About 30 percent of the influenza viruses that have spread across the country this winter seem to be resistant to treatment with Tamiflu, the drug most commonly prescribed for flu, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Friday.
Because Tamiflu is so widely used in medical institutions across the country, the ministry has alerted them to the situation and advised additional care be taken in choosing which drugs to use to treat flu. The virus confirmed to be resistant to Tamiflu is influenza A virus subtype H1N1, which accounts for an estimated 36 percent of three main strains of flu spreading in the country today.
Health & Wellness
Over 100 students and staff at the Singapore Sports School have experienced stomach ache, diarrhea and vomiting since Wednesday.
When symptoms first started appearing among the students, some were sent to see a doctor.
A spokesman for the school said that some of the students then went home, others went back to the school.
Students board at the school from Monday to Friday and eat at the school's dining hall. The food is prepared by the school caterer.
As of yesterday, a total of 108 students and two staff members have been afflicted by the symptoms.
When symptoms first started appearing among the students, some were sent to see a doctor.
A spokesman for the school said that some of the students then went home, others went back to the school.
Students board at the school from Monday to Friday and eat at the school's dining hall. The food is prepared by the school caterer.
As of yesterday, a total of 108 students and two staff members have been afflicted by the symptoms.
A mutation in mice that mimics progressive hearing loss in humans has been identified by European researchers.
They found that mice with a mutation in a gene called Oblivion had problems with the function of hair cells in the inner ear. In mice with one mutant copy of the Oblivion gene, ear hair cells showed some initial function but later degenerated. In mice with two mutant copies of the gene, the ear hair cells were damaged at birth.
"When we mapped the mutation to the mouse genome, we quickly found a probable cause for hearing loss," study senior author Karen Steel, of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, U.K., said in an institute news release.
They found that mice with a mutation in a gene called Oblivion had problems with the function of hair cells in the inner ear. In mice with one mutant copy of the Oblivion gene, ear hair cells showed some initial function but later degenerated. In mice with two mutant copies of the gene, the ear hair cells were damaged at birth.
"When we mapped the mutation to the mouse genome, we quickly found a probable cause for hearing loss," study senior author Karen Steel, of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, U.K., said in an institute news release.
MIT team says cognition suffers as nervous system network decays with aging
The "white matter" that connects the regions of the brain may have more of a role in memory and cognitive loss than previously believed, a new study says.
By comparing brain scans of groups of healthy young and old adults, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) neuroscientists discovered a relationship between loss of memory and cognitive performance in older people and the deterioration of the white matter in the parts of their brains related to those functions.
The "white matter" that connects the regions of the brain may have more of a role in memory and cognitive loss than previously believed, a new study says.
By comparing brain scans of groups of healthy young and old adults, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) neuroscientists discovered a relationship between loss of memory and cognitive performance in older people and the deterioration of the white matter in the parts of their brains related to those functions.
Before President-elect Obama can institute his health care reform agenda, Congress must address some unfinished business from the Bush era.
SafeMinds Withdraws Support for Autism Research Strategic Plan, Asks Daschle to Investigate.
In a highly unusual departure from procedure, government representatives to the Federal Interagency Autism Advisory Committee (IACC) voted this week against conducting studies on vaccine-autism research despite approval of the same studies at their prior meeting. The research was supported by numerous autism organizations and requested by IACC's scientific work groups and Congress. The maneuver to re-vote on the vaccine-autism studies was initiated by the IACC's representative from the CDC and pushed through by the IACC Chair, Dr. Tom Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health of NIH.
In a highly unusual departure from procedure, government representatives to the Federal Interagency Autism Advisory Committee (IACC) voted this week against conducting studies on vaccine-autism research despite approval of the same studies at their prior meeting. The research was supported by numerous autism organizations and requested by IACC's scientific work groups and Congress. The maneuver to re-vote on the vaccine-autism studies was initiated by the IACC's representative from the CDC and pushed through by the IACC Chair, Dr. Tom Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health of NIH.
Washington, D.C. - In its final days, the Bush administration appears poised to issue an emergency health advisory for tap water polluted with the toxic Teflon chemical PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) effectively allowing a significant level of pollution and discouraging cleanup of PFOA contamination in tap water in at least 9 states, according to an analysis by Environmental Working Group (EWG).
The level of permissible PFOA contamination under the administration's guidance would be 10 times higher than that allowed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, whose commissioner, Lisa Jackson has been tapped by incoming President Obama to run the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). If the Bush administration advisory is allowed to stand, it could result in blood levels of PFOA in people nearly 10 times higher than the current average amounts.
The level of permissible PFOA contamination under the administration's guidance would be 10 times higher than that allowed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, whose commissioner, Lisa Jackson has been tapped by incoming President Obama to run the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). If the Bush administration advisory is allowed to stand, it could result in blood levels of PFOA in people nearly 10 times higher than the current average amounts.
Georgia promised the federal government Thursday it will make dramatic improvements in its state psychiatric hospitals - and that it will spend what's necessary to protect patients from harm.
The pledge, signed late in the day by Gov. Sonny Perdue, commits the state to a five-year plan of correcting deficiencies that caused hundreds of patient injuries and illnesses and dozens of deaths.
In reaching a settlement agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, the state did not admit wrongdoing.
The pledge, signed late in the day by Gov. Sonny Perdue, commits the state to a five-year plan of correcting deficiencies that caused hundreds of patient injuries and illnesses and dozens of deaths.
In reaching a settlement agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, the state did not admit wrongdoing.
Research published this week in the journal Neurology makes an important observation about the brains of people with neurological disorders, such as those with brain damage from strokes and Alzheimer's disease who suffer delusions, and suggests a novel theory for why delusions occur and persist.
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A British researcher claims his study may lead to early screening for autism via amniocentesis.
A British researcher claims his study may lead to early screening for autism via amniocentesis.
Simon Baron-Cohen, director of Cambridge University's Autism Research Centre, has shown in past research that men are more likely than women to score low on tests of empathy but high on tests of "systemizing" - recognizing rules and patterns - characteristics that, in the extreme, define autism. That's what led Baron-Cohen to regard the disorder - which is about three to four times as prevalent in boys as in girls - as one of the extreme male brain and to search for a link to male hormones.
Comment: With the horrid military budget and the corrupt bail outs it is beyond criminal that money cannot be found to help those who are truly in need!