No fewer than 18 people have been confirmed dead following an outbreak of cholera disease at Asako village in Bungudu Local Council of Zamfara state.
Similarly, about 100 persons have been hospitalised in relation to the outbreak of the disease believed to have been caused by the contamination of the only open dug well used by the community to access water.
Health & Wellness
Scientific researchers can spend years in the lab on obscure topics, like how a sea slug remembers or how a fruit fly sees color. But every now and then, a basic scientist makes a discovery that changes human lives.
Mark Bear, who directs the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT, is one of those basic scientists. He's discovered a system in the brain that could change the lives of thousands of people with the genetic disorder known as Fragile X Syndrome.
Mark Bear, who directs the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT, is one of those basic scientists. He's discovered a system in the brain that could change the lives of thousands of people with the genetic disorder known as Fragile X Syndrome.
Why do women make up only one in four of those diagnosed as autistic? Could it be that they are simply better at pretending not to be? Charlotte Moore meets a group of women for whom 'normal' is an alien language that they battle to learn
I am in Godalming, Surrey, sitting with a group of pleasant, personable women who have come together, as they do each month for an all-women's night, to share news, views and experiences. You'd imagine that the room would be alive with a babble of voices, but it's not. The gossipy, reciprocal flow of normal female conversation is absent, and so far not one of them has asked me, a stranger, a single question about myself or what I am doing here. The stilted atmosphere would strike outsiders as disconcertingly weird, but these women are oblivious to the awkwardness. They are autistic, and for them this is normality.
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| ©Unknown |
| Lauren, Selina, Cara and Kelly (left to right) are all women on the autistic spectrum |
I am in Godalming, Surrey, sitting with a group of pleasant, personable women who have come together, as they do each month for an all-women's night, to share news, views and experiences. You'd imagine that the room would be alive with a babble of voices, but it's not. The gossipy, reciprocal flow of normal female conversation is absent, and so far not one of them has asked me, a stranger, a single question about myself or what I am doing here. The stilted atmosphere would strike outsiders as disconcertingly weird, but these women are oblivious to the awkwardness. They are autistic, and for them this is normality.
Dover, New Hampshire - Chris Makhoul was terrified when he first came to Winning Ways Stable in June and saw Cowboy, a miniature 42-year-old Shetland pony.
The 22-year-old Fremont man, who suffers from Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism, couldn't even bring himself to pat Cowboy. But Ginny Ann, his life coach, knew Makhoul would benefit from contact with animals.
As a volunteer who worked for the University of New Hampshire's therapeutic riding program since 2001, which has a stable in Durham, Ann said she's seen many people who suffer from developmental disabilities improve from riding horses.
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| ©John Huff/Staff photographer |
| Chris Makhoul gets close to Cowboy at Winning Ways Stable Inc. in Dover recently. Makhoul works with and rides several of the horses there as part of a therapeutic program to help people with developmental disabilities. |
The 22-year-old Fremont man, who suffers from Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism, couldn't even bring himself to pat Cowboy. But Ginny Ann, his life coach, knew Makhoul would benefit from contact with animals.
As a volunteer who worked for the University of New Hampshire's therapeutic riding program since 2001, which has a stable in Durham, Ann said she's seen many people who suffer from developmental disabilities improve from riding horses.
Democrats in the Nevada state senate are behind a bill that will help families cover the costs that come with Autism.
A bill introduced Wednesday would require health insurance providers to cover Autism. It could be passed in the next legislative session.
This is good news for parents such as Carol Reitz, who lives in Northern Nevada. She spends $25,000 per year on Autism care for her son.
A bill introduced Wednesday would require health insurance providers to cover Autism. It could be passed in the next legislative session.
This is good news for parents such as Carol Reitz, who lives in Northern Nevada. She spends $25,000 per year on Autism care for her son.
More than half of all supporting clinical trials for U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs remain unpublished five years after permission has been given to sell the drugs in the United States, say University of California, San Francisco researchers.
They combed the medical literature to determine the publication status of all 909 clinical trials that supported the 90 new drug applications approved by the FDA between 1998 and 2000.
They found that 76 percent of pivotal trials -- such as large Phase II and Phase III trials designed to determine the overall risks and benefits of a drug -- had been published in medical journals, usually within three years of FDA approval of the drug. However, only 43 percent of all supporting trials submitted to the FDA had been published.
They combed the medical literature to determine the publication status of all 909 clinical trials that supported the 90 new drug applications approved by the FDA between 1998 and 2000.
They found that 76 percent of pivotal trials -- such as large Phase II and Phase III trials designed to determine the overall risks and benefits of a drug -- had been published in medical journals, usually within three years of FDA approval of the drug. However, only 43 percent of all supporting trials submitted to the FDA had been published.
University of Pittsburgh scientists are uncovering more evidence that a virus they recently discovered is the cause of Merkel cell carcinoma, an aggressive and deadly form of skin cancer.
The findings, published recently in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, put to rest the possibility that MCV infects tumors that already have formed. If that were the case, the virus would be a passenger rather than the driver of the disease.
Experiments in human tumors reveal that the cancer develops in two steps: during infection, the Merkel cell polyomavirus, or MCV, integrates into host cell DNA and produces viral proteins that promote cancer formation. Tumors occur when a mutation removes part of a viral protein needed for the virus to reproduce and infect other healthy cells, explained senior investigator, Patrick Moore, M.D., M.P.H, professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at the School of Medicine and director of the Molecular Virology Program at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. The virus then can spread only as the cancer cells themselves multiply.
The findings, published recently in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, put to rest the possibility that MCV infects tumors that already have formed. If that were the case, the virus would be a passenger rather than the driver of the disease.
Experiments in human tumors reveal that the cancer develops in two steps: during infection, the Merkel cell polyomavirus, or MCV, integrates into host cell DNA and produces viral proteins that promote cancer formation. Tumors occur when a mutation removes part of a viral protein needed for the virus to reproduce and infect other healthy cells, explained senior investigator, Patrick Moore, M.D., M.P.H, professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at the School of Medicine and director of the Molecular Virology Program at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. The virus then can spread only as the cancer cells themselves multiply.
American children are approximately three times more likely to be prescribed psychotropic medication than children in Europe. A new study claims that the differences may be accounted for by regulatory practices and cultural beliefs about the role of medication in emotional and behavioural problems.
Julie Zito led a team of researchers from the USA, Germany and the Netherlands who investigated prescription levels in the three countries. She said, "Antidepressant and stimulant prevalence were three or more times greater in the US than in the Netherlands and Germany, while antipsychotic prevalence was 1.5 to 2.2 times greater".
The use of antidepressants, like Prozac, and stimulants, like Ritalin, in children has been the subject of a great deal of controversy and this study quantifies the differences in practice between the US and Western Europe. The authors claim that the differences may be partly due to different diagnostic classification systems, "The US trend of increasing bipolar diagnosis in children and adolescents does not reflect European practice".
Julie Zito led a team of researchers from the USA, Germany and the Netherlands who investigated prescription levels in the three countries. She said, "Antidepressant and stimulant prevalence were three or more times greater in the US than in the Netherlands and Germany, while antipsychotic prevalence was 1.5 to 2.2 times greater".
The use of antidepressants, like Prozac, and stimulants, like Ritalin, in children has been the subject of a great deal of controversy and this study quantifies the differences in practice between the US and Western Europe. The authors claim that the differences may be partly due to different diagnostic classification systems, "The US trend of increasing bipolar diagnosis in children and adolescents does not reflect European practice".
Washington - A natural antioxidant commonly found in red wine and fruit may protect against radiation exposure, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.
Tests in mice showed that resveratrol, when altered using a compound called acetyl, could prevent some of the damage caused by radiation, the researchers told the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology meeting in Boston.
Drugs made that way might be used in a large-scale radiological or nuclear emergency, said Dr. Joel Greenberger, a radiation oncologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
"Currently there are no drugs on the market that protect against or counteract radiation exposure," he added. "Our goal is to develop treatments for the general population that are effective and non-toxic," Greenberger said in a statement.
Tests in mice showed that resveratrol, when altered using a compound called acetyl, could prevent some of the damage caused by radiation, the researchers told the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology meeting in Boston.
Drugs made that way might be used in a large-scale radiological or nuclear emergency, said Dr. Joel Greenberger, a radiation oncologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
"Currently there are no drugs on the market that protect against or counteract radiation exposure," he added. "Our goal is to develop treatments for the general population that are effective and non-toxic," Greenberger said in a statement.
Researchers in Georgia are reporting an advance toward the possible use of a new natural non-caloric sweetener in soft drinks and other food products in the United States. Stevia, which is 300 times more potent than sugar but calorie-free, is already used in some countries as a food and beverage additive to help fight obesity and diabetes.
Indra Prakash, John F. Clos, and Grant E. DuBois note that so-called stevia sweeteners, derived from a South American plant, have been popular for years as a food and beverage additive in Latin America and Asia. But several factors have prevented its use as a sweetener in Europe and the United States. Those include concerns about safety and hints that exposure to sunlight degrades one of the key components of stevia.
Indra Prakash, John F. Clos, and Grant E. DuBois note that so-called stevia sweeteners, derived from a South American plant, have been popular for years as a food and beverage additive in Latin America and Asia. But several factors have prevented its use as a sweetener in Europe and the United States. Those include concerns about safety and hints that exposure to sunlight degrades one of the key components of stevia.
