Tag Archives: Health

News Item: Scientists decode genomes of tuberculosis microbes

An international collaboration led by researchers in the US and South Africa announced Nov. 20 the first genome sequence of an extensively drug resistant (XDR) strain of the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, one linked to more than 50 deaths in a recent tuberculosis (TB) outbreak in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.*

Continue reading News Item: Scientists decode genomes of tuberculosis microbes

Current News: Medicine and Health

Immune system can drive cancers into dormant state from PhysOrg.com
A multinational team of researchers has shown for the first time that the immune system can stop the growth of a cancerous tumor without actually killing it.[]

A novel way found to prevent protein plaques implicated in Alzheimer’s from PhysOrg.com
For unknown reasons a protein called amyloid beta aggregates into toxic plaques in the brain, killing neurons. These plaques are one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. Now two new animal studies show for the first time that the deadly transformation of amyloid beta into plaques can be prevented through an interaction between amyloid beta and another protein called cystatin C.[]

‘Micro’ livers could aid drug screening from PhysOrg.com
MIT researchers have devised a novel way to create tiny colonies of living human liver cells that model the full-sized organ. The work could allow better screening of new drugs that are potentially harmful to the liver and reduce the costs associated with their development.[]

Bird flu culling round over in Britain from PhysOrg.com
Officials have completed a cull aimed at stopping a bird flu outbreak in eastern England from spreading, Britain’s environment ministry said Sunday.[]

Forgetting long-time bonds, Alzheimer’s patients fall in love from PhysOrg.com
When her husband of 55 years began seeing another woman, former US Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor did not begin high-profile divorce proceedings or condemn his infidelity.[]

Study Finds That Sitting May Increase Risk of Disease from PhysOrg.com
Most people spend most of their day sitting with relatively idle muscles. Health professionals advise that at least 30 minutes of activity at least 5 days a week will counteract health concerns, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity that may result from inactivity. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia say a new model regarding physical activity recommendations is emerging. New research shows that what people do in the other 15 and a half hours of their waking day is just as important, or more so, than the time they spend actively exercising.[]

Menstruation proves more than a curse from PhysOrg.com
The cells which thicken the womb wall during a woman’s menstrual cycle contain a newly discovered type of stem cell, and could be used in the treatment of damaged and/or old tissue, according to research published today in the online open access publication, Journal of Translational Medicine.[]

Homeopathy and Curing Cancer

A child with Melanoma, a mother tossed in jail, radio talk show hosts, ranting bloggers. It’s a good story.From the Natural Solutions Foundation Web Site:

There is a developing story from California that involves a mother with a 17 year old child who HAD melanoma. The mother, chose to go against her allopathic (conventional) doctor’s orders (to have surgery and chemotherapy) – and instead try advanced natural medicine first – since she understood that supporting the body’s ability to heal is more effective than destroying it as chemotherapy does.Not surprisingly this approach worked! This young man is now CANCER FREE!! However, the allopathic doctor is insisting that the child must have chemotheray as well as surgery, which the mother refuses to have her child undergo. Interestingly, doctor, the allopathic doctor’s unnecessary treatments will be compensated by the insurer or state, while the holistic strategies that actually worked are not eligible for coverage.[Quoted here]

Naturally, the mother and child were hunted down and harassed by authorities:

An unholy alliance of California Child Protective Services (CPS) with a hostile doctor and judge is attempting to railroad Laurie Jessop, framed as a threat to her son and the establishment for finding a way to cure him of malignant melanoma. She is now on trial, under a gag order, since she had gone to the press. When she was arrested, she was put in maximum security, solitary confinement, in the Orange County, CA jail. They claim that everything about. her says anti-Establishment, so she was told, as she was considered a threat in starting a riot.[source]

This story will become the centerpiece of pro-homeo antio-allo pathic medical pot shotting for a long time. Unless, of course, the truth gets out.It appears on further inspection (not done by me) that the story is a hoax. From Orac of Respectful Insolence:

The story was so obviously fraudulent, so obviously full of holes, so clearly ridiculous to anyone with even a little knowledge about melanoma and how it is treated, and so clearly containing elements suggestive of an urban legend, that anyone with a even modicum of responsibility and critical thinking skills would have investigated it before spreading it far and wide across the Internet and blogsophere. Clearly the Angry Scientist is no such person. He’s drunk the Kool Aid and is still trying to defend this story…[source]

Go here for the most current post by Orac on this story.

HIV: Congo to Haiti to Pandemic

Lots of people are talking about this latest paper on HIV. It is an “open access” paper in the PNAS, and you can get it here.Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that can cause AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). It is a member of a larger group of viruses (the Smian immunodeficiency viruses) which are generally thought to be of African origin. There are two types of HIV (HIV-1, and HIV-2), with HIV-1 being the more virulent and, in human populations, most widespread.There are several theories as to the origin of HIV. When I was in Zaire in the mid 1980s, people in the cities were insisting that several Zairois had been brought to the US and infected with “Sida” (AIDS) and sent back t Zaire unaware of their condition to spread the disease. It has been suggested that HIV was accidentally included in polio vaccine. These and other ideas are highly unlikely, as it turns out. Continue reading HIV: Congo to Haiti to Pandemic

Are you having trouble reading this?

You roll your head, hoping to loosen the knots in your neck, and shut your eyes. After rubbing them you settle back into staring, hunched inches away from the computer screen. Despite the brief reprise your vision remains cloudy, causing the words on the monitor to blur. At this point, you need to know: With each further click on the keyboard, video watched on YouTube, and e-mail sent–are you damaging your vision?

The answer? It depends. Go here to find out.Thanks, Scott, for the tip.