DPATue, 08 Apr 2008 17:53 UTC
Dengue fever infections are mounting alarmingly in Singapore due to a change to a more deadly strain of the disease, sparking fears of the city-state's potentially worst epidemic yet, news reports said Tuesday.
Unless the trend of infections is halted, health officials warn that the number of sick people could hit record levels within three years.
The number of infections from January through March is already 60 per cent higher than during the first quarter of 2007, said figures published in The Straits Times.
The brain cells responsible for triggering Parkinson's disease have been identified by scientists who believe the discovery could lead to new ways to treat the condition.
The "mother cells" which have been identified produce and use the chemical dopamine to transmit messages in the brain.
It is a depletion of these cells - so-called "dopaminergic neurons" - and the associated lack of dopamine which causes chronic and progressive symptoms including tremors, stiff muscles and slow movement in sufferers.
Andrew Stern
ReutersMon, 07 Apr 2008 17:30 UTC
People with depression are more likely to later develop Alzheimer's disease, according to two studies published on Monday, and one team said that chronic stress may damage their brains.
"What we think it suggests is that depression truly is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, and not simply a sign that the disease is developing," Dr. Robert Wilson, a neuropsychologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago who led one study, said in a telephone interview.
Toronto's public health agency is investigating a measles outbreak of four cases, but officials are emphasizing the risk of infection is considered low.
Toronto Public Health is focusing on one person who may have exposed other people to measles by visiting Toronto East General Hospital, a community health centre and a Wal-Mart last week.
The health agency says the risk to the general public is low because most people are immune to measles as a result of past illness and Canada's high immunization rates.
KXANMon, 07 Apr 2008 14:16 UTC
Allergies, insect bites and kidney stones seem to be plaguing Central Texas.
Dr. John Villacis with the Austin Diagnostic Center on North Mopac said oak allergy season is definately here, so if you have tree allergies, try to stay indoors and take some allergy medicine.
Villacis also sees a lot of stinging insect bites this time of year, especially bees and wasps. If you are allergic to these insects, be careful.
Central Texas is in the middle of the stone belt, an area that stretches through the southeastern states where kidney stone cases are high. It is something to watch out for, especially if you love to work out outdoors.
The suicide rate in Crawford County has steadily increased the past few years.
"We went from about 300 calls per year to 500 calls per year. During the past three months, we have had 115 calls for people at-risk of suicide," said Jonathan Suter, public relations officer for Community Counseling.
According to Ed Kirkpatrick, director of crisis intervention at the agency, the common denominator is always depression or a depressed mood.
"Contributing factors can be alcohol or drug use, the economic situation in the county such as loss of jobs, financial stress or the increase in costs of everything and relationship problems or divorce," Kirkpatrick said.
The agency helps people in distress.
Ryan Sabalow
ReddingMon, 07 Apr 2008 13:57 UTC
The suicide rate in Shasta County remained alarmingly high in 2007, despite a slight dip in the number of people who killed themselves compared to the previous year.
Forty-two Shasta County residents killed themselves in 2007 - a drop from 49 in 2006, according to annual preliminary cause of-death statistics released last week by the Shasta County Public Health department. Even with the slight drop, Shasta County's residents are more than twice as likely to kill themselves as other areas in the state.
As a dietician, Mississippi native and Orangeburg resident Rebecca Sibley was conscious of her food intake and caring properly for her body. So it was of great concern to her in 1986 when she began experiencing uncontrollable weight gain, among other symptoms.
"I had the moon face, the buffalo hump on the back of my neck, thin skin, I bruised real easily, and I had depression," Sibley said. "I knew something was wrong, being a dietician, but I just didn't know what was wrong. I knew I wasn't eating enough to be gaining the weight I was gaining."
"Frozen Shoulder" is the common name for "adhesive capsulitis," a chronic and debilitating condition affecting mostly, but not exclusively, women.
Frozen shoulder describes a shoulder which has become so stiff that the patient can no longer raise their his or her arm above shoulder level. Women can no longer fasten their bra in back while men have difficulty tucking in their shirts and reaching their wallet out of their back pocket. It's hard to reach across your body to scrub under the opposite arm and combing your hair or putting the glasses away on the upper shelf has become impossible.
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| ©Melissa Farlow
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| An alligator walks along the muddy bottom of the St. Mary's River on the Florida-Georgia border. Proteins in alligator blood help the reptiles stave off fatal infections from injuries made during their violent fights over mates and territories, researchers announced on April 6, 2008. The blood proteins may one day lead to new drugs for fighting infections in humans.
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Alligators often engage in violent fights over territories and mates, and scientists have puzzled over why their wounds rarely get infected.
Now researchers think the secret lies in the reptiles' blood.
