News Health Informations

Artificial Heart Implanted Successfully

2010-11-16T00:05:00.000-08:00

Cardiac surgeons of the Omsk regional hospital have successfully implanted first two artificial hearts to patients with serious heart failure.

Two patients, a 35-year-old man and a 58-year-old woman, now have artificial hearts made of titanium and silicone. Medics say both patients are feeling well.

The patients will require about three weeks to fully recover, before they return to usual active lifestyle. An artificial heat weighs 284 grams. To date similar surgery, involving long-term assisted blood circulation, has been performed on 23 patients in Russia.

The technique of assisted blood circulation has been developed in Germany, and Russian surgeons have mastered it up.

Via : russia-ic

New Vitamin E Treatment for Prostate Cancer

2010-10-25T23:53:00.000-07:00

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) prostate cancer researchers have found that a new vitamin E treatment could significantly reduce tumour regrowth.

Dr Patrick Ling, whose research will be a centrepiece of the new 354 million dollars Translational Research Institute (TRI) when it opens in Brisbane, is leading a team of researchers who have identified a particular constituent of vitamin E, known as tocotrienol (T3), which can inhibit the growth of prostate tumours.

Construction of TRI has officially began (October 19) at the Princess Alexandra Hospital.

Dr Ling said existing chemotherapy and hormonal therapy treatment of prostate cancer was insufficient because it failed to kill off the prostate cancer stem cells (CSCs), which were believed to be responsible for the regrowth of tumours.

However, the research team have discovered a particular form of T3, called gamma-tocotrienol (?-T3), can successfully kill off the prostate cancer CSCs.

"Currently there is no effective treatment for metastatic prostate cancer, because it grows back after conventional therapies in more than 70 per cent of cases," he said.

"But with ?-T3, QUT researchers have found a better way to treat prostate cancer, which has the potential to inhibit recurrence of the disease."

Dr Ling said in animal trials, ?-T3 completely inhibited tumour formation in more than 70 per cent of the mice implanted with prostate cancer cells and fed the vitamin E constituent in water. In the remaining cases, tumour regrowth was considerably reduced, while tumours reformed in 100 per cent of the control group.

Dr Ling said while not all vitamin E preparations had the active constituent, natural vitamin E obtained from palm oil was rich in ?-T3.

The findings have been published in the International Journal of Cancer.

Via : medindia

Allergy, asthma inflammation can be cured by black rice: Study

2010-10-25T23:50:00.000-07:00

Black rice has proved to be extremely beneficial for people suffering from inflammation that result from allergy and asthma. Black rice is the staple food for one third of the population. The study appears in ACS' bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. It is also known that black rice is the cancer fighting superfood.

The Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry has published an article on October 20 which details upon the findings of how black rice can cure inflammation for allergy and asthma. Experiments in cell culture reveal that black rice bran curbs the release of histamine, which is responsible for inflammation.

Bran is the outer husk of the grain, which, is removed completely during the processing of brown rice to produce the known and popular white rice. Mendel Friedman and colleagues injected the extract into the mice; it reduced skin inflammation by about 32 percent compared to control animals and also decreased production of certain substances known to promote inflammation.

When the mice were fed with ten percent black rice bran diet, it reduces swelling associated with allergic contact dermatitis. This is common type of skin irritation and can occur to anyone anytime. However, brown rice bran did not have such effects. The article also notes that the experiment “further demonstrate the potential value of black rice bran as an anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic food ingredient and possibly also as a therapeutic agent for the treatment and prevention of diseases associated with chronic inflammation.”

Black rice is high in nutritional value and is also rich in iron. It is also high in fiber content and has a nutty taste. Black rice is also known as “forbidden rice” in China since originally it was considered the emperor’s rice and common men were not supposed to consume it. According to a study presented at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), "one spoonful of black rice bran contains more anthocyanin antioxidants than a spoonful of blueberries and better yet, black rice offers more fiber and vitamin E antioxidants, but less sugar.”

Via : infocera

Woman Suffering Asthma Attack Denied Inhaler at Pharmacy

2010-10-25T23:46:00.000-07:00

A New Jersey woman suffering an asthma attack was denied an inhaler at a pharmacy because she was $1.99 short, MyFoxNY.com reported.

Katherine O’Connor and her boyfriend were walking home from McDonald’s in Garwood, N.J., Thursday morning when she had the asthma attack, but she did not have her inhaler with her. She went to a nearby CVS, hoping to get a refill on her inhaler prescription.

But, O’Connor was denied the refill because she did not have enough money to pay for the prescription. The medicine cost just over $21, and the couple was short $1.99.

"I had exactly a $20 bill. It came to $21 and change," said O’Connor’s boyfriend, Jack Brown. "I offered him my cell phone, my wallet. I said, ‘I live right around the corner.’ I come in here all the time."

Brown begged the pharmacist to give his girlfriend the inhaler, as she was on the floor wheezing, but the pharmacist would not give in, he said.

Brown called a friend who is a paramedic, who showed up immediately and treated O’Connor.
When questioned about the incident, a store manager had “no comment.”

“The well-being of our customers is our highest priority and we are looking into this matter,” said a statement from CVS corporate offices.

Via : foxnews

Volatile Organic Compounds May Worsen Allergies and Asthma

2010-10-25T23:34:00.000-07:00

Children who sleep in bedrooms containing fumes from water-based paints and solvents are two to four times more likely to suffer allergies or asthma, according to a new scientific study.

Scientists measured the compounds – propylene glycol and glycol ethers, known as PGEs – in the bedroom air of 400 toddlers and preschoolers, and discovered that the children who breathed them had substantially higher rates of asthma, stuffy noses and eczema.

It is the first human study to link harmful effects of these chemicals to common exposures in households, and it suggests that they might exacerbate or even cause allergic disorders and asthma, according to the team of scientists from Harvard University and Sweden’s Kalstad University.

“Apparent risks of PGEs at such low concentrations at home raise concerns for the vulnerability of infants and young children,” according to the report, published Monday in the journal of the Public Library of Science, PLoS ONE.

The aim of the study was to investigate the health effects of chemicals called volatile organic compounds that are widely used inside homes. The result: Of the hundreds of compounds tested in eight different categories, only one group -- the PGEs - was associated with the children’s allergies and asthma.

That discovery is particularly surprising, since PGEs are widely used in water-based paints and varnishes, as well as in cleaning fluids such as glass cleaners. They are considered healthier substitutes because they have low volatility, which means they emit less fumes than the high-polluting, oil-based paints and solvents.

For several decades, scientists have tried to unravel why allergies and asthma have skyrocketed among children throughout the developed world since the 1970s.

Experts suspect that exposure to some environmental factors in the womb or early in life might trigger the disorders. The findings of the new study add to the many theories that have evolved, including ones about other indoor air pollutants, diesel exhaust, viruses and cockroach allergens.

Michael Laiosa, an assistant professor at the School of Public Health at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, who studies children’s allergies and immune disorders, called it “a very interesting article and well-conducted study.’’

If these findings are confirmed by other studies, “it may be another piece of the puzzle as to why atopic diseases like allergy and asthma are on the rise, particularly in kids,” said isa, who was not involved in the research.

“It also is concerning given how ubiquitous these compounds are, particularly at low levels like those found in this study,” he said.

The research involved 198 children in Varmland, Sweden, between the ages of 1 and 5, who had asthma or at least two symptoms or wheezing or rhinitis without a cold or eczema in the previous year, as well as 202 children with no symptoms.

For children with rhinitis – or nasal allergies – the average PGE concentration in their bedrooms was twice as high as the concentration found in rooms of the children with no symptoms. The higher the dose, the more likely the children were to suffer from rhinitis, asthma, or eczema, even when concentrations were low.

Children in bedrooms with the highest concentrations were 4.2 times more likely to have rhinitis, twice as likely to have asthma and 2.5 times more likely to have eczema, compared with children with the lowest concentrations in their rooms.

High concentrations of the chemicals also doubled their likelihood of testing positive for immunoglobulin E, an antibody that develops when people are exposed to something that inflames their airways. None of the other VOCs led to similar associations.

The researchers did not identify the sources of the PGEs in the bedrooms. But children living in a house where at least one room was painted right before or after their birth had 63 percent more PGEs in their room than those whose houses had not been repainted. “Thus, repainting might have provided a sustained exposure since the gestational period or shortly following the birth,” the study said.

The airborne compounds can remain inside homes for months, perhaps even years.

“Overall, the question of long-term airway injury from the glycol ethers and other organic solvent exposure requires clarification,” wrote the scientists.

How the glycol compounds might trigger allergies and asthma “is not well understood,” the authors said, but they added that “it has been known for more than three decades” that inhalation of propylene glycol methyl ether irritates nasal passages of people and lab rats.

Asthma, eczema and allergies are inflammatory, immune system disorders, so it is possible that the compounds disrupt a baby’s or child’s immune system development. Some of the compounds already are known to alter hormones.

“Several glycol ether compounds join a growing list of VOCs that are suggested to contribute to allergic diseases in humans,” the study says. “While several PGEs are well-known endocrine disruptors, very little is known whether and how they influence developing immune systems.”

Laiosa added that “one of the most interesting aspects for me is that our understanding of how VOCs in general, and PGEs specifically, affect the immune system, is quite limited.”

Previous studies of house painters and some adult volunteers exposed to some PGEs have found higher incidence of nose and throat irritation, wheezing and shortness of breath. But the levels found in the children’s bedrooms are “more than 400-fold lower than exposure ranges reported in occupational and experimental settings,” according to the report.

“Several lines of evidence support that our findings are not due to a chance or a bias,” the authors reported. For instance, the increase in allergies, eczema and asthma were observed for every rise in exposure, from the lowest-exposed children to the highest-exposed. In addition, it wasn’t driven by any single compound.

“This suggests that multiple compounds, rather than a single one, contribute to the observed risks,” the report says.

A compound called 1-methoxy-2-propanol was the most prevalent glycol ether in the children’s rooms. But because multiple types of PGEs were found in the children’s homes, “we currently cannot distinguish the risks of the individual compounds,” the authors said.

In their analysis, the researchers accounted for other factors that might raise the children’s risk, including secondhand smoke, allergies of parents, cleaning with chemical agents, age of the homes, pet allergens and exposure to other indoor chemicals called phthalates.

Laiosa said that testing for VOCs is tricky, but the researchers “did an admirable job” of identifying the limitations of their study and ensuring the testing methods were reliable.

The levels found in the bedrooms were strikingly similar to those found in previous studies of homes in other Scandinavian countries.

That finding “is a strength of this work,” Laiosa said. “In other words, I don't think anyone can question the validity that these PGEs are present in the children's bedrooms, even at such low levels. “

Many volatile organic compounds have been regulated in recent years to clean up smog. The petroleum-based compounds, found in car exhaust as well as consumer products, react in sunlight with nitrogen oxides to form ozone, the main ingredient of smog.

Carl-Gustaf Bornehag , a professor of public health science at Sweden’s Kalstad University, and John Spengler, an environmental health professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, conceived of and designed the experiments, while the lead author was Harvard’s Hyunok Choi.

Via : scientificamerican

Study says Low-dose Aspirin Safe Way to Reduce Colon Cancer Risk

2010-10-22T03:17:00.000-07:00

A recent study showed that taking lower dose of aspirin is a safer way to reduce the risk of colon cancer.

British researchers found out that taking a lower dose of aspirin can help reduce number of cases of colon cancers and its cancer death rates.

Colon cancer is the second to the leading cancer form in developed countries, and the findings bring light to their research that aspirin can help a person in preventing the occurrenceof colon cancer.

The findings been published in the Lancet Medical Journal, however the findings are unlikely to settle due to the controversies about aspirin.

In previous studies, it shows that people who take high levels and doses of aspirin can be very effective in preventing the developmentof colon cancer to a person.

However, consumption of this medicine can be very hazardous to most people; it oftentimes caused deadly and serious bleeding in a person’s intestines and stomach.

Another study regarding to a related painkiller medicine, ibuprofen also help reduce the cancer rates of colon cancer, for people who take the medication over a long period of time.

Lead author of the study, Peter Rothwell, from John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, together with his team, conducted four large studies of more than 14,000 people. Half of their subjects take low-dose of aspirin intended for treating heart disease.

Eighteen years later, only 2.8 percent of those volunteers developed and acquired colorectal cancer. They have found out that aspirin effectively reduce the risk of this illness by 24 percent, and at the same time it also lowered the risk of a person to die from this kind of disease by almost 35 percent.

These findings can help people who cannot afford expensive diagnosis and treatments for colon cancer, to get an affordable medication to prevent colorectal cancer in the future.

Via : seedol

Salix gets global license for Photocure's colon cancer diagnostic test

2010-10-22T03:10:00.000-07:00

Norwegian specialty pharmaceutical company Photocure (OSE: PHO) said Wednesday it has signed a global agreement with Salix Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SLXP) for the development and commercialization of Lumacan, a diagnostic test for colon cancer.

Colon cancer is traditionally diagnosed through colonoscopies with white light, which is increasingly known for its limitations in detecting cancer.

Lumacan is being developed to increase the detection rate for precancerous polyps and colon cancer through fluorescence diagnosis. In the US, it is estimated that approximately 14 million colonoscopies are done annually for diagnosis of colon cancer.

According to Photocure, earlier studies have shown a near 40% increased detection rate when Lumacan-colonoscopy diagnostic was used and the test is currently in Phase I/II trials.

Under the terms of the agreement, Salix will obtain an exclusive worldwide license to Lumacan, excluding the Nordic region, where Photocure has retained its rights.

In exchange for this, Photocure will receive a signing fee of US$4 million and is entitled to receive additional milestone payments totalling up to US$126.5 million, if certain conditions are satisfied.

In addition to the milestones, Salix will pay Photocure tiered double digit royalties on net sales and pay a percentage of all Salix sublicense revenue worldwide, outside of the US.

As a result of the deal, Salix will control and cover development, registration and commercialization costs for Lumacan globally, with Photocure covering certain costs of formulation development up to US$3 million, it said.

Aside for the indication of colorectal cancer, Salix will as well have the right to explore and develop products for additional indications involving the diagnosis of gastrointestinal dysplasia and cancer. Payments for products in respect to these indications will be negotiated in the future, said the companies.

"We believe Lumacan is truly an innovative and groundbreaking diagnostic which should complement our portfolio of gastrointestinal offerings. Lumacan's efficacy results thus far have been promising and show great potential if approved for marketing by the FDA," said CEO of Salix Carolyn Logan.

Salix said that Lumacan will target high risk screening patients and diagnostic patients in follow-up of colon cancer.

Via : proactiveinvestors

Lipitor May Reduce The Risk Of Colorectal Cancer

2010-10-22T02:46:00.000-07:00

Here is another reason for your doctor to put you on a Statin, and another reason why Pfizer will be really sorry to lose their patent protection on the best selling Statin drug Lipitor. A researcher at the University of Michigan has found that not only is that class of medications good for helping prevent heart attacks and strokes. It may also reduce the risk of Colon and Rectal cancers by 12% if his reading of the statistics is correct.

Dr. Jewel Samader says the effect works for all of the statin anti-cholesterol drugs. He crunched the data from 22 scientific studies and found a statistical link. He says he has no idea why it works, that would take additional research.

Pfizer loses patent exclusivity on Lipitor in November of next year. Colorectal Cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related deaths each year in the U.S. 150-thousand are diagnosed with the disease each year.

Via : wtvbam

Scientists discover AIDS drug attacks herpes virus

2010-10-22T02:05:00.000-07:00

A European team of researchers has discovered that raltegravir, the drug sold by pharmaceutical firm Merck under the name Isentress and used to treat AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), could help treat the herpes virus. The study, funded in part by the SPINE2-COMPLEXES ('From receptor to gene: structures of complexes from signalling pathways linking immunology, neurobiology and cancer') project, which received EUR 12 million under the 'Life sciences, genomics and biotechnology for health' Thematic area of the EU's Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), could lead to the development of a drug capable of fighting the entire herpesvirus family.

Led by the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) in Spain, the researchers provide evidence that raltegravir can cancel the function of an essential protein for the replication of one kind of herpes virus.

'These results have a clear medical impact for three reasons,' explained Miquel Coll, coordinator of the IRB's Structural and Computational Biology Programme. 'First, humans do not have the viral protein that is affected, thus this would allow a highly specific drug that does not show the secondary effects that other drugs may have. Second, the inhibitor is not toxic for humans when administered at therapeutic concentrations because it is already on the market and thus toxicity tests are facilitated; and third, we have data that indicate that all herpes viruses have this protein. Therefore, it could be a valid target against all Herpesviridae.'

Herpes viruses include pathogens such as herpes simplex 1 and 2 - the virus that causes chickenpox (otherwise known as zoster virus), the Epstein-Barr virus (which is associated with several types of cancer), the roseola virus, the cytomegalovirus and the herpes virus associated with the cancer Kaposi sarcoma.

The human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) on which the study was performed causes neurological defects in 1% of neonates in developed countries. It also produces retinitis that deteriorates into blindness in 25% of people with AIDS, defects in the brains and central nervous systems of young adults, inflammation of the colon, mononucleosis - more commonly known as the 'kissing disease' - and serious diseases of the throat.

Although 90% of adults carry HCMV this virus is opportunistic, acting in people with weakened immune systems including cancer and AIDS patients, recipients of organ transplants and neonates.

To replicate, the herpes virus enters the nucleus of a cell where it uses the cell machinery to copy its DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) several times into a single large chain. Once this copy has been made, a complex called terminase, formed by three protein subunits, cuts the new DNA into small fragments the size of a single viral genome and introduces these into empty shells (capsids) that have developed in the cell nucleus. The new viruses then leave the cell to continue infection.

The researchers resolved the 3D (three-dimensional) structure of one part of the terminase using a state-of-the-art high-performance protein expression technique, with the collaboration with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Grenoble, France, and discovered that it resembled the integrase of the AIDS virus, for which drugs are available.

The assays were performed directly on the protein in test tubes. 'Now we must do the assays on whole infected cells, improve the effect of the drug and validate that it is also effective for other kinds of herpes viruses,' said Dr Coll, whose laboratory has patented this second application for raltegravir.

Contributions to this study were made by experts from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

The findings of which were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences (PNAS).

Via : cordis.europa.eu

Osteoporosis screening in postmenopausal women

2010-10-21T01:05:00.001-07:00

* Approximately 50% of white women will have a fracture attributable to osteoporosis at some point in their lives.
* Data show that more women with diabetes that without suffer osteoporotic fractures.
* Any test designed to check bone mineral content at only one site will not be as accurate as a composite evaluation.
* The advantages of densitometry are its low cost, portability, and ease of use.

Many can remember an older female family member who had the classic dowager's hump in her upper spine and seemed to literally shrink between gatherings. Unfortunately, osteoporosis that was considered a common consequence of aging in that generation often still goes undetected in spite of widespread availability of screening methods. Even with these tools, many women every year learn of their osteoporosis only after suffering an osteoporosis-related fracture. 

The North American Menopause Society's 2010 position statement for the management of osteoporosis emphasizes some significant changes with regard to the way this condition is treated in primary-care practice.1 These changes illustrate the increasing focus now placed on prevention in health care in the United States.  

Prevalence and significance 

In the United States, there are nearly eight million women with osteoporosis, and an estimated 34 million with osteopenia.2,3 While postural body changes are the most obvious consequence of osteoporosis, the immense increase in fracture risk is the most significant. Approximately 50% of white women with osteoporosis will have a fracture attributable to the disease at some point in their lives.2,3 Sadly, many of these will be hip fractures that have a resultant mortality of nearly 20% at one year and a 25% incidence of need for long-term skilled nursing facility care.2-4  

When injury and pain fail to convey real significance, dollars usually tell the rest of the story. According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the typical cost of a hip fracture in 2002 was between $34,000 and $43,000, with osteoporotic fractures costing our health systems nearly $18 billion in just one year.5,6 If statistics and money still do not depict the impact of this disease, consider the immeasurable but significant secondary decline in mental and psychosocial quality of life after a hip fracture.7 

More @ cortlandtforum

Diabetics Can Control Cholesterol Levels With Dark Chocolate

2010-10-21T01:01:00.000-07:00

It has been claimed that one of the ingredients of dark chocolate may in fact help diabetics control high cholesterol levels.

The Hull University study has suggested that chocolate with high levels of cocoa solids is rich in polyphenols and can reduce the risk of heart disease.

It found that cholesterol fell in a small number of diabetics given bars rich in this ingredient.

A total of 12 volunteers with the type II form of the condition were given identical chocolate bars, some enriched with polyphenols, over a 16 week period.

Those given the enriched bars experienced a small improvement in their overall cholesterol 'profile', with total cholesterol falling, and levels of so-called 'good' cholesterol rising.

Steve Atkin, lead author of the study, suggested that it could mean a reduction in heart risk.

"Chocolate with a high cocoa content should be included in the diet of individuals with type II diabetes as part of a sensible, balanced approach to diet and lifestyle," BBC News quoted him as saying.

However, researchers at Diabetes UK said that the message would be interpreted as a 'green light' to eat more chocolate.

They pointed out that even bars with the highest levels of cocoa solids would contain high levels of fat and sugar, and could end up doing more harm than good.

Via : medindia

Type 2 diabetes, insulin use linked to colorectal cancer in men

2010-10-21T00:40:00.000-07:00

A new study has revealed that type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) among men.

Hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia, which are especially pronounced during the early stages of type 2 diabetes, have been proposed as mediators for the association between CRC and type 2 diabetes.

Although it is known that type 2 diabetes is associated with an increased risk of CRC, it is not clear if this association varies by gender or other factors.

"While our study supports an association of type 2 diabetes with colorectal cancer incidence among men, our results also suggest that insulin use is associated with a slight, but not a substantially increased, risk of colorectal cancer among men with type 2 diabetes," said Peter T. Campbell, lead author of this study.

"Prevention strategies should emphasize adherence to guidelines intended for the general population such as smoking cessation, weight management, exercise and regular early detection exams," the author said.

Among men, type 2 diabetes was associated with increased risk of incident CRC compared to not having type 2 diabetes. CRC risk was higher for those participants with type 2 diabetes regardless of whether or not they used insulin.

Among women, type 2 diabetes and insulin use were not associated with CRC risk.

The study appears in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute. (ANI).

Via : topnews

Fair Trade Chocolate and Halloween

2010-10-21T00:28:00.000-07:00

Xander Wells, age five, is spreading the word about Fair Trade chocolate. It’s October 31^st, 2009, in Oak Park Illinois, and he is part of a group of thousands of people across the United States and Canada participating in Reverse Trick or Treating. With his mother’s help, he is handing out glossy information cards with a Fair Trade chocolate attached. The people on the receiving end are bemused by the gesture. They laugh. They make it a point to read more about the topic later. Later, they read the cards, and they understand the seriousness behind Xander’s effort.

Through Halloween post cards and downloadable flyers, San Francisco based human rights organization Global Exchange coordinated direct Fair Trade public education to a staggering 72,000 households in a single night in 2009. This message was further amplified by dozens of print, internet, blog, radio, and television media reports on Reverse Trick-or-Treating. The effort was a collaboration of seven major national/regional nonprofit organizations, and countless local Fair Trade Coalitions, schools, congregations, and individual families.

Why the massive effort? Two words: child slavery.

Child slavery is rampant in the cocoa industry. There are an estimated 150,000 child slaves in Cote d’Ivoire alone, part of an estimated 285,000 children working on cocoa plantations throughout Africa. Every day, slave traders sell human beings into servitude for as little as two or three dollars each. Giant multinational cocoa purchasers, well aware of the rampant abuses on cocoa plantations, push the price down so low that many farmers resort to child labor. In 2001, Pascal Affi N’ Guessan, Prime Minister of Cote d’Ivoire, the world’s number one producer of cocoa, named a price ten times higher than the (then) current price to ensure quality of life for Cote d’Ivoire’s farmers.

Free-market ideology has failed the cocoa producers of the region, leaving them left to fend for themselves in the chaotic environment of a worldwide commodities market, where fluctuating prices oftentimes dip below the cost of production. For substantial portions of the last decade, for instance, the worldwide commodity price for cocoa has been below the cost of production, almost guaranteeing the perpetuation of abusive labor practices in the region.

Also, as the governments of cocoa producing nations rely heavily on the income generated from cocoa production, when prices dive, social services in health and education are cut. In cocoa producing nations, failure to set a minimum fair price hurts not only the cocoa producers themselves, but all of society.

Children, unlike heads of multinational corporations, seem to have a fundamental understanding of the concept of fairness. Xander Wells points out that people should buy Fair Trade chocolate “cause it had farmers who got paid enough money.” Xander also stressed repeatedly the importance of correcting a worrisome social injustice that he found very troubling…cocoa producing families have typically never tasted chocolate. “Some people have no chocolate and they would like to try it.”

Unless there are big changes in the way chocolate business gets done, those families might have to wait a some time to try. Chocolate manufacturers have a way of insuring that prices stay low, despite the devastating impact upon the farmers of West Africa.

Hershey’s and M&M’s Mars, two of the world’s largest chocolate companies, have refused to take substantial steps to insure that child slavery and other abuses are eliminated from cocoa plantations. Multi-million dollar lobbying efforts protect their bottom lines and guarantee that the plantations’ horrendous conditions remain under wraps.

They know the drill. They’ve been stalling for decades. In 2001, threatened with the passage of a measure in the United States House of Representatives that would have called for manufacturers to label their products ‘slave free’ or not, the United States chocolate industry fought back with a fierce lobbying effort, arguing that the ‘slave free’ label requirement would actually end up hurting the cocoa producers of West Africa. Hiring Bob Dole and George Mitchell (Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1994) to lobby on their behalf, the Chocolate Manufacturer’s Association successfully defeated passage of the bill.

Later that year, bowing to intense international pressure, chocolate manufacturers agreed to the ‘Harkin-Engel’ protocol, named for Senator Tom Harkin and Eliot Engel, who facilitated its creation. Major signatories included the Chocolate Manufacturer’s Association, Hershey’s, M&M’s Mars, the government of Cote d’Ivoire, and the child labor office of the International Labor Organization.

Critics of the Harkin-Engel protocol note that the measure, the only major effort to date by manufacturers to reduce suffering in the region, does nothing to prevent the root cause of the problems in the cocoa industry: unfair pricing.

That’s the core concept behind Fair Trade: people deserve to be paid a fair wage for their products. Fair Trade certification guarantees minimum pricing and a better life for cocoa farmers. And that’s why thousands of children and their parents are knocking on doors, engaging their neighbors, their friends. “Imagine this is your child,” they might say.

This civic engagement aspect drew the attention of Equal Exchange’s Rodney North to the project. Equal Exchange designed and printed informational cards, donated chocolate, and shipped the Reverse Trick-or-Treating kits free of charge to schools, congregations and schools across the country. “Equal Exchange was very happy and proud to participate. I loved the idea of regular folks having a straightforward opportunity to bring up this issue with their neighbors and at the same time introduce a positive step forward in the form of a tasty piece of Fair Trade chocolate. For us, the thing that demonstrated the significance of this project was the many letters from the participants thanking us for helping provide this opportunity to engage in this important work.”

The industry has shown signs that they are listening to the demands of consumers. Major industry players, like Green and Black’s, and Cadbury (UK) have agreed to source Fair Trade cocoa. And Ben and Jerry’s ice cream has made a commitment to going completely Fair Trade by 2013.

But still the chocolate giants don’t make any legitimate moves to eliminate child slavery. Hershey’s, despite saving money by moving most production facilities to Mexico, still can’t find a few extra cents per pound to ensure that nine year olds aren’t the ones harvesting the cocoa pods.

They probably won’t be able to resist the pressure to go Fair Trade for much longer. The next generation of chocolate lovers will bring a much greater knowledge of product origins than those who came before. People want to know more about where things come from, and the story of cocoa right now isn’t so sweet.

The kids get it.

Like many other participants, Oliver and his mother prepared for Reverse Trick-or-Treating by reading Global Exchange’s Fair Trade chocolate curriculum for children. “The day before Halloween, I sat down with my son and went over that wonderful activity book together and by the end he was so jazzed that he was going to be giving out Fair Trade chocolates that he was jumping up and down, waving his hands in the air,” recounted Oliver’s mom Joan. “And I said ‘Do you support Fair Trade?” and he shouted ‘yes!’ and I said ‘why?’ and he said ‘because it doesn’t make kids work in the farms!”

Via : conducivemag

Mediterranean Diet Preferable to Low-Fat Diet in Lowering Diabetes Risk

2010-10-21T00:22:00.000-07:00

A study published on the Diabetes Care website (October 7, 2010) has announced that a Mediterranean diet is preferable to a low fat diet in preventing type 2 diabetes mellitus. The study was led by Universitari de Sant Joan’s Jordi Salas-Salvadó, M. D., Ph. D.

The study followed 418 non-diabetic subjects between the ages of 55 and 80 who were at high cardiovascular risk. Over a period of 4 years three groups of participants were assigned to different dietary regimens: the Mediterraneandiet supplemented with 1 litre of olive oil per week; the Mediterranean diet supplemented with 30g of nuts per week; and a low fat diet, which served as the control group.

During the follow-up researchers found the highest incidence of diabetes in the control group, with 17.9% of individuals having developed the disease. There was a 10.1% incidence in the group consuming the Mediterraneandiet supplemented with olive oil, and 11.0% in the group consuming the Mediterranean diet supplemented with nuts.

Researchers concluded that an increased adherence to the Mediterranean diet was inversely related to diabetes incidence in subjects at high cardiovascular risk. Heavy consumption of olive oil and vegetables, supplemented by nuts, is estimated to reduce the risk of diabetes by 52%.

Via : topnews

Avandia might cause heart patients: FDA

2010-10-21T00:09:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration asserted that the type 2 diabetes mellitus drug Avandia, made by GlaxoSmithKline, is associated with increased heart risk like a condition similar to myocardial infarction (heart attack) and stroke.

The FDA will be discontinuing the use of Avandia, or rosiglitazone, to patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Dr. David Graham, veteran drug safety examiner at the FDA, previously said, “There was no reason for the agency to keep the risky diabetes drug on the market, now that another drug Actos, which is in the same class, but much safer, compared to the Avandia.”

A study done by Dr. Steven Nissen, famous cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, did an examination and published the finding in 2007 at the New England Journal of Medicine, which associates usage of Avandia to 43 percent increased risk of heart attack and hospitalization for blocked coronary arteries.

The FDA on the other hand asks Glaxo to commission an independent re-adjudication of the controversial trial. This fact indicates the lameness of the report as stated by Dr. Nissen.

Dr. Nissen further added that the FDA restriction in association with the European ban of Avandia might prohibit the usage of drug by 99 percent.

Via : topnews

Drug Addict Paid To Get Vasectomy

2010-10-18T10:42:00.001-07:00

Barbara Harris is a good woman. She and her husband John adopted four children from the same mother, a woman who was addicted to crack and who gave birth to addicted children. That’s what’s spurred her on to start the charity Project Prevention, which pays drug addicts to get sterilized to prevent this kind of situation from occurring. The project has sterilized 3500 people in the United States, but the program has run into controversy in Great Britain, where Project Prevention paid a drug addict 200 pounds to get a vasectomy.

Ms. Harris says her time raising drug-addicted babies is what spurred her to start Project Prevention. “I got very angry about the damage that these drugs do to these children,’ she told BBC London’s Inside Out program. “It was unbelievable. Isaiah could not sleep, he couldn’t eat, his eyes were big, noise bothered him, light bothered him. It broke my heart. I was angry at the mum, And then my anger turned a little bit to where why did we allow her to do that? I’ve been called everything. I’ve been spat on. Typically I just say to my critics: ‘If you believe these women should continue to take drugs and have children, then step up in line and adopt their babies.’ It’s that simple.”

Of course, the most valid criticism of the program is that the money went straight into the guy’s veins after the legal high of the vasectomy painkillers wears off, but really. That’s not always a bad thing. If we can prevent him from going out and having a bunch of kids, then it’s a net gain for society.

Via : popfi

Diet Consisting of Multiple Foods Beneficial for Health

2010-10-18T10:37:00.000-07:00

According to a recently conducted study, the risk of suffering from heart diseases and other conditions like the Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes could be drastically reduced by following a few simple steps. The few simple steps, involve around the consumption of food rich in anti-oxidants and wholegrains.

Scientists in the study have discovered that there is a decline of 33% in cholesterol and 10% in blood pressure, if a person consumes a diet consisting of diverse categories of foods. It has been found in the study that multiple foods are more beneficial to health rather than just single types of foods.

A professor of multi-nutrition, Inger Björk from the Lund University, while talking about the results of the study has stated that the conclusion of the research had exceeded the expectations of the research team. She added that such results had never been observed in previous studies and that the new results would further influence the society to adopt more preventive efforts against diseases.

While talking to the Daily Express, Angela Dowden, a nutritionist, stated that it is possible that only one of the foods could be beneficial in bringing down excesses. However, it is more probable that the additive affects of other foods was just as important to reduce risks.

The study has been conducted by a team of researchers at the Lund University in Sweden.

Via : topnews

New Pill Has the Potential to Halt the Advance of AMD

2010-10-18T10:35:00.001-07:00

Researchers have recently found that the drug fenretinide halts the advance of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), an eye condition for which there is no cure.

AMD comes in ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ forms, the former being less common but treatable. Researchers targeted the more prevalent dry AMD, which is caused by the deterioration and death of cells in the macula. By destroying the part of the retina used to see straight ahead, the disease creates a black spot in the centre of the patient’s vision, effectively blinding them.

Researchers found that one pill of fenretinide per day halted visual deterioration after a year. The drug, which is derived from vitamin A, protects healthy cells, but does not stop the destruction of cells that are already damaged.

An estimated 300,000 people suffer from the disease in Great Britain alone. Although the drug is still in its preliminary stages of research, it gives hope to millions of people at risk of going blind as they get older.

Dr. Jason Slakter at New York University’s School of Medicine says that the drug was not intended to give a final answer. “It was designed to see if there was a biological effect and if the drug was working in the way we’d expect and to find out if it was well tolerated by patients.”

If subsequent trials are successful, fenretinide could become available within 5 years.

Via : topnews

Vitamin A Pill Could Protect Millions From Going Blind

2010-10-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

Researchers have discovered a vitamin A based drug that could prevent millions from going blind as they age. During old age trials, researchers behind the drug fenretinide, found the treatment halted the advance of age-related macular degeneration, the most common cause of blindness, and for which there is no cure, currently.

They targeted dry AMD, the most prevalent form of the condition caused by the deterioration and death of cells in the macula, a part of the retina used for seeing straight ahead. Creating a black spot in the centre of their vision, the disease causes many sufferers to lose their sight.

As well, it makes everyday tasks like reading, driving and watching television impossible to carry out.

While, it is possible to treat the wet form of the disease that is not so common, there is nothing that can be done for the majority of patients.

American researchers in their study of fenretinide derived from vitamin A to be found in carrots, and designed to tackle arthritis, originally, gave a fenretinide pill or a placebo to 250 men and women with dry AMD, participating in the study, every day.

After a year, the highest dose drug halted visual deterioration, and while it could not do anything about damaged cells that were dying, it was able to protect health cells from deteriorating.

The research offers promise of a treatment for the disease, even though it is still in its preliminary stage, offering hope to the 300,000 Britons suffering from the disease. If, further trials are successful the drug could become available within 5 years.

Macular degeneration affects millions worldwide, and the numbers of those suffering from it in the UK could treble to one million as the population ages, within 25 years.

Via : visitbulgaria

Vitamin A drug 'could save eyesight'

2010-10-18T10:30:00.001-07:00

Doctors believe that fenretinide can halt the advance of macular degeneration - a disease for which there is currently no cure.

Researchers have discovered that the drug can help stop "dry" AMD which is caused by the destruction of cells in macula, the part of the retina which allows you to see straight ahead.

"Dry" AMD is the most prevalent form of the disease and leaves a black spot in sufferers' vision.

In a US study Fenretinide, which is derived from vitamin A, was given to 250 people with "dry" AMD. It was found to halt the deterioration of eyesight by protecting healthy cells but not stopping the destruction of of cells that were already damaged.

It gives hope to the 300,000 Britons who suffer from the disease.

Dr Jason Slakter, of New York University School of Medicine, said: "There are currently no effective treatments for dry AMN and the need for finding one is grave.

"Our study wasn't designed to give a final answer. It was designed to see if there was a biological effect and if the drug was working in the way we'd expect and to find out if it was well tolerated by patients.

"I think we answered all of these points favourably."

If further trials are succesful the drug could become available within 5 years.

Via : telegraph

Three in 100 people have food allergies, study says

2010-10-18T10:19:00.000-07:00

Nearly 3 out of 100 Americans have a food allergy, according to a new study believed to be the largest one conducted on food allergies.

The study of 8,200 people of all ages was conducted by Johns Hopkins Children's Center, the National Institutes of Health and other institutions. NIH funded the study. It found more than 2.5 percent of the population, or 7.5 million people, have at least one food allergy.

The most common allergy is peanuts antibodies, the proteins made by the immune system in response to allergens. Others big allergens were allergic to shrimp, eggs, milk. Many people had more than one allergy.

The use of antibodies allowed the researchers to see only those with actual disease and not a risk for allergies.

The findings are published in the October issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and are based on blood samples and interviews.

In general, allergies were most common in children 5 and younger, followed by those 6 to 19. Black people were more likely to have allergies, as were men. The researchers also looked for links to asthma, eczema and hay fever, and found a allergies were more common in those with asthma.

“Our findings confirm a long-suspected interplay between food allergies and asthma, and that people with one of the conditions are at higher risk for the other,” says investigator Dr. Robert Wood, director of Allergy and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

He said many children develop a food allergy first and later get asthma and then hay fever.

Via : weblogs.baltimoresun

Newer flu vaccine as effective as traditional one

2010-10-18T10:11:00.000-07:00

A flu vaccine made through a speedier production method appears to be as safe and effective as one produced in the traditional way, a study suggests.

The conventional flu vaccine is produced using chicken eggs to grow the virus, a slow process that makes it hard to quickly boost production in response to a pandemic, such as the swine flu outbreak of 2009.

The new study looked at the effectiveness of a newer flu vaccine that is produced using dog kidney cells, rather than eggs. It is already approved in Europe under the name of Optaflu.

Such cell-culture technology is seen as a somewhat faster and more flexible means of vaccine production, and some companies, as well as public health officials, are interested in increasing its use in producing the yearly flu vaccine.

Because different strains of the flu virus circulate each flu season, vaccine makers have to alter the composition of the shot each year. Experts try to predict which strains are likely to predominate in the upcoming season, and manufacturers produce that year's vaccine based on those recommendations.

Sometimes, as in the case of the 2009 swine flu pandemic, an unexpected strain is identified after the seasonal vaccine has been produced. A more efficient means of production could allow vaccine makers to better respond to such outbreaks.

The Optaflu vaccine was approved as a seasonal flu vaccine by the European Union in 2007, and in the U.S., Optaflu maker Novartis received nearly $500 million from the federal government to help build a North Carolina facility to produce the vaccine. Optaflu is not yet approved in the U.S., however.

For the new study, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers tested the vaccine's effectiveness among 11,400 healthy adults younger than 50 from the U.S., Finland and Poland.

Past studies of young to elderly adults had found that the Optaflu vaccine appeared safe and produced an antibody response comparable to that triggered by conventional flu vaccination. The current trial is the first to test the vaccine's actual efficacy against infection, lead researcher Dr. Sharon Frey, of Saint Louis University Medical School, told Reuters Health.

Frey and her colleagues randomly assigned the volunteers to receive the Optaflu vaccine, a standard egg-based flu shot or a placebo shot during the 2007-2008 flu season. Both vaccines are made by Novartis, which funded the study.

Over six months, 42 Optaflu recipients — or 1.1 percent of the group — reported flu-like symptoms and had a flu infection confirmed by objective testing. That figure was 1.3 percent in the conventional-vaccine group and 3.6 percent in the placebo group.

Overall, the cell-based vaccine was 84 percent effective against the three flu strains included in the shot, versus the placebo; the conventional vaccine was 78 percent effective.

When it came to all circulating flu strains for the season, both vaccines, predictably, were less effective: the cell-based shot was 69 percent effective, compared with the placebo, and the conventional vaccine 63 percent.

Side effects were similar in the two vaccine groups, according to the researchers. The most common problem — pain at the injection site — was reported by 30 percent of Optaflu recipients, 24 percent of the egg-based vaccine group and 10 percent of the placebo group.

Between 7 percent and 15 percent of all vaccine recipients reported short-lived headaches, fatigue or muscle soreness.

The findings offer "further reassurance of the safety and efficacy" of cell-based flu vaccines, writes Dr. David Bernstein, in an editorial published with the study.

"It appears that (the vaccines) will be useful and should begin to make up part of the vaccine supply shortly," writes Bernstein, director of the division of infectious diseases at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

Frey said that a cell-based flu vaccine has advantages other than more efficient production. It is safe for people with egg allergies, she noted, and it does not contain the preservative thimerosal; while a proposed link between thimerosal in vaccines and autism risk has been discredited by many studies, public concerns remain.

In his editorial, Bernstein agrees that cell-based flu vaccines would offer a number of advantages over conventional ones.

He also, however, points to some disadvantages and barriers that will have to be considered going forward — including the general lack of experience in using the production system, the need to build expensive new manufacturing facilities, and the need for further study to ensure that cell-based flu vaccines are free of contaminants.

Via : mnn

Swine/H1N1 Flu resurfaces in Southern Africa

2010-10-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

The southern African nation of Zimbabwe’s health infrastructure has come under the spotlight after a new outbreak of the deadly influenza H1N1, commonly known as swine flu, was detected in all 10 administrative provinces.

At the remote southern district of Tsholotso, Zimbabwe, about 70 kms away from Maitengwe, Botswana, 300 cases involving mostly school children have been reported. And of the seven preliminary tests done to date, two people have tested positive.

Dr Portia Manangazira of the Epidemiology and Disease Control Unit in the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare of Zimbabwe, Saturday October 16 said the flu bug might be a combination of H1N1 (swine flu) and H3N2 (common cold flu).

“There is a spread of a combination of H1N1 and H3N2 countrywide but cases of common cold flu are usually reported between May and September,” said Dr Manangazira.

It takes one to two days for the symptoms to appear and the flu lasts one to two weeks.

“We do not have laboratory samples and we base our surveys on signs and symptoms to give medication. We are still using the same drug oseltamivir, which treats both swine and cold flu to treat this bug,” she said.

The symptoms of the flu bug are runny nose, sneezing, sore throat which may lead to loss of voice, reddening of the eyes, general body ache, loss of appetite and headaches.

The outbreak has raised concerns as Zimbabwe’s public health system slowly recovers from almost a decade of neglect following a collapse of the the country’s economy.

The District Administrator for Tsholotsho District, Themba Mayo, who is also the chairperson of the District Civil Protection Unit, said the suspected cases have been recorded in eight wards in the district.

“We have recorded about 300 cases of the suspected virus in about eight wards so far. Most of the cases are schoolchildren. So far the hospital has carried out tests on seven of these and the preliminary findings point towards a possible outbreak of the H1N1 influenza virus as two have so far come out positive,” said Mr Moyo.

By midday Saturday, several Non-governmental organizations including Plan International and Medecins Sans Frontiers had dispatched teams of health workers to the affected areas.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in humans the symptoms of the 2009 H1N1 virus are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general.

Last year, the country was on high alert following a few recorded cases of people who had contracted the virus outside Zimbabwe.

The first case was of an unidentified man who flew into the country from London, and the second of a schoolboy who had gone to South Africa for a sports tournament.

Via : afrik-news

B.C. flu vaccine program expanded

2010-10-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

Health officials in B.C. are expanding the annual free flu vaccine program to include two new groups this year, as they prepare to start offering the new vaccine on Monday.

Provincial Health officer Dr. Perry Kendall says the vaccine will once again be free for people at high risk of complications from the flu, such as seniors, children and those with certain health problems.

And for the first time this year the morbidly obese — people with a body mass index above 40 — and aboriginal people on and off reserve will also get the vaccine for free, said Kendall.

"Aboriginal people were in some parts of Canada at higher risk for H1N1, and we held discussions with our First Nations health council and they felt it would be appropriate to offer influenza vaccine to all aboriginal people, so we have made that decision to do that in British Columbia as well," said Kendall.

Last year's flu season was unusual because of the H1N1 pandemic, and that has made it difficult to predict how serious the virus will be this year, but this year's vaccine protects against three strains, said Kendall.

"It contains an antigen against the pandemic H1N1. It contains antigen against the H3n2 and against a B influenza," he said.

Via : cbc

Woman dies of H1N1 virus

2010-10-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

A 26-year-old Qatari woman has died from H1N1 flu virus, the Supreme Council of Health announced yesterday.

Her death brings the total number of H1N1 victims in Qatar to 11 since the first case in August last year.
The last death from the virus was on January 10.

The latest victim, who was 29 months pregnant, was admitted to Hamad Hospital on October 10, suffering from acute pneumonia and high fever. She was treated as a suspected H1N1 case.

Public Health director Dr Mohamed al-Thani said the twins she was bearing had been rescued and were under close observation now.

Dr Mohamed al-Thani called on residents to comply with the preventive measures against H1N1 as declared by the Supreme Council of Health.

He stressed that anyone having flu symptoms should immediately visit the nearest Primary Health Centre.
H1N1 symptoms include fever, cough and runny nose .

He also stressed the importance of seasonal flu shots, especially by the most vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, pilgrims, children, people suffering from chronic diseases and the aged.

The flu shots are available at the Vaccination Section at Abu Hamour Centre.

Via : biomedme