Clinton calls for mandatory AIDS testing while UN discourages Goa
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Bill Clinton is suggesting that mandatory testing for HIV/AIDS be used in countries with high infection rates and the means to provide lifesaving drugs.
The former U.S. president says countries where there is no discrimination against people with the illness and where anti-AIDS drugs are available should now consider universal testing.
Twenty years ago, at the start of the AIDS epidemic, mandatory testing was frowned on because of the stigma attached to the deadly illness and the lack of treatment for those infected.
Diet Drug May Go OTC, Prompting Concern About Broad Use of Diet Pills
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In January 2006, a federal advisory panel recommended that the FDA make the weight-loss medication orlistat (Xenical) available without a prescription. Although the FDA usually takes the panel’s advice, orlistat’s approval is uncertain. Many question the drug’s effectiveness in the broader population; others worry about its side effects, reports the April issue of Harvard Women’s Health Watch.
A new weight-loss solution would be welcome; two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight or obese and at risk for major health problems and early death. But the reasons for weight problems are complex. No pill can melt away fat or keep the pounds off. Yet for people whose health is at risk, drug therapy may increase the odds of success.
Custom made nanoparticles will transform cancer diagnosis and treatment
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Researchers have developed “custom” nanoparticles that promise to provide a more targeted and effective way of delivering anticancer drugs than conventional medications or any of the earlier attempts to fight cancer with nanoparticles.
The special nanoparticles were designed at the molecular level to attack specific types of cancer without affecting healthy cells.
The researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, say the nanoparticles also have the potential to reduce the nasty side effects associated with chemotherapy.
Increase in variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease predicted
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According to the latest research far more people may be at risk of contracting variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (vCJD) than previously thought.
vCJD is the human form of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), also known as Mad Cow Disease.
Scientists at the Institute for Animal Health in Edinburgh say a long incubation period for the disease, coupled with an ability to pass it on through blood transfusions and surgical instruments, has the potential to create a “significant public health issue”.
Bird flu infected mink found in Sweden
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According to Swedish authorities a mink has been found with a strain of the H5 bird flu virus.
The National Veterinary Institute says the creature was put down as it probably had the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus.
The wild animal was found in the Blekinge area of southern Sweden where several bird flu cases have previously been found and it is thought the mink contracted the disease by eating wild birds which were already infected.
Training People to be Better Parents
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When children’s misbehavior or delinquency creates problems, it’s not enough to deal with the children alone. Mental health professionals recommend behavioral parent training as well, reports the April issue of Harvard Mental Health Letter.
Behavioral parent training teaches parents to substitute systematic for arbitrary discipline. Parents learn how to set rules and define the consequences for disobeying them. They also learn how to negotiate with older children, how to follow through on warnings, and how to identify early signs of trouble and talk to children about these problems.
It is particularly important that parents also respond to good behavior with praise and encouragement, says the Harvard Mental Health Letter. Parents are taught to reward a child’s behavior one action at a time. They learn to point out what the child is doing right before discussing what needs improvement.
Smokers, Drinkers and Men Appear to Develop Colorectal Cancer at Earlier Ages
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Alcohol use, tobacco use and male gender are associated with an earlier onset of colorectal cancer and also with location of tumors, findings that could have important implications for screening, according to a study in the March 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths, according to background information in the article. Screening asymptomatic patients is an important strategy for reducing these deaths, because by the time patients experience symptoms, the cancer may have progressed beyond the point where it can be cured. Generally, physicians recommend that patients begin screening at age 50 years, the authors write. However, physicians might recommend that individuals with certain risk factors, including family history, begin screening at earlier ages. Screening methods include flexible sigmoidoscopy, which involves inserting a flexible optical instrument through the rectum into the lower portion of the large intestine, and colonoscopy, which involves inserting a longer flexible optical instrument through the rectum and into the entire colon, is more expensive, has higher complication rates and usually is performed by a gastroenterologist or surgeon rather than a primary care physician.
India probes increase in infant deaths in northeast
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Indian authorities are investigating an increase in the number of infant deaths in a remote northeastern state after 49 infants died at one government hospital this month, a health official said on Tuesday.
The spate of deaths of infants, ranging from newborns to 18 month olds, was worrying because the normal mortality rate at the Indira Gandhi Memorial hospital in Agartala, capital of Tripura state, is about 15 a month, he said.
China needs better bird flu education
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China needs better public education about the dangers of bird flu to ensure people who are infected receive timely treatment, a Chinese medical expert said on Tuesday.
In the two most recent human deaths, the victims waited too long before being treated, said Zhong Nanshan, a SARS expert and president of the Chinese Medical Association.
Cloned pigs could produce healthier bacon
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In what sounds like a bacon lover’s dream, scientists have genetically engineered piglets to carry a heart-healthy form of fat normally found in fish.
However, it will likely be some time before the results appear on supermarket shelves, if ever.
But the research, reported in the journal Nature Biotechnology, marks the first time that livestock have been genetically altered to produce omega-3 fatty acids—a type of fat, found largely in fish, that has been linked to lower heart disease risk.
China says it will ban sale of human organs
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China said on Tuesday it will ban the sale of human organs and strengthen oversight of its transplant market, which critics say has become a haven for illegal trade and centers on organs of executed prisoners.
Ministry of Health regulations that take effect on July 1 require the written consent of donors and restrict the number of hospitals allowed to perform transplant operations.
Cases must also be discussed by an ethics committee, said the regulations posted on the ministry’s Web site (http://www.moh.gov.cn).
Stress, not “sick” building, may make workers sick
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Work-related stress, rather than building conditions, may be what’s behind the constellation of symptoms known as “sick building syndrome,” according to researchers.
In a study of more than 4,000 UK government employees, researchers found that high job demands and perceptions of poor support were more closely related to sick-building symptoms than were the physical conditions of the workplace.
The findings suggest that “sick building syndrome” may in fact be a misnomer, the researchers report in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
Patient’s perceptions may delay stroke treatment
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People who think they can control their dizziness, speech disturbance or other symptoms that suggest they have had a stroke are less likely to seek immediate medical care, a team of Israeli researchers reports.
Delays in seeking treatment for stroke may not be due to patients’ inability to identify stroke symptoms, as has been thought, but may also be influenced by patients’ perceptions of those symptoms, according to the findings of a study in the current issue of the medical journal Stroke.
“Delay in seeking medical help in response to the appearance of stroke symptoms is a complex issue, which we believe is affected by many different types of factors including demographic, clinical, perceptual, social and behavioral variables,” Dr. Lori Mandelzweig, of Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, told Reuters Health.
Second Egyptian dies from bird flu virus
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A second Egyptian has died from the bird flu virus, Egyptian Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali said on Monday.
An official from the World Health Organisation (WHO) told Reuters the second Egyptian victim of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain was a woman who had been in a critical condition on a ventilator before her death on Monday morning.
“This is the second death due to bird flu in Egypt,” Egypt’s state news agency MENA quoted Gabali as saying.
Finasteride reduces hair loss in women
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When given in combination with oral contraceptives, finasteride, an orally administered drug approved for male-patterned baldness, can improve female-pattern hair loss in most women, according to the results of a small study reported in the March issue of the Archives of Dermatology.
At present, the main treatment for female-pattern hair loss is topical minoxidil, which is effective, but tolerability can be an issue, senior author Dr. Antonella Tosti and colleagues, from the University of Bologna in Italy, note. Whether treatment with agents such as finasteride, which show activity against male hormones, might promote hair growth in women has been unclear.
