Health & WellnessS


Syringe

Parents of autistic boy seek review of vaccine case

SPRINGFIELD -- The parents of an autistic child have asked the Illinois Supreme Court to reinstate their lawsuit against vaccine makers they blame for their son's condition.

Syringe

Vaccines carry some risk

Vaccinations are not mandatory in Canada, and that may surprise some people.

But it is, in fact, a choice.

And every day, more and more Canadian parents are choosing on behalf of their children not to buy in to their province or territory's publicly funded universal vaccination program, despite the overwhelming public pressure to do so.

There are good reasons for this: autism, ADHD, childhood diabetes, intestinal problems and asthma are a few of them.

People

Six Chinese reportedly die after eating poison soup

Six Chinese people, including two children, died from food poisoning after eating soup and two more remained seriously ill, local media reported on Monday, the latest example of food safety risks facing domestic consumers.

Four males and four females collapsed on Sunday with severe cramps and vomiting after eating soup balls for lunch in the central province of Hubei, the Changjiang Times reported. Two died on the spot.

Syringe

TV Delirium in Twenty-First Century America



©Webshots / radicallyinclined

The average American has an addiction: television. We love to watch gorgeous celebrities, reality show personalities, gourmet chefs and athletes.

Like an obedient dog being given treats we salivate over flickering images. Clips of action, tenderness, conflict and sex fill the screen and rapidly affect our body and mind.

The power of these images is rarely examined by the average individual. However, due to its mind-altering nature we must make a rigorous assessment concerning the power of television.

Red Flag

Staph Germ Undermines Body's Defenses

WASHINGTON - The aggressive antibiotic-resistant staph infection responsible for thousands of recent illnesses undermines the body's defenses by causing germ-fighting cells to explode, researchers reported Sunday. Experts say the findings may help lead to better treatments.

People

Children's peer victimization -- a mix of loyalty and preference

New research into childhood prejudice suggests that loyalty and disloyalty play a more important role than previously thought in how children treat members of their own and other groups. Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), a study into the 'black sheep effect', shows that children treat disloyalty in their own group more harshly than disloyalty within different groups.

Professor Dominic Abrams, of Kent University, who led the research team, says the findings will be valuable when applied to the classroom.

"This research has implications for peer victimisation and bullying as well as for the understanding and management of prejudice and discrimination in schools".

Syringe

Nicotine vaccine helps some people quit smoking

A vaccine aimed at helping people quit smoking by blunting the effects of nicotine doubled the number who could kick the habit but overall success remained small, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

Comment: Yep! Quit smoking and get vaccinated because that's healthier, right? You will also be helping the pharmaceutical companies become wealthier.


People

US Among Worst in World for Infant Death

The rate at which infants die in the United States has dropped substantially over the past half-century, but broad disparities remain among racial groups, and the country stacks up poorly next to other industrialized nations.

In 2004, the most recent year for which statistics are available, roughly seven babies died for every 1,000 live births before reaching their first birthday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. That was down from about 26 in 1960.

Bulb

Are There Rearrangement Hotspots In The Human Genome?

One of the surprises that's come out of recent genome studies has been the significance of variations that affect large chunks of the genome, instead of single bases. At the base level, humans are well over 99 percent identical. But, when the genome structure is looked at, changes in the copy number - extra or missing copies of a section of the chromosome - cause a significant amount of variation between individuals. In some cases, these copy number variations (CNVs) may be associated with diseases.

People

Gossip is All About Friends, Physicists Say

The extent and speed that gossip spreads largely depends on how many friends the subject of the gossip has, according to recent work by a group of physicists.

The group, which includes scientists from institutions in Germany, Brazil, and Switzerland, developed a model for the spread of gossip among students at an American school.

The model uses survey data from more than 90,000 students in 84 schools who were asked about other students they had personal contact with, such as eating lunch or studying. It introduces concrete quantities that define how widely and quickly gossip can spread among students, a segment of the population in which gossip is particularly prevalent.