Health Meaning

Confirmed first US death from swine flu is visiting Mexican Boy -

Houston Department of Health and Human Services says a child of 23 months, from Texas died Monday night swine flu. The child had recently traveled with family members in Mexico. HDHHS the press conference on the issue takes place at the moment

Update :. The boy is from Mexico and was visiting relatives in Texas. He had been ill since April 8 and had underlying health problems.

Stock buy soap? -

A survey which measures how much Americans know and are concerned about the outbreak of swine flu conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health estimates that hand washing is increasing ( 59% do it more often) and other viewpoints.

Meanwhile, Harvard has closed its schools of medicine and dental care because of campus
case.

the outbreak may have started in Canada? -

According to the apparently erroneous assumption of the Canadian government that the origin of the swine flu epidemic was probably nothing to do with domestic pigs, if this fact?

On May 2, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency had this to say about the epidemic in a swine herd in Alberta A (H1N1): "It is very likely that pigs were exposed to the virus from a Canadian who had recently returned from Mexico and had been exhibiting symptoms similar to the flu. "now, it happens that the farm worker tested negative for the virus .

So what if it were the other way, the virus originated in Canadian pigs and infected a human who then traveled to Mexico?

Looking at the epidemiological figures today, it is possible that the epidemic began among Canadian pigs.

Canada has 165 confirmed human cases in a population of 33 million people. The United States, which probably similar testing capabilities, has 642 confirmed cases and a population of 304 million. Thus, Canada has 2.3 times more cases per million inhabitants than the United States. Mexico, by comparison, has 822 cases in a population of 109 million, which means it has 3.5 times more cases than the United States. Canada reported that the virus has infected 220 pigs, and no other country has yet found in pigs.

The number of cases, of course, are affected by the number of samples tested and the capacity of laboratories in the country, but epidemiologists listen to the best information they have at present, and c is what the numbers say right now.

Back to my speculation Canada-human Mexico. What if this hypothetical carrier infected Mexicans in a rural area, perhaps he was a trader and the pig virus then spread to Mexico, which has a population of about 20 million, much larger than that of all Canadian cities? Mexican or Canadian power infected then went to the US and started the epidemic here.

A fine line, of course, speculation separates a dirty word in science hypothesis.

and that which, if perhaps not, as they say, "highly probable" it is possible that many of the most accepted theories making the rounds in the scientific and public health as well .

The rapid rise (and fall?) Of the controversial theory Lab accident caused flu epidemic -

has retired virologist from the factory of Australia caused an international uproar by proposing an accident manufacturing vaccine may have created the conduct of the virus swine flu epidemic in progress. Many great scholars flu immediately rejected the hand theory or outright refused to talk. "Oh, come on, forget this," said virologist Peter Palese of the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. But scientists from the flu to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) -which have the same deep skepticism about the theory were forced to examine the evidence evidence and discuss publicly what a lot of people is an idea Far- recovered.

Adrian Gibbs, who worked at the Australian National University in Canberra for 39 years before hanging up her blouse in 05, came up with this hypothesis, although his specialty is the virus of the potato he is no stranger to the genetics of flu or controversy. He previously published studies science and Nature question the supposed origin of birds from the strain of the 1918 influenza epidemic

As Gibbs explained science Insider the last epidemic has taken him across the public databases and compare the genes of recently discovered a (H1N1), which is a mixture of swine, avian, and human-influenzae with his closest ancestors. He confirmed, as others have reported that six of the eight genes appear to come from North America and two others came from Eurasia, which suggested to him that there were two parental viruses which had "reassortant" (fluspeak for handset).

Gibbs, who still lives in Canberra, then took this seemingly innocuous idea in a field which has been the eyes of influenza experts are wide. Gibbs said he discovered that eight genes of the viruses have evolved at a much faster pace than expected. Basically, he calculated this by looking at the virus mutation rate known flu and comparing the changes in the new strain with changes in its closest relatives. "It is clear that all eight genes have accelerated since 7 years," Gibbs said. "It struck me as really, really strange." He could not imagine how a parent strain could. "But how the hell are two viruses do?" He asks.

traversed Google, Gibbs found a possible explanation. "I came across an ad for a vaccine against influenza in pigs that contained three viruses different, "he said. the vaccine was supposed to contain killed versions of the virus, but there was a laboratory accident and some had survived? specifically, the two human vaccines and pigs manufacturers use eggs grow the virus, Gibbs notes that studies have shown that this odd bird environment can accelerate their evolution. If these viruses are not properly killed, they could have reassortant in a pig and created the new H1N1 strain. "do not kill the virus could explain it very carefully, but it is only one of many possibilities, "says Gibbs.

When Gibbs phoned someone he would describe as a WHO friend who was "in the thick of it", he said there was silence on the other end of the line . the friend agreed to read and circulate a paper Gibbs wrote that Gibbs sent May 8 the story soon leaked to the press, and the document has quickly made its way to other leaders of the effort against the swine flu, including the chief of the influenza division of the CDC, Nancy Cox. "the premise that the rate of evolution of individual genes in this virus is faster than normal is false," said Cox, who has made many studies on the evolution of influenza. Cox said that Gibbs chose former bad virus to calculate how the change took place. in fact, he had not calibrated their clock, she said. " it gets artificially faster rates of evolution, "says Cox. "So there is no need to postulate another host, either eggs or other natural hosts."

Cox points out that CDC has an open mind on the possible origins of the virus, and as part of its own routine analysis had looked for signs of contamination or laboratory error. "We had all these basic analysis early and had no indication that there was not natural for these viruses," says Cox. And it noted that CDC puts the viral sequences in public databases so that investigators such as Gibbs can make alternative analyzes. "This is what scientific research is all about," she said. "And when someone says that the origin could not have been natural, it is important for us to go back and look at this methodology to understand Therefore this research has achieved the results it by. "

the bottom line is that Cox, Palese, and others say that there is no need to invoke a complicated theory the origin of H1N1. "Our level of understanding of influenza viruses and how they evolve and restocking in nature is such that assuming this is a huge stretch, because we know that Mother nature is so creative and so provides reassortant of different genes, "says Cox.

Gibbs said he did not mind criticism of his idea, and he presented his paper to an open access journal so that he can receive adequate ventilation. "scientists are trained to be iconoclasts, not to believe what they're told," he said. "And they do not believe until they really had a good go at it."

New Clue to protection against cancer in Down syndrome -

Down syndrome causes mental retardation and a host of health problems. But it also seems to protect people against cancer. Researchers have now found a potential genetic mechanism of this protective effect. The findings could one day lead to cancer prevention treatments in the general population.

People with Down syndrome have three copies of chromosome 21 instead of the standard two. This means they have an extra copy of each of the 231 genes on this chromosome. Because studies have suggested that these people also have a lower incidence of colon, breast and other solid tumor cancers, researchers have long wondered if any of these additional genes might confer protection. Last year, geneticist Roger Reeves of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues found that the version of the mouse one of tripled genes - called Ets2 - suppresses the formation tumors in mice, although the mechanism remains unclear ( science NOW, January 2, 08).

The new findings suggest another gene and a clear mechanism. Researcher Sandra Ryeom Cancer Hospital Boston Children and colleagues target a gene on chromosome 21 called DSCR1 (also known as RCAN1 ). Previous work suggested that the protein produced by this gene interferes with the formation of blood vessels, or angiogenesis. Inhibition of angiogenesis is a strategy to stop the growth of the tumor, so Ryeom and his colleagues wondered if this could happen in Down syndrome.

To investigate, the researchers first examined the human fetal tissue electively aborted to see if the gene was overactive in people with Down syndrome. It was: DSCR1 protein levels were 1.8 times higher than normal. Next, the team created a strain of mice with an extra copy of the version of the mouse DSCR1 gene. An additional copy of this gene alone was enough to suppress angiogenesis and inhibit the growth of transplanted tumors in these mice, reports the team in issue tomorrow Nature .

"This is a really interesting what we know about the resistance to tumors" in people with Down syndrome, said Reeves. He and Ryeom agree that the protective effects of DSCR1 and Ets2 probably different mechanisms, with Ets2 acting at an early stage before tumors are large enough initiate angiogenesis. And there are probably other genes implicated in the protective effect, said Ryeom.

Ryeom hope the findings will lead to better cancer treatment strategies in the general population. Drugs that inhibit angiogenesis have generated much hope (and hype) in the late 190s, but success so far has been modest. This new point working components of the signaling pathway of angiogenesis could be more effective target of the drug, said Ryeom. Otherwise, she said, blocking angiogenesis could function better as a preventive measure than as a cure. Compounds that block angiogenesis are relatively non-toxic to adults, Ryeom notes, and she thinks it might be possible to develop a low-dose anticancer drug that people might take as a vitamin. The idea is good biological sense, but there would be serious regulatory hurdles for any drug to be used before people develop cancer, said David Threadgill, a geneticist at the State University North Carolina in Raleigh.

Aspirin So Long, Hello Silver -

Millions of people worldwide are prone to dangerous blood clots. researchers have now had an early success with a new way to prevent - and strokes, heart attacks and pulmonary embolisms they cause. nanosized particles of silver can stop sticky blood cells called platelets to cling together in laboratory mice strains, reports the team.

Platelets help stop bleeding body. But if they agglutinate too, they may also form clots in the blood. DVT, for example, can form in the leg and block blood flow. If the clot is not broken quickly using injections of powerful anticoagulants, it can break off and cut off the blood supply to the heart or brain, with fatal consequences. As a result, nearly 500 million patients worldwide coagulation-related disorders - including this reporter -. Must take daily doses of anticoagulants, which carry the dangers of their own, as spontaneous and uncontrollable internal bleeding

The key is to find an agent which prevents platelets from sticking together too without hindering their ability to shunt bleeding. Recent research on silver nanoparticles - tiny metal grains to less than 1 / 50,000th the width of a human hair - have indicated that they might do the trick. So a biomedical team of the Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, India, began to explore their potential, in collaboration with materials science colleagues at the university and the international advanced Research Center for Powder Metallurgy and new materials in Balapur, India.

researchers injected mice with the genetically modified blood to be prone to clotting and then administered nanosilver. As reports of the online team in ACS Nano , nano-silver particles inhibit the ability of platelets sticky surface proteins to bind the cells together into aggregates, just like adding sand tape reduces its ability to stick. "This helps the nano-silver to keep platelets in an inactive state," says biochemist and co-author Debabrata Dash of Banaras. The nanoparticles were "much more effective" than current therapies, he said. At the same time the nanoparticles do not interfere with other proteins in the blood that help form clots, as do conventional anticoagulants, so that the risk of uncontrolled bleeding is reduced.

Dash notes that the nanoparticles appear "to be safe enough for human beings", but like any new medical technology, they will study the potential toxic effects.

cell biologist Jonathan Gibbins of the University of Reading in the UK agrees that caution is warranted. "The work is at a relatively early stage, with key issues such as toxicity and the remaining mechanisms of action to treat potential," he said. "But this is certainly a new and unexpected dimension to platelet research." Similarly, biochemist Stan Heptinstall the University of Nottingham in the UK warns that the research is "the beginning." The key question, he says, is whether nanosilver will impair the important functions for blood clotting in human body.

The continuing mystery of how Canadian Pigs caught the flu virus Novel -

On May 2, a pig farm in Alberta, Canada, has made international news when authorities revealed that the animals perform this novel H1N1 virus causing the swine flu outbreak in humans, the first and still the only known infected pigs. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said it was "highly probable" that a Canadian who had recently traveled to Mexico and returned with symptoms similar to the flu had infected pigs. At press conferences on May 2 and May 7, Canadian officials explained that because the farmer did not buy pigs from other farms, the "entrepreneur" who had gone to Mexico was the source most likely the virus. This scenario excluded the possibility that the pigs were infected before humans and may have held clues to the origin of the epidemic.

It is found that the contractor, Adrian Blaak, was a carpenter who had worked on the farm for one day, April 14, exchanging vents on a pigsty. Although Blaak felt sick that day, he had minimal direct contact with pigs. The farmer first noticed the disease in its swine herd on April 24. Officials suspected that quickly Blaak was the source of infection of pigs, but his symptoms had resolved by then how it is usually difficult to find the virus. nasopharyngeal swabs taken from him, as expected, were negative for the H1N1 novel. At a May 7 press conference Frank Plummer, who heads the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, a branch of the Agency of Public Health of Canada (PHAC) said they would test the blood samples Blaak for antibodies to the new H1N1 virus, which could confirm that he was infected. Plummer also discussed other workers at the farm who had flu-like symptoms and have been tested for signs of infection with swine flu.

Science Insider recently asked Plummer email results carpenter sera tests. Plummer did not respond, but his spokesman on June 3 wrote that PHAC was "unable to answer questions on individual cases." The spokesman suggested that the province of Alberta could have more information, but the head doctor, he also cited reasons of confidentiality not to discuss the case.

Science Insider contacted the carpenter Adrian Blaak, who from the beginning publicly questioned the assertion that he even had the H1N1 virus. Although it recognizes Blaak was not feeling well the day he worked on the farm, he said Science Insider, "I still do not think I infected pigs." Blaak was surprised that officials had yet to inform him on the results of his blood tests, and he intended to ask the .

Veterinarian Jim Clark, spokesman for the CFIA on the novel H1N1 infection in Alberta pigs, discussed the case with Science Insider June 9 Clark revealed that the CFIA has not received information from PHAC on blood tests Blaak and others on the farm who had flu-like symptoms. Although the CFIA continues to believe a human being infected pigs, the agency downgraded the role of Blaak status "highly probable", Clark revealed. He also said he knew of no new confirmed human cases of H1N1 around the farm in Alberta fairly remote.

This is a condensed transcript of the interview, edited for clarity.

Q: I wanted to follow up with questions about further testing sera from the contractor and other farm to see if there is no evidence that they have been infected with the new H1N1 virus. We discussed earlier, and Frank Plummer and others also spoke at the press conference on 7 May, after we talked. Are there results of testing these sera?

Jim Clark: I do not know. The authorities of the Manitoba Public Health take this information, and they have not made that available to the CFIA.

Q: Really? It's been over a month.

J.C. :. I'm sure they have the results, as I have suggested, but it was not made available to anyone outside the community of human health.

Q: Why are you sure that they have the results?

J.C.. Well, positive or negative, they would have the results of this point in time.

Q: Is it frustrating that you do not have these results?

J.C. :. It reflects a problem sharing information that has been demonstrated previously. The concern before it was with those who would be responsible for maintaining animal health, sharing their findings with the public health community. I think we have the opposite situation in this particular case, where the public health authorities may have information that may be useful and help the animal health community by making some determination of how the disease increased or the epidemiology of the disease. the sharing of information from becoming something of concern on an ongoing basis in most investigations of outbreaks of disease, and it is in the private lives of persons concerned. I think we can address these concerns, it is just not being done at this point in time.

Q: There is a strange ride privacy concern angle. I spoke with Adrian Blaak, who is the carpenter suspected of infecting pigs. It is very surprising to him that he was not given the test results.

J.C. :. Ah. I did not know either.

Q: Do you have different thoughts on the original assertion that it was "highly probable" that the worker who went to Mexico infected pigs?

J.C.. is an excellent question. Given what we know both our survey of likely opportunities for the virus to be introduced to this particular herd, we came to the conclusion that, as he did not appear to be animal possibility of introducing virus in pigs, we conclude that the most reasonable source must have been a person. If the person was a carpenter or another person who has had the opportunity to interact with pigs, which is an issue at this point in time. And until we get better information about what was happening in the individuals on the human side who had the opportunity to interact with pigs, we're not really going to be able to say more definitely.

We are reasonably confident that there is no possibility of this virus have been introduced from another herd of pigs.

Q: It seems that your thoughts might have changed, it may be another human that has infected pigs.

JC: I think we need to back off a little and say as we continue to think that it was a human introduction of the pig population, we are not entirely as definitive fact whether it was this person who went to Mexico and returned as we were before now.

Q: Science Express last month published a paper co-authored by 59 researchers said it might have been another species that intermediate, suggesting that the virus may have increased from pigs to another species, and to humans. Have you looked at other species that could have been the vector?

J.C.. No. When we look at other species, the species you choose you?

Q: I could list a few.

J.C.. Ok Appoints..

Q: Equine.

J.C.. We see no evidence in the equine population or any other species that would indicate that the virus has entered this particular species and spread. I guess in my own thinking, since we seem to have a relatively human adapted virus at this point in time, my most likely thinking is that we have a person that somehow has been exposed to swine viruses that had both Eurasian and north American lines, and that probably occurred recombinant activity in a human being rather than another species of animal.

Q: What is monitoring CFIA did he do for swine flu before the epidemic, and has it changed?

JC. CFIA did not continue monitoring for swine flu or influenza A viruses other than avian flu virus that have been H5 and H7. These particular subtypes in avian flus represent the possibility of low pathogenicity change at the top and obviously have a quite significant impact on both animal health and human health situation H5N1, Asian strain, being the virus concern.

Influenza A virus in pig community were roughly determined to be omnipresent, production limiting diseases that have been recognized to be there on an ongoing basis, and had some possibility of transmission from pigs to people and people with plague, well documented in the literature, and do not represent a particular threat either swine or human communities.

Q: After the epidemic, are there any monitoring for novel H1N1 had?

J.C. :. We will certainly approach it in the same position as the United States and Mexico. We want to be aware of any situation where there was a person who has been diagnosed with the H1N1 novel and the opportunity for association with a herd of pigs so we can go and investigate to determine if there has been a transmission. And we are certainly looking for any novel isolates that can come out of the passive surveillance system. So if we have a province or a university laboratory looking influenza A virus from a pig herd, and they do not recognize it as one of the typical strains from North America that was previously circulated, we are looking for isolates to be sent to our National Centre for Foreign animal disease in Winnipeg for characterization. But we will not in active surveillance in swine population research this particular virus, unless there is a direct association with an infected pig or infected person.

Q: Are there ongoing investigations at this time due to infected human cases being close to the plague?

J.C. :. No, we have not received any reports from the public health community of people who have been confirmed infected associated with pigs. This was certainly our concern in the initial part of the investigation, and we did ask them to insert questions in their epidemiological investigation that would highlight this special occasion for the association. They did this, and we were not informed of all the circumstances where they have concerns.

Q: Do you know if there are confirmed cases in the vicinity of the pig?

J.C. :. I am not aware of any. Alberta confirmed H1N1 in people, but if they have an association with the pig we had quarantined, I am not aware.

Q: Pig farming is fairly remote, right?

J.C. :. is not in one of the most densely populated areas. Edmonton is the nearest urban area which would have a significant population. Other than that, it is fairly representative of the population density of most Midwest states or our prairie provinces. It is quite dispersed.

Swine Flu Strikes Hog Farm in Argentina -

Influenza A (H1N1) virus of swine flu hit a pig farm in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, the second case known viruses infecting swine pandemic.

The epidemic was announced in a statement by the Food Safety Agency of Argentina SENASA Wednesday; yesterday, Dow Jones Newswires reported that at least five animals tested positive for the virus so far. We do not know where the virus came from, but "we have a very strong hypothesis" that the pigs were infected by a human, Director SENASA Jorge Amaya said in a televised interview since no pigs were introduced to the farm for at least 60 days. the number of human cases reported in Argentina is rapidly increasing and now stands at 1391, with 22 deaths.

the only previously known porcine infection with the new influenza A (H1N1 ) took place on a farm in Alberta, Canada; how the pigs caught the virus is still uncertain

.

Institutions, Spar Over Rights to RNAi -

A fight broke out over who has important pieces of RNA interference (RNAi) technology, a strategy to silence genes that could be very lucrative businesses understand how to apply it to human disease. Last week, the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science, which supports research at the Max Planck Institutes in Germany, and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, an RNAi company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, sued three institutions claiming that they had " usurped "inventions" rightfully belong to Max Planck, "according to the suit. the institutions are being pursued Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Whitehead Institute, and the University of Massachusetts.

the complaint, filed in Suffolk superior Court in Massachusetts, is unusual because many scientists whose work formed the basis of the combination have allegiances on both sides. two co-founders of Alnylam, Nobel Phil price Sharp and David Bartel, are MIT professors.

Several parties involved in the trial, including Alnylam and Max Planck, declined to comment. But essentially, the prosecution argues that some findings on which the three US institutions have rights to patents that cover ways to silence genes with RNAi, rightly belong to Max Planck. Alnylam has an exclusive license for the patent Max Planck; but not to Whitehead, MIT, and the University of Massachusetts patent; according to the lawsuit. Since, Alnylam "risks losing any competitive advantage in the market that would have otherwise," the suit bed Max Planck and Alnylam are lobbying to prevent US agencies to take any other action around their patent RNAi.

China Cracks Down on Internet Addiction Therapy Dubious -

BEIJING The Chinese government banned the controversial application of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for that one called Internet addiction.

Although there is no meeting of minds about whether Internet addiction is a real disorder, Chinese researchers have sought to diagnosis and treatment on a more solid basis. Casts a shadow on the legitimate clinical practice and research, clinic in Shandong province in eastern China had gained notoriety for applying electric shocks to non-anesthetized adolescents whose parents had admitted to the clinic against their will.

On July 8 letter policy at the Ministry of Health of Shandong Province, the Ministry of Health of China has ordered Shandong Province to stop such clinical application of ECT. The Ministry explained that he had convened a committee of experts, which concluded that ECT "does not show clear security and validity to treat Internet addiction" due to a "lack of support scientific studies and clinical trials based on evidence. "

the Ministry of health did not rule out the future use of ECT for Internet addiction and left the door open for clinical trials the "combination therapies" as long as these tests are free for subjects and informed consent.