Opiate drugs increase vulnerability to stress
A new study has found that opiate drugs such as morphine leave animals more vulnerable to stress. This means that stress and opiates are in a vicious cycle: Not only does stress trigger drug use, but in return the drug leaves animals more vulnerable to stress. The study helps to explain why people who use opiates such as heroin have very high rates of anxiety problems.
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Bird flu spread 'may spark pandemic'
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Positive thinking a pain reliever
Experts say they have strong scientific proof that mind over matter works for relieving pain. |
Minute spheres to cut tooth pain
Microscopic spheres could help dentists fill tiny holes in our teeth that make them incredibly sensitive. |
Chiron Rebuffs Bid by Novartis, Arousing Talk of a Higher Offer
Chiron, a biotechnology company hobbled by problems producing flu vaccine, has rejected as inadequate a takeover offer made by its largest shareholder, Novartis. |
Brain Scans Find Spot That Links Stress to Asthma
Researchers have located a specific part of the brain that causes people with asthma to wheeze and gasp for breath when under emotional stress. |
Should smoking be banned totally in public places?
Health professionals are calling for the government to take tougher action on smoking. Do you agree? |
Anti-terror teams switch gears, help with Katrina
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A special medical unit set up to
move fast in case of a terrorist attack is being put to its
first test in caring for victims of Hurricane Katrina. |
ACE drug prevents heart deterioration in aged - study
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A widely used blood pressure pill can
reduce the risk of death in elderly heart attack survivors by
preventing their hearts deteriorating in a process known as
"remodelling," researchers said on Sunday. |
Key to why melanoma is so potent
Scientists find a gene which drives the growth and survival of the most dangerous form of skin cancer. |
Katrina and Public Health Truths and Myths
Katrina and Public Health Truths and Myths
Hat Tip to Revere at Effect Measure
During the anthrax episode, the Secretary of Health and Human Services
Tommy Thompson repeatedly provided incorrect information to the news
media on the number of spores required to produce an infection. The
same misinformation was often repeated by public health authorities.
Failure to communicate the fact that the risks from even a small number
of spores could result in infection may have contributed to the deaths
of two postal employees at the Brentwood facility in Washington, DC.
Misinformation
from those who should know better is also occurring in the aftermath of
hurricane Katrina. DHHS Secretary Leavitt, for example, has warned of
the risk of "typhoid and cholera" as a result of contaminated water,
while others have talked generally of mosquito-borne disease and the
hazards caused by dead people and animals. It is time to separate the
real risks from the phantom risks.
Diarrheal disease from
contaminated water is a concern, but not cholera and probably not
typhoid. In order to get these diseases the water has to be
contaminated with the organisms that cause those diseases,
neither of which is endemic in that region. What is more likely is
gastroenteritis or hepatitis A from enteric viruses or bacteria. Most
are spread by the fecal-oral route, which means they are not spread
directly person to person. If they get in a contaminated, piped water
supply they can cause an epidemic, because piped water is an efficient
way to distribute pathogens to a population. But localized
contamination of flood waters is not. Individuals can get serious
diarrheal disease and even die of consequent dehydration, but there is
not likely to be a point source epidemic of cholera or typhoid or even
diarrheal disease, only sporadic cases (which may be relatively
numerous but not epidemic in nature). Lack of clean water and food can
produce a risk of diarrhea and dehydration and must be attended to
quickly, but not to prevent an epidemic.
Similarly the presence
of dead animals and people is not a health hazard. Dead animals
decompose naturally in the environment. Unless they were infected with
a contagious organism before death, they will not themselves become the
source of disease. The persistent concern in mass disasters over
unburied bodies is an urban myth. Mass disasters like floods rarely
cause epidemic disease and to suggest otherwise results in misplaced
concern and potential diversion of resources from more important issues.
Mosquito-borne illness is a potential concern for some, but needs to be
properly understood. Being bitten by mosquitoes is not a health hazard.
The mosquitoes themselves must be vectors for a pathogenic agent like
malaria or West Nile. Almost all malaria cases in the US are in people
exposed and infected elsewhere who travel to this country and become
sick shortly after arriving. We do not have endemic malaria, at least
not at this point (global warming might change that, of course). West
Nile is a possibility, because there are an unknown number of infected
birds and possibly other animals in that region. However the mosquitoes
that multiply in the wake of the flooding have to be the kind that both
bite infected birds and bite humans. We don't know what the disaster
did to the ecological niches of the potentially infected animal
population nor do we know whether any increase in s specific mosquito
population will be in the kind of "bridge vector" capable of biting
both humans and whatever existing infected animals are around. So even
a huge increase in the mosquito population does not necessarily, or
even probably, mean an outbreak of West Nile or other mosquito-borne
illnesses. This is important because the fear of "an epidemic" might
encourage interventions that themselves carry undue risk, such as
broadcast spraying of pesticides to kill adult mosquitoes. Mosquitoes
reproduce exponential quickly and these techniques have not been shown
to interrupt the transmission of human disease. They have the potential
to just add one more biologically active toxin to the environment.
The
biggest health hazards may well be those we would classify under
"injury." Heat-related illness might be at the top of the list here. As
body core temperatures rise above 105 degrees F., mortality increases
quickly. The high heat and humidity of the area, coupled with
dehydration are a significant health hazard that requires intervention
by providing fluids and cooler shelters. The many sources of physical
injury, whether from feral animals (snakes, alligators, etc.), sharp
metal debris, falls and injuries in an environment where the hazards
are numerous and not easily visible can result in substantial
accumulated morbidity and even mortality. The only remedy is removal of
people to a safer environment, which should be the top priority. this
is also true for the many chronically ill and vulnerable people who
require medication, external support from power dependent devices and
supervision.
The situation is complex but the bottom line here is simple: mobilize
resources to remove people from the area as quickly as possible, while
providing fresh food and water to those waiting evacuation. This is
something a well-organized military force, like the National Guard,
should have been equipped to do from the outset. If they can plan how
to put hundreds of thousands of soldiers to invade an area in a twelve
hour period, they can also plan how to remove civilians in a three day
period.
Or can they?
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Early Pangs of Empty Nest Syndrome When the Children Leave Home for College
The feelings brought on by the departure of college-age children are much like the depression of the empty nest syndrome. |
The Missing Condoms
No one knows better than the Ugandans that lives are saved when AIDS is treated as a public health challenge, not a moral crusade. |
Another Worry: Outbreaks of Infectious Disease
Experts Fear Current Conditions Would Make Containment Difficult |
Staff crisis forces unit closure
A mental health unit at a hospital in Llandrindod Wells closes temporarily due to a lack of nurses. |
Did human remains from India cause BSE? - study
LONDON (Reuters) - Mad cow disease may have originated from
animal feed contaminated with human remains washed ashore after
being floated downriver in Indian funerals, British scientists
said on Friday. |
Health crisis grips New Orleans even as help lands
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Lethornia J. Whiticar was lying all
alone in the end zone of New Orleans' famed Superdome stadium,
very sick and in great need of help. |
Uganda urged to release condoms
Aids activists threaten to sue Uganda's government unless it releases some 30m condoms held in storage. |
Heart disease missed in women
Coronary heart disease in women is under-diagnosed, under-treated and under-researched, an expert has said. |
Heart disease spotted, treated too little in women
LONDON (Reuters) - Cardiovascular disease in women is
under-diagnosed and under-treated compared to cases in men, an
expert said on Friday. |
Canadian study slams costly "me-too" medicines
LONDON (Reuters) - Governments and insurers around the
world are wasting money on expensive "me-too" drugs that offer
no substantial benefit over existing products, Canadian
researchers reported in this week's issue of the British
Medical Journal. |
Officials Try to Prevent Medical Crisis
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Coil can cut aneurysm death risk
Treating burst aneurysms by blocking them with platinum coils could offer better long-term survival than brain surgery, researchers say. |
MORE HEALTH HEADLINES
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Vitamin D, painkillers battle prostate cancer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Special, high-dose formulations of
vitamin D and common, over-the-counter painkillers can greatly
slow the growth of prostate cancer tumors, U.S. researchers
reported on Thursday. |
'No need' for health care probe
An out-of-hours medical service in Lincolnshire will not be formally investigated, a review concludes. |
genetics
Day-After Pill Exposes FDA Rift.
Although scientists have determined that the so-called morning-after
pill is safe enough to be sold without prescription, the head of the
Food and Drug Administration overrules them, prompting the women's
health chief to resign. [Wired News] |
genetics
DNA Comparison Finds Chimps, Humans Pretty Darned Similar. The
first comprehensive comparison of the genetic blueprints of humans and
chimpanzees shows that our closest living relatives share perfect
identity with 96 percent of our DNA sequence, an international research
consortium reported today. In a paper published in the Sept. 1 issue of
the journal Nature, the Chimpanzee Sequencing and Analysis Consortium,
which is supported in part by the National Human Genome Research
Institute (NHGRI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH),
describes its landmark analysis comparing the genome of the chimp (Pan
troglodytes) with that of human (Homo sapiens). [Science Blog - Science News Articles from Medicine, Space, Physics and More] |
Eight percent of U.S kids have ADHD - survey
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Just under 8 percent of U.S.
children ages 4 to 17 had ever been diagnosed with
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in 2003, and more than
half of them are being treated with drugs, the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday. |
Mad cow caused by human remains?
David Pescovitz:
Two scientists propose that the first case of mad cow disease may have
been caused by human remains in the animals' food. Alan Colchester of
the University of Kent and Nancy Colchester of the University of
Edinburgh published their findings in the current issue of medical
journal The Lancet. From :
(The researchers) point out that during the 1960s and
1970s Britain imported hundreds of thousands of tonnes of whole and
crushed bones and animal carcasses. These were used for fertilizer and
to feed livestock.
Nearly 50% of these imports came from
Bangladesh, where peasants gathering animal materials may have also
picked up human remains, the researchers say...
Religious
customs in Bangladesh and surrounding areas mean that many corpses are
disposed of in rivers. People may have collected remnants from such
bodies when foraging for animal carcasses, the Colchesters argue in The
Lancet. Any prions in these corpses might then have caused mad cow
disease.
Link (Thanks, Paul Saffo!)
[Boing Boing] |
U.S. CDC predicts 97 million flu shots for fall
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As many as 97 million influenza
shots will be available in the U.S. market for the upcoming flu
season starting in October, the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention said on Thursday. |
C-section may avert later pelvic surgery
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women with a first pregnancy
who deliver by cesarean section seem to be protected against
pelvic surgery later in life, according to results of a study
conducted in the UK. |
Coil can cut aneurysm death risk
Treating burst aneurysms by blocking them with platinum coils could offer better long-term survival than brain surgery, researchers say. |
Uganda urged to release condoms
Ugandan Aids activists threaten to sue the government unless it releases 30m condoms said to be in storage. |
Heart disease missed in women
Coronary heart disease in women is under-diagnosed, under-treated and under-researched, an expert has said. |
Man sectioned over murder
A man arrested on suspicion of murdering six-year-old James Brennan is sectioned under the Mental Health Act. |
Boost for mental health services
Millions of pounds is to be spent on improving mental health services across Teesside. |
'Nanospheres' that block pain of sensitive teeth
Nanospheres could help dentists fill the tiny holes in our teeth that make them incredibly sensitive, and that cause severe pain for millions of adults and children worldwide. Preliminary research presented today at the Institute of Physics conference EMAG-NANO 2005 shows that creating tiny spheres of a ceramic material called hydroxyapatite could be a long term solution or cure for sensitive teeth.
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New Orleans Engulfed in Public Health Emergency
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City opens mental health facility
The Lord Mayor of York opens the city's first dedicated facility for older people with mental health problems. |
US needs better quarantines to fight disease-study
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The current U.S. quarantine system
does not do enough to keep out new killer diseases such as
avian flu or unknown new bioterrorist threats, a panel of
experts cautioned on Thursday. |
Co-pays, drug cuts to save Medicaid $11 bln-report
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal commission on Thursday
recommended $11 billion in Medicaid savings over 5 years from
raising prescription drug co-payments, drug pricing reforms and
curbs against asset transfers to qualify for benefits. |
Medical teams head to Gulf for Katrina aftermath
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Experts in sanitation, infectious
disease and mosquito-borne illnesses are heading to the Gulf
region to help cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,
and the CDC is combing its ranks for doctors who can pitch in. |
Heart disease spotted, treated too little in women
LONDON (Reuters) - Cardiovascular disease in women is
under-diagnosed and under-treated compared to cases in men, an
expert said on Friday. |
US needs better quarantines to fight disease-study
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The current U.S. quarantine system
does not do enough to keep out new killer diseases such as
avian flu or unknown new bioterrorist threats, a panel of
experts cautioned on Thursday. |
Is there a risk of storm disease?
A public health emergency has been declared following Hurricane Katrina. But just what is the risk? |
Pioneer to open new urology unit
A £8.1m state-of-the-art urology unit is officially launched at Nottingham City Hospital. |
Olive oil proven to be pain reliever
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Boy has surgery after dog attack
A four-old-boy is recovering after surgeons repair bite marks to his face following an attack by a dog in a garden. |
Pioneer to open new urology unit
A £8.1m state-of-the-art urology unit is officially launched at Nottingham City Hospital. |
