Libya HIV outbreak was deliberate, court hears
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Someone deliberately infected hundreds of children with HIV/AIDS at a Libyan hospital, Libyan experts on Tuesday told a court retrying five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of causing the outbreak.
The retrial, as well as questions over Libya’s human rights record, have been seen as hurdles to improved relations with the West at a time when Washington is in the process of resuming full diplomatic relations after decades of hostility.
Five Libyan experts on HIV/AIDS told the Tripoli court that they stood by a 61-page report they wrote in 2003 that found the infections were the result of a deliberate act.
China confirms human bird flu case from 2003
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China confirmed on Tuesday that the country’s first human case of the H5N1 bird flu virus in 2003 was two years earlier than originally reported, prompting the UN’s health agency to call for greater transparency.
The case had spurred questions about whether there might have been other human H5N1 infections in China prior to what had been its first reported human case, near the end of 2005.
Eight Chinese researchers published a letter in The New England Journal of Medicine in June saying a 24-year-old soldier, who was admitted to hospital in November 2003 for respiratory distress and pneumonia and later died, had been infected with H5N1.
Portable heart defibrillators prone to recalls
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Portable defibrillators that have jolted thousands of hearts back to life in airports, malls and homes are often subject to product recalls, a decade-long study of the complex devices said on Tuesday.
“The chances that your (automated external defibrillator) would be recalled in any given year was 1 in 20. The chances that your (device) would be recalled during the entire 10-year study period was 1 in 5,” said Dr. William Maisel of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, who reviewed Food and Drug Administration advisories on the devices.
Just because a brand of defibrillator was recalled by the agency does not mean a particular version did not work, Maisel said, adding the agency’s approach appeared to have been “better safe than sorry.”
Epilepsy Drug Poses High Risk for Fetal Death and Birth Defects
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The epilepsy drug valproate poses a higher risk for fetal death and birth defects than other commonly used epilepsy drugs, according to a study published in the August 8, 2006, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Of the four epilepsy drugs tested in the study, valproate posed the highest risk to the fetus with over 20 percent of the pregnancies exposed to valproate resulting in death or birth defects such as skull and limb deformities and brain, heart and lung problems.
The rate was lower for the drugs phenytoin, carbamazepine and lamotrigine. The study’s findings are consistent with several other recent studies.
Allergies Linked to Parkinson’s Disease
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Researchers from Mayo Clinic have discovered that allergic rhinitis is associated with the development of Parkinson’s disease later in life. Findings will be published in the Aug. 8 issue of the journal Neurology.
“The association with Parkinson’s disease is increased to almost three times that of someone who does not have allergic rhinitis,” says James Bower, M.D., Mayo Clinic neurologist and lead study investigator. “That’s actually a pretty high elevation.”
Previous studies had shown that people who regularly take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen, are less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease. These results prompted the Mayo Clinic investigators to look further into the links between diseases characterized by inflammation and Parkinson’s. They studied 196 people who developed Parkinson’s disease, matched with people of similar age and gender who did not develop Parkinson’s. The study was conducted in Olmsted County, Minn., home of Mayo Clinic, over a 20-year period.
Researcher Maps Slippery Slope of Teen Smoking
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McGill epidemiologist Jennifer O’Loughlin has added another chapter to her six-year study of more than 1,200 adolescent smokers in Montreal, with a new map of 12 addiction “milestones” that will give fresh ammunition to both health-care professionals and anti-smoking advocates.
“This is a tool to build a deeper understanding of which teens may be on the path of no return,” said O’Loughlin, a professor at McGill’s Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health. “We want to sensitize parents, teachers, health professionals and, most importantly, adolescents themselves to recognize these symptoms.”
O’Loughlin, her graduate student, Christina Bancej, and their team charted the continuum of nicotine dependence among a sub-group of 311 teens who had never smoked when the study began. Divided into six indicators on cigarette use and six on nicotine dependence, the milestones can be used to measure a person’s susceptibility level and addiction potential against a natural history or mapping system of nicotine addiction.
U.S. beaches a health risk for swimmers
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The Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. has come under fire for failing to update 20 year old beach water quality standards.
According to a report by the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), ocean, bay and great lakes beaches were closed or health advisories issued for a total of more than 20,000 days last year, up 5 percent from 2004.
The NRDC claims foul water forced U.S. officials to issue health warnings or close beaches for more days than ever last year, and the group is suing the government over water safety standards.
Scientists discover two proteins responsible for detecting sour tastes
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A team led by Duke University Medical Center researchers has discovered two proteins in the taste buds on the surface of the tongue that are responsible for detecting sour tastes.
While the scientific basis of other primary types of flavors, such as bitter and sweet, is known, this is the first study to define how humans perceive sour taste, said team senior scientist Hiroaki Matsunami, Ph.D., an assistant professor of molecular genetics and microbiology.
The identification of these proteins, called PKD1L3 and PKD2L1, could lead to ways to manipulate the perception of taste in order to fool the mouth that something sour, such as some children’s medicines or health foods, tastes sweet, he said.
Experimental drug trial victim has cancer
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One of the men who suffered severe reactions to an experimental drug during a drug trial in London, UK, says he now has cancer.
The trial of TGN 1412, designed to treat chronic inflammatory conditions and leukaemia, was conducted on behalf of German firm TeGenero by contract research firm Parexel.
New Zealand born David Oakley who suffered organ failure and pronounced swelling, was one of six men who became seriously ill following trials of the drug and now has the early signs of cancer.
Gujarat, India bans Coke, Pepsi from schools
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Officials in Gujarat have banned fizzy drinks from hundreds of state school and college canteens after a pressure group said it had found pesticides in those produced by the Indian arms of Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
“We do not want to sell these drinks in educational institutions until we are sure about the content,” the state’s education minister, Anandiben Patel, told Reuters.
The ban will apply to about 300 colleges and 600 schools.
You know anybody who needs an “anti-stupid” pill?
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A German scientist has been testing an “anti-stupidity” pill with encouraging results on mice and fruit flies, Bild newspaper reported Saturday.
It said Hans-Hilger Ropers, director at Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin, has tested a pill thwarting hyperactivity in certain brain nerve cells, helping stabilize short-term memory and improve attentiveness.
Community involvement may be good for your health
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People who are active in their communities are more likely to be up on the latest health advice—suggesting that contact with diverse groups of people may do your health some good, researchers say.
In a study of nearly 3,000 adults, investigators found that those who were members of one or more community groups were generally better at recalling heart-health advice, including diet and lifestyle recommendations.
The finding was not explained by higher education levels among the civic-minded study participants, nor was their health wisdom a product of older age.
Another report links processed to stomach cancer
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Evidence continues to mount that eating a lot of hot dogs, salami or other processed meat products may raise the risk of stomach cancer. Besides salt and nitrites or nitrates, processed meats often contain cancer-causing nitrosamines, which may be responsible for the link, Swedish researchers warn.
They evaluated the risk of stomach cancer in relation to consumption of processed meat (bacon/pork, sausage/hotdogs, ham/salami); unprocessed red meat (including hamburgers, meatballs, meatloaf); and poultry and fish in more than 61,000 women enrolled in a population-based Swedish study. The women provided information on their eating habits between 1987 and 1990 and again in 1997.
During the 18 years the women were followed, 156 developed stomach cancer.
Device helps judge size of wedge-shaped foods
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For people watching how much they eat, it can be difficult to estimate the portion sizes of wedge-shaped foods like pizza, cake and pie. A handy new tool may help, a study shows.
Dr. Sandria Goodwin of Tennessee State University in Nashville and colleagues developed an adjustable wedge to help gauge portion size of triangular foods. They then compared the accuracy of the wedge against a ruler, having 320 people use both tools to estimate the portion size of a variety of foods, including three different-sized slices each of pie, cake and pizza.
Participants viewed each portion for 30 seconds, after which it was removed. They were then asked to estimate its size using the adjustable wedge and then the ruler, and were also asked how confident they were in the accuracy of their estimate.
Breast-feeding reduces anxiety into childhood
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Breast-feeding’s calming effects seem to be long-lasting.
Years after being weaned, breast-fed children cope better with stressful situations like their parents’ divorce than their bottle-fed peers, researchers said on Thursday.
“In children who are breast-fed, there is less of an association between parental divorce and separation and childhood anxiety,” Dr Scott Montgomery, an epidemiologist at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, said in an interview.
