‘Ground-breaking Australian research has discovered a respiratory virus in children which may also have links to cancer.
After a five-year study, associate professors Theo Sloots and Michael Nissen of the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, have found the WU polyomavirus in 44 patients, including 38 from Brisbane and six from the US. [..]
“We know that up to 50 per cent of children who come into hospital with severe respiratory tract disease do not go home with the cause,” Prof Nissen said.
“So now we have another virus which is associated with severe respiratory viral tract disease.
“It is of great interest though that also this virus falls into a family of viruses that have been linked with cancers, so it’s an exciting field of new research into causes of cancer.”‘
‘”Psychopath! psychopath!”
I’m alone in my living room and I’m yelling at my TV. “Forget rehabilitation — that guy is a psychopath.”
Ever since I visited Dr. Robert Hare in Vancouver, I can see them, the psychopaths. It’s pretty easy, once you know how to look. I’m watching a documentary about an American prison trying to rehabilitate teen murderers. They’re using an emotionally intense kind of group therapy, and I can see, as plain as day, that one of the inmates is a psychopath. He tries, but he can’t muster a convincing breakdown, can’t fake any feeling for his dead victims. He’s learned the words, as Bob Hare would put it, but not the music.
The incredible thing, the reason I’m yelling, is that no one in this documentary — the therapists, the warden, the omniscient narrator — seems to know the word “psychopath.” It is never uttered, yet it changes everything. A psychopath can never be made to feel the horror of murder. Weeks of intense therapy, which are producing real breakthroughs in the other youths, will probably make a psychopath more likely to reoffend. Psychopaths are not like the rest of us, and everyone who studies them agrees they should not be treated as if they were. ‘
‘Amnesty International is facing upheaval and mass resignations after it decided last month to advocate that abortion be decriminalised worldwide.
Many Christians, especially Catholics, are expected to resign and may establish an alternative human rights organisation.
The Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference is considering its response, but a senior Catholic said yesterday he thought “a parting of the ways” was inevitable. Amnesty estimates that 500 Catholic schools in Australia have member groups, as do other Christian schools.
Amnesty’s international executive adopted the policy last month as part of its campaign to curb violence against women. Widney Brown, Amnesty’s international director of policy, said yesterday the policy called for decriminalisation of abortion and access to secure abortions for pregnancies resulting from sexual violence, or that risk the mother’s life or health.’
‘Pakistani police have arrested nine people, four of them doctors, for abducting people, drugging them and stealing their kidneys for transplant operations, police said today.
Selling kidneys from living donors is not illegal in Pakistan, which medical experts say has a reputation as the world’s “kidney bazaar”.
But police said those arrested in the eastern city of Lahore tricked people then drugged them before removing their kidneys.
“These poor people were given tranquillisers and were deprived of their kidneys without their consent,” Lahore police chief Malik Mohammad Iqbal told Reuters.’
‘The finding that women who do not use condoms during sex are less depressed and less likely to attempt suicide than are women who have sex with condoms and women who are not sexually active, leads one researcher to conclude that semen contains powerful-and potentially addictive-mood-altering chemicals.
Study author Gordon G. Gallup, Ph.D., a psychologist at the State University of New York in Albany, also found that women who routinely had intercourse without condoms became increasingly depressed as more time elapsed since their last sexual encounter. There was no such correlation for women whose partners regularly used condoms.’
‘A rumour spread by text message has badly hit the price of bananas from China’s Hainan island, state media say.
The messages claim the fruit contains viruses similar to Sars, the severe respiratory illness which has killed hundreds of people worldwide.
Producers in Hainan say the resulting price slump is costing them up to 20 million yuan ($US2.6m) a day.
China’s Agriculture Ministry has dismissed the Sars claim as baseless. Police are investigating its source.
“It is utterly a rumour,” a Chinese Health Ministry official was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.
“There has not been a case in the world in which humans have contracted a plant virus, and there is not any scientific evidence.”‘
‘A man once called one of the Internet’s most notorious pirates of music and movies was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for blowing up a portable toilet, prosecutors said.
Bruce Forest, 50, was charged last year with a series of toilet explosions in 2005 and 2006. But under a plea agreement, Forest admitted only to blowing up one toilet in Weston in February 2006. No one was injured in any of the blasts.
His defense attorney and his wife said the incident was completely out of character for Forest. They said he had been addicted to painkillers initially taken for migraine headaches caused by a severe fall about 10 years ago. A prescribed drug intended to wean him off the painkillers caused psychotic episodes, they said.’
‘One of the world’s most prestigious health journals has lashed a fast-growing trend in the United States and Britain for “designer vaginas,” the tabloid term for cosmetic surgery to the female genitalia.
The fashion is being driven by commercial and media pressures that exploit women’s insecurities and is fraught with unknowns, including a risk to sexual arousal, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) says.
Known as elective genitoplasty, the surgery usually entails shortening or changing the shape of the outer lips, or labia, but may also include reduction in the hood of skin covering the clitoris or shortening the vagina itself.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the practice is spreading fast in the United States as well as in Britain, but the picture is unclear, the BMJ says.’
‘An intoxicated patient filed a complaint with the city after a Denver Health Medical Center doctor issued discharge instructions telling her to not “get drunk and fall, causing harm to your head or body.” [..]
Howe, who had cut the back of her head, was “acutely intoxicated,” according to hospital records, with a breath alcohol level measured at 0.216. The reports show Howe was uncooperative with emergency department personnel and was tied down.
But according to Howe’s complaint, she was not seen by a doctor until 7:50 a.m., more than five hours after she arrived. She was eventually examined by Sooch, but Howe says the doctor did not order X-rays, an MRI or a CT scan of her head, nor was she admitted to the hospital. Sooch treated the cut on her head and in his discharge instructions, prescribed Tylenol, facts verified by medical records. Dr. Sooch, on the hospital discharge sheet, had these instructions for Howe:
“Do not abuse alcohol. Do not get drunk and fall causing harm to your head or body. Apologize to your family, friends and ED (emergency department) faculty for your extremely inappropriate behavior and rudeness while intoxicated. Be a great mother to your kids.”‘
‘Being crazy is hard, but it’s worth the effort. Especially if you’re a cop, paramedic, or social worker who may someday need to deal with a person having a psychotic episode. At those times, empathy can be crucial.
That’s where Virtual Hallucinations comes in. The training device, created by Janssen L.P., is a rig with earphones and goggles that plunges the wearer into the mind of a serious schizophrenic. The system offers two interactive scenarios. In one, you’re riding a bus in which other riders appear and disappear, birds of prey claw at the windows, and voices hiss, “He’s taking you back to the FBI!” The other features a trip to the drugstore, where the pharmacist seems to be handing you poison instead of pills, and hostile customers stare at you in disgust.’
‘US scientists have developed “super-oxidised” water which they say speeds up wound healing. [..]
The key ingredient of the water, called Microcyn, are oxychlorine ions – electrically charged molecules which pierce the cell walls of free-living microbes.
The water can only kill cells it can completely surround so human cells are spared because they are tightly bound together in a matrix.
It is made by taking purified water and passing it through a semi-permeable sodium chloride membrane, which produces the oxychlorine ions.
One study showed that patients with advanced foot ulcers who were treated with the water, alongside an antibiotic had an average healing time of 43 days compared with 55 days in those who received standard treatment.’
‘A 31-year-old man was sentenced Monday to more than 24 years in federal prison for posing online as a teenage boy dying of leukemia in an effort to coerce young girls into sending him sexually explicit images.
Joshua Kistler chatted regularly with at least nine girls nationwide who ranged in age from 12 to 14. He used the condition to gain the girls’ sympathy, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
He even sent them pictures of his stepson, an actual 15-year old, to further his story, authorities said.
He also posed as the stepfather of his online persona. In one case, a victim and her mother visited the “stepfather” during a family trip, believing the teenage boy was away receiving treatment.
Several victims said they loved and trusted Kistler, who asked them to send photos of them nude or perform sexual acts for him in front of Web cameras.’
‘When he retired in 1993 after more than 30 years as a disguise specialist for the Central Intelligence Agency, Robert Barron wasn’t ready to stop doing the work he loved. The Bluemont resident founded Custom Prosthetic Designs in Ashburn.
The one-man shop specializes in lifelike silicone prosthetics for people with birth defects or missing features. Barron has sculpted an ear for a 5-year-old born without one, a nose for a cancer survivor and fingers for a survivor of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon.
If his work, shown in before-and-after photos on his Web site, appears startling in its verisimilitude, that’s because Barron worries the details, down to the hairs visible on an ear and the freckles on a nose. “It’s just like in the Agency,” he says. “I wouldn’t issue [agents] a disguise if their life would be in jeopardy” as the result of a less-than-perfect disguise.’
There’s a cool photo gallery also.
‘Doctors are being advised to prescribe oily fish or omega-3 fatty acid supplements to heart attack patients.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) believes this is an effective way to cut the risk of further heart attacks.
It is the first time NICE has recommended lifestyle change – alongside drugs – in guidance on preventing repeat attacks. [..]
Research has found that one specific omega-3 supplement – Omacor – cut the risk of a patient dying suddenly by up to 45%.
Omacor is currently the only omega-3 supplement with a licence for post-heart attack treatment.’
‘A drug which reduces the desire for marijuana and blocks its effect on the brain has been successfully tested in rats. Scientists say the findings may translate into better therapies for cannabis addiction in humans. [..]
Over a period of three weeks the rats learned to enjoy the effects of synthetic THC and frequently self-administered the drug. By comparison, rats that received saline solution did not press the lever often.
Goldberg’s team then injected the rats with a compound derived from the seeds of the Delphinium brownii plant, which is in the buttercup family. The compound, known as methyllycaconitine (MLA), had a dramatic effect on the animals’ behaviour.
On the day that they received MLA they pushed the lever for synthetic THC 70% less than before. The drug did not seem to otherwise change the rats’ movement and coordination, and had no other apparent side effects.’
‘Scientists working with the Defense Department have found evidence that a low-level exposure to sarin nerve gas — the kind experienced by more than 100,000 American troops in the Persian Gulf war of 1991 — could have caused lasting brain deficits in former service members.
Though the results are preliminary, the study is notable for being financed by the federal government and for being the first to make use of a detailed analysis of sarin exposure performed by the Pentagon, based on wind patterns and plume size.
The report, to be published in the June issue of the journal NeuroToxicology, found apparent changes in the brain’s connective tissue — its so-called white matter — in soldiers exposed to the gas. The extent of the brain changes — less white matter and slightly larger brain cavities — corresponded to the extent of exposure, the study found.’
‘These days, data get stored on disks, computer chips, hard drives and good old-fashioned paper.
Scientists in Japan see something far smaller but more durable – bacteria.
The four characters – T, C, A and G – that represent the genetic coding in DNA work much like digital data.
Character combinations can stand for specific letters and symbols – so codes in genomes can be translated, or read, to produce music, text, video and other content.
While ink may fade and computers may crash, bacterial information lasts as long as a species stays alive – possibly a mind-boggling million years – according to Professor Masaru Tomita, who heads the team of researchers at Keio University.’
‘Bay Area women now have a new option when it comes to their love lives, NBC11’s Marianne Favro reported.
Women are driving miles to Dr. Justin Salerno’s office in Vacaville to receive a shot of collagen that patients say helps them reach climax faster.
“It’s a form of human collagen we inject into the vaginal tissues where the G-spot is,” Salerno said.
Salerno is one of the only doctors in the nation offering the procedure, known as the G-Shot.
According to thegshot.com, the G-SHOT is a simple, nonsurgical, physician-administered treatment that can temporarily augment the Grafenburg spot in sexually active women with normal sexual function.’
‘A Chinese grandmother has a five inch horn growing out of her forehead.
The horn curves downward and looks like the stalk of a pumpkin, reports the Yangcheng Evening Post.
Granny Zhao, 95, of Zhanjiang city, Guangdong province, says it first appeared three years ago.
“At first, it was only a mole, but it gradually grew and became like a horn,” she said.
Zhao says the horn causes her little trouble except to affect her vision slightly: “It causes me no discomfort, but blocks part of my view.”
But her family are hoping that medical experts can explain the phenomenon.’
see it here »
‘In the emergency room at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, Edith Isabel Rodriguez was seen as a complainer.
“Thanks a lot, officers,” an emergency room nurse told Los Angeles County police who brought in Rodriguez early May 9 after finding her in front of the Willowbrook hospital yelling for help. “This is her third time here.” [..]
Parked in the emergency room lobby in a wheelchair after police left, she fell to the floor. She lay on the linoleum, writhing in pain, for 45 minutes, as staffers worked at their desks and numerous patients looked on.
Aside from one patient who briefly checked on her condition, no one helped her. A janitor cleaned the floor around her as if she were a piece of furniture. A closed-circuit camera captured everyone’s apparent indifference.
Arriving to find Rodriguez on the floor, her boyfriend unsuccessfully tried to enlist help from the medical staff and county police — even a 911 dispatcher, who balked at sending rescuers to a hospital.
Alerted to the “disturbance” in the lobby, police stepped in — by running Rodriguez’s record. They found an outstanding warrant and prepared to take her to jail. She died before she could be put into a squad car.’
Update: now with the 911 call.
(2.9meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘Foreign patients who travel to China for transplants are likely receiving organs culled from political prisoners who are alive when their corneas, kidneys and livers are harvested, then left to die, an international group of doctors armed with a chilling Canadian report is warning.
In a new twist on an old practice of using organs from executed criminals, China has since 2000 turned to living donors and outlawed Falun Gong members to supply a growing trade in medical transplants, Doctors Against Organ Harvesting said yesterday during a public forum held at the University of Toronto. [..]
“Each person who travels to China for an organ causes the death of another human,” said Dr. Torsten Trey, a Washington, D.C.-based physician and founding member of Doctors Against Organ Harvesting.’
‘In animal markets, some parts and products are not what they are labeled. One of the most difficult products to identify has been genuine dried tiger penises. The reason for this is the rarity of the real thing and a long tradition of the production of “lesser tiger” or tiger substitute, that is, any other large mammal that can be promoted as a replacement for tiger. When rehydrated and consumed in a soup of tea, this product is believed to serve as an aphrodisiac or restorative tisane. To date, no dried penis from an actual tiger has been seen in the Lab as evidence in a wildlife case.’
‘Cannes is smacking its lips in anticipation of filmmaker and provocateur Michael Moore’s latest jeremiad against the US administration, which receives its premiere at the film festival today. Sicko, a documentary tackling the state of American healthcare, focuses on the pharmaceutical giants, and particularly on health insurers.
[..] Now, according to movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, whose Weinstein Company is behind the film, the US government is attempting to impound the negative.
According to Weinstein, the US Treasury’s moves meant “we had to fly the movie to another country”- he would not say to where. “Let the secret service find that out – though this is the same country that thought there were weapons of mass destruction, so they’ll never find it.” He added that he feared that if the film were impounded, there might be attempts to cut some footage, in particular the last 20 minutes, which related to a trip to Cuba. This, said Weinstein, “would not be good.”‘
‘Chase Smith is your typical, cute toddler. She loves to play with her friends at nursery, snuggle up with her mummy and cuddle her teddy.
Yet the two-year-old is different from her playmates in one incredible way — she was born with half her brain missing.
Stephanie Jepson, 21, and her partner Adam Smith, 20, only found out about their daughter’s condition when a strange series of symptoms revealed her shocking condition.
As Chase’s incredible scan on the right reveals, she has no left side to her brain.
The condition is so rare medics do not know what the future holds. [..]
Doting mum Stephanie says: “There are moments in your life you never forget. For me one came when a doctor flicked on the switch of a lightbox to show me a scan of the inside of my little girl’s head.”‘
‘This site was based off the 2 year diary of a real life Schizophrenic, James Caldwell. His True Diary of Psychological Episodes takes you along the journey of a mad man who struggles to get stabilized on medicine. His diaries of psychosis talk about everything he was hearing, tasting, smelling, and seeing during these encounters at the time, Hallucinating. He will take you through his fears, thoughts, and feelings. His original handwritten notebook has been transcribed to digital.’
‘The way was cleared on Thursday for scientists to conduct experiments using hybrid animal-human embryos after the government bowed to a storm of protest from researchers who said a proposed ban could hurt British science.
The Department of Health said it would accept a recommendation from the Commons Science and Technology Committee that inter-species embryos could be created for research.
Scientists want to use the hybrid embryos to find cures for illnesses such as Parkinson’s, stroke and Alzheimer’s.’
‘I’ll try to sum up a funny story that happened a few years ago:
I got a vasectomy.
I met a girl soon afterwards. She was nice and attractive but with a selfish streak that raised a big red flag. She was 32 at the time and I could practically HEAR her biological clock ticking. Regardless, she was a good lay, easy on the eyes, and reasonably good company.
I did NOT tell her about my vasectomy and I always used a condom with her to protect against STDs. She assumed, obviously, that the condom was only used for birth control. Silly girl.
We date for a few months. I never made any move towards commitment but she brought it up ocassionally. For me, this was a casual but pleasant relationship. For her – as I was to find out – it was part of life-changing series of events that she was planning very carefully.
Four months into dating, I get the “I’m pregnant” talk. She’s going on and on about how the condom must have broke and now we really need to think about getting married “for the baby”. She’s positively giddy. She has a baby in her and she thinks she’s gonna have a good meal ticket (me) to go along with her new 7lb annuity.’
‘Until recently, I had never heard of cluster headaches, and neither had my friend Bob, which isn’t his name for reasons that will soon be evident.
Bob was in his late 40s with no medical problems.
Out of nowhere he began having headaches. These were not the two-aspirin kind, or even migraines. They were monsters. I realized this one night at his house. For an hour he lay on the floor, screaming. We’re not talking moaning and grousing. Screaming.
Clueless, he went to the Web and discovered cluster headaches. They are hideous. His symptoms were par for the course. [..]
From Neurology, the magazine of the American Academy of Neurology: “The authors interviewed 53 cluster headache patients who had used psilocybin or lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) to treat their condition.
“Twenty-two of 26 psilocybin users reported that psilocybin aborted attacks; 25 of 48 psilocybin users and seven of eight LSD users reported cluster period termination …”‘
There’s a video of what a cluster headache does to a person here. Doesn’t look fun at all.
(7.6meg Windows media)
‘Two months ago at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, surgeons removed a transplanted heart from a patient who had died and re-transplanted it in another recipient.
“To my knowledge, this is the first time this has been done with a transplanted heart,” Dr. Lawrence S. C. Czer, medical director of the center’s heart transplant program, told Reuters. “Even with other organs, repeat transplantation is very rare.”
The second patient was a 45-year-old man with noncompaction syndrome, a rare cardiac condition in which the heart assumes a sponge-like appearance. The disease is progressive, and the man’s heart became more and more disabled despite the best medical therapy.’
‘A Mexican physician helped drug dealers avoid detection by replacing their fingerprints with skin from the bottom of their feet, a federal prosecutor said Friday.
The doctor, Jose L. Covarrubias, was arrested Wednesday in Arizona as he attempted to cross the U.S.-Mexico border a few hours after a grand jury in Harrisburg indicted him in connection with a marijuana dealing ring.
The indictment says Covarrubias, 49, of Nogales, Ariz., and Nogales, Mexico, surgically removed the fingerprints of co-defendant Marc George, 42, of Jamaica.
“We heard those stories, but we didn’t believe them when we heard them during the course of the investigation,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney William Behe in Harrisburg. “We caught Marc George and we all became believers.”’
