CHICAGO - A vaccine that has dramatically curbed pneumonia and other serious illnesses in children is also having an unfortunate effect: promoting new superbugs that cause ear infections.
China has discovered a suspected outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus among ducks in an outlying district of the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, the Agriculture Ministry said on Saturday.
The ministry said on its Web site that by Thursday, 9,830 ducks had died of the outbreak in Guangzhou's Panyu District.
BBCMon, 17 Sep 2007 15:36 UTC
The traditional doctor's white coat is to be changed as part of government plans to tackle hospital infections.
The new style clothing will have short sleeves under guidance to come into effect at the start of next year.
Doctors would also not be allowed to wear long-sleeve shirts, jewellery, or watches as part of the measures.
The Department of Health says cuffs are likely to be "very contaminated", and that other forms of protection such as plastic aprons would be introduced.
Women and men appear to respond differently to the same biochemical manipulation. Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most common mental disorders, and it is also one of the most studied. It is already known that reduced serotonin transmission contributes to the pathophysiology, or functional changes, associated with MDD and most of today's most popular antidepressants block the serotonin "uptake site", also known as the transporter, in the brain. It is also known that people with MDD are frequently found to have impaired impulse control. A new study being published in the September 15th issue of Biological Psychiatry now reports on important sex and genetic differences in the way that men and women react to reductions in serotonin function, specifically in terms of their mood and impulsivity.
Chronic fatigue syndrome is associated with chronic enterovirus infection of the stomach.
Chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as ME (myalgic encephalitis), is linked to a stomach virus, suggests research published ahead of print in Journal of Clinical Pathology.
The researchers base their findings on 165 patients with ME, all of whom were subjected to endoscopy because of longstanding gut complaints.
Endoscopy involves the threading of a long tube with a camera on the tip through the gullet into the stomach.
Specimens of stomach tissue were also taken to search for viral proteins and compared with specimens taken from healthy people and patients with other gut diseases none of whom had been diagnosed with ME.
Largest study of its kind reveals that an ingredient in male body odor can smell like urine or take on a vanilla scent depending on single odorant receptor gene.
To many, urine smells like urine and vanilla smells like vanilla. But androstenone, a derivative of testosterone that is a potent ingredient in male body odor, can smell like either - depending on your genes. While many people perceive a foul odor from androstenone, usually that of stale urine or strong sweat, others find the scent sweet and pleasant. Still others cannot smell it at all.
New research from Rockefeller University, performed in collaboration with scientists at Duke University in North Carolina, reveals for the first time that this extreme variability in people's perception of androstenone is due in large part to genetic variations in a single odorant receptor called OR7D4. The research is reported September 16 as an advance online publication of the journal Nature.
UPISat, 15 Sep 2007 17:24 UTC
Texas doctors have identified nine cases of the skin disease leishmaniasis in patients who have not traveled to endemic areas.
The infectious disease, sometimes called the Baghdad boil, is common in South America, Mexico and the Middle East, but the North Texas patients identified by doctors at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center had not traveled to any of those areas.
Air pollution could be putting patients with heart disease at risk by affecting blood vessels and clotting, researchers warn.
A study by the University of Edinburgh and Umeå University measured the effects of diesel exhaust on heart and blood vessel function in men who have previously experienced a heart attack.
The research, funded by the British Heart Foundation and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that inhalation of diesel exhaust caused changes in the heart's electrical activity, suggesting that air pollution reduces the amount of oxygen available to the heart during exercise.
XinhuaFri, 14 Sep 2007 13:26 UTC
Around 22,580 chickens had died of bird flu (Avian Influenza - AI) virus in Indonesia's East Java Province from January to September 2007, a local official said.
The AI virus-infected chickens were mostly from back-yard farming, Antara news agency quoted Bambang Hermawan of the East Java provincial animal husbandry service as saying on Friday in Surabaya, capital of East Java province.
UPIFri, 14 Sep 2007 10:08 UTC
Doctors in Britain say they won't operate on a 57-year-old builder's broken ankle because he is a smoker.
Hospital officials say John Nuttall has to give up his 20 cigarette-a-day habit to be eligible for an operation, The (London) Daily Mail said Thursday.
Nuttall, who broke his ankle in three places in 2005, has smoked for 40 years.