Six children die, 76 infected in Kazakh HIV case
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Six children have died in Kazakhstan and at least 76 have been infected after transfusions of blood suspected of containing HIV, officials said on Tuesday.
Health Minister Anatoly Dernovoi told a government meeting the virus was also found in eight of the children’s mothers.
Health officials have tested 10,000 children for the virus near the southern city of Shymkent since the outbreak started earlier this year. The number of reported cases has been growing steadily over the past weeks.
Congress urged to act on US FDA safety reforms
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Editors at a major medical journal and members of a drug-safety advisory panel joined calls on Monday for major changes to improve the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s oversight of medicines on the market.
A New England Journal of Medicine editorial urged the U.S. Congress to adopt recommendations made by an Institute of Medicine (IOM) panel last month to bolster drug safety.
The IOM report pressed Congress to give the FDA more staff, funding and power—including the ability to require the drug industry to do post-approval studies and change warning labels.
Genetic mutation doubles breast cancer risk-study
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British researchers said they had found a new genetic mutation that doubled the risk of breast cancer in women who carry it.
The gene, called BRIP1, helps to repair damaged DNA—like some of the other known breast cancer genes, researchers reported in this week’s issue of the journal Nature Genetics.
And, as with the BRCA2 breast cancer gene, certain mutations in BRIP1 may cause a blood disease called Fanconi anemia, reported Dr. Nazneen Rahman of the Institute of Cancer Research, in Sutton, Britain and colleagues.
Its time to let kids play
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According to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) it is important that children are allowed to have free and unstructured play to help them achieve important milestones in their lives and to ensure future well being.
The authors have written the report because they are concerned that for many children free play and unscheduled time is being threatened by many aspects of modern society and family life and they fear that many parents have forgotten or do not understand how important free play is for children.
The report says such free play helps them with their social, emotional and cognitive development as well as helping them to manage stress and become resilient.
Fitness and Childhood IQ Indicators of Cognitive Ability in Old Age
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How well your mind works in old age depends on physical fitness and your IQ score as a child, according to a study published in the October 10, 2006, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
In determining whether physical fitness is associated with more successful cognitive aging, the study examined 460 men and women who had been participants of the Scottish Mental Survey of 1932. The participants were tested using the same cognitive test at age 11 and age 79.
Results show physical fitness contributed more than three percent of the differences in cognitive ability in old age after accounting for participant’s test scores at age 11. Physical fitness is defined by time to walk six meters, grip strength and lung function.
Drinking Cola bad for women’s bones
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If the latest research is to be believed women who drink cola on a regular basis are putting themselves at an increased risk of developing osteoporosis.
The researchers from Tufts University in Boston, say they have found that drinking cola was linked with low bone mineral density in women, regardless of their age or calcium intake.
Professor Katherine Tucker, director of the Epidemiology and Dietary Assessment Program at the University and her colleagues conducted a study of 2,500 people which compared information from dietary questionnaires with bone mineral density measurements at the spine and three different hip sites.
Head growth in infancy tied to later intelligence
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Head growth in fetal life and infancy is associated with later intelligence, new research hints. Moreover, catch-up increases do not appear to compensate for poor early growth.
“Brain growth in early life may be important in determining not only the level of peak cognitive function attained but also whether such function is preserved in old age,” the study team writes in the journal Pediatrics. “Older people with a larger head circumference tend to perform better on tests of cognitive function and may have reduced risks of cognitive decline and of Alzheimer’s disease.”
Several studies in children have shown that those with larger brains, measured with imaging studies or as head circumference, tend to score higher on tests of cognitive function. Similar associations have been found in adults.
Canadians paralysed after drinking carrot juice
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Carrot juice which was withdrawn from the market late last month is thought to be responsible for the illness of two Canadians who are paralyzed and are severely ill in hospital.
According to public health officials the Toronto residents drank carrot juice that has since tested positive for a botulism toxin.
The juice is said to be the same carrot juice which was recalled late in September and was one of the three brands recalled.
Laser technique shows women’s skin ages faster than men’s
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According to German researchers women’s skin ages faster than men’s - so men become distinguished women just look older!
The German team discovered this by using a new laser-based technique to measure damage from sun exposure and aging.
The technique involves shining pulses of infrared laser light on the skin to look at the deeper layers of the skin allowing the measurement of the amount of damage from sun exposure and measure aging.
Another bird flu outbreak in China
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China’s Ministry of Agriculture says scientists have confirmed an outbreak of bird flu has killed 1,000 domestic poultry in a village in China’s northwest.
The news comes just one day after another reported outbreak in a neighbouring region.
Nearly 1,000 chickens and ducks reportedly died suddenly in a poultry farm in Xincheng Village of Jiuyuan District of Baotou City last week and as a result authorities have quarantined the infected area along with the farmer and his wife and anyone who had close contact with them.
2007 Medicare prescription drug plans
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Private health insurers that market Medicare prescription drug plans in 2007 will offer more plans, several of which will have lower premiums and more of which will provide coverage during the so-called “doughnut hole,” Bush administration officials said on Friday, the New York Times reports.
Health insurers on Sunday began to market 2007 Medicare prescription drug plans, and the six-week open enrollment period for the 2007 plan year begins on Nov. 15. In 2007, all states except Alaska and Hawaii will have more than 50 Medicare prescription drug plans available, and 23 states will have at least 55 plans available. Most states in 2006 had 40 Medicare prescription drug plans available (Pear, New York Times, 10/1). Seventeen health insurers will market nationwide Medicare prescription drug plans in 2007, compared with nine in 2006, administration officials said (Zhang/Fuhrmans, Wall Street Journal, 9/30). Almost none of the health insurers that marketed Medicare prescription drug plans in 2006 will end participation in the program in 2007 (Lopes, Washington Times, 9/30).
Scientists Make World Breakthrough
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A team of scientists from the University of Adelaide, Monash University and the United States has made a world breakthrough in understanding how bacterial toxins cause severe gastrointestinal diseases.
The scientists, led by Dr Adrienne Paton from the University of Adelaide’s School of Molecular and Biomedical Science, have discovered that a highly potent bacterial toxin kills cells by inactivating an essential component in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The latter is part of the cell that is essential for packaging newly-synthesized proteins.
The toxin, called subtilase cytotoxin, is produced by certain strains of E. coli bacteria responsible for severe gastrointestinal disease in humans. Dr Paton discovered the toxin in 2003 in a bacterium responsible for an outbreak of haemolytic uraemic syndrome (severe food poisoning) in South Australia. Subtilase cytotoxin is so potent that it is a potential bio-terrorism agent.
More medical students enter dermatology, leave other specialties
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The Detroit News on Tuesday examined how “droves” of medical students nationwide are opting to pursue careers in dermatology “as doctors flee some of the most critical medical fields—family practice, internal medicine and obstetrics.”
According to the News, “dermatology promises good pay, flexible hours and job opportunities,” while fields like internal medicine and obstetrics often are accompanied by “high malpractice rates, long hours and health insurance woes.”
In addition, “[m]oney ... is a major issue” for medical students, who “easily run up more then $100,000 in education costs by the time they’re ready to practice.”
Battle against stress means big business
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Sarah Kugelman once suffered so much work-related stress that her doctor told her to change her lifestyle or risk dying before the age of 40.
She heeded that advice and launched a line of anti-stress skincare products as well, part of the booming so-called stress industry that experts say is worth more than $11 billion a year.
With overworked, overwrought consumers seeking cures ranging from aromatherapy to Zen meditation, the industry is predicted to grow to almost $14 billion in the next two years, experts say.
UK doctors warned about flu vaccine delay
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Flu vaccines may not be delivered to UK physicians in time to meet demand before the winter, the government warned on Monday—a delay doctors said may put some patients at risk.
The Department of Health (DoH) said that while there would be no long-term shortage, a delay in production would mean some GP practices would not immediately get enough of the vaccine to immunise eligible patients.
“We informed GPs about the industry’s production difficulties at the earliest opportunity, so they could plan for any potential problems with the supply of the vaccine,” said Dr. David Salisbury, the DoH’s head of immunisation.
