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On Friday, the National Biodefense Science Board met in emergency session to work on issues surrounding the H1N1 flu pandemic. They reviewed the report of their working group, "H1N1 COUNTERMEASURES STRATEGY AND DECISION-MAKING: A REPORT" [HERE], in order to provide input on it before it is sent to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices who makes final recommendations to Kathleen Sebelius on what the response to the outbreak should be.
Infants just 6 months old can match the sounds of an angry snarl and a friendly yap to photos of dogs displaying threatening and welcoming body language.
The new findings come on the heels of a study from the same Brigham Young University lab showing that infants can detect mood swings in Beethoven's music.
Though the mix of dogs and babies sounds silly, experiments of this kind help us understand how babies learn so rapidly. Long before they master speech, babies recognize and respond to the tone of what's going on around them.
The results of a recent study published in PNAS question the long-term effects of transplanted cells in the brains of patients suffering from Huntington's disease. This study, conducted jointly by Dr. Francesca Cicchetti of Université Laval in Quebec, Canada, Dr. Thomas B. Freeman of the University of South Florida, USA, and colleagues provides the first demonstration that transplanted cells fail to offer a long-term replacement for degenerating neurons in patients with Huntington's disease.
Huntington's disease is a neurodegenerative disease of genetic origin that targets a particular type of neuron. The loss of these neurons is responsible for the appearance of involuntary movements as well as cognitive and psychiatric impairments. Over a decade ago, Dr. Thomas Freeman of the University of South Florida initiated a clinical trial of neural cell transplantation in Huntington's diseased patients in an attempt to alleviate the dreadful symptoms that characterize this disease.
Some patients demonstrated some mild, transient clinical benefits that lasted for about 2 years. However, the loss of functional recovery after this indicated that graft survival and functionality may be jeopardized long- term.
Huntington's disease is a neurodegenerative disease of genetic origin that targets a particular type of neuron. The loss of these neurons is responsible for the appearance of involuntary movements as well as cognitive and psychiatric impairments. Over a decade ago, Dr. Thomas Freeman of the University of South Florida initiated a clinical trial of neural cell transplantation in Huntington's diseased patients in an attempt to alleviate the dreadful symptoms that characterize this disease.
Some patients demonstrated some mild, transient clinical benefits that lasted for about 2 years. However, the loss of functional recovery after this indicated that graft survival and functionality may be jeopardized long- term.
© L. Brian Stauffer, U. of I. News BureauUniversity of Illinois doctoral student Scott Siechen (left), mechanical science and engineering professor Taher Saif and their colleagues found that tension in axons is required for proper neuron signaling.
Without this tension, the researchers found, the vesicles that must haul their chemical cargo to the synapse for neuronal signaling would instead disperse.
The new findings appear this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
No matter what your health complaint is, if you go see your doctor you might end up undergoing some kind of high tech imaging procedure such as cardiac angiography, CT (computed tomography) or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). According to a study published last fall in the journal Health Affairs, medical imaging has soared over the last few years across all types of these tests, doubling the annual medical cost per patient. In fact, the study confirmed previous reports that patients are far-too-often being subjected to unnecessary imaging.
At least, most of these tests are minimally invasive and thoroughly studied to make sure they carry few risks so they are safe, right? Unfortunately, the answer is no. New reports of lasting, health-harming effects from some imaging tests are accumulating. A case in point: a new study just published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN) warns that seemingly minor and reversible kidney damage injury which can arise after undergoing certain common medical imaging procedures is a serious health threat. The reason? It is linked to a greatly increased risk of stroke, heart attack and death.
At least, most of these tests are minimally invasive and thoroughly studied to make sure they carry few risks so they are safe, right? Unfortunately, the answer is no. New reports of lasting, health-harming effects from some imaging tests are accumulating. A case in point: a new study just published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN) warns that seemingly minor and reversible kidney damage injury which can arise after undergoing certain common medical imaging procedures is a serious health threat. The reason? It is linked to a greatly increased risk of stroke, heart attack and death.
Having an operation under general anesthesia is a scary and worrisome prospect for a child and his or her parents, too. But even a successful surgery can end with another, terrifying problem. Called emergence delirium, it is marked by acute behavioral changes experienced when a child wakes up from anesthesia. And it doesn't always simply go away during recovery, either. Unfortunately, emergence delirium is associated with the development of problems later down the road, too -- including bed wetting, separation anxiety and new nightmares.
While anxiety is normal before an operation, children who experience extreme anxiety before surgery are more at risk for emergence delirium. In all, about 20 percent of children who undergo surgery experience a period of severe delirium in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) that includes crying, thrashing, screaming and even needing to be put into restraints.
Now a new study just published in the July issue of the journal Anesthesiology reports that giving youngsters oral treatment with melatonin before an operation significantly reduces the occurrence of emergence delirium after the operation. Melatonin is a naturally occurring, light dependent hormone secreted by the pineal gland that is involved in the regulation of moods, sleep and reproductive cycles.
While anxiety is normal before an operation, children who experience extreme anxiety before surgery are more at risk for emergence delirium. In all, about 20 percent of children who undergo surgery experience a period of severe delirium in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) that includes crying, thrashing, screaming and even needing to be put into restraints.
Now a new study just published in the July issue of the journal Anesthesiology reports that giving youngsters oral treatment with melatonin before an operation significantly reduces the occurrence of emergence delirium after the operation. Melatonin is a naturally occurring, light dependent hormone secreted by the pineal gland that is involved in the regulation of moods, sleep and reproductive cycles.
© Photo Researchers, Inc.PASIEKA/SPL
Americans must start to question the legitimacy of the exploitative pharmaceutical-industrial complex and the predatory people atop them.
"The wave of evil washes all our institutions alike." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
The wave of evil washes not only the financial-industrial complex, the military-industrial complex, the energy-industrial complex, and predatory executives at AIG, Citibank, Halliburton, Blackwater/Xe, Enron, and Exxon. The pharmaceutical-industrial complex has virtually annexed the mental health profession, whose all-star opportunist team is captained by Harvard psychiatrist Joseph Biederman, the high-profile doctor most responsible for the explosion of kids on psychiatric drugs, first for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and then for bipolar disorder.
"The wave of evil washes all our institutions alike." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
The wave of evil washes not only the financial-industrial complex, the military-industrial complex, the energy-industrial complex, and predatory executives at AIG, Citibank, Halliburton, Blackwater/Xe, Enron, and Exxon. The pharmaceutical-industrial complex has virtually annexed the mental health profession, whose all-star opportunist team is captained by Harvard psychiatrist Joseph Biederman, the high-profile doctor most responsible for the explosion of kids on psychiatric drugs, first for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and then for bipolar disorder.
While the talking heads on TV have recently reported that thousands of people in the U.S. are now infected with the new "swine flu", or H1N1, there's another infectious disease problem brewing that has received little attention. The over-use and abuse of antibiotics has produced antibiotic-resistant bacteria. According to the National Institutes of Health, over the past forty years, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus has changed from a usually controllable nuisance into a serious public health problem.
At first, it was primarily one of the most common hospital-acquired infections. But in recent years, new strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, often dubbed "super bugs", have popped up in communities and caused severe, even life-threatening infections in otherwise healthy people, involving the skin, heart, blood or bones.
At first, it was primarily one of the most common hospital-acquired infections. But in recent years, new strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, often dubbed "super bugs", have popped up in communities and caused severe, even life-threatening infections in otherwise healthy people, involving the skin, heart, blood or bones.
