs to get a good night’s sleep and the money being spent to keep from tossing and turning, is soaring, according to a study conducted by a prescription management company.
Among adults aged 20 to 44, use of sleep medications doubled between 2000 and 2004, while spending among the age group for a restful night jumped 190 percent over that period, the Medco Health Solutions study released on Monday found.
Brain abnormalities linked to pathological lying
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Pathological liars may have structural abnormalities in their brains, a new study suggests.
Dr. Adrian Raine and Yaling Yang of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and colleagues found that individuals who habitually lied and cheated had less gray matter and more white matter in their prefrontal cortex than normal people. They report their findings in the British Journal of Psychiatry.
Marijuana May Grow Neurons in the Brain
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Advocates for medical marijuana can take heart over the findings of two Canadian research teams.
A synthetic cannabinoid—similar to the compounds found in marijuana, but substantially stronger—causes the growth of new neurons and reduces anxiety and depression, investigators at the University of Saskatchewan here reported.
Drug Stores and Supermarkets Get First Shot at Flu Vaccine Supplies
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There is plenty of flu vaccine to go around this year, but comparatively few doses have arrived yet in primary-care physicians’ offices.
Many of the early shipments of vaccine have gone instead to big drug store and supermarket chains that are offering flu shot clinics.
Surviving Childhood Hodgkin’s Increases Stroke Risk Sharply
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Surviving Hodgkin’s lymphoma in childhood quadruples the risk of a stroke later in life, researchers here say.
Investigators had expected to see an increased risk of a second cancer or heart failure, but stroke was unexpected, said David Bowers, M.D., of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center here. “We were surprised,” he said.
Expats in China fight SARS hospital move
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Expatriates living in plush suburban estates near the site of a planned new infectious diseases hospital in Beijing are circling their wagons, determined that it be built elsewhere.
It is a rare case of foreigners borrowing from the Chinese right to “petition”, one of the few avenues for the disgruntled to seek redress which has increased in recent years with the widening gap between rich and poor.
New Statement Reaffirms Insulin Resistance Syndrome Definition
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Recently, several medical organizations have published statements reflecting changes in their definitions and assessment of “Metabolic Syndrome” (MS). Because of concern that these statements would create uncertainty and controversy among physicians and further confuse the general public, the American College of Endocrinology (ACE) and American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) empowered a rapid response team to assess these statements and review their position in the new ACE and AACE: Reaffirmation of the 2003 ACE Insulin Resistance Syndrome (IRS) Position Statement.
According to the 2003 ACE Position Statement, IRS describes the cluster of abnormalities that are more likely to occur in insulin resistant/hyperinsulinemic individuals. The statement goes on to explain the label “metabolic syndrome” relies on an unclear definition of “metabolic” and is likely to become even less appropriate as the abnormalities associated with insulin resistance and compensatory hyperinsulinemia continue to be elucidated.
Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug Promises Improved Treatment Option
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Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have announced successful completion of Phase II clinical trials of a novel drug for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), one that works without suppressing the patient’s immune system.
Salvatore Albani, M.D., Ph.D, professor of medicine and pediatrics and Director of the Translational Research Unit of the Clinical Investigation Institute (CII) at the UCSD School of Medicine, recently presented a summary of the findings at the “Frontiers of Clinical Investigation Symposium.” The symposium, sponsored by the CII and Nature Medicine, was held in La Jolla, California in September.
Medicare Elimination of Essential Drugs Will Affect Elderly
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On Jan. 1, 2006, several categories of medications will be explicitly excluded from Medicare’s new prescription drug benefit, including benzodiazepines, which are listed as an “essential medication” with the World Health Organization. Stephen Soumerai, professor of ambulatory care and prevention in the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention (of Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care) published a paper that details the impact this removal will have on society.
Currently, 24 percent of the elderly on Medicare, or 1.7 million people, will lose this coverage completely. The paper reports that negative effects are likely to take place, including withdrawal reactions, seizures, emergency department visits, and hospital admissions because the Medicare patients will not be able to afford these sometimes essential drugs.
Home dialysis improves well-being in children
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For children with kidney failure who require dialysis, performing it at home at nighttime seems to improve their overall sense of well-being, a study shows.
Dialysis is a process by which waste products are removed from the bloodstream when the kidneys are incapable of doing so. Traditionally, patients requiring dialysis travel several times per week to a clinic where the process can take upwards of 5 hours.
Statins before carotid surgery may be beneficial
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Patients with symptoms of low blood flow to the brain who take statins before undergoing carotid endarterectomy, a type of surgery that may help prevent strokes, may fare better early after the surgery than those who do not, Canadian researchers have found.
The carotid arteries, which lie on each side of the neck, are the major vessels that supply blood to the brain. Strokes can occur when plaques that have formed in the carotids break off or otherwise obstruct blood flow to the brain. Carotid endarterectomy involves making a small incision in the affected artery and inserting an instrument to remove the plaque.
South Africa rushes to register bird flu drug
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South Africa will fast-track registration of the antiviral avian flu drug Tamiflu to prepare for any outbreak of the potentially fatal virus, the Health Department said on Friday.
“We are in the process of registering the drug… we have some stocks but we cannot stockpile it until it has been registered,” department spokesman Solly Mabotha said.
Study links depression, suicide and seizures
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Results of a study hint that the brain dysfunction that underlies epilepsy may also determine whether people are at risk for suicide. In a large study conducted in Iceland, researchers found that attempted suicide and depression are each independently associated with an increased risk of seizures.
Although a link between Depression and suicide and seizures has been previously documented, most studies did not address the time order of the association. Up until now it was assumed that suicide attempts occurred more often in patients with epilepsy because the disease increases the risk for Depression.
