The death toll in Guinea-Bissau's rapidly spreading cholera epidemic is rising and the outbreak may continue for months, United Nations agencies said on Tuesday.
The death toll is now 213, with 12,785 people known to be infected, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told a news briefing in Geneva.
Eleven cases connected to single Niagara restaurant, but officials concerned about source of four other incidents
Ontario's second E. coli outbreak this month continues to grow, and although a restaurant has been pinpointed as a possible source, officials fear "something broader" could be behind it.
ZimEyeTue, 28 Oct 2008 08:53 UTC
Bulawayo-At least 8 people have died of cholera and 30 have been hospitalised in Esigodini, 40 kilometres outside of Bulawayo on the Johannesburg-Bulawayo highway.
CITRAPTue, 28 Oct 2008 08:49 UTC
A fifth case has been confirmed in the recent outbreak of febrile illnesses caused by a mysterious virus in South Africa, and preliminary tests have supported earlier suspicions that it is new member of the arenavirus family, South African health officials announced recently.
A worker who fell ill and died after cleaning a hospital room where the first case-patient in the outbreak had stayed was confirmed to have the virus, South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said in an Oct 24 update.
© iStockphoto/Valentin CasarsaNew research has found that people who view pictures of someone they hate display activity in distinct areas of the brain that, together, may be thought of as a 'hate circuit.'
The study, by Professor Semir Zeki and John Romaya of the Wellcome Laboratory of Neurobiology at UCL,
examined the brain areas that correlate with the sentiment of hate and shows that the 'hate circuit' is distinct from those related to emotions such as fear, threat and danger - although it shares a part of the brain associated with aggression. The circuit is also quite distinct from that associated with romantic love, though it shares at least two common structures with it.
Comment: Seems to be the circuit that Sarah Palin is
trying to activate during her rallies.
Club foot, one of the most common birth defects, may be caused by a genetic mutation, a finding that opens the door to genetic counselling, prevention and treatment, researchers said Thursday.
Club foot - in which the foot turns inward and downward, making walking difficult - is one of the most common severe musculoskeletal birth defects, with a worldwide incidence of one in 1,000 live births, according to the researchers.
About half of club foot cases affect both feet, including the bones, muscles, tendons and blood vessels.
If untreated, those affected walk on the outside of their feet, which can lead to long-term pain and disability. Treatments include the use of casts and splints, or surgery.
Tim Lister
CNNTue, 28 Oct 2008 22:53 UTC
© Peter Parks / AFP / Getty Images
The Director of Hanwei Eggs was contrite. "We solemnly apologize to consumers," said Han Wei. "We apologize to the distributors. We solemnly declare that our company has never purchased melamine. We have never adopted melamine to the feeds or products." But somehow melamine got into eggs produced at the company's plant in Dailin in northeast China.
Melamine is a chemical used in making plastics and fertilizer. But in recent times, it has become the badge of shame for the Chinese food industry after being illegally added to food products to suggest they contain a higher level of protein. U.N. officials are concerned that melamine has been introduced to animal feed and may turn up in chicken, pork, farmed fish and other products.
Tainted eggs from Hanwei were discovered in Hong Kong late last week; melamine was present at nearly double the maximum permissible level.
The brains of people who commit suicide are chemically different to those who die from other causes, a Canadian study has suggested. Researchers analysed brain tissue from 20 dead people and, in those who killed themselves, they found a higher rate of a process that affects behaviour.
Writing in Biological Psychiatry, they said it appeared environmental factors played a part in the changes. And they said the discovery opened up a new avenue of research.
Elderly people who have a positive outlook, lower stress levels, moderate alcohol consumption, abstention from tobacco, moderate to higher income and no chronic health conditions are more likely to thrive in their old age, according to a study in the October issue of The Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences.
The first study of its kind, researchers from Portland State University, the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Oregon Health & Science University, and Statistics Canada surveyed 2,432 older Canadians about their quality of life. The few who maintained excellent health over an entire decade were considered "thrivers." Most previous studies have been based on one-time surveys and have focused on factors that contribute to poor health.
"Important predictors of 'thriving' were the absence of chronic illness, income over $30,000, having never smoked, and drinking alcohol in moderation," said Mark Kaplan, DrPH, lead author and professor of community health at Portland State University. "We also found that people who had a positive outlook and lower stress levels were more likely to thrive in old age."
WASHINGTON - A mysterious hemorrhagic disease that has killed three people in South Africa and forced others into isolation appears to be a never-before-seen strain of a virus known as an arenavirus, an expert said Monday.
Comment: Seems to be the circuit that Sarah Palin is trying to activate during her rallies.