Thursday, August 31, 2006

Health Headlines - August 31

Task Force to Study Body Parts Safety

Recent human tissue scandals have prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to form a task force on human cell and tissue safety that will assess the effectiveness of regulations that took effect in 2005.

The task force's mandate will include a review of recent reports that some companies are not adhering to federal requirements for tissue recovery. For example, a now-defunct New Jersey company was accused of harvesting body parts without consent.

The Human Tissue Task Force (HTTF) will be led by senior FDA officials from the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) and the Office of Regulatory Affairs.

"The primary goal of the new task force is to identify whether any additional steps are needed to further protect the public health while assuring the availability of safe products," Dr. Jesse Goodman, CBER director, said in a prepared statement.

Within the next three months, the task force will develop an action plan and, where necessary, propose changes to current policies. It will also identify the resources needed to support the plan and how to quickly implement it.

Nicotine Levels Increase in U.S. Cigarettes

Nicotine levels in U.S. cigarettes have increased about 10 percent since 1998, making it easier for people to get addicted and harder for smokers to quit, according to a Massachusetts Department of Health report released Tuesday.

Of the 179 cigarette brands tested in 2004 for the report, 93 percent were in the highest range for nicotine, compared to 84 percent of 116 brands tested in 1998, the Associated Press reported.

The three brands most popular with young people -- Camel, Marlboro and Newport -- contained much more nicotine in 2004 than they did years ago. The study also found that nicotine levels in Kool, a popular menthol cigarette, increased 20 percent from 1998 to 2004.

There's not much point in turning to "light" cigarette brands to reduce nicotine intake, the report said. It found no significant difference in total nicotine content between "full flavor," "medium," "light" or "ultra-light" cigarettes, the AP reported.

The results indicate that health-care providers trying to help people quit smoking need to adjust the strength of nicotine-replacement therapies, said Sally Fogerty, associate commissioner with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

The state is one of three that require cigarette makers to submit information about nicotine levels in their products. Massachusetts is the only state with nicotine data going back to 1998.

Chinese Company Plans to Mass Produce Bird Flu Vaccine

A Chinese vaccine maker says it plans to mass produce a vaccine to protect humans against the H5N1 bird flu virus and that it could be producing 20 million vaccines a year within the next few years, according to Chinese state media.

Initial tests of the vaccine, developed by Sinovac Biotech Ltd. and government researchers, indicated it was safe. Company officials said this week that the tests found that 120 people who received the vaccine had no serious adverse reactions.

"These results indicate that we should expand our production capabilities to prepare for mass production of the vaccine against a possible bird flu pandemic," a Sinovac official told the Xinhua news agency.

However, the vaccine must undergo two more clinical trial phases before it can be approved for widespread use.

A number of vaccines to protect against H5N1 are under development worldwide but they could prove useless if the virus mutates and causes a pandemic, said the World Health Organization's top official in China.

It's difficult to predict virus mutations and it could take months to create a new vaccine to counter a mutation in H5N1, the official said.

FDA Proposes Ban on OTC Sales of Skin Lighteners

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration wants to ban over-the-counter sales of skin-lightening products because they may cause cancer.

The proposed ban was announced Tuesday and there will be a four-month comment period for doctors and others to express their views. Dermatologists and other skin experts are expected to strongly oppose such a ban, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The FDA said the skin-lightening creams contain hydroquinone, a drug that showed "some evidence" of possibly causing cancer in rodents.

"We're acting for safety reasons. There is a potential for hydroquinone to be a carcinogen in humans. We are looking for additional information," Susan Johnson, associate director of the FDA's Office of Nonprescription Products, told the Times.

The agency also cited studies that found an association between creams with hydroquinone and a condition called ochronosis, which can cause darkening and thickening of the skin, dome-shaped yellowish bumps, and grayish-brown spots.

In the United States, about 65 companies sell more than 200 skin-lightening products that contain hydroquinone, the FDA said. About two-thirds of the products are available without a prescription.

Hydroquinone has been banned in Japan, the European Union and Australia, the newspaper said.

U.S. Said to Spend Millions for Questionable Cancer Data

U.S. cancer specialists last year received about $275 million from the federal government and Medicare beneficiaries as part of a Bush administration research project that many experts say won't produce any useful information, the Associated Press reported.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services paid participating chemotherapy doctors $130 each time they submitted information about a Medicare patient's pain, fatigue and nausea. Patients were charged $26 each time their doctors billed Medicare for submitting the information.

During the year-long project, the median amount paid to each doctor was $23,000. However, some physicians received much more money. The top 10 billers received more than $270,000 each, including a Florida oncologist who was paid $625,803 and a Kansas doctor who received $507,563, the AP reported.

The goal of the project was to collect data to improve cancer patient care.

In a report to be released Wednesday, the inspector general for the U.S. Health and Human Services Department cast doubt on the integrity of the data submitted by the doctors and questioned whether the government money had been well-spent.

"We identified numerous anomalies and gaps in the data and collection methods," the report said. It also noted that a commission that advises Congress on Medicare issues found that many oncologists felt the project wouldn't produce any useful research findings and would not help improve patient care, the AP reported.

Taxpayers and Medicare patients were "bilked," because they paid for services that the oncologists were already supposed to provide, said Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Health Headlines - August 30

Improper Use of Sunscreens Can Harm Skin: Study

Unless it's continuously reapplied, sunscreen can actually attack the skin and leave it vulnerable to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, concludes a University of California, Riverside study.

The researchers found that, over time, molecules in sunscreen that block UV radiation can penetrate into the skin and leave the outer layer susceptible to UV, CBC News reported.

The study appears in an upcoming issue of the journal Free Radical Biology & Medicine.

"Sunscreens do an excellent job protecting against sunburn when used correctly," Kerry Hanson, a research scientist in the university's department of chemistry, said in a prepared statement.

"This means using a sunscreen with a high sun protection factor and applying it uniformly on the skin. Our data show, however, that if coverage at the skin surface is low, the UV filters in sunscreens that have penetrated into the epidermis can potentially do more harm than good," he said.

FDA Reviews Rule On Emergency Research Without Consent

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reviewing a regulation that allows clinical emergency research on patients when informed consent can't be obtained from the patients or their families.

The regulation, which came into effect in 1996, allows research studies to test emergency treatments on patients with specific life-threatening medical conditions including head trauma, cardiac arrest and stroke.

"On the 10-year anniversary of this regulation, it is appropriate that we review the regulation and get the perspectives of those who participated in such studies to make sure that emergency research is being carried out in a scientifically sound and ethical manner," Dr. Janet Woodcock, the FDA's deputy commissioner for operations, said in a prepared statement.

"Unless the medical community can conduct studies in these life-threatening emergency situations, we may not truly have scientifically validated solutions to benefit patients in these extremely difficult circumstances. It is critical that this type of research be conducted to help advance the practice of emergency medicine," she said.

The review includes a public hearing scheduled for Oct. 11 at the University of Maryland Shady Grove Center in Rockville. The FDA is also seeking written comment on a draft guidance that can be found at www.fda.govdockets/ecomments.

Gerald Ford Released From Mayo Clinic

Former U.S. President Gerald Ford, 93, was discharged Monday from the Mayo Clinic, where he had a heart pacemaker implanted and also underwent angioplasty to reduce or eliminate blockages in coronary arteries.

A statement from the clinic said that Ford, who was admitted to the Mayo 10 days ago for "testing and evaluation," has returned to his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., CNN reported.

Ford, the oldest living former U.S. president, has been hospitalized four times since last December. In late July, he spent two days in a Vail, Colo. hospital after he complained of shortness of breath.

Last January, pneumonia forced him to spend 11 days in a hospital near his home in Rancho Mirage. He was admitted to the same hospital in December for unspecified tests, CNN reported.

Medicare Recipients Told How to Repay Erroneous Refunds

The estimated 230,000 U.S. Medicare beneficiaries who received mistaken refunds last week will get a letter this week instructing them how to repay the money, the federal government said.

The erroneous refunds, caused by a computer glitch, totaled $50 million. The average reimbursement per Medicare beneficiary was $215, the Associated Press reported.

The easiest method for people to repay the money is to write VOID on the face of the check and mail it to: Medicare-Drug Premiums, P.O. Box 9058, Pleasanton, CA 94566-9058.

That same address can be used by people who want to send a personal check or money order to reimburse the government. The check should be made payable to Medicare and should include a notation with the beneficiary's account number, the AP reported.

The federal government also said it will establish a toll-free telephone line for Medicare beneficiaries to find out if they're affected by the mistake. Operators will also be able to help callers arrange to have repayments withdrawn from their bank accounts and transferred electronically to the government. The toll-free number is 1-866-292-8080 and can be called between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. EDT.

Another Suspected Bird Flu Case in Indonesia

A 60-year-old man from West Java in Indonesia has been admitted to hospital for treatment of suspected bird flu. The man is from the same area -- Cikelet -- where other people have been infected and killed by bird flu.

A health official said the man was admitted to hospital with high fever and respiratory problems, both symptoms of bird flu. He owned 10 chickens that died suddenly two days before he was taken to the general hospital in Garut, Agence France Presse reported.

In the past few days, thousands of domestic birds have been killed in Cikelet and more birds are due to be slaughtered, an official said.

So far, Indonesia has had 60 confirmed cases of bird flu, and 46 of them have been fatal, the highest number of deaths of any country, AFP reported.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, has been criticized for not doing enough to control bird flu. Experts fear that the more cases of bird flu that occur, the greater the risk that the H5N1 virus will mutate into a form that's easily transmitted between humans. That could spark a global pandemic.

Experts Criticize Acne Drug Safety Program

A dermatology group says that patients and doctors are having ongoing problems with a U.S. federal government program created to control access to the acne medication isotretinoin (brand name Accutane), which can cause birth defects if it's taken by pregnant women, the Associated Press reported.

The drug is also sold in three generic versions -- Amnesteem, Claravis and Sotret.

Nine out of 10 dermatologists report having problems with the iPledge program, concludes a survey released Monday by the American Academy of Dermatology, which has been critical of the program.

The survey included 378 doctors who prescribe the drug. About 80 percent of them said that their patients had experienced problems such as mandatory lockout periods that interrupt treatment, the AP reported.

Under the program, doctors, patients, pharmacies and drug wholesales have to be registered and activated in the computerized iPledge system to lawfully prescribe, sell, or take isotretinoin.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Health Headlines - August 29

Microchip Test Quickly Spots Flu Strains

U.S. scientists have developed a microchip-based test that could allow labs to diagnose flu strains in less than 12 hours.

The screen, called FluChip, was developed by a team from the University of Colorado and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In tests, FluChip successfully distinguished between 72 flu stains, including the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus. The findings appear in the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

Currently, labs across the U.S. can do basic tests to determine the type and subtype of a flu virus within several hours. However, only the CDC and a few other laboratories around the world have the high-level biosafety facilities needed for specialized tests that provide important information about a virus's geographic origin and other features.

The FluChip can be used in lower-level biosafety facilities, which would make it possible for many more labs to gather this type of information about flu viruses.

"The ability to quickly and accurately identify strains of influenza would be invaluable to international flu surveillance efforts. This is an encouraging advance," Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a prepared statement.

U.S. Marshals Seize Defective IV Pumps

U.S. Marshals have seized defective intravenous medicine infusion pumps from the Alaris Products' manufacturing facility in San Diego, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Monday.

The FDA asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California to issue the warrant for the seizure of Alaris Signature Edition Gold infusion pumps, model numbers 7130, 7131, 7230, and 7231.

Infusion pumps are used for controlled delivery of intravenous solutions and medications to patients.

The seized pumps have a design defect called "key bounce" that may lead to delivery of medications of up to 10 times the intended infusion rate, which can cause serious harm or death. Key bounce occurs when a number pressed on the pump registers twice although the operator only pressed the number key once.

Alaris failed to follow FDA medical device manufacturing regulations, the agency said. The seizure was done to ensure that the infusion pumps are not distributed until the "key bounce" problem is fixed.

No products were seized from healthcare facilities or private individuals and there are no plans to do so, the agency said. In an August 15 recall letter, Alaris told customers it would provide a warning label for the pumps and a permanent correction for the key bounce, once it is available.

The FDA issued warning letters to Alaris in August 1998 and October 1999, but the company failed to correct the manufacturing violations, according to the FDA. The pumps have been sold across the U.S. and in other countries.

FDA Mulls Drug to Prevent Preemie Births

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering approval for the injectable drug Gestiva, meant to help women carry their babies to term. But a clinical trial of the drug found it didn't delay the earliest preterm births that are most often associated with serious health problems and death.

FDA documents released Monday show that the trial results were not "statistically persuasive" in suggesting that Gestiva reduced births before either 32 or 35 weeks' gestation, the Associated Press reported.

The study did find that the drug appeared to reduce births before the 37th week -- considered the cutoff point for a baby to be classified as premature. Even that effect could be important, the FDA documents said, because many preterm births occur after 32 weeks.

Babies born before 32 weeks account for about two percent of births in the U.S. but represent the majority of cases of health problems and death among premature infants. Most babies born after 32 weeks have no serious long-term, developmental problems, the AP reported.

The FDA documents also noted that there is concern that Gestiva may increase the rate of miscarriage and stillborn.

On Tuesday, an outside panel of experts will meet to decide whether to recommend FDA approval of Gestiva, which is made by Adeza Biomedical Corp. of California. If the application is successful, Gestiva would be the only FDA-approved drug for prevention of preterm birth.

Chinese Bird Flu Vaccine 'Safe and Effective'

A Chinese-developed vaccine to protect humans against the H5N1 bird flu virus has been found to be safe in the first round of tests, according to the Chinese government's official Xinhua News Agency.

The tests on six volunteers at a Beijing hospital were conducted between November and June by researchers from the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention and a drug company called Beijing Sinovac Biotech Co.

The tests "proved initially safe and effective," the researchers said. No other details of the results or of any plans for future testing were provided by the news agency, the Associated Press reported.

The vaccine is meant for people at high risk of contracting bird flu, such as poultry workers, Chinese authorities said. They also said the government is ready to start mass production of the vaccine, but more tests are needed before it's approved for use in humans.

U.S. government researchers are also conducting tests on an H5N1 vaccine for humans, the AP reported.

World's Oldest Person Dies at Age 116

The world's oldest person -- 116-year-old Maria Esther de Capovilla of Ecuador -- died Sunday. That makes American Elizabeth Bolden of Memphis, Tenn., the oldest known person alive, according to Guinness World Records.

Bolden is also 116 but 11 months younger than Capovilla, said Robert Young, a senior consultant on gerontology for Guinness World Records.

Capovilla died two days after she came down with pneumonia, the Associated Press reported.

She was born Sept. 14, 1889, the same year as Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler, and got married in 1917. Her husband died in 1949. Three of Capovilla's children are still alive, along with 12 grandchildren, 20 great grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.

Capovilla always ate three meals a day and never smoked or drank hard liquor. "Only a small cup of wine with lunch and nothing more," her daughter Irma told the AP.

The world's oldest man is Emiliano Mercado Del Toro of Puerto Rico, who turned 115 last week.

The oldest person ever recorded was France's Jeanne Louise Calment. She was 122 years, 164 days when she died on Aug. 4, 1997.

Monday, August 28, 2006

Health Headlines - August 28

Substance Found That Causes Cancer Cells to 'Commit Suicide'

One of the methods scientists have been testing to combat cancer is attempting to trick the cancer cells into self-destructing. An international research team now believes it has identified a substance that does just that.

The protein that causes cells to commit suicide is procaspase-3. This protein programs normal cells to die. But cancer cells have found a way to bypass the procaspase-3 activator, and that's why they multiply out of control. But the synthetic substance, which scientists call procaspase activating compound one (PAC-1), reactivates the death cycle in the cancer cells.

While this isn't a viable method to fight cancer yet, the discovery of the activator offers a significant next step in creating personalized cancer treatment. Paul J. Hergenrother, a professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who worked with South Korean researchers and U.S. government scientists in finding PAC-1, said the research will pay off soon. "The potential effectiveness of compounds such as PAC-1 could be predicted in advance, and patients could be selected for treatment based on the amount of procaspase-3 found in their tumor cells," he said in a news release.

The findings will be published in both the online and print editions of the journal Nature Chemical Biology. More than 20,000 substances were tested during the process that found PAC-1.

New Restrictions Proposed on Teenage Cosmetic Surgery in Australia

A reality television show has prompted a major change in the laws governing cosmetic surgery and other body altering procedures in the Australia's state of New South Wales, which includes the city of Sydney.

The Sunday Telegraph reports that Premier Morris Iemma became "disturbed" when he learned that a teenaged contestant on the program Big Brother had had breast implants. And that incident resulted in Iemma's administration introducing regulations that will require a referral from a primary physician to a cosmetic surgeon before any procedure is done. The teenager will also have to undergo counseling, obtain parental permission and have a one-month "cooling-off period" before having the operation.

The newspaper cites American statistics from the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons showing that 326,000 cosmetic procedures in 2004 were on teenagers.

Reminding his constituents that he was the father of a young daughter, Iemma told the newspaper that he was worried about the over-obsession with body image. "We need to send a strong message that young women will be valued for who they are, not what they look like, "the Sunday Telegraph quotes him as saying. "It used to be the case that the biggest question parents faced was whether to give their children permission to have their ears pierced."

West Nile Virus Hits Western U.S. States Particularly Hard

Living up to the first part of its name, the West Nile virus is making its presence felt this year largely in the western part of the United States.

The state with the dubious distinction of having the most cases of the mosquito-borne disease is Idaho, the Associated Press reports. That state's 116 human cases with 2 deaths has prompted the governor to order emergency nighttime spraying to control the mosquito population.

Texas has had the most fatalities -- six -- with 68 reported cases, according to CDC statistics. In all, 581 human cases of West Nile virus had been reported this year with 19 fatalities.

Why the trend westward? West Nile was first reported in the United States in 1999 in the New York City metropolitan area. Scientists theorize that birds -- which are the primary target for mosquitoes carrying the virus -- gradually build an immunity and have done so in the eastern part of the country, the A.P. reports.

This year will probably be worse than 2005, the wire service reports, CDC officials as saying, because the summer has been hot, and mosquitoes are more active in hot weather.

New Trial Ordered for Painkiller Doctor

A northern Virginia doctor's conviction on federal drug conspiracy charges has been overturned, continuing a national debate over the discretion a physician has in prescribing pain drugs.

The Washington Post reports that a federal appeals court threw out the conviction of Dr. William E. Hurwitz Aug. 25, and this may bring about another trial for Hurwitz, whom prosecutors said was negligent in prescribing drugs like the powerful painkiller such as OxyContin. Hurwitz sometimes prescribed as many as 1,600 pills a day, the government alleged.

The jury had found Hurwitz guilty and sentenced him to 25 years in prison.

While acknowledging that the evidence was "strongly indicative of a doctor acting outside the bounds of accepted medical practice," the Appeals Court said the jury had been denied the opportunity to decide whether Hurwitz had acted in good faith by conducting his practice the way he did, according to the Post.

This had been the basis of his appeal, which was supported by a number of groups that were concerned about courts placing unnecessary limits on a doctor's method of practicing medicine. The Post quotes Hurwitz's attorney Marvin D. Miller as saying Hurwitz "believed what he was doing was helping patients with their pain."

The newspaper reported the prosecution was weighing its options on whether to appeal or re-prosecute.

Gerald Ford Has Angioplasty

Former U.S. President Gerald Ford, 93, had an artery-clearing procedure called angioplasty Thursday at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, the Associated Press reported.

During the procedure, a balloon is inflated inside clogged arteries to open up the vessels. In Ford's case, wire mesh tubes called stents also were placed in two coronary arteries to increase blood flow, said a statement released by his spokeswoman, Penny Circle. She said Ford was resting comfortably in his hospital room.

John Murphy, a Mayo Clinic spokesman, confirmed that Ford had angioplasty but did not provide details, the AP reported.

On Monday, Ford had surgery to implant a heart pacemaker. He's been at the Mayo Clinic since Aug. 15, when he was admitted for what were said to be tests and evaluation.

Millions of Americans Uninsured for Years

Nearly 17 million Americans under age 65 were without health insurance continuously for at least four years (2001-2004), says a report released Friday by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Of those people, 38 percent were Hispanic, the report noted.

Additional findings from the report included:

* About 16 percent (6 million) of the 39 million Hispanics under age 65 in the United States had no private health insurance or public coverage at any time between 2001 and 2004.
* The poorest people in the United States accounted for nearly one of every four long-term uninsured cases.
* Nearly one in 10 Americans under age 65 in fair or poor health was uninsured for at least four years.
* Adults aged 18 to 24 were most likely to be continuously uninsured. About 10 percent of the people in this age group had no coverage.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Health Headlines - August 27

West Nile Virus Hits Western U.S. States Particularly Hard

Living up to the first part of its name, the West Nile virus is making its presence felt this year largely in the western part of the United States.

The state with the dubious distinction of having the most cases of the mosquito-borne disease is Idaho, the Associated Press reports. That state's 116 human cases with 2 deaths has prompted the governor to order emergency nighttime spraying to control the mosquito population.

Texas has had the most fatalities -- six -- with 68 reported cases, according to CDC statistics. In all, 581 human cases of West Nile virus had been reported this year with 19 fatalities.

Why the trend westward? West Nile was first reported in the United States in 1999 in the New York City metropolitan area. Scientists theorize that birds -- which are the primary target for mosquitoes carrying the virus -- gradually build an immunity and have done so in the eastern part of the country, the A.P. reports.

This year will probably be worse than 2005, the wire service reports, CDC officials as saying, because the summer has been hot, and mosquitoes are more active in hot weather.

New Trial Ordered for Painkiller Doctor

A northern Virginia doctor's conviction on federal drug conspiracy charges has been overturned, continuing a national debate over the discretion a physician has in prescribing pain drugs.

The Washington Post reports that a federal appeals court threw out the conviction of Dr. William E. Hurwitz Aug. 25, and this may bring about another trial for Hurwitz, whom prosecutors said was negligent in prescribing drugs like the powerful painkiller such as OxyContin. Hurwitz sometimes prescribed as many as 1,600 pills a day, the government alleged.

The jury had found Hurwitz guilty and sentenced him to 25 years in prison.

While acknowledging that the evidence was "strongly indicative of a doctor acting outside the bounds of accepted medical practice," the Appeals Court said the jury had been denied the opportunity to decide whether Hurwitz had acted in good faith by conducting his practice the way he did, according to the Post.

This had been the basis of his appeal, which was supported by a number of groups that were concerned about courts placing unnecessary limits on a doctor's method of practicing medicine. The Post quotes Hurwitz's attorney Marvin D. Miller as saying Hurwitz "believed what he was doing was helping patients with their pain."

The newspaper reported the prosecution was weighing its options on whether to appeal or re-prosecute.

Gerald Ford Has Angioplasty

Former U.S. President Gerald Ford, 93, had an artery-clearing procedure called angioplasty Thursday at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, the Associated Press reported.

During the procedure, a balloon is inflated inside clogged arteries to open up the vessels. In Ford's case, wire mesh tubes called stents also were placed in two coronary arteries to increase blood flow, said a statement released by his spokeswoman, Penny Circle. She said Ford was resting comfortably in his hospital room.

John Murphy, a Mayo Clinic spokesman, confirmed that Ford had angioplasty but did not provide details, the AP reported.

On Monday, Ford had surgery to implant a heart pacemaker. He's been at the Mayo Clinic since Aug. 15, when he was admitted for what were said to be tests and evaluation.

Millions of Americans Uninsured for Years

Nearly 17 million Americans under age 65 were without health insurance continuously for at least four years (2001-2004), says a report released Friday by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Of those people, 38 percent were Hispanic, the report noted.

Additional findings from the report included:

* About 16 percent (6 million) of the 39 million Hispanics under age 65 in the United States had no private health insurance or public coverage at any time between 2001 and 2004.
* The poorest people in the United States accounted for nearly one of every four long-term uninsured cases.
* Nearly one in 10 Americans under age 65 in fair or poor health was uninsured for at least four years.
* Adults aged 18 to 24 were most likely to be continuously uninsured. About 10 percent of the people in this age group had no coverage.

A second AHRQ report that looked at a shorter time frame (the first half of 2005) found that nearly 50 million Americans under age 65 did not have health insurance. Of those, 29 percent were Hispanic.

Severe Reactions May Require Two Doses of Epinephrine

One dose of epinephrine may not be enough to save the lives of people with severe allergies, says a coroner in Quebec, Canada.

Coroner Jacques Ramsay was investigating the case of 61-year-old Pierre Drolet, who was stung by a wasp. Drolet gave himself a shot of epinephrine but still died due to a severe allergic reaction, CBC News reported.

In his inquest's final report, Ramsay said a second shot of epinephrine may have saved Drolet's life.

"In a third of cases similar to Monsieur Drolet, we know that one injection will not be enough, and a person may need another injection," Ramsay said. "Therefore, I think it would be very wise [for people with severe allergies] to carry with them two injections rather than one."

There were other factors in Drolet's death, Ramsay noted. He said Drolet was taking heart medication that interfered with epinephrine and the ambulance took too long to reach Drolet.

A Montreal allergy expert noted another possible factor -- Drolet's epinephrine supply had expired, CBC News reported.

HIV Drug May Prevent Cervical Cancer

The antiviral drug lopinavir -- commonly used to treat HIV -- could be used to prevent cervical cancer, say researchers at the University of Manchester in the U.K.

They found that the oral drug also attacks the virus (HPV) that causes cervical cancer. They suggest that a pessary or cream form of lopinavir that's applied to the cervix could help women infected with HPV avoid surgery to remove early cervical cancer, BBC News reported.

Vaccines for cervical cancer are already being developed, but these would only protect people who haven't yet been infected by HPV, the researchers said.

In a laboratory study, the team found that small doses of liquid lopinavir selectively killed HPV-infected cervical cancer cells. Their findings appear in the journal Antiviral Therapy.

The researchers plan to conduct human clinical trials of a lopinavir cream or pessary treatment, according to BBC News.

New California Plan Provides Drug Discounts

Uninsured, lower-income California residents will get discounts of up to 40 percent on name-brand drugs under an agreement reached this week by legislative Democrats and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The California Prescription Drug Initiative provides enrollees with discounts of about 60 percent on generic drugs and about 40 percent on name-brand drugs. The annual enrollment fee will be $10, the Associated Press reported.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Health Headlines - August 26

Gerald Ford Has Angioplasty

Former U.S. President Gerald Ford, 93, had an artery-clearing procedure called angioplasty Thursday at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, the Associated Press reported.

During the procedure, a balloon is inflated inside clogged arteries to open up the vessels. In Ford's case, wire mesh tubes called stents also were placed in two coronary arteries to increase blood flow, said a statement released by his spokeswoman, Penny Circle. She said Ford was resting comfortably in his hospital room.

John Murphy, a Mayo Clinic spokesman, confirmed that Ford had angioplasty but did not provide details, the AP reported.

On Monday, Ford had surgery to implant a heart pacemaker. He's been at the Mayo Clinic since Aug. 15, when he was admitted for what were said to be tests and evaluation.

Millions of Americans Uninsured for Years

Nearly 17 million Americans under age 65 were without health insurance continuously for at least four years (2001-2004), says a report released Friday by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Of those people, 38 percent were Hispanic, the report noted.

Additional findings from the report included:

* About 16 percent (6 million) of the 39 million Hispanics under age 65 in the United States had no private health insurance or public coverage at any time between 2001 and 2004.
* The poorest people in the United States accounted for nearly one of every four long-term uninsured cases.
* Nearly one in 10 Americans under age 65 in fair or poor health was uninsured for at least four years.
* Adults aged 18 to 24 were most likely to be continuously uninsured. About 10 percent of the people in this age group had no coverage.

A second AHRQ report that looked at a shorter time frame (the first half of 2005) found that nearly 50 million Americans under age 65 did not have health insurance. Of those, 29 percent were Hispanic.

Severe Reactions May Require Two Doses of Epinephrine

One dose of epinephrine may not be enough to save the lives of people with severe allergies, says a coroner in Quebec, Canada.

Coroner Jacques Ramsay was investigating the case of 61-year-old Pierre Drolet, who was stung by a wasp. Drolet gave himself a shot of epinephrine but still died due to a severe allergic reaction, CBC News reported.

In his inquest's final report, Ramsay said a second shot of epinephrine may have saved Drolet's life.

"In a third of cases similar to Monsieur Drolet, we know that one injection will not be enough, and a person may need another injection," Ramsay said. "Therefore, I think it would be very wise [for people with severe allergies] to carry with them two injections rather than one."

There were other factors in Drolet's death, Ramsay noted. He said Drolet was taking heart medication that interfered with epinephrine and the ambulance took too long to reach Drolet.

A Montreal allergy expert noted another possible factor -- Drolet's epinephrine supply had expired, CBC News reported.

HIV Drug May Prevent Cervical Cancer

The antiviral drug lopinavir -- commonly used to treat HIV -- could be used to prevent cervical cancer, say researchers at the University of Manchester in the U.K.

They found that the oral drug also attacks the virus (HPV) that causes cervical cancer. They suggest that a pessary or cream form of lopinavir that's applied to the cervix could help women infected with HPV avoid surgery to remove early cervical cancer, BBC News reported.

Vaccines for cervical cancer are already being developed, but these would only protect people who haven't yet been infected by HPV, the researchers said.

In a laboratory study, the team found that small doses of liquid lopinavir selectively killed HPV-infected cervical cancer cells. Their findings appear in the journal Antiviral Therapy.

The researchers plan to conduct human clinical trials of a lopinavir cream or pessary treatment, according to BBC News.

New California Plan Provides Drug Discounts

Uninsured, lower-income California residents will get discounts of up to 40 percent on name-brand drugs under an agreement reached this week by legislative Democrats and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The California Prescription Drug Initiative provides enrollees with discounts of about 60 percent on generic drugs and about 40 percent on name-brand drugs. The annual enrollment fee will be $10, the Associated Press reported.

Under the plan, drug companies will have to meet benchmark discounts for drugs. If they don't, they could be removed from the preferred drug list used by Medi-Cal, which provides about $4 billion worth of drugs a year to the elderly and poor.

Drug companies will have until August 2010 to comply voluntarily with the plan.

In a statement issued Thursday, Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez said the measure was "long overdue," the AP reported. Assembly Republican leader George Plescia criticized the plan, calling it a "heavy-handed approach."

Companies Cut Benzene in Children's Drinks

As part of a settlement of lawsuits filed by parents, two U.S. companies that make children's soft drinks have eliminated ingredients that can cause the formation of cancer-causing benzene in their products.

Zone Brands Inc. of Atlanta, TalkingRain Beverage Co. of Washington state, and the parents who filed the lawsuits agreed to settle the dispute, say documents filed in the District of Columbia Superior Court. A hearing was scheduled for Friday to consider the settlement, the Associated Press reported.

Both drink makers said their products never posed a health risk.

However, after the parents' lawsuits were filed, the two companies agreed in April and May to change their ingredients. They also agreed to refund or replace drinks made before the ingredients were changed.

The lawsuits alleged that independent laboratory tests found that the companies' children's drinks contained levels of benzene that were higher than the U.S. federal limit for drinking water, the AP reported.

Other drink makers are facing similar lawsuits in California, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

Benzene can form in drinks that contain vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and either potassium benzoate or sodium benzoate. In drinks with these ingredients, heat or sunlight can cause a reaction that leads to the formation of benzene, the AP reported.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said there is no safety concern from the drinks. The agency said that benzene levels in children's drinks it tested were relatively low compared with other sources of exposure to benzene.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Health Headlines - August 25

Experts Want Global Bird Flu Database

A new global database to share bird flu data needs to be created to encourage research and help avert a worldwide health catastrophe, experts said in a letter published in the journal Nature.

The letter was signed by 70 of the top bird flu scientists, including six Nobel laureates. It said researchers taking part in the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data would agree to publish their findings collaboratively, the Associated Press reported.

Several countries afflicted by bird flu have been criticized for refusing to share their data on the disease, a move that hinders the global fight against the dangerous H5N1 virus.

And the World Health Organization has been criticized for having a "secret database" of bird flu sequences that's available only to a select group of scientists, the AP reported.

It's unclear how the proposed global bird flu database would actually improve monitoring of avian flu, since the world's top experts already have wide access to the WHO's bird flu data, said WHO spokesman Dick Thompson.

Sterilized Surgical Instruments May Still Have CJD Proteins

Even after sterilization, surgical instruments may still be contaminated with proteins that cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a fatal degenerative brain disorder, says a study by researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

It's believed that CJD is caused by mutated proteins called prions, which are known to be able to cling to the surface of surgical instruments, BBC News reported.

The researchers tested sterilized surgical instruments taken at random from five hospitals and found that every instrument was contaminated with enough protein residue to pose a potential infection risk to patients.

The average level of protein contamination on the instruments was 0.2 micrograms per square millimeter. That's much greater than the level of prions needed to infect humans. The highest levels of protein residue were found on instruments used to remove tonsils, one of the tissues known to harbor prions, BBC News reported.

The study appears in the Journal of Hospital Infection.

Apple Recalls 1.8 Million Notebook Batteries

Apple Computer Inc. said Thursday that it's recalling about 1.8 million Sony lithium-ion batteries used in its Macintosh notebooks because the batteries could overheat and burn users or cause a fire. There have been nine reported incidents of batteries overheating and two people have suffered minor burns.

Last week, Dell Inc. announced a recall of 4.1 million Sony laptop batteries.

The batteries in the Macintosh recall are in Mac iBooks and PowerBooks sold between October 2003 and August 2006, said the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

"The batteries pose a fire hazard, and we want consumers to take this recall seriously. We want them to take the batteries out of the laptops immediately," CPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson told Bloomberg news.

The recall affects about 1.1 million Mac notebooks sold in the United States and about 700,000 sold in other countries.

Report Details 11 Cases of Advanced Black Lung in Va. Miners

A report that describes 11 newly identified cases of advanced coal worker's pneumoconiosis (CWP) -- commonly called black lung -- in working coal miners in southwestern Virginia highlights the need for improved safety measures, according to U.S. researchers.

CWP is caused by the inhalation of coal dust.

The report will be published Friday in the U.S. Center's for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). It includes data collected between March and May 2006 from 328 of the estimated 1,055 underground coal miners currently employed in Lee and Wise counties in Virginia.

The 328 workers ranged in age from 21 to 63 years. Their mean tenure of working in underground coal mines was 23 years. Thirty (9 percent) of the miners showed evidence of CWP and 11 of those miners had advanced cases.

Among those 11 miners, the mean age was 51 years (range 39 to 62 years), and the mean number of working years working at the coal face was 29 years. The coal face is the cutting surface where coal is sheared from the wall and where dust levels typically are greatest.

"The continuing occurrence of advanced forms of CWP emphasizes the importance of comprehensive measures to control coal mine dust effectively and reduce the potential for inhalation exposures in coal mining," said a CDC news release.

Reductions in the levels of CWP were noted among active coal miners after the U.S. government in 1969 mandated dust limits to protect the respiratory health of miners. However, during 1996-2002, clusters of rapidly progressive CWP were found among miners in certain areas of the country, predominately in eastern Kentucky and western Virginia.

Genes Variants Greatly Increase SIDS Risk: Study

Babies born with flaws in three immune system-related genes are 14 times more likely to be victims of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), say British researchers.

The link between increased risk of SIDS and faults in the three genes -- Interleukin-10, Interleukin-6, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) -- was identified by a team from Manchester University, BBC News reported.

The findings appear in the journals New Scientist and Human Immunology.

All three genes are involved in the production of cytokines, which play an important role in the proper functioning of the immune system, BBC News reported.

Specific variants of the two Interleukin genes may cause an infant's immune system to become overactive when it encounters a bacterial infection. This could lead to SIDS, the researchers said.

The variant of VEGF linked to SIDS could also cause poor fetal lung development, the study said.

This research could help identify babies at risk for SIDS, who could then be closely monitored, BBC News reported.

U.S. to Withhold Medicare Payments in Late September

The U.S. government will withhold Medicare reimbursements to doctors, hospitals, and numerous other health-care providers during the last nine days of the current federal budget, from Sept. 22-30.

Delaying the payments means that $5.2 billion in Medicare expenses will be shifted to next year's budget, the Associated Press reported.

"The alternative was to cut reimbursements to providers this year. With this payment shift we avoid that cut," said Senate Finance Committee spokeswoman Jill Kozeny.

Health-care providers who look after older people and the disabled will receive their full payments after the new federal budget year begins Oct. 1, but they won't be paid interest on the amount they're owed, the AP reported.

Critics said the hold on payments was unfair and underhanded and could cause financial problems for some health-care providers.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Health Headlines - August 24

FDA Wants Drug Registrations, Listings Submitted Electronically

A new rule to automate all drug registration and listing in the United States was proposed Wednesday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Under the proposal, all drug developers and manufacturers would be required to submit information electronically, rather than on paper.

The Electronic Drug Registration and Listing System would make the entire list of drug products sold in the United States accessible electronically. Currently, part of that list, which includes 120,000 products, is kept on paper.

"Having drug makers submit drug information electronically will help to keep an accurate, up-to-date inventory of drugs on the market. This will help us maintain more accurate information and make it easier for us to respond to drug emergencies such as recalls and drug shortages," U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said in a prepared statement.

Along with the FDA, the list is used by other government agencies, health-care providers and health-care payers. The list contains up-to-date information about specific drug formulations and manufacturers.

Mixed Results for Vioxx Successor Drug

A preliminary analysis of study data reveals mixed results for the experimental arthritis drug Arcoxia, Merck & Co.'s follow-up to its discontinued Vioxx medication.

Vioxx was taken off the market in 2004 because it was linked to increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

A series of studies that compared Arcoxia (a COX-2 inhibitor) to the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) diclofenac found that patients taking Arcoxia didn't have a significantly greater risk of heart attack than patients taking diclofenac, the Associated Press reported.

However, at certain doses, more patients in the Arcoxia group had to withdraw from the research due to high blood pressure and swelling. But in the diclofenac group, many more patients had to drop out due to liver and gastrointestinal problems.

Merck said this is consistent with earlier study results. The complete findings of the Arcoxia research will be published in medical journals and presented at upcoming scientific meetings, the AP reported.

COX-2 inhibitors, including Vioxx, were developed to replace NSAIDs, which can cause stomach problems such as ulcers. Celebrex is the only COX-2 on the market; Bextra was withdrawn from the market after similar concerns about heart risks.

In 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an approvable letter for Arcoxia. An approvable letter requests more information or research before the FDA considers giving final approval.

Canada Confirms New Mad Cow Case

A new case of mad cow disease in Canada was confirmed Wednesday, making it the fifth case in the country this year and the eighth since 2003, CBC News reported.

The latest case is in the province of Alberta and involves a cow believed to be old enough (8 to 10 years) to have contracted the disease before Canada banned the use of cattle parts in cattle feed, said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CIFA).

No part of the infected cow entered the human or animal feed systems, officials said.

CIFA is trying to determine where the cow was born, verify its age, identify other cows from the herd, and determine possible sources of contaminated feed, CBC News reported.

Genetic Blueprints of Flu Viruses Made Public

Hoping to boost flu research, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week put the genetic blueprints of more than 650 flu viruses in a public database accessible to researchers around the world.

The information was added to an influenza database housed at the Los Alamos National Laboratories and to Genbank, a public-access library for virus sequences that's managed by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

The information about naturally circulating viruses in the United States includes data from the annual flu season, animal flu viruses that infect people, and new flu strains (such as bird flu) that may emerge in the United States.

"With more information, the world's influenza experts can advance our understanding of the viruses circulating, potentially create new prevention strategies and treatments, and ultimately help us better protect the health of people around the world," Dr. Nancy Cox, director of the CDC's Influenza Division, said in a prepared statement.

Previously, access to genetic data about flu viruses was limited to a small number of scientists who work together with the World Health Organization.

Human Tissues Recalled by Colorado Firm

Hundreds of human tissue products destined for transplants into patients across the United States have been recalled by a Colorado tissue provider, AlloSource.

The recalled products were supplied by a North Carolina body parts broker who used an unsterile embalming room to extract tissue from dozens of corpses, the Associated Press reported.

Last Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration closed down the body broker, Donor Referral Services of Raleigh, N.C. But the FDA would not disclose how many people have received potentially unsafe tissue from the broker.

Cadaver tissue is used in more than a million transplants -- including for knee surgery and back repair -- in the United States each year. But tissue that's not properly processed or tested can lead to infections such as hepatitis or HIV/AIDS, or even death, the AP reported.

This is the second incident to rock the U.S. tissue transplant industry in less than a year. In 2005, Biomedical Tissue Services of New Jersey was accused of using stolen bodies and of shipping about 20,000 potentially tainted body parts.

Medicare Reimbursement Glitch Affects 230,000

About 230,000 Medicare recipients were erroneously reimbursed for monthly premiums they paid this year for prescription drug coverage, the chief of the U.S. agency that administers the program says.

The glitch was caught just after the checks -- totaling nearly $50 million -- were sent out last week, officials said. A follow-up letter was then sent to alert recipients about the problem. The average overpayment was $215, the Associated Press reported.

People who get the check need to know two things, said Mark McClellan, chief of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. First, the money has to be returned. Second, their prescription drug coverage will continue.

He promised that insurers who administer the new drug benefit will continue to be paid for beneficiaries affected by the error, the AP reported.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Health Headlines - August 23

Smoking Scenes Cut From Classic Cartoons

British children's TV channel Boomerang says it will edit scenes that glamorize smoking from Tom and Jerry cartoons, BBC News reported.

The move follows an investigation by British media regulator Ofcom in response to a viewer complaint that the smoking depicted in some of the classic cat and mouse cartoons was inappropriate for children.

Boomerang said it would edit episodes where smoking appears to be condoned, acceptable or glamorized. Two Tom and Jerry cartoons that include such depictions are "Tennis Chumps" from 1949 and "Texas Tom" from 1950, BBC News reported.

Tom and Jerry isn't the only affected cartoon. There are plans to review more than 1,500 classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons, including Scooby-Doo and The Flintstones, for scenes that glamorize smoking.

Alzheimer's Caregivers Have Heavy Burden

People who care for a family member with Alzheimer's disease have to cope with more care-related costs and stress than those who take care of someone with other kinds of disabilities, says a study released Tuesday by the MetLife Mature Market Institute (MMMI).

Costs for Alzheimer's caregivers are 41 percent higher than for other caregivers, and Alzheimer's caregivers are 45 percent more likely to say that caregiving has harmed their health. The study also found that Alzheimer's caregiving requires a greater time commitment.

The study included more than 400 people who provided care for someone over the age of 65.

Caregivers of people with Alzheimer's or another form of dementia provided an average of 47 hours of care per week, compared to 33 hours by caregivers of people with physical impairments. The study also found that 10.6 percent of spouses of people with Alzheimer's or another dementia quit their job due to their caregiving responsibilities, compared to 4 percent of spouses of people with other kinds of disabilities.

School Safety Refresher for Parents

Parents need to review some school-safety advice as their children return to the classroom, says the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

It offers the following tips:

* Don't buy children's clothes with hood and neck drawstrings that can catch on playground and other equipment and pose a strangling hazard. Remove hood and neck drawstrings in any clothing already in a child's wardrobe.
* Drawstrings on children's clothing bottoms should be short and should not have toggles at the end.
* In case a child falls, playground equipment should have a shock-absorbent surface such as mulch or wood chips beneath it.
* Parents should check playground equipment for exposed bolts, "S" hooks and other hardware that can catch on a child's clothing.
* Playground ladder rungs and guard rails should be spaced so that children can't become trapped between them.
* Children should be properly supervised when they're on the playground.
* Moveable soccer goals should be properly anchored to the ground to prevent them from tipping over and pinning a child.
* Check to make sure children's art materials aren't toxic. Look for labels that say "conforms to ASTM D-4236."
* Children must wear appropriate helmets when on bicycles, scooters and skateboards.

Gerald Ford Gets Heart Pacemaker

Former U.S. President Gerald Ford had surgery Monday to implant a pacemaker to enhance his heart's performance, the Associated Press reported.

The procedure was done at the Mayo Clinic. Ford, 93, was resting comfortably and was expected to continue to recuperate at the clinic for the next several days, according to a statement released Monday afternoon by his chief of staff, Penny Circle.

Ford, the nation's oldest living former president, was admitted on Aug. 15 for tests and evaluation. At that time, neither Circle nor the Mayo Clinic provided any details about his condition, the AP reported.

In July, Ford spent a few days at a Colorado hospital due to shortness of breath. In January, he spent 12 days in a California hospital for treatment of pneumonia. Five years ago, Ford spent about a week in hospital after he suffered two small strokes.

World's Oldest Man Turns 115

The oldest man in the world turned 115 on Monday and said a healthy diet and avoiding alcohol are the reasons he has lived so long, the Associated Press reported.

"I never damaged my body with liquor," said Emiliano Mercado del Toro of Puerto Rico.

While he never drank alcohol, Mercado did smoke for 76 years, a habit he kicked when he was 90. He's wheelchair-bound, has difficulty hearing, and has been blind for four years. But he says he's happy.

Mercado lives with his 84-year-old niece in the northwestern coastal town of Isabella, the AP reported.

At his birthday celebration Monday, Mercado was serenaded by his favorite singer, Iris Chacon. The party was held at an outdoor plaza and included family, friends and the mayor of Isabella.

The oldest woman in the world is 116-year-old Maria Esther de Capovilla of Ecuador. Her next birthday is on September 14.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Health Headlines - August 22

New Chewing Gum Fights Cavities

Chewing gum that contains "friendly" lactobacillus bacteria that help prevent tooth decay has been developed by the German chemical company BASF and could be introduced to the market in 2007, The Herald in the U.K. reported.

The strain of lactobacillus in the gum fights streptococcus mutans bacteria that cause tooth decay by sticking the surface of teeth and producing a powerful acid that breaks down enamel.

The lactobacillus anti-caries in the gum forces streptococcus mutans to clump together. That prevents the bacteria from sticking to teeth and makes it easy to rinse them out of the mouth, The Herald reported.

Tests showed that the chewing gum could reduce the amount of harmful bacteria in the mouth by 50 times, according to an article in Chemistry & Industry magazine.

It's believed that BASF is also developing other related bacteria products, including toothpaste, mouthwashes, and deodorant, The Herald reported.

British Man Killed by Rabbit Flu

A 29-year-old Suffolk farmer is believed to be Britain's first victim of rabbit flu and his mother is warning others about the potentially deadly disease, BBC News reported.

"People should just be aware that there is this dreadful thing around and potentially it's lethal," warned Joan Freeman.

The victim, John Freeman, became infected in early August after he picked up a rabbit on his farm. He became ill and died four days later.

Health officials said Freeman died from septicemia after becoming infected with Pasteurella multocida bacteria, which causes pasteurellosis (rabbit flu).

This bacteria is common among many domestic animals, including dogs and cats, a Health Protection Agency spokesman told BBC News. But he said he wasn't aware of any other cases of fatal rabbit-to-human transmission of the bacteria.

Each year a few people are infected with the bacteria, usually from dogs or cats, and deaths are rare, the spokesman said.

HIV Flicks Switch to Disarm Immune Cells

When the body's immune system sends T cells to attack HIV -- the virus that causes AIDS -- the virus disarms the T cells by flicking a molecular switch on the cells, according to a U.S. study in the journal Nature.

In laboratory tests, the researchers found a way to jam this switch and restore T cell function. The findings may lead to more effective treatments for HIV/AIDS, BBC News reported.

There are already drugs available that can do this, but they may not be specific enough and could cause serious side effects, said the study authors. More research needs to be done, they said.

"One has to proceed with real caution because if you turn back on an immune system regulatory switch that the body has decided to turn off, you could trigger serious immunological problems," lead scientist Bruce Walker, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital, told BBC News.

For this study, the scientists analyzed blood samples from 71 people who'd recently been infected with HIV but had not yet started antiretroviral therapy. The researchers also studied blood samples taken from four HIV-positive patients before and after they started treatment.

Discovery May Lead to Lyme Disease Vaccine

A newly-identified immune system trigger for fighting Lyme disease could help in the development of a new vaccine to prevent the tick-borne disorder, say researchers at California's La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology.

The international study found that Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, contains a glycolipid that triggers an immune response from the body's natural killer T cells.

This is one of the few glycolipids that naturally induces an immune response from T cells, the researchers said. Their findings were published Sunday in the online edition of the journal Nature Immunology.

Lyme disease, which is transmitted to people through the bite of an infected tick, can cause fever, headache, fatigue, and skin rashes. Left untreated, the infection can spread to the joints, heart, and nervous system, causing serious health problems.

Jury Selection Slated in First Prempro Trial

Jury selection is to begin Monday in the first trial of 4,500 lawsuits filed in the United States alleging that the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drug Prempro causes breast cancer and other health problems.

This federal court case against drug maker Wyeth involves Linda Reeves, who says she developed breast cancer after taking Prempro for eight years, the Associated Press reported.

According to Reeves' lawyers, there's evidence that Wyeth willfully ignored known dangers of the drug, including an increased risk for breast cancer. The drugmaker says it didn't ignore the risks and that Prempro's label warned about the risk of breast cancer.

In 2002, a Women's Health Initiative study concluded that women who took Prempro -- a widely prescribed combination of estrogen-progestin -- had an increased risk of breast cancer, coronary heart disease, and stroke.

Indonesia Downplays Likelihood of Bird Flu Cluster

Even though at least three Indonesians in the same area of West Java have been infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus, officials are downplaying the likelihood of a bird flu cluster case, Agence France Presse reported.

All three confirmed cases were from Cikelet, a group of villages in the Garut district. Two of the three patients died. While three other people from the area also died after exhibiting symptoms of bird flu, they were buried before they could be tested for H5N1.

A cluster case refers to human-to-human transmission of the bird flu virus, rather than infection through contact with sick birds. It's believed that cluster cases increase the risk of the H5N1 virus mutating into a form that's easily spread among people.

Despite the multiple cases in this one area, Indonesian officials say they don't yet have enough evidence to label it a cluster case.

"We cannot yet classify it as a cluster because the distance between one patient with the others was too far for them to have had contact," I Nyoman Kandun, director of the health ministry's communicable disease control center, told AFP.

Indonesia has reported 46 bird flu deaths, the most of any country in the world. Health experts have criticized Indonesia for failing to take prompt action to curb the spread of the bird flu virus by conducting mass slaughters of poultry.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Health Headlines - August 21

Snail Toxin May Hold Clue in Developing Neurological Drugs

Until now, the cone snail has been nothing more than a "hands-off" venomous mollusk that lives in tropical waters, an animal to be avoided. Its poison could kill a human.

But University of Utah researchers say they've discovered that a nerve toxin found in the 9-inch snail may be a key in developing drugs to combat a host of neurological diseases, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.

According to a university news release, scientists say the toxin has the ability to "glom" onto the brain's nicotine receptors. The research team was headed by J. Michael McIntosh, a University of Utah research professor of biology, professor and research director of psychiatry.

This isn't McIntosh's first encounter with turning toxins into medicines. As a University of Utah freshman in 1979, he helped discover the poisonous substance that eventually became Prialt, an injectable drug approved by the FDA in 2004. Prialt treats pain caused by a variety of ailments, from back surgery to AIDS.

The new toxin interacts with the same receptors that respond to nicotine, the researchers say. "Those are the same types of receptors you activate if you smoke a cigarette," McIntosh says. In turn, this triggers a neurotransmission, establishing communication between nerve cells.

"That's important," he concludes, "because if you had compounds to facilitate the release of one neurotransmitter and not another neurotransmitter, that opens up medicinal potential."

The research will be published in the Aug. 25 edition of The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

China Faces a New Health Problem: Obesity

Here's another sign indicating that China has emerged as a modern, industrialized society --- it's citizenry is gaining weight, so much so that obesity may soon be a national problem.

BBC News reports on research in a special China edition of the British Medical Journal, which cites a 15 year study that shows people in China are becoming overweight at an "alarming rate."

The report uses a study by Professor Wu Yangfeng of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, showing a 28-fold increase in the number of overweight and obese children between 1985 and 2000.

There may be a number of reasons for this, Wu writes in his report, including more use of automobiles and the availability of more foods with high fat content. Then there is also the Chinese equation between being overweight and being prosperous.

"This is perhaps a consequence of China's recent history, where famine and chronic malnutrition caused the deaths of millions of people," Wu concludes.

New Test May Be Able to Detect Anthrax in Less Than an Hour

One of the biggest difficulties public health authorities would have in combating a widespread anthrax attack would be in quickly being able to diagnose who had it.

Now, Swiss researchers say they may have found a way to easily test for anthrax.

BBC News reports that researchers from Bern University have developed a molecule in laboratory mice that quickly identifies the deadly anthrax bacterium.

In doing so, says lead researcher Peter Seeberger, a test may be completed in less than an hour on a person suspected of having come in contact with anthrax spores. Additionally, anthrax researcher Jim Uhl from the Mayo Clinic says that such a test may be useful in testing metropolitan areas for anthrax.

"Tests like this might have great utility for cities that are testing the air. People could develop assays that could sit on top of buildings and sniff out the air for anthrax," BBC News quotes Uhl as saying.

The findings were published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

Agent Orange Ruling May Mean Benefits for Thousands More Viet Vets

A federal appeals court has opened the door for a whole new category Vietnam veterans to receive medical benefits for exposure to Agent Orange, a widely-used defoliate that has caused illness and disability for thousands of soldiers who served in Vietnam.

The Associated Press reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a former sailor who served aboard an ammunition ship off the South Vietnam coast but was never in Vietnam itself.

The plaintiff, Jonathan L. Haas, had been denied his claim for benefits by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the wire service reported. As with many veterans who had been part of the land operations in Vietnam, Haas claimed Agent Orange exposure was responsible for his diabetes, nerve damage and loss of eyesight.

The basis for his claim was that so much Agent Orange was sprayed in the jungles that it formed into clouds, drifted out to sea and exposed his ship and everyone on it to the same toxic chemicals that foot soldiers experienced.

"Veterans serving on vessels in close proximity to land would have the same risk of exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange as veterans serving on adjacent land, or an even greater risk than that borne by those veterans who may have visited and set foot on the land of the Republic of Vietnam only briefly," the wire service quotes Judge William A. Moorman as writing in the courts decision.

While thousands of veterans -- most of them from the U.S. Navy -- may qualify, the A.P. reports that they should file their applications quickly, because the court was vague on whether the V.A. had the right to rewrite the regulations so that those serving on boats could be excluded.

Maker of 'Morning-After' Pill Reapplies to FDA

The maker of the controversial Plan B "morning-after" pill has resubmitted an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell the emergency contraceptive without a prescription, the Associated Press reported Friday.

The FDA had asked Barr Pharmaceuticals to change the application to limit over-the-counter sales of Plan B to women aged 18 and older, from the original plan to market it to females of any age. Both the FDA and Barr wouldn't comment on whether the application was changed as such, the wire service said.

Plan B is now available in most states only by prescription. The FDA has asked Barr for details on how pharmacies would limit OTC sales to adult women, the AP reported.

"Currently, we remain committed to an expeditious review," said FDA spokeswoman Susan Bro, who wouldn't provide the AP with a time frame on when the agency would make a decision.

Plan B, taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, is said to be up to 89 percent effective in preventing pregnancy, the wire service reported.

Combination Chemotherapy Benefits Lung Cancer Patients

Combination chemotherapy with vinorelbine and cisplatin after tumor removal surgery lengthened lung cancer patient survival by 8 percent, says a French study published in the The Lancet Oncology journal.

The trial included 840 patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer, the most common form of lung cancer.

"Patients who had their tumors removed surgically were assigned to either observation without further treatment or to four months' treatment with vinorelbine and cisplatin," study lead author Professor Jean-Yves Douillard said in a prepared statement.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Health Headlines - August 20

New Test May Be Able to Detect Anthrax in Less Than an Hour

One of the biggest difficulties public health authorities would have in combating a widespread anthrax attack would be in quickly being able to diagnose who had it.

Now, Swiss researchers say they may have found a way to easily test for anthrax.

BBC News reports that researchers from Bern University have developed a molecule in laboratory mice that quickly identifies the deadly anthrax bacterium.

In doing so, says lead researcher Peter Seeberger, a test may be completed in less than an hour on a person suspected of having come in contact with anthrax spores. Additionally, anthrax researcher Jim Uhl from the Mayo Clinic says that such a test may be useful in testing metropolitan areas for anthrax.

"Tests like this might have great utility for cities that are testing the air. People could develop assays that could sit on top of buildings and sniff out the air for anthrax," BBC News quotes Uhl as saying.

The findings were published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

Agent Orange Ruling May Mean Benefits for Thousands More Viet Vets

A federal appeals court has opened the door for a whole new category Vietnam veterans to receive medical benefits for exposure to Agent Orange, a widely-used defoliate that has caused illness and disability for thousands of soldiers who served in Vietnam.

The Associated Press reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a former sailor who served aboard an ammunition ship off the South Vietnam coast but was never in Vietnam itself.

The plaintiff, Jonathan L. Haas, had been denied his claim for benefits by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the wire service reported. As with many veterans who had been part of the land operations in Vietnam, Haas claimed Agent Orange exposure was responsible for his diabetes, nerve damage and loss of eyesight.

The basis for his claim was that so much Agent Orange was sprayed in the jungles that it formed into clouds, drifted out to sea and exposed his ship and everyone on it to the same toxic chemicals that foot soldiers experienced.

"Veterans serving on vessels in close proximity to land would have the same risk of exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange as veterans serving on adjacent land, or an even greater risk than that borne by those veterans who may have visited and set foot on the land of the Republic of Vietnam only briefly," the wire service quotes Judge William A. Moorman as writing in the courts decision.

While thousands of veterans -- most of them from the U.S. Navy -- may qualify, the A.P. reports that they should file their applications quickly, because the court was vague on whether the V.A. had the right to rewrite the regulations so that those serving on boats could be excluded.

Maker of 'Morning-After' Pill Reapplies to FDA

The maker of the controversial Plan B "morning-after" pill has resubmitted an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell the emergency contraceptive without a prescription, the Associated Press reported Friday.

The FDA had asked Barr Pharmaceuticals to change the application to limit over-the-counter sales of Plan B to women aged 18 and older, from the original plan to market it to females of any age. Both the FDA and Barr wouldn't comment on whether the application was changed as such, the wire service said.

Plan B is now available in most states only by prescription. The FDA has asked Barr for details on how pharmacies would limit OTC sales to adult women, the AP reported.

"Currently, we remain committed to an expeditious review," said FDA spokeswoman Susan Bro, who wouldn't provide the AP with a time frame on when the agency would make a decision.

Plan B, taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, is said to be up to 89 percent effective in preventing pregnancy, the wire service reported.

Combination Chemotherapy Benefits Lung Cancer Patients

Combination chemotherapy with vinorelbine and cisplatin after tumor removal surgery lengthened lung cancer patient survival by 8 percent, says a French study published in the The Lancet Oncology journal.

The trial included 840 patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer, the most common form of lung cancer.

"Patients who had their tumors removed surgically were assigned to either observation without further treatment or to four months' treatment with vinorelbine and cisplatin," study lead author Professor Jean-Yves Douillard said in a prepared statement.

"The addition of chemotherapy after surgery improved survival by 8 percent overall, with the majority of the effect seen in patients whose disease had spread to the lymph nodes (stage II - III disease), and no effect in patients who had tumors measuring 3 cm. or larger that had not spread to the lymph nodes," he said.

Virus Mixture Safe to Use on Meats and Poultry: FDA

A mixture of six bacteria-eating viruses is safe to spray on meats and poultry in order to destroy strains of a dangerous bacterium that can cause serious illness and death, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled Friday.

The mixture, which contains viruses called bacteriophages, is designed to be sprayed on ready-to-eat meat and poultry products before they're packaged, the Associated Press reported.

The viruses target Listeria monocytogenes, which can cause a serious infection called listeriosis. Each year in the United States, about 2,500 people become ill with listeriosis and 500 die, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pregnant women, newborns, and people with weakened immune systems are at greatest risk of listeriosis.

The virus mixture is made by Intralytix Inc. of Baltimore. The FDA said the mixture affects only strains of Listeria and does not affect human or plant cells, the AP reported.

U.S. Teens Party with Drugs and Alcohol Under Parents' Noses

Many American teens party with drugs and alcohol even when parents are at home, according to a new study by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

The survey included 1,297 young people, aged 12 to 17. Nearly a third of them reported using alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy, and prescription drugs at parties where host parents were present, Newsday reported.

Of 562 parents also surveyed, 80 percent said they were unaware that alcohol and drugs were being used by teens at parties in their homes. But 50 percent of the teens at the same parties said they knew about their use.

"That shows just how out of touch the parents are," Joseph A. Califano, chairman and president of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, told Newsday.

The amount of drug and alcohol use apparently was much higher when parents weren't home, the survey found. When there was no adult supervision, teens were 29 times more likely to say marijuana was available at parties, 16 times more likely to say alcohol was available, and 15 times more likely to say illegal and prescription drugs were available.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Health Headlines - August 19

Maker of 'Morning-After' Pill Reapplies to FDA

The maker of the controversial Plan B "morning-after" pill has resubmitted an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell the emergency contraceptive without a prescription, the Associated Press reported Friday.

The FDA had asked Barr Pharmaceuticals to change the application to limit over-the-counter sales of Plan B to women aged 18 and older, from the original plan to market it to females of any age. Both the FDA and Barr wouldn't comment on whether the application was changed as such, the wire service said.

Plan B is now available in most states only by prescription. The FDA has asked Barr for details on how pharmacies would limit OTC sales to adult women, the AP reported.

"Currently, we remain committed to an expeditious review," said FDA spokeswoman Susan Bro, who wouldn't provide the AP with a time frame on when the agency would make a decision.

Plan B, taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, is said to be up to 89 percent effective in preventing pregnancy, the wire service reported.

Combination Chemotherapy Benefits Lung Cancer Patients

Combination chemotherapy with vinorelbine and cisplatin after tumor removal surgery lengthened lung cancer patient survival by 8 percent, says a French study published in the The Lancet Oncology journal.

The trial included 840 patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer, the most common form of lung cancer.

"Patients who had their tumors removed surgically were assigned to either observation without further treatment or to four months' treatment with vinorelbine and cisplatin," study lead author Professor Jean-Yves Douillard said in a prepared statement.

"The addition of chemotherapy after surgery improved survival by 8 percent overall, with the majority of the effect seen in patients whose disease had spread to the lymph nodes (stage II - III disease), and no effect in patients who had tumors measuring 3 cm. or larger that had not spread to the lymph nodes," he said.

Virus Mixture Safe to Use on Meats and Poultry: FDA

A mixture of six bacteria-eating viruses is safe to spray on meats and poultry in order to destroy strains of a dangerous bacterium that can cause serious illness and death, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled Friday.

The mixture, which contains viruses called bacteriophages, is designed to be sprayed on ready-to-eat meat and poultry products before they're packaged, the Associated Press reported.

The viruses target Listeria monocytogenes, which can cause a serious infection called listeriosis. Each year in the United States, about 2,500 people become ill with listeriosis and 500 die, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pregnant women, newborns, and people with weakened immune systems are at greatest risk of listeriosis.

The virus mixture is made by Intralytix Inc. of Baltimore. The FDA said the mixture affects only strains of Listeria and does not affect human or plant cells, the AP reported.

U.S. Teens Party with Drugs and Alcohol Under Parents' Noses

Many American teens party with drugs and alcohol even when parents are at home, according to a new study by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

The survey included 1,297 young people, aged 12 to 17. Nearly a third of them reported using alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy, and prescription drugs at parties where host parents were present, Newsday reported.

Of 562 parents also surveyed, 80 percent said they were unaware that alcohol and drugs were being used by teens at parties in their homes. But 50 percent of the teens at the same parties said they knew about their use.

"That shows just how out of touch the parents are," Joseph A. Califano, chairman and president of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, told Newsday.

The amount of drug and alcohol use apparently was much higher when parents weren't home, the survey found. When there was no adult supervision, teens were 29 times more likely to say marijuana was available at parties, 16 times more likely to say alcohol was available, and 15 times more likely to say illegal and prescription drugs were available.

Cigarette Makers Conspired to Deceive Public: Ruling

A new federal ruling offered U.S. cigarette makers a mix of bad news and good news.

Judge Gladys Kessler found that the companies had conspired for decades to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking, which resulted in "an immeasurable amount of human suffering," The New York Times reported.

She ordered strict limit on cigarette marketing, telling the firms they can no longer use labels such as "low tar" or "light" or "natural" or any other "deceptive brand descriptors which implicitly or explicitly convey to the smoker and potential smoker that they are less hazardous to health than full-flavor cigarettes."

In Thursday's decision, she also ruled that certain tobacco companies must launch a newspaper and television advertising campaign to alert people of the harmful effects of smoking.

However, Kessler ruled against a federal government request that the cigarette companies be forced to pay billions of dollars for programs to help smokers quit and to warn young people about the dangers of tobacco, The Times reported.

Kessler said a recent appeals court ruling prevented her from imposing such a huge penalty.

Details Emerge About Alleged Secret Plavix Deal

There are new details about an alleged secret deal reached to delay introduction of a generic form of the blockbuster heart drug Plavix, The New York Times reported.

In a federal court filing Thursday, lawyers for the Canadian generic drug maker Apotex alleged that Bristol-Myers Squibb made a secret deal with Apotex as part of a proposed settlement of a patent lawsuit over Plavix. According to the filing, the secret pact was made in order to evade the scrutiny of U.S. regulators reviewing the settlement, the Times reported.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Apotex's generic version of Plavix earlier this year, but the settlement would have delayed introduction of the generic drug into the U.S. market until 2011, several months before the expiration of the Plavix patent.

Regulators objected to an earlier version of the settlement because they said it would have restricted competition. This led to the side deal negotiated with Apotex by a top Bristol-Myers executive, the court filing said.

Under the alleged secret provisions:

* Apotex would receive a six-month head start to introduce its generic drug in 2011, before Bristol-Myers and its French marketing partner, Sanofi-Aventis, introduced their own generic version of Plavix.

* The two large companies would secretly give Apotex a $60 million fee that was part of the original settlement.

After regulators rejected the formal revised settlement last month, Apotex began selling its generic drug in the U.S. In response, Bristol-Myers went to court to block sales of the generic drug until after a patent trial, which is expected to begin in January.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Health Headlines - August 18

Merck Has 2 Legal Setbacks Over Vioxx

A U.S. federal court jury in New Orleans on Thursday ordered drug maker Merck to pay $51 million to a former FBI agent who said his 2002 heart attack was caused by the painkiller Vioxx.

Merck had argued that 62-year-old Gerald Barnett's history of heart disease was to blame for his heart attack, Bloomberg news reported.

In a second legal setback for the company, a state judge in New Jersey overturned a November trial decision that favored Merck, the Associated Press reported. State Superior Court Judge Carol Higbee ruled that new evidence showed Merck withheld information linking Vioxx use of more than 18 months with a greater risk of heart attack, the wire service said.

The New Orleans verdict was Merck's fourth loss in nine Vioxx trials, Bloomberg said. The company withdrew the drug from the market in 2004 after studies concluded that the painkiller increased the risk of heart attack and stroke in some patients.

Merck faces more than 16,000 Vioxx lawsuits and says it plans to fight each one in court. It's budgeted about $1 billion for legal costs to defend itself but has not put aside any money for liability, Bloomberg reported.

Some Online Games Promote Sociability: Study

They're often criticized for isolating people from one another or being a waste of time, but some popular online video games actually "promote sociability and new worldviews," according to an American study.

Researchers at the University of Illinois-Champaign and the University of Wisconsin-Madison studied the form and function of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs). They concluded that the games don't isolate people, but act as virtual coffee shops or pubs where "social bridging" occurs, United Press International reported.

Examples of positive kinds of MMOs include "Asheron's Call" and "Lineage."

"By providing places for social interaction and relationships beyond the workplace and homes, MMOs have the capacity to function much like the hangouts of old," the study authors wrote. In fact, the lack of real world hangouts is what's behind the popularity of MMOs, they added.

Their findings are published in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication.

Target Recalls Firestreet Scooters

Target is recalling about 185,000 F Forward Firestreet Scooters with parts that can break while in use, which could cause falls and injuries.

The scooters' handlebars, wheels and wheel brakes can break and detach. Target has received five reports of incidents and injuries from falls, including a broken arm, cracked teeth, bruises to the head, face and arm, a lacerated toe, and scratches, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said.


The recalled red or blue aluminum scooters have a fold-down frame and model number BZ 020 SP. The "F Forward" logo is on the stem, wheel or base deck of the scooters. They were sold across the U.S. for about $24 from February 2004 through July 2006.

Consumers with these scooters should return them to the nearest Target store, where they'll receive a $24 gift card, plus applicable sales tax. For more information, contact Target at 1-800-440-0680 between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. CT, Monday through Friday.

Fewer Doctors Accepting Medicaid Patients

It's becoming more difficult for U.S. Medicaid beneficiaries to find a doctor who'll take new patients and the program's low reimbursement rates are a major reason for the problem, according to a study by the Center for Studying Health System Change.

The rate of doctors who don't accept new Medicaid patients has increased from about 19.5 percent in the mid-1990s to about 21 percent in recent years, the Associated Press reported.

The study noted that, on average, Medicaid reimbursement rates to doctors are 69 percent of what Medicare pays and an even lower percentage of what's paid out by private insurers.

Administrative hassles are another common complaint from doctors. For example, they need to get approval from Medicaid before they can prescribe medications or order tests for patients, the study said.

The decline in doctors who'll accept new Medicaid patients is much more pronounced among those in solo or small group practices. This means that more and more Medicaid patients are forced to go to large practices for care, the AP reported.

Government cuts to Medicaid have made it harder for doctors to provide care to program beneficiaries, said Dr. J. Edward Hill, immediate past president of the American Medical Association.

"This unsettling data comes as little surprise given Medicaid's high administrative costs and low payment rates, while the overhead costs associated with practicing medicine continue to increase," Hill told the AP.

Anthrax Killed Drum Maker in Scotland

Anthrax from spores in animal skins likely killed a man in Scotland in early July, health officials say.

Drum maker Christopher "Pasqual" Norris, 50, died July 8 but the cause of his death wasn't known at the time. Tests suggest that he died from anthrax contracted from animal skins he used to make drums, The Times Online reported.

The man's house has been sealed off and officials have set up an incident control team. The disease is not passed from person to person and there's no reason to believe there's any risk to other people, Health Protection Scotland said.

Ten of 30 people who recently visited Norris have been given a course of antibiotics.

This was the first human case of anthrax in Scotland in nearly 20 years, and the first death in more than 30 years, The Times Online reported.

This case is similar to a February incident in the United States, when a 44-year-old New York City man was diagnosed with inhaled anthrax he contracted by working with African animal hides used to make drums.

The man had to be hospitalized but recovered from the illness.

Gene May Help Explain Complex Human Brain

A gene that's undergone major mutations in the last five million years may be one reason why humans have much more complex brains than other animals, say researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

The HAR1 gene is active in a time of peak brain growth during embryonic development. The gene is present in the same cells that help build the cerebral cortex, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The gene appears to exist in the brains of all animals and has changed little over hundreds of millions of years. But that's not the case in humans, where HAR1 has changed significantly over the last few million years, the study said.

Today, about 10 percent of the human HAR1 gene is different than the HAR1 gene in chimpanzees, which may explain why human brains are three times larger than chimp brains, the Tribune reported.

The findings may help scientists better understand the human brain's genetic building blocks. The study was published Wednesday in the online edition of the journal Nature.