Nidhi Sharma
AHNTue, 19 Jun 2007 13:46 UTC
A study by the National Health and Social Life Survey shows that there has been a recent drop in the rate of U.S. circumcision rate. A large number of American parents are refusing circumcision, in which the foreskin is removed from the penis.
The circumcision rate peaked at nearly 90 percent in the early 1960s but began dropping in the '70s. According to the most recent year for which government figures available in 2004, about 57 percent of all male newborns delivered in hospitals were circumcised. In some states, the rate is well below 50 percent.
Many experts have attributed this sudden change in circumcision to the immigration patterns. The Western states with large populations from Asian and Latin American countries that have the most decline.
AP quotes Katharine Barrett, an anthropology lecturer at Stanford University as saying, "The rates of drug-free labor and breast-feeding all rose during the 1980s, while the initial declines in male circumcision rates began during the 1980s as well."
Alicia Rebensdorf,
AlternetTue, 19 Jun 2007 11:20 UTC
As recent legislation shows, drug companies and their direct-to-consumer marketing campaigns need diligent monitoring -- especially when it looks like they need it the least.
Pascal Fletcher
ReutersTue, 19 Jun 2007 09:25 UTC
DAKAR - Brush your teeth every day, dentists say. In Africa, that can mean keeping your toothbrush in your mouth all day long.
LAURAN NEERGAARD
APTue, 19 Jun 2007 02:57 UTC
Tiny motion sensors are attached to the walls, doorways and even the refrigerator of Elaine Bloomquist's home, tracking the seemingly healthy 86-year-old's daily activity.
It's like spying in the name of science - with her permission - to see if round-the-clock tracking of elderly people's movements can provide early clues of impending
Alzheimer's disease.
British scientists are developing a vaccine to give lifelong protection against all strains of flu.
It would deal with everything from a winter virus to a bird flu outbreak.
Current flu jabs are out of date within a year because the virus mutates so often.
The new FLU-v vaccine is also easier to make than traditional jabs, so it could be stockpiled against a global pandemic.
A gene responsible for the single most common cause of hearing loss among white adults, otosclerosis, has been identified for the first time, a scientist told the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics in Nice, France. Ms Melissa Thys, from the Department of Medical Genetics, University of Antwerp, Belgium, said that this finding may be a step towards new treatments for otosclerosis, which affects approximately 1 in 250 people.
Otosclerosis is a multifactorial disease, caused by an interaction of genetic and environmental factors. The outcome is a progressive hearing loss as the growing bone in the middle ear interrupts the sound waves passing to the inner ear. While the causative factors remain unknown, now one of the genetic components has been identified, Ms Thys told the conference.
"The gene in which the variant is located points to a pathway that contributes to the disease. This may be a lead for better forms of treatment in the future; currently the best option is an operation. However, there is often an additional component of hearing loss which can't be restored by surgery. As the gene involved is a growth factor, and the disease manifests itself by the abnormal growth of bone in the middle ear, it may have a large potential for therapy", she said. Improved understanding may also lead to prevention strategies.
BBCMon, 18 Jun 2007 13:58 UTC
A twin brother can reduce his female twin's chances of having children, say scientists at Sheffield University.
Women were 25% less likely to have children if their twin was male, the study, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, concluded.
Although other factors could play a part - the women were less likely to marry - the team blamed exposure in the womb to the male hormone testosterone.
Experts have agreed testosterone might potentially damage female fertility.
They said animal work supported this.
But they said more work was needed to look at human mechanisms.
HOSPITAL admissions for anaphylaxis have trebled in five years at the [Melbourne] Royal Children's Hospital - and no one knows why.
Unpublished data shows that 71 children were admitted to the hospital in 2005-06 after suffering an anaphylactic reaction, mainly to food. Five years earlier there were 23 admissions.
DAN OLMSTED
UPIThu, 03 May 2007 14:04 UTC
Finding a treasure trove of documents about the family of one of the earliest cases of autism has led this column to offer two observations: Mercury may be associated with the disorder from the beginning, and cutting-edge research near the nation's capital may help explain why it was first discovered at Johns Hopkins University in nearby Baltimore.
WASHINGTON - Just 1.3 percent of imported fish, vegetables, fruit and other foods are inspected yet those government inspections regularly reveal food unfit for human consumption.
Comment: Yes, the business of selling gadgets and treating the symptoms is huge.
Another article from last year showed a study that found that a different diet could be the solution.