Google
 

Siberian jail is champion in fight against TB

July 4th, 2008

By James Kilner

TOMSK, Russia (Reuters) - Alexander Pushkarev, head doctor at the 1,000-bed hospital in a Soviet-era prison nestling at the edge of Siberia, flashed a row of metal teeth with his smile.

“Welcome to Tomsk Correction Facility No. 1,” he said. “This is the best treatment for TB in Russia.”

In the mid-1990s, virulent tuberculosis was killing prisoners here every week, but with the help of a group of American doctors, the jail near>

Following an initiative from the U.S. Public Health Research Institute which was funded by George Soros, the Tomsk project now run by Boston-based doctors’ group Partners in Health (PIH) has overturned conventional medical thinking that drug-resistant TB strains are extremely difficult and expensive to treat.

“Without the Tomsk project, drug-resistant TB treatment would be years behind where it is now,” said Jussi Saukkonen, a doctor from Boston who was in Tomsk to inspect the project.

“It’s been an important benchmark in dealing with this problem.”

Under the project, which has now extended beyond the prison to the general population in the region, deaths from TB in Tomsk have nearly halved in eight years to around 12 per 100,000 people — a third of the average in Siberia.

Its main thrust is simple: just to ensure existing treatment is adhered to properly, rather than introducing new high-tech solutions or expensive drugs.  Continued…

Sphere: Related Content

Brain noise is a good thing

July 4th, 2008

Brain noise is a good thing

Canadian study overturns notion that brain noise quiets down with maturity

Toronto, Canada ?Canadian scientists have shown that a noisy brain is a healthy brain.

“Brain noise” is a term that has been used by neuroscientists to describe random brain activity that is not important to mental function. Intuitive notions of brain-behaviour relationships would suggest that this brain noise quiets down as children mature into adults and become more efficient and consistent in their cognitive processing.

But new research from the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest, published in the July 4, 2008 issue of the Public Library of Science - Computational Biology, overturns this notion.

“What we discovered is that brain maturation not only leads to more stable and accurate behaviour in the performance of a memory task, but correlates with increased brain signal variability,” said lead author, Dr. Randy McIntosh, a senior scientist with the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest. “This doesn’t mean the brain is working less efficiently. It’s showing greater functional variability, which is indicative of enhanced neural complexity.”

In the study, 79 participants representing two main age groups ?children (eight to 15) and young adults (20 to 33 years of age) ?completed a series of face memory tasks to measure their ability to recall faces with accuracy. EEG recordings were collected to measure their brain signal activity while performing the task. EEG ?electroencephalography ?is a powerful brain imaging tool that allows for precise measurement of the timing of brain activity in response to external stimuli.

Researchers found that not only did the young adults score better on the face recognition tasks (i.e. they showed more stable and accurate cognitive behaviour) compared to the children, but the young adults’ brain signal variability actually increased ?got noisier.

“These findings suggest that the random activity that we think of as noise may actually be a central component of normal brain function,” said Dr. McIntosh.

###

The study was funded by the James S. McDonnell Foundation. Baycrest is an academic health sciences centre, internationally-renowned for its care of aging adults and its excellence in aging brain research, clinical treatments and promising cognitive rehabilitation strategies. Baycrest is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto.

Sphere: Related Content

Simian foamy virus found to be widespread among chimpanzees

July 4th, 2008

Simian foamy virus found to be widespread among chimpanzees

Researchers in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, France, Gabon, Germany, Japan, Rwanda, the United Kingdom, and the United States have found that simian foamy virus (SFV) is widespread among wild chimpanzees throughout equatorial Africa. Details are published July 4th in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens.

Recent studies have shown that humans who hunt wild primates, including chimpanzees, can acquire SFV infections. Since the long-term consequences of these cross-species infections are not known, it is important to determine to what extent wild primates are infected with simian foamy viruses. In this study, researchers tested this question for wild chimpanzees by using novel non-invasive methods. Analyzing over 700 fecal samples from 25 chimpanzee communities across sub-Saharan Africa, the researchers obtained viral sequences from a large proportion of these communities, showing a range of infection rates from 44% to 100%.

Major disease outbreaks have originated from cross-species transmission of infectious agents between primates and humans, making it important to learn more about how these cross-species transfers occur. The high SFV infection rates of chimpanzees provide an opportunity to monitor where humans are exposed to these viruses. Identifying the locations may help determine where the highest rates of human朿himpanzee interactions occur. This may predict what other pathogens may jump the species barrier next.

###

PLEASE ADD THIS LINK TO THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT: http://www.plospathogens.org/doi/ppat.1000097 (link will go live on Friday, July 4)

CITATION: Liu W, Worobey M, Li Y, Keele BF, Bibollet-Ruche F, et al. (2008) Molecular Ecology and Natural History of Simian Foamy Virus Infection in Wild-Living Chimpanzees. PLoS Pathog 4(7): e1000097. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1000097

CONTACT:

Dr. Paul Sharp
Institute of Evolutionary Biology,
University of Edinburgh,
Ashworth Laboratories,
Kings Buildings,
West Mains Road,
Edinburgh EH9 3JT
U.K.
Tel: 011-44-131-651-3684
FAX: (admin office) 131-650-6564
e-mail: paul.sharp@ed.ac.uk


Disclaimer

This press release refers to an upcoming article in PLoS Pathogens. The release is provided by journal staff. Any opinions expressed in these releases or articles are the personal views of the journal staff and/or article contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of PLoS. PLoS expressly disclaims any and all warranties and liability in connection with the information found in the releases and articles and your use of such information.

About PLoS Pathogens

PLoS Pathogens (www.plospathogens.org) publishes outstanding original articles that significantly advance the understanding of pathogens and how they interact with their host organisms. All works published in PLoS Pathogens are open access. Everything is immediately available subject only to the condition that the original authorship and source are properly attributed. Copyright is retained by the authors. The Public Library of Science uses the Creative Commons Attribution License.

About the Public Library of Science

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world’s scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. For more information, visit http://www.plos.org.

Sphere: Related Content

Heart tests for all athletes could save lives: study

July 4th, 2008

By Michael Kahn

LONDON (Reuters) - Mandatory heart screenings for all athletes could detect potentially fatal problems and save lives, Italian researchers said>

The issue of pre-screening programmes using electrocardiograms is controversial but the findings published in the British Medical Journal suggest that a family history and physical exam may miss many undiagnosed heart problems.

“Among people seeking to take part in competitive sports, exercise electrocardiograms can identify those with cardiac abnormalities,” Francesco Sofi and colleagues at the Institute of Sports Medicine at the University of Florence wrote.

Last year, Sevilla footballer Antonio Puerta died three days after collapsing during a Primera Liga match and Cameroon’s Marc-Vivien Foe died during a Confederations Cup match in 2003.

The risk is not just for top athletes either. Figures show>

For their study, Sofi and colleagues analyzed data from more than 30,000 heart screenings during a five year period between 2002 and 2007. Italy is the>

The study found 1,459 showed some form of heart problem during an exercise electrocardiogram and 348 people had abnormal results during their resting electrocardiogram. Of these, 159 had conditions serious enough prevent them from competing.

Yet,>Continued…

Sphere: Related Content

Gophers Beware: Biology Team Builds a Better Trap

July 4th, 2008

They say, “Build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door.” Biologists at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock hope it also works with gophers.

Dr. Robert S. Sikes, a professor of behavioral and evolutionary ecology, and a team of graduate students set out to build a better gopher trap - one that keeps the pesky critters alive for researchers to study their behavior and communications.

Graduate students Susan DeVries, who did her undergraduate work at the University of Louisiana, and Kimberly King of Little Rock needed an ample supply of gophers to aid in their separate research projects in gopher behavior and communication.

“The problem is most people consider gophers annoying pests, and most traps kill them,” Sikes said. “We wanted them alive. You can’t very well study the behavior of a gopher if he’s dead.” Initial attempts at a live trap were thwarted by gopher behavior.

“They pushed dirt in front of prototypes to plug the opening when we dug into the burrows,” the professor said. “That dirt blocked doors of other trap designs.”

So Sikes, a behavioral and evolutionary ecologist, and a third student, Ph.D. student Tommy Finley of Malvern, set out to build a better gopher trap.

Gophers, small burrowing rodents that are efficient digging machines, create burrow systems that can cover hundreds to thousands of square feet. They increase soil fertility by mixing plant material and fecal waste into the soil, and their burrowing aerates the soil and speeds up the formation of new soil by bringing minerals to the surface.

But gardeners and groundskeepers everywhere identify with Bill Murray’s hapless greens keeper in the classic movie Caddyshack who was constantly being outsmarted by one wily gopher. A poster from the movie hung in Sikes’ lab while he and his researchers worked to outsmart the rascally rodents.

The solution was a highly efficient trap built with an inner layer of chicken wire that utilizes a drawstring action - like purse strings - that capture the animal without hurting him.

Sikes and Finley tested their prototype gopher traps on a pasture next door to Sikes’ family farm in southwestern Arkansas.

“It’s a field of dreams, in terms of gophers,” Sikes said. Within 48 hours, they had over 20 gophers to study.

Now that the trap is perfected, Sikes said his students needing a “guinea pig” for a gopher observation can go out on the fringes of campus and have one corralled in no time.

“It’s a simple design that takes into account gopher behaviors that stymied other attempts. This trap is the ‘Hotel California’ for gophers - ‘they can check in anytime they like, but they can never leave’.”

As for the students who prompted the trap innovation: DeVries’ paper on gopher communication will be published soon. She earned her master’s degree at UALR last spring and is now pursing a Ph.D at the University of Southern Mississippi. King, who is studying behavior in free-ranging individuals, was recruited for UALR’s graduate school from Oklahoma State University.

Trap co-inventor Finley has landed a tenure-track position at Henderson State University. A first-generation college student who was a welder before going to college, Finley had never traveled extensively from home when he first enrolled at UALR. He received his Ph.D. last fall following trips across the United States and to China for his dissertation research on metabolic depression in giant pandas.

Sphere: Related Content

erv : Personalized HIV therapy within reach?

July 4th, 2008

Lots of people have been emailing me about this article, currently rotating through the usual science news outlets:

Science Daily
New Scientist
WIRED
Slashdot

*sigh*

Look, guys, I am obnoxiously optimistic about the future of HIV/AIDS. I have no doubts about our ability to one day make HIV/AIDS a distant nightmare, like polio or the plague.

And I also have no qualms with the paper these articles are based on, Establishment of HIV-1 resistance in CD4(+) T cells by genome editing using zinc-finger nucleases. Its neat! Yay!

But let me dump a big bucket of ice cold realism on the press release that spawned those ’science journalism’ articles: This research is completely impractical in The Real World, and it sure as hell doesnt “Put Personalized HIV Therapy Within Reach”. Giving the general public that impression is deceptive and mean.

Again, I want to make it clear that I dont see anything ‘wrong’ with this paper. Its made up of good science and good ideas. My problem is the way its been ‘framed’ (as usual), so lets just look at the paper and its implications without spin.

Basics of HIV-1– It needs two receptors to infect your cells:
1– CD4
2– CXCR4 OR CCR5

You all might have heard of individuals who are naturally resistant to HIV-1 infection because they dont have a functional CCR5 gene (CCR5-Delta32). These people have no obvious deformities or abnormalities, so evidently you can live a pretty normal without CCR5.

However, most of us do have a functional CCR5. So we are totally screwed, right? Maybe not! This paper outlines some experiments done in mice born without an adaptive immune system who were injected with human T-cells that had been treated with a gene-therapy vector to screw up the T-cells CCR5 genes. The end effect is that the T-cells in these mice dont have functional CCR5s. When these mice were challenged with HIV, their modified human T-cells survived longer, and their viral loads were lower!

So, theoretically, one day researchers could take some T-cells from you, modify them a bit with gene therapy, inject them back into you, and then you would be like a delta-32! No CCR5, harder to get HIV! Or, if you were already infected with HIV, you might be able to hang on to your T-cells longer, thus delay the onset of AIDS.

WHOO!! Personalized HIV Therapy Within Reach!

… Not exactly.

Just to point out the obvious, this experiment has only been done in mice. Cell lines

And, there is a major problem with ‘just getting rid of CCR5′… CXCR4. Because HIV-1 can evolve to use CXCR4 instead of CCR5, ‘just getting rid of CCR5′ would be like closing your front door to keep a zombie outside… while leaving the back door wide open. It might take the zombie a minute, but hes gonna figure it out and feast on your brains.

But lets ignore all that. Lets pretend that human clinical trials go perfectly.

Lets pretend that for some reason, HIV-1 doesnt evolve around CCR5 to CXCR4.

How the hell is this ‘therapy’ going to help the people who need help the most?

Theyre going to take this treatment to rural Africa?

Really?

Ya they dont have reliable electricity or running water, but gene therapy, thats doable.

“Personalized HIV Therapy Within Reach” of people who could afford this kind of therapy. People in the US/Europe who can afford anti-retrovirals in the first place.

The people who need this therapy couldnt get it, and the people who could get it, dont need it.

UGH!

Im just so annoyed and so frustrated.

Just let science stand on its own. Appreciate a good idea and a well designed experiment. But this kind of patronizing PR is shameful.

Sphere: Related Content

Fourth edition of the British National Formulary for Children

July 4th, 2008

 

Child Health News

The fourth edition of the British National Formulary for Children (BNFC) arms health professionals with the information they need to tackle recent controversial health concerns in young people, including rising rates of teenage pregnancy and the increasing incidence of sexually transmitted infections.

Professor Martin Kendall, Chairman of the Formulary Development Committee, who was recently awarded an OBE for services to healthcare, said:

“This year, to protect young people from cervical cancer, updated advice on human papilloma virus vaccine which will be offered to all girls aged 12-13 years from September, has been included. Also, noting the national concerns about sexual activity in the young, BNFC 2008 has new sections on contraception and additional guidance on the treatment of sexually transmitted infections. The BNFC is the national guide on managing the diseases of today and protecting children and young people from the medical problems of tomorrow.

The BNFC has been extensively revised and updated, checked by national experts and improved by the comments of paediatricians, nurses, pharmacists and dentists who have been using it to help them treat children safely and effectively over the last four years.”

The new edition of the BNF for Children is published today by the BMJ Group, Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and the Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacists Group.

BNFC 2008 has been fully revised and improved. The changes include:

  • Details of a new immunisation schedule for vaccination against the human papilloma virus
  • Revised guidance on the treatment and prevention of urinary-tract infections
  • New advice on the use of all forms of contraception, including emergency contraception
  • A new section on the treatment of pelvic inflammatory disease to further expand the guidance on management of sexually transmitted infections
  • More information on the administration of continuous IV infusions in neonatal intensive care to reduce medication errors when calculating infusion rates

The BNFC is available in print, on PDA and online. Further details about these and other changes can be found free of charge at http://bnfc.org/bnfc/bnfcextra/current/450035.htm

Dr Patricia Hamilton, President, of the RCPCH comments: “The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health is proud to be a partner in producing the BNF for Children which is an essential resource for paediatricians and other healthcare professionals.

We particularly highlight the new emphasis on adolescent health, with information in this edition on contraception, the treatment of sexually transmitted disease and a vaccination which protects against cervical cancer. The BNFC will also contribute to patient safety by ensuring users have the most up-to-date information and guarding against medication errors.” Compiled with the advice of clinical experts, the BNF for Children provides up-to-date, authoritative, impartial, and where available evidence-based guidance on prescribing, dispensing and administering medicines for newborns (neonates), infants, children and adolescents. It is published annually and complements the BNF which is published twice a year.

The growing importance of BNF for Children is highlighted in research conducted by the independent research company Taylor Nelson Sofres in April/May 2007 on behalf of the publishers. The survey of just over 600 doctors, pharmacists, and nurses working in primary and secondary care shows that BNFC is the first resource that 74% of healthcare professionals turn to when seeking information about the use of medicines in children. 70% of healthcare professionals have become more aware of suitable treatments as a result of using BNFC while 40% believe that BNFC has changed their clinical practice. For just over half of the recipients, BNFC has reduced the number of times that they need to seek advice from other healthcare professionals. In the view of almost half the recipients, BNFC has led to an improvement in the quality of prescribing for children under shared care arrangements between primary and secondary care.

http://bnfc.org

Sphere: Related Content

Seizures in newborns can be detected with bedside brain-activity monitors

July 4th, 2008

 

Child Health News

Compact, bedside brain-activity monitors detected most seizures in at-risk infants, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis showed. That means the compact units could assist clinicians in monitoring for electrical seizures until confirmation with conventional EEG (electroencephalography), the researchers assert in an article published in the June issue of Pediatrics.

The smaller, more portable units are called amplitude-integrated EEG or aEEG monitors. They use only two or four scalp electrodes to detect the brain’s electrical activity, instead of the 12 or 20 used with conventional EEG devices. They also filter and compress the raw signals from the electrodes to provide simpler, shorter readouts than conventional EEG monitors. aEEG machines are easier for staff to manage, and the monitors can more practically be run for longer periods. In addition, more medical facilities can afford aEEG devices because they have lower upfront and operating costs.

But until recently no one had studied whether aEEG was as accurate as conventional EEG for detecting brain seizures in babies. Seizures are episodes of abnormal brain activity that may or may not include involuntary muscle movements. So even if clinical staff members watch a newborn continuously, a seizure might be missed without the use of an EEG device. In newborns, seizures can be an indication that something is wrong in the brain, which might result from a metabolic disorder or a compromised blood supply to the brain before or during birth, for example.

The Washington University researchers conducted a side-by-side comparison of aEEG with conventional EEG. They used both technologies simultaneously for an average of 18 hours per patient to monitor the brain activity of 21 newborns who had experienced seizures. They also compared three different aEEG setups: one that produced a tracing from only one channel, one that produced tracings from two channels, and a third that produced tracings from two channels but also included raw, uncompressed brain-wave tracings.

“We found that we could pick up seizure activity in most of the patients using aEEG monitors that included the raw signals,” says lead author Divyen Shah, M.D., a clinical fellow in the Division of Newborn Medicine. “In most medical centers worldwide, conventional EEG isn’t available because it’s expensive and resource intensive. We’ve shown that when staff members have training in interpreting aEEG, it can be effective for monitoring electrical seizure activity in newborns.”

With conventional EEG, the researchers detected multiple seizures in seven of the infants, and with aEEG plus the raw signals they detected most of those seizures (76 percent) in six of those babies. The seventh baby had only one brief seizure, which was missed by aEEG monitoring.

Although aEEG has the advantage of lower cost and ease of use, the study also showed that its compression of raw brain wave data can make certain types of seizures harder to detect. But, the research also demonstrated that this disadvantage can be largely overcome with the use of aEEG monitors that also output an uncompressed and unfiltered tracing. That raw tracing provides a backup reading to check against any ambiguous reading from the compressed data.

The researchers found that aEEG plus the raw signals yielded better results than unsupplemented aEEG, which missed all of five seizures experienced by one of the babies. The research team emphasizes that although aEEG monitors can complement conventional EEG, they can’t completely replace it for electrical seizure detection.

Next, the research team, headed by senior author Terrie E. Inder, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics and a Washington University pediatrician at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, will use aEEG as a tool in a trial of medications for seizures in newborns. They will use different treatment options to determine the optimal therapy for these patients.

http://www.wustl.edu/

Sphere: Related Content

With a Special Diet You Can Ease Sexual Urge While Protecting the Energy of Your Kidneys and Also Improve Your Sleep and Memories

July 4th, 2008

Since the topic of healthy sex or unhealthy sex is about the matter of life or death, it is impossible to talk about complete healthy sex in one or two articles. It needs some time and effort to accomplish this project in details.

First, let’s talk about “Sperm”. It is a big mistake for people to think that sperm is just productive cell that can impregnate a woman or just some natural fluid that has to be ejaculated or will wash away through urination from a male’s body.
However, 99% of the people in the world have accepted the definition of “sperm” only as above. They do not know or consider that sperm is also part of the inner strength of a male and the precious nutrient to a male’s sexual organ and the energy of the kidney. When a male is releasing his sperm, he is releasing pressure and vigor the same time.

The word “sperm” in Mandarin Chinese is “Jing Ye”. It means the fluid of the fundamental substance or the essence of life. Also, it means the fluid of refined energy and high spirit of a male.
Have you ever wondered why the Chinese monks of the Shaolin Temple in Henan, China have so much energy and longevity? From a few years old monk to an over hundred years old monk, they are all healthy and energetic. Besides the daily practice of Buddhist discipline, such as doing devotion on Buddhist scripture, sitting in meditation, and worshipping Buddha; the Chinese monks in the Shaolin Temple are practicing Chinese martial arts (Kung Fu). They are very famous for their various styles of Chinese martial arts, styles such as Jiao Di, Shou Bo, Xiang Bo and 18 Hands of the Lohan, along with the hundreds of other systems of Chinese martial arts. Also, They are all vegetarians and they cultivate their own vegetable garden(everything is organic). Of course they have kept their bodies “holy” by strictly avoiding sexual practice.
After studied and analized the life style of the Chinese monks in the Shao Lin Temple, I have relized that there are at least four major differences between the Chinese monks in the Shaolin Temple and us, the wordly human beings.
1. mental discipline
3. diet discipline
2. physical discipline
4. moral discipline

In this article I want to focus on their diet discipline.
They have all kinds of vegetables and a special healthy porridge; which is made of ten ingredients. There are two importain ingredients in the recipe, which are the best food for nourishing kidney; easing the craving for sex; in the same time improving memories and giving better sleep. These two importain ingredients are:
A. Fox Nuts
B. Lotus Seeds
Fox Nut is the best food for nourishing kidney. It helps the function of the kidney be stronger. It is special good for people who have to go urinate often during the night. Lotus Seeds have some special functions that are to quiet urgent desire for sex, to give a better sleep and to improve memories.

In 2007 my relatives, an eldery couple came to visit me from Canada. The man had very weak kidney function and long time insomnia. He needed to get up 5 times at night to go to bathroom. Because he did not sleep well at night, he had no energy in the daytime. In order to treat his problem, I used Fox Nuts, Lotus Seeds and some Longans (dried fruit), which is great for weak and insomnious people to make soup for him, and let him drink two cups per day. It took only one week to see improvement of his condition. One month later, he had reduced night urine from 5 times to three times. After two months before they went back home, he only needed to get up one time for urination at night, and he had more energy and appetite. Certainly, he could sleep much better.
The ingredients and method for making this soup:
1. 4 oz of Fox Nuts
2. 8 oz of Lotus Seeds
3. 25 dried Longans
4. 1 gallon of cold water

Cooking directions:
1. Wash all the ingredients with cold water

2. Put them into a cooking pot, and pour one-gallon cold water to cover them (Please do not use hot or warm water)

3. Bring the water to the boil, and turn the heat to low and continue to cook it for 45 to 50 minutes.
Please do not add any sugar into the drink. Two cups per day, one cup before breakfast and dinner, and drink it warm are recommended. This recipe is best for elderly male or female. You can buy these three elements in any Chinese market or herb store.

For people whose age are under 55, they do not need to use dried Longan, unless they are weak and insomnious.

Have you ever wondered why there are more Western men have kidney problems than Asian men? First, Asian males are not encourage to think about, to talk about or to have sex in their young age, especially for Chinese. They have preserved their “Jing Ye” (sperm), which is important for their sexual organs and the energy of the kidneys for longer time. Second, in their daily diet, especially for Asian males in the South, they often have Lotus Seeds and Fox Nuts in soup or in sweet desserts. These two elements are helping them to maintain the energy of the kidneys and refined vigor and high spirit of manhood. Also, there is some expensive natural food from Asia for men who have high sexual activities to keep their male organs and kidneys healthy until they are very old. (It needs another article to talk about these expensive natural food products for men.)

However, on the contrary, males in the Western society are encouraged to have sex in their very young age. Most of them have no “healthy sex” education at all. The help that they are getting is to have free condoms. They do not understand the full value of their sperm; they do not know the harmfulness of frequent masturbation and they do not realize the consequences of having unhealthy sex. They are releasing their fluid of the fundamental substance or the essence of life too often, too casual and too young.

On the other hand, they do not use Fox Nuts and Lotus Seeds as a healthy diet to protect or enrich the refined energy of their kidneys. No wonder from generation to generation many males in the Western world are facing hair losing, teeth losing and having problems of premature ejaculation, impotence, low kidney function or even kidney failure as they are aging, and some of the males have these problems when they are still young.

In my article Healthy Sex or Unhealthy Sex Is A Matter of Life And Death, I have mentioned that if governments from all countries can use the little diet in my article for their people, their insurance companies will pay less money to doctors and pharmacies. Especially, if the governments use my little diet to treat sex offenders, there will be fewer rapists in the world. The recipe for treating sex offenders is to use high concentrated juice of Lotus Seeds only, without Fox Nuts or Longan to make healthy products for them. Besides the special Lotus Seeds treatment, sex offenders should be on daily vegetable diet. For sure, their abnormal sexual urge will be quieted down, and their memories will be increased and their minds will be at peace with themselves and with others.

Sphere: Related Content

‘Deadliest’ malaria rising in UK

July 4th, 2008

More cases of the most dangerous type of malaria than ever before are being brought back to the UK from trips abroad, official figures show.

A Health Protection Agency study identified 6,753 cases of falciparum malaria diagnosed in the country between 2002 and 2007.

This is a 30% increase over 15 years, reports the British Medical Journal.

Experts said many of the cases arose from visits to west Africa made by people visiting relatives and friends.

There is a prevailing myth that travellers who were born in a malaria-endemic country such as Africa have some ‘natural’ immunity to malaria and this is simply not the case
Professor Peter Chiodini
HPA

Malaria is spread by mosquitoes carrying the plasmodium parasite, and can take weeks or months to emerge after the bite itself.

Travel to areas where malaria is endemic has increased sharply in the past two decades, from just under 600,000 visits in 1987, to 2.6 million in 2004.

The HPA study looked at the origins of 39,300 cases of malaria diagnosed in the UK between 1987 and 2007, 20,488 of which were in UK residents coming back from trips abroad, rather than travellers from other countries falling ill during a UK visit.

Many were less dangerous forms of the disease, but nearly 25,000 of the 39,000 were caused by the plasmodium falciparum parasite.

This version is far more likely to prove fatal, and there was a total of 183 deaths.

Plasmodium falciparum is most likely to be contracted in sub-Saharan and west African countries, and about half of those contracting the illness were visiting friends and family in countries such as Nigeria and Ghana.

Only two-fifths of the UK travellers had made any effort to prevent the disease by taking prophylaxis drugs before or during their trip, particularly those born in or with family ties to malaria-endemic areas.

Travel medicine advice is freely available at GP surgeries, and specialist travel medicine clinics in the UK’s bigger cities.

Myth-busting

Professor Peter Chiodini, head of the HPA’s Malaria Reference Laboratory, said: “There is a prevailing myth that travellers who were born in a malaria-endemic country such as Africa have some ‘natural’ immunity to malaria and this is simply not the case.

“Like all other people who go to Africa and Asia they need to make sure they take their anti-malaria drugs and follow the guidelines that are there to protect everyone.”

Dr Jane Zuckerman, from the Royal Free and University College Medical School, and director of the World Health Organisation collaborating centre for reference, research, and training in travel medicine, said that it was important to get the message about malaria to all UK travellers.

She said: “It may be possible, in some communities, to use religious leaders to communicate this, as this can be very effective.”

Sphere: Related Content

Deadliest malaria cases on rise in UK: study

July 4th, 2008

By Michael Kahn

LONDON (Reuters) - An increase in Britons traveling to malaria-infested countries has steadily increased the number of imported cases of the disease over the past 20 years, researchers said>

These imported cases stem mainly from people traveling to West Africa who often fail to take malaria pills or other preventative measures during their visit, they reported in the British Medical Journal.

“As severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) showed, 21st century threats to global public health and travel are inextricably interlinked, and they present ready opportunities for the rapid spread of infectious disease,” World Health Organisation Researcher Jane Zuckerman wrote in a commentary.

Malaria infects between 300 million and 500 million people each year, mainly in Africa. The disease kills about 1 million people each year, including a child every 30 seconds.

Malaria is difficult to fight because its complex life cycle allows the parasite to evade drugs. The tiny parasites live and reproduce inside mosquitoes, which spread them when they bite.

The disease has become resistant to some drugs and work>

The British study found the number of reported cases of Plasmodium falciparum — the deadliest malaria parasite — jumped from 5,120 between 1987 to 1991 to 6,753 in 2000 to 2007.

Travelers to Nigeria and Ghana accounted for about half of all the imported falciparum cases, Adrian Smith and colleagues from Britain’s Health Protection Agency reported.  Continued…

Sphere: Related Content

Disclosing violence to primary care or obestetrics/gynecology physicians most beneficial

July 4th, 2008

Disclosing violence to primary care or obestetrics/gynecology physicians most beneficial

(Boston, MA)桼esearchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) found that patients who disclose intimate partner violence (IPV) to their clinicians of any type did not experience serious harm. However, those who disclosed IPV in a primary care or obstetrics/gynecology setting received the most benefit. The findings, which appear in the Biomedical Central Public Health Journal, also conclude that disclosures made in an emergency department setting were more problematic from the patient’s point of view.

Researchers studied 27 IPV survivors recruited through community support programs in Massachusetts. The participants were given in-depth interviews to ascertain types of medical encounters relating to abuse, with encounters described as either single interactions or continued contact over a period of time.

Participants described disclosure of IPV to medical personnel. They also reported episodes in which they were asked about or treated for an IPV related problem in which they did not disclose. The researchers determined the medical specialty in which the encounters occurred, and limited their focus to emergency department, obstetrical/gynecological care, and primary care. The researchers also labeled whether harms occurred as a result of any disclosure as well as the perceived helpfulness (beneficial or not).

Of the 59 visits studied; 23 were in a primary care setting, 17 in the emergency department and 19 in obstetrics/gynecology. Participants reported disclosure IPV to a clinician in more than half of the encounters, and actively did not disclose in 30 percent, while sensing the clinician’s knowledge without their own disclosure in 10 percent. No situations of any type resulted in serious harms. The vast majority of disclosures were deemed beneficial, whereas only a third of the non-disclosure were considered beneficial. However, in the emergency department setting, only one quarter of the disclosures were considered beneficial, compared to three quarters in obstetrics/gynecology and 100 percent in a primary care setting.

According to the research, consequences from unhelpful disclosures resulted in fear and avoidance of health care. “The most serious negative consequences of disclosure occurred when participants reported feeling endangered because of disclosure after treatment for acute injuries in the emergency department,” said lead author Jane Liebschutz, MD, MPH, FACP, physician in the section of General Internal Medicine at BMC, associate professor of medicine and social and behavioral sciences at BUSM. Liebschutz added. “Participants felt that ineffective communication on safety assessment referrals and follow-up for IPV, as well as the lack of emotional connection with clinicians, were key factors in determining unhelpful disclosures.”

Many participants who had a beneficial disclosure experienced a change in their circumstances such as, leaving an abusive spouse, entering a detoxification program or filing a police report. These changes occurred after a clinician worked with an individual over a period of time. Instead of immediate end to the abuse, these patient-clinician encounters resulted in a shift in the participant’s self-esteem, perception of the violent relationship, or awareness of alternatives, eventually empowering the victim to seek help for the abuse independently.

“Treatment for acute injury relating to IPV should be viewed by clinicians as an opportunity to educate and empower patients, and providing options for the patient when they are ready,” saidLiebschutz. “Clinicians may be empowered if they feel they have a task in helping the patient, rather than just uncovering a painful problem.”

###

This research was supported by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation as well as the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Sphere: Related Content

Screening for heart disorders in competitive athletes would save lives

July 4th, 2008

Screening for heart disorders in competitive athletes would save lives

Research paper: Cardiovascular evaluation, including resting and exercise electrocardiography, before participation in competitive sports: cross sectional study

Athletes who take part in competitive sport should be screened for potentially fatal heart problems before they compete, according to a study published on BMJ.com today.

The findings show that a pre-participation screening programme, which involves checking the activity of the heart during exercise, would detect more athletes at risk of sudden cardiac death and save lives, say the authors.

One young competitive athlete dies every three days from an unrecognised cardiovascular disorder in the United States alone.

In the majority of cases the athletes appear healthy and there is no previous clinical sign of heart problems. The clinical usefulness of pre-screening programmes to identify people at high risk has been hotly debated. Whether or not to include an electrocardiogram (ECG) as part of pre-screening has been particularly controversial because of concerns over cost-effectiveness and the number of false-positive test results.

In America and Europe authorities have recommended a pre-participation evaluation which includes taking a detailed patient and family history as well as a physical examination.

However, in Italy for the past 25 years, athletes wishing to enter competitive sport have also had to have two ECGs (a test to measure the electrical activity of the heart), one at rest and one while exercising. Researchers from the University of Florence set out to evaluate the clinical usefulness of this programme.

Dr Francesco Sofi and colleagues analysed data from 30 065 athletes who underwent a complete pre-participation cardiovascular evaluation at the Institute of Sports Medicine in Florence during a five year period (2002��).

During the resting ECG they found that 1.2% (348) of participants had distinctly abnormal test results. However, the results from the ECGs taken during exercise found that 4.9% of participants (1459) had some form of heart abnormality. So a significant number of heart problems were only evident during exercise.

The age of people with problems found only during the exercise ECG, was also significantly higher (30.9 years old compared to 24.9 years old) than those who had normal test results.

Importantly, of the 159 people disqualified from sport for identified heart problems, only six would have been picked up through history and physical examination alone, meaning nineteen in twenty would have been missed. Eight in ten (79.2%) would have been missed if they had only had a resting ECG.

In an accompanying editorial Professor Jonathan Drezner from the University of Washington says “adding electrocardiography to the screening process will detect more athletes with silent cardiovascular disorders at risk of sudden death.”

Both Drezner and Sofi call for ECGs to be added to screening programmes for all people taking part in competitive sports, and emphasise that it is particularly important for people who are middle aged or older.

###

Sphere: Related Content

Malaria on the increase in the UK

July 4th, 2008

Malaria>Research paper: Imported malaria and high risk groups: an observational study using UK surveillance data 1987?006

A huge rise in the numbers of UK residents travelling to malaria endemic areas, combined with a failure to use prevention measures, has significantly increased cases of imported falciparum malaria in the UK over the past 20 years, according to a study published on BMJ.com.

Between 1987�� there were 5120 reported cases of the potentially fatal faliciparum malaria, increasing to 6753 in 2002��. These findings highlight the urgent need for health messages and services targeted at travellers from migrant groups visiting friends and family abroad, say the authors.

Malaria acquired in one of the 150 countries where it is endemic and then imported into non-endemic countries accounts for a significant proportion of largely preventable disease and death in Europe every year.

Dr Adrian Smith and colleagues from the Health Protection Agency’s Malaria Reference Laboratory, present the latest trends in malaria in the UK between 1987 and 2007, using data from the Malaria Reference Laboratory, involving 39 300 confirmed cases of malaria.

64.5% of 20 488 malaria cases amongst UK travellers had visited friends and relatives in malaria endemic countries. This is reflected by the huge increase in the number of UK residents travelling to malaria endemic areas梖rom 593 000 visits in 1987 to 2.6 million visits in 2004.

Imported malaria cases were heavily concentrated in communities with frequent travel to see friends and relatives in West Africa.

The researchers also note a worrying trend in cases of the potentially fatal falciparum malaria which have increased steady over the past 20 years in the UK. Of all malaria imported to the UK, 96% of falciparum malaria occurred after travel to Africa. Travellers to Nigeria and Ghana, neither common tourist destinations, account for half of all imported falciparum cases.

Importantly, say the authors, only 42% of UK travellers reported taking any form of malaria prophylaxis during their travels. In particular, people visiting friends and relatives in their country of origin were less likely to report using prevention measures than other travellers. For example, amongst malaria cases in travellers to sub-Saharan Africa between1999?, only 7% of people with malaria visiting friends and relatives reported using recommended drugs, compared to 24% of other travellers with malaria.

These findings highlight that health messages are not getting through to ethnic minority groups, particularly those visiting West Africa, warn the authors. “Targeting messages tailored to these groups is essential in primary care and public health卆nd this would have a substantial impact on UK malaria”, they add.

Increasing the use of effective antimalarial prophylactic drugs by travellers visiting sub-Saharan Africa should be a priority, they conclude.

Research into cultural beliefs, knowledge, and attitude towards malaria prevention in people visiting friends and relatives in malaria endemic countries, would help identify how best to target health education campaigns and innovative techniques, says Jane Zuckerman, Director of WHO collaborating centre for reference, research, and training in travel medicine, in an accompanying editorial

###

Sphere: Related Content

Potential treatment for TB solves puzzle

July 4th, 2008

Potential treatment for TB solves puzzle

Scientists have uncovered a new target for the potential treatment of TB, finally resolving a long-running debate about how the bacterial cell wall is built. The research, published in the July issue of Microbiology reveals several molecules that could be developed into drugs to treat tuberculosis. Multi drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes TB, sparked concern but the recent emergence of extensively drug-resistant strains (XDR-TB) means the search for new treatments is imperative.

Unlike human cells, bacteria have cell walls. Molecules called mycolic acids form a vital part of these walls. To produce them, bacteria carry out several processes but until recently, scientists were unsure of the genes that control each step. One vital step is dehydration - the removal of a water molecule to lengthen the acid chain. Researchers from the University of Birmingham have shown that the gene Rv0636 controls this step, which provides new avenues for the development of treatments for TB.

“FAS-II is a group of enzymes that work together to carry out dehydration,” said Professor Gurdyal Besra from the University of Birmingham. “We know that the molecules NAS-21 and NAS-91 can stop these enzymes from building cell walls, so we looked at their effect on Mycobacteria. We also wanted to find out if one of the enzymes is coded for by the gene Rv0636.”

Professor Besra and his colleagues made modifications to NAS-21 and NAS-91, making several analogues based on the original molecules. They then tested these analogues to see if they stopped the enzymes from working. “Both series of compounds demonstrated activity against the FAS-II enzymes alone,” said Professor Besra. “When we tested them against live bacterial cells we noticed that some of the analogues stopped the cells from building mycolic acids, which effectively killed them.

“We also tested them on bacteria that were overexpressing Rv0636, which meant they were producing extra enzymes. These cells were resistant to NAS-21 and NAS-91, suggesting that the gene Rv0636 does code for an enzyme in the FAS-II complex,” said Professor Besra. “So we have solved the mystery.

The researchers have also identified a new class of compounds that could be developed into successful treatments for tuberculosis that are urgently required in the future. “The emergence of drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis has highlighted the need for new TB drugs. We hope our discovery will lead to a new rationale for the design of treatments,” said Professor Besra.

###

Sphere: Related Content