Study of disease inhuman mystery found no cause

Error in deserializing body of reply message for operation 'Translate'. The maximum string content length quota (8192) has been exceeded while reading XML data. This quota may be increased by changing the MaxStringContentLength property on the XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas object used when creating the XML reader. Line 1, position 8860.
FILE - In this Aug. 1, 2006 file photo, Verna Gallagher, who claims to be suffering from a rare infliction called Morgellons, points to a sore on her skin that she believes bugs related to the condition emerged from, at her Roseville, Calif., home. Like others with the condition, Gallagher, 48, said she has a crawling sensation on her skin that is caused by bugs that emerge from the skin purpose do not act like they are alive. Results of Centers for Disease Control study released Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 conclude that Morgellons exists only in the patients' minds. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File) FILE - In this Aug. 1, 2006 file photo, Verna Gallagher, who claims to be suffering from a rare infliction called Morgellons, points to a sore on her skin that she believes bugs related to the condition emerged from, at her Roseville, Calif., home. Like others with the condition, Gallagher, 48, said she has a crawling sensation on her skin that is caused by bugs that emerge from the skin purpose do not act like they are alive. Results of Centers for Disease Control study released Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 conclude that Morgellons exists only in the patients' minds. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, leader) eval ("var currentItemd57851005a80479aaeeb90a12c70b9ff = 1;");eval ("var nextd57851005a80479aaeeb90a12c70b9ff = 0;");eval ("var previousd57851005a80479aaeeb90a12c70b9ff = 0;"); ATLANTA (AP)--Imagine having the feeling that tiny bugs are crawling on your body, that you have oozing sores and mysterious fibers sprouting from your skin. Sound like a horror movie? Well, at one point several years ago, government doctors were getting up to 20 calls a day from people saying they had such symptoms.

Many of these people were in California and one of that state's U.S. senators, Dianne Feinstein, asked for a scientific study. In 2008, federal health officials began to study people saying they were affected by this freakish condition called Morgellons.

The study cost nearly $600,000. Its long-awaited results, released Wednesday, conclude that Morgellons exists only in the patients' minds.

"We found no. infectious cause," said Mark Eberhard, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official who was part of the 15-member study team.

The study appears in PLoS One, one of the Public Library of Science journals.

Sufferers of Morgellons (mor-GELL-one) describe a variety of symptoms, including fatigue, erupting sori, crawling sensations on their skin and - perhaps worst of all — mysterious red, blue or black fibers that sprout from their skin. Some say they've suffered for decades, but the syndrome wasn't named until 2002, when "Morgellons" was chosen from a 1674 medical paper describing similar symptoms.

Afflicted patients have documented their suffering on websites and many have vainly searched for a doctor who believed them. Some doctors believe the condition is a form of delusional parasitosis, a psychosis in which people believe they are infected with parasites.

Last May, Mayo Clinic researchers published a study of 108 Morgellons patients and found none of them suffered from any unusual physical ailment. The study concluded that the sores are many of them were caused by their own scratching and picking at their skin.

The CDC study was meant to be broader, starting with a large population and then went looking for cases within the group. The intent was to give scientists a better idea of how common Morgellons actually is.

They focused on more than 3 million people who lived in 13 counties in Northern California, a location chosen in part because all had health insurance through Kaiser Permanente of Northern California, which had a research arm that could assist in the project. Also, many of the anecdotal reports of Morgellons came from the area.

Culling through Kaiser patient records from July 2006 through June 2008, the team found - and was able to reach — 115 who had what sounded like Morgellons. Most were middle-aged white women. They were not clustered in any one spot.

That led to the finding that Morgellons occurred in roughly 4 out of every 100,000 Kaiser enrollees. "So it's rare," said Eberhard.

Roughly 100 agreed to at least answer survey questions, and about 40 consented to a battery of physical and psychological tests that clay over several days.

Blood and urine tests and skin biopsies checked for dozens of infectious diseases, including fungus and bacteria that could cause some of the symptoms. The researchers found none that would explain the cases.

There was no sign of an environmental cause, either, although researchers did not go to each person's house to look around.

They took fibers from 12 people, which were tested at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Nothing unusual there, either. Cotton and nylon, mainly - not some kind of organism wriggling out of a patient's body.

Skin lesions were common, but researchers concluded most of them were from scratching.

What stood out was how the patients did on the psychological exams. Though normal in most respects, they had more depression than the general public and were more obsessive about physical branch, the study found.

However, they did not have an unusual history of psychiatric problems, according to their medical records. And the testing gave no clear indication of a delusional disorder.

So what do they have? The researchers don't know. They don't even know what to call it, opting for the label "unexplained dermopathy" in their paper.

Purpose clearly, something made them miserable. "The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence," said Felicia Goldstein, an Emory University neurology professor and study co-author.

She said perhaps the patients could be helped by cognitive behavioral therapy that might help them deal with possible contributing psychological issues.

The study is not expected to be the last word on the subject.

Among those with additional questions is Randy Wymore, an Oklahoma State University pharmacologist who for years was the most reputable scientist to look into it and who has concluded Morgellons is not a psychiatric disorder.

On Wednesday, Wymore said he had not seen the CDC paper and was unable to how we it. But when the study began, he questioned whether Kaiser patients with Morgellons would participate, especially if they were unhappy with how they were previously handled by their Kaiser doctors.

"There is always the question: How many of the participating study actually have Morgellons Disease?" he said, in an email.

The CDC is not planning additional study, however. The agency's expertise is in infectious diseases and environmental health problems, and the researchers saw no. evidence of that.

"We're not mental health experts," one CDC spokeswoman said.

___

Online:

PLoS One: http://www.plosone.org/home.action

Associated Press

Source AP

GOOGLE NEWS | BBC NEWS | NY DAILY NEWS | TRAFFIC NEWS | TECH NEWS

Read More

Dogs ' higher Lyme disease risk "

25. January 2012 stand 00: 45 GMT by Michelle Roberts Health Reporter, BBC News ticks Lyme disease can transfer to humans

Ticks that can transmit Lyme disease may be more common in the United Kingdom as, say researchers who have found them refuge like many dogs.

Experts have suspected since some a growing problem with these little pests - rates of the disease in recent years was cringing have time that the UK has.

In the year 2010 was 953 reported cases in England and Wales.

Now, after I is samples to more than 3,500 dogs Bristol University experts suspect the problem even bigger.

14.9% Had the 3.534 pet dogs, veterinary clinics in the United Kingdom between March and October 2009 ticks checks.

"Read the main story

without significantly better monitoring and routine diagnostic tests, Lyme disease is only expected to be more often become"

End quote believe Smith researchers lead away, 2.3% turned out to be infected.

The expected prevalence of infected ticks on dogs is 0.5% or 481 infected ticks per 100,000 dogs.

This suggests that the prevalence of this Borrelia infection in the population much higher is than previously thought, British tick Immunology compare the researchers report in the journal, microbiology and infectious diseases.

Faith Smith, who led the investigation, said: "Lyme disease seems a fast-growing problem in the United Kingdom with major health and economic impact of the loss of working time and potential decline in tourism to tick hotspots."

"Without significantly better monitoring and routine diagnostic tests Lyme disease will become only likely to frequent."

"In particular future warmer winters may also be about the ticks are active seasonal while growing wild reservoir host will enable population, such as deer, extended to expand the tick population."

Easy to see

A bite by an infected tick takes between two and four weeks to show, and who have been bitten for a "Bulls Eye" type red rash appear round should look to the bite.

You may encounter, also flu-like symptoms such as fatigue, headaches and muscle and joint pain.

Left untreated, Lyme disease on the brain, heart and joints and extreme nerve damage, paralysis and blindness can result.

Ticks are very small — about the size of a poppy - and can easily be overlooked.

Found the most ticks do not wear, which is to be immediately removing the infection, but they.

You can be removed with tweezers or a hook, pulling way gently up from the skin cross.

People who develop a rash or other symptoms after a tick bite should consult their GP.

A spokesperson of health protection agency said that it was important, that people risks aware of and remain "Tick aware".

"they are out there in forest areas." She said, it's best to keep, as far as possible avoid hiking trails and long grass if you walk and to cover up the skin.

Also brushes to remove, clothing and pet coats before returning to the House in a non-attached ticks which later a feed can search.

Source BBC

GOOGLE NEWS | BBC NEWS | NY DAILY NEWS | TRAFFIC NEWS | TECH NEWS

Read More

UK boosts tropical disease fight

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
21 January 2012 Last updated at 09:16 GMT River blindness is a tropical disease caused by parasitic worms and carried by black flies Foreign aid for efforts to eradicate parasitic diseases which kill and disfigure millions worldwide is to rise fivefold, say ministers.

A total of £245m will be spent fighting diseases such as river blindness and bilharzia.

Such donations, coupled with free drugs from pharmaceutical companies, could help wipe out some illnesses, they predict.

A UK expert said the aim was to offer a billion treatments worldwide a year.

So-called "neglected tropical diseases" receive a tiny fraction of the funding set aside for the fight against major killers such as HIV, TB and malaria.

However, campaigners say that even a relatively small investment could transform the lives of millions of people in poorer tropical countries.

The Department for International Development, announcing the aid package, said that over the next few years, the money would protect an estimated 140 million people from these parasitic infections.

Among the prime targets are elephantiasis, a mosquito-borne parasite which leads to abnormal enlargement of the limbs and genitals, and bilharzia, spread through contaminated water, which impairs child growth, damages internal organs and can lead to death or chronic ill-health.

Continue reading the main story

British support will take the 'neglected' out of 'neglected tropical diseases' and will not just save lives, but transform lives”

End Quote Stephen O'Brien International Development Minister River blindness, the third key disease, is spread by parasitic worms and cause severe discomfort and sight loss.

Finally, Guinea worm, another water-borne infection, can leave people bedridden for months before the parasitic worm, which can grow up to 3ft (91.4cm) long, emerges.

'Debilitating pain'

There are effective drugs to either prevent or treat all of these infections, and the decision by pharmaceutical companies to supply them free of charge in affected countries means it is possible to reach many millions of people.

International Development Minister Stephen O'Brien said: "These diseases thrive on poverty and have horrendous consequences for sufferers, especially children, leaving them in debilitating pain with severe disabilities.

"The world is increasingly coming together to build on the long-standing commitment of the pharmaceutical industry to rid the world of these terrible diseases.

"British support will take the 'neglected' out of 'neglected tropical diseases' and will not just save lives but transform lives."

Professor David Molyneux, from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, a long-standing campaigner for more international funding, said he was "delighted" by the announcement.

He said: "As far as the British taxpayer is concerned, this money will offer more health to more people than anything else - it really is the most effective use of the money.

"Currently we are treating approximately 800 million people a year, and we're aiming for a billion."

Save The Children head of health Simon Wright also welcomed the move. "This is a great start for the millions of children who can't get treatment for basic illnesses which are completely unknown in rich countries.

"The British public should be proud of their role in combating these awful diseases."

Source BBC

GOOGLE NEWS | BBC NEWS | NY DAILY NEWS | TRAFFIC NEWS | TECH NEWS

Read More

Stephen Hawking to turn 70, defying disease

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
FILE In this June 19, 2006 file photo Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking speaks at an international gathering of scientists on the origins of the universe at Beijing's Great Hall of the People in China. British scientist Stephen Hawking has decoded some of the most puzzling mysteries of the universe but he has left one mystery for others to explain: How he managed to survive so long with such a crippling disease. The physicist and cosmologist was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, or motor neuron disease, when he was a 21-year-old student at Cambridge University. Most people die within a few years of the disease being identified. On Sunday, Hawking will turn 70.(AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel-File) FILE In this June 19, 2006 file photo Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking speaks at an international gathering of scientists on the origins of the universe at Beijing's Great Hall of the People in China. British scientist Stephen Hawking has decoded some of the most puzzling mysteries of the universe but he has left one mystery for others to explain: How he managed to survive so long with such a crippling disease. The physicist and cosmologist was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, or motor neuron disease, when he was a 21-year-old student at Cambridge University. Most people die within a few years of the disease being identified. On Sunday, Hawking will turn 70.(AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel-File) FILE In this file photo of Monday, April 21, 2008 provided by NASA, Dr. Stephen Hawking, a professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge, left, is praised by his daughter Lucy Hawking, as he delivers a speech entitled "Why we should go into space" during a lecture that is part of a series honoring NASA's 50th Anniversary, , at George Washington University's Morton Auditorium in Washington. British scientist Stephen Hawking has decoded some of the most puzzling mysteries of the universe but he has left one mystery for others to explain: How he managed to survive so long with such a crippling disease. The physicist and cosmologist was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, or motor neuron disease, when he was a 21-year-old student at Cambridge University. Most people die within a few years of the disease being identified. On Sunday, Hawking will turn 70.(AP Photo/NASA, Paul. E. Alers, file) FILE - In this Thursday, April 26, 2007 file photo physicist Stephen Hawking answers questions during an interview in Orlando, Fla. Famed mathematician Stephen Hawking has been rushed to a hospital and is seriously ill, Cambridge University said Monday April 20, 2009 .British scientist Stephen Hawking has decoded some of the most puzzling mysteries of the universe but he has left one mystery for others to explain: How he managed to survive so long with such a crippling disease. The physicist and cosmologist was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, or motor neuron disease, when he was a 21-year-old student at Cambridge University. Most people die within a few years of the disease being identified. On Sunday, Hawking will turn 70. (AP Photo/John Raoux. File ) FILE In this Thursday, April 26, 2007 file photo Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking is assisted off the tarmac at the Kennedy Space Center by his carer, Monica Guy, as he is applauded by members of the flight crew after completing a zero-gravity flight in Cape Canaveral, Fla. British scientist Stephen Hawking has decoded some of the most puzzling mysteries of the universe but he has left one mystery for others to explain: How he managed to survive so long with such a crippling disease. The physicist and cosmologist was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, or motor neuron disease, when he was a 21-year-old student at Cambridge University. Most people die within a few years of the disease being identified. On Sunday, Hawking will turn 70.(AP Photo/Peter Cosgrove, File )eval("var currentItemd57851005a80479aaeeb90a12c70b9ff = 1;");eval("var nextd57851005a80479aaeeb90a12c70b9ff = 0;");eval("var previousd57851005a80479aaeeb90a12c70b9ff = 0;"); CAMBRIDGE, England (AP) — British scientist Stephen Hawking has decoded some of the most puzzling mysteries of the universe but he has left one mystery unsolved: How he has managed to survive so long with such a crippling disease.

The physicist and cosmologist was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease when he was a 21-year-old student at Cambridge University. Most people die within a few years of the diagnosis, called motor neurone disease in the U.K. On Sunday, Hawking will turn 70.

"I don't know of anyone who's survived this long," said Ammar Al-Chalabi, director of the Motor Neurone Disease Care and Research Centre at King's College London. He does not treat Hawking and described his longevity as "extraordinary."

"It is unusual for (motor neurone disease) patients to survive for decades, but not unheard of," said Dr. Rup Tandan, a neurology professor at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. Still, Tandan said many longtime survivors had ventilators to breathe for them — which Hawking does not.

Hawking first gained attention with his 1988 book "A Brief History of Time," a simplified overview of the universe. It sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. His subsequent theories have revolutionized modern understanding of concepts like black holes and the Big Bang theory of how the universe began.

To mark his birthday Sunday, Cambridge University is holding a public symposium on "The State of the Universe," featuring talks from 27 leading scientists, including Hawking himself. For 30 years, he held a mathematics post at the university previously held by Sir Isaac Newton. Hawking retired from that position in 2009 and is now director of research at the university's Centre for Theoretical Cosmology.

Hawking achieved all that despite being nearly entirely paralyzed and in a wheelchair since 1970. He now communicates only by twitching his right cheek. Since catching pneumonia in 1985, Hawking has needed around-the-clock care and relies on a computer and voice synthesizer to speak.

A tiny infrared sensor sits on his glasses, hooked up to a computer. The sensor detects Hawking's cheek pulses, which select words displayed on a computer screen. The chosen words are then spoken by the voice synthesizer. It can take up to 10 minutes for Hawking to formulate a single sentence.

"The only trouble is (the voice synthesizer) gives me an American accent," the Briton wrote on his website.

It took Hawking four years to write his last book, "The Grand Design," missing his publisher's original deadline.

Hawking declined requests from The Associated Press for an interview, but his personal assistant, Judith Croasdell, spoke to the AP. She described her boss as remarkably patient.

"The way he communicates can seem frustratingly slow to most people but he doesn't let that impede his thinking," she said.

After a brief hospital stay, Hawking told her that he spent the time thinking about black holes.

Hawking typically comes into the office after a big breakfast and reading the news, Croasdell said. "He's not an early morning person, but he does stay quite late," until about 7 or 8 in the evening, she said.

Hawking's rooftop university office is crammed full of memorabilia: family photos, a miniature NASA shuttle, and a signed picture of himself with President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle. On top of physics books sits a disability access guide for the university.

Hawking's fame has led to guest appearances on some of his favorite television shows including "The Simpsons" and "Star Trek." His animated likeness from "The Simpsons" has even been turned into an action figure — one of which sits proudly on his office desk. There's also a Homer Simpson clock that Hawking is known to glare at when visitors are late for an appointment.

"He's a big ham, he loves the spotlight," said Kitty Ferguson, who's written two biographies of the physicist.

She said he has a wry sense of humor and has programmed his computer to respond to random encounters with people who ask if he's Stephen Hawking. "No, but I'm often mistaken for that man," his voice synthesizer deadpans.

Lou Gehrig's disease, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, attacks motor neurons, cells that control the muscles. Patients typically suffer muscle weakness and wasting, become paralyzed and have problems talking, swallowing and breathing. Only about 10 percent of patients live longer than a decade.

People who are stricken at a young age, as Hawking was, generally have a better chance of surviving longer. Most people are diagnosed between 50 and 70. Life expectancy generally ranges from two to five years after symptoms like slurred speech, difficulty swallowing and muscle weakness set in. Hawking's personal physicians don't discuss his condition with the press, Croasdell said.

For some reason, the disease has progressed more slowly in Hawking than in most. Al-Chalabi and colleagues are analyzing a DNA sample from Hawking, along with those of other patients, to see if there is something rare about his disease or any genetic mutations that could explain his long survival and if that information could be used to help others.

Some experts said the type of care Hawking has, including about a dozen health workers 24 hours a day, may have extended his life expectancy.

"The disease can sometimes stabilize and then the kind of care delivered may be a factor in survival," said Virginia Lee, a brain disease expert at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. "Remaining mentally alert is also extremely important and he has clearly done that."

Hawking says he tries not to think about his limitations.

"I have had (Lou Gehrig's disease) for practically all my adult life," he says on his website. "Yet it has not prevented me from having a very attractive family and being successful in my work," he writes. "I try to lead as normal a life as possible and not think about my condition or regret the things it prevents me from doing, which are not that many."

From the office pictures documenting his achievements, that certainly seems to be the case. Framed photos show the physicist with several popes and on memorable trips to China and Easter Island.

He has even flown in a space simulator. In 2007, Hawking took a zero-gravity flight in Florida, the first time in 40 years he abandoned his wheelchair.

"That was the happiest I've ever seen Stephen," said Sam Blackburn, Hawking's graduate assistant, who accompanied him on the ride along with about a half-dozen others, including two doctors. "He just had the biggest grin on his face."

Hawking has also been married twice and has three children and three grandchildren. With his daughter Lucy, he has written several children's books on physics.

Al-Chalabi said most patients with Lou Gehrig's disease succumb after their breathing muscles stop working. He had no predictions for what the biggest health risks to Hawking's future might be.

"He is truly remarkable," Al-Chalabi said. "This is someone who's managed to find ways around every single problem the disease has thrown at him."

___

Online:

Hawking website: http://www.hawking.org.uk

Associated Press

Technology

News

Read More

Obama on AIDS: 'We can beat this disease'

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
President Barack Obama makes remarks on World AIDS Day , Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011, at George Washington University in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) President Barack Obama makes remarks on World AIDS Day , Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011, at George Washington University in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Alicia Keys, center, and Muhtar Kent, the chairman of the Board and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, left, applaud as President Barack Obama spoke during a World AIDS Day event, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011, at George Washington University in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Musicians Bono, right, and Alicia Keys talk during a panel discussion on World AIDS Day, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011, at George Washington University in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Musicians Bono, right, and Alicia Keys take part in a panel discussion on World AIDS Day, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011, at George Washington University in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)eval("var currentItemd57851005a80479aaeeb90a12c70b9ff = 1;");eval("var nextd57851005a80479aaeeb90a12c70b9ff = 0;");eval("var previousd57851005a80479aaeeb90a12c70b9ff = 0;"); WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama set an ambitious goal Thursday for significantly increasing access to life-saving AIDS drugs for people in the U.S. and around the world, as he announced a renewed American commitment to ending a pandemic that has killed 30 million people.

"We can beat this disease," Obama declared during a World AIDS Day event in Washington. Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton also participated via satellite.

Obama pledged U.S. support to help 6 million people in countries hardest hit by the virus get access to antiretroviral drugs by the end of 2013, increasing the original U.S. goal by 2 million. And he announced plans to boost spending on HIV treatment in the U.S. by $50 million.

"The rate of new infections may be going down elsewhere, but it's not going down here in America," he said. "There are communities in this country being devastated still by this disease. When new infections among young, black, gay men increase by nearly 50 percent in three years, we need to do more to show them that their lives matter."

As part of Obama's new overseas initiatives, the U.S. will also aim to get antiretroviral drugs to 1.5 million HIV-positive pregnant women to prevent them from passing the virus to their children; distribute more than 1 billion condoms in the developing world in the next two years; and fund 4.7 million voluntary medical male circumcisions in eastern and southern Africa over the next two years. Research shows circumcisions reduce the risk of female-to-male HIV transmission by more than 60 percent.

The new global goals build on the work of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which focuses on prevention, treatment and support programs in 15 countries hit hardest by the AIDS pandemic, 12 of them in Africa. Bush launched the $15 billion plan in 2003, and in 2008, Congress tripled the budget to $48 billion over five years.

Obama praised Bush for his leadership on AIDS relief, saying the program will be one of the former president's greatest legacies.

"That program — more ambitious than even leading advocates thought was possible at the time — has saved thousands and thousands and thousands of lives, spurred international action, and laid the foundation for a comprehensive global plan that will impact the lives of millions," Obama said. "And we are proud that we have the opportunity to carry that work forward."

Despite Obama's more ambitious goals, the relief program's budget is not expected to increase. Instead officials said the expanded targets would be funded through savings achieved by making the program more efficient and cutting the costs of treatment.

The president urged other wealthy nations to fulfill their financial pledges to a global fund to fight HIV and AIDS, and jabbed those who have not contributed money.

"Countries that haven't made a pledge need to do so," he said. "That includes China and other major economies that are now able to step up as major donors."

Obama also announced new initiatives to combat HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, in the U.S. The White House said there are 1.2 million Americans living with HIV, and 50,000 new infections each year. Officials said he would direct the Department of Health and Human Services to increase funding for domestic treatment by $50 million

The bulk of the new funding — $35 million — will go to state programs that help people living with HIV and AIDS get access to medicine. There are currently more than 6,500 Americans living with the virus on waiting lists for medication, according to the White House.

The rest of the domestic funds will go to HIV medical clinics across the country, with an emphasis on areas where infections have increased and care and treatment are not readily available. Officials said the additional clinic funding would give 7,500 more patients access to treatment.

The $50 million is already part of the HHS budget, and officials said Obama does not need congressional approval to reallocate the funds.

The HIV virus has infected an estimated 60 million people worldwide since the deadly pandemic began 30 years ago. More than 33 million people are currently living with the virus.

While the failure to find an effective HIV vaccine continues to frustrate the medical community, experts say scientific research in recent years has led to substantial progress in preventing and treating the virus.

Obama ordered his staff to reevaluate both their international and domestic approaches to HIV and AIDS this summer after being briefed on the scientific advancements.

Members of both parties praised the new initiatives and commended Democratic and Republican leaders for coming together.

"Here's what we can do when we work together. We've got leaders of both political parties standing behind something that works," said Gayle Smith, Obama's senior director for development and democracy at the National Security Council.

Tony Fratto, a former Bush spokesman, urged both parties to avoid making the fight against AIDS a political issue.

"The only way to undermine this historic undertaking is if it becomes a partisan issue," he said. "The reasons a Barack Obama and a George W. Bush can support America's leading role in addressing this disease may be very different, but what's important is they've sought the same goal."

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC.

Associated Press

Technology

News

Read More

CDC: U.S. Heart Disease Rates on the Decline

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Percentage of adults with heart disease, the No. 1 killer in the U.S., in 2010 — down from 6.7% in 2006. Experts credit the improvement to better treatments for high blood pressure and cholesterol and declines in smoking. According to the data, heart disease is more common in men (7.8%) than women (4.6%), in those with less than a high school education (9.2%) than college grads (4.6%), and in people 65 or older (19.8%) than those aged 45 to 64 (7.1%). Looked at by race, rates of heart disease were highest in American Indians/Alaska Natives (11.6%) and lowest in Asians of Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders (3.9%). Despite the overall decline, high rates of heart disease remain clustered in the southeastern part of the country — particularly in Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia — roughly where rates of obesity, diabetes and stroke are also high. [via CDC]

News

Debt Financing

Read More

How the Brain Chooses: Secrets From Parkinson's Disease

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

How do you make a tough choice? For most people, the answer is to pause and deliberate, as the brain puts the brakes on its initial impulses. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) used to treat Parkinson's disease, however, can interfere with this braking action, according to new research that is starting to reveal the anatomy of choice.

Parkinson's disease, which affects at least half a million Americans, is a progressive neurological disorder that is characterized by tremors and difficulty initiating and controlling movement, and can lead to dementia. Deep brain stimulation — which uses a device implanted in the brain like a pacemaker — can reduce symptoms when drug treatments fail.

DBS affects a part of the brain called the subthalamic nucleus (STN), which in turn affects multiple systems, according to Michael Frank, professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences at Brown University. During decision-making, it inhibits impulsive urges originating in a brain region known as the striatum. This allows a "pause," during which slower deliberation can take place in an area called the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC).

The STN also affects movement in Parkinson's patients. "If the STN is really active, people have a hard time initiating movement," Frank says, which helps explain why people with Parkinson's may suffer from physical immobility or undirected shaking or become trapped in this "pause."

Consequently, DBS is used to regulate STN activity to ease movement. If it overshoots, however, it may allow impulses from the striatum to slip past the mPFC. That can sometimes lead to impulsive, unwise decision-making — and an increased risk of addictive disorders like gambling problems.

MORE: How Understanding Drug Addiction Can Motivate You to Exercise

(Interestingly, the specific activity of the STN may also explain why Parkinson's patients experience tremors: these occur at the same frequency as the activity seen in this brain region. The computer model used in the study predicts that tremor might increase in frequency during decision conflicts as STN activity rises.)

To figure all these connections out, Frank and his team recruited 65 healthy participants and 14 people with Parkinson's being treated with DBS for the study. The volunteers were given a decision-making task on a computer in which they had to choose between pictures that they had learned to associate with different levels of reward.

When the choice was difficult — for example, when faced with two pictures whose values were nearly equal — mPFC activity increased in all participants. Both healthy participants and people with Parkinson's, who had their DBS turned off, took longer to make up their minds.

But when DBS was activated in Parkinson's patients, they made decisions quickly and impulsively — even though mPFC activity was still seen. The mPFC wanted to deliberate, but deep-brain stimulation prevented the STN from hitting the brakes on impulsive urges.

While impulsivity as a side effect of DBS can currently be managed when it occurs, Frank's research suggests that tweaking the stimulation to better allow communication between the STN and the mPFC could improve treatment.

MORE:
Later" href="http://healthland.time.com/2011/09/06/the-secrets-of-self-control-the-marshmallow-test-40-years-later/">The Secrets of Self-Control: The Marshmallow Test 40 Years Later

Activity in the STN may also be involved in the "paradox of choice," in which people become overwhelmed by having too many options. In one famous study of this phenomenon, researchers found that people were easily able to choose between four types of jam in a supermarket, but when faced with 12 different options, they couldn't bring themselves to decide at all.

"We think this mechanism is at play, where too much conflict [puts] a brake on the decision-making system. The brain did not evolve in a world where we are given a myriad of options in a supermarket," Frank says. "The sort of decision paralysis observed in that case might be a byproduct of a the healthy tendency to pause in the face of conflict."

This kind of mental incapacitation may also play a role in various psychiatric disorders. For example, people with depression often feel "stuck" because their inability to experience pleasure makes it impossible for them, when faced with any kind of choice, to judge one option as better than the other.

In people with addiction, the reward systems involving the striatum are trained to respond as people repeatedly experience pleasure by taking a drug. To quit successfully, the STN needs to prevent the striatum from initiating the behaviors needed to get high. "Any way in which that circuit can be trained up or enhanced could potentially be helpful for people with addictions," says Frank.

The study was published in Nature Neuroscience.

MORE: Man Claims Parkinson's Drug Turned Him Into a Gay Sex Addict

Maia Szalavitz is a health writer at TIME.com. Find her on Twitter at @maiasz. You can also continue the discussion on TIME Healthland's Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIMEHealthland.

News

Debt Financing

Read More

Childless men more likely to die of heart disease: study

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO | Mon Sep 26, 2011 6:08pm EDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A decade-long study of 135,000 men found that those who did not have children had a higher risk of dying from heart disease than those who did, raising new questions over the links between fertility and overall health, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

While the findings do not show that not having children causes heart problems in men, they do suggest that infertility may be a potential early warning sign of future heart trouble, the team reported in the journal Human Reproduction.

"There is emerging evidence to suggest that infertility may be a window into a man's later health," said Dr. Michael Eisenberg of Stanford University in California.

He said men who are infertile have a higher risk of certain cancers, and his team wanted to look for other signs that infertility might be playing a role later in a man's life.

The researchers used a large study of men over 50 who were members of AARP. The team did not know whether men in the study wanted to be fathers or not, so they specifically looked only at men who were married.

And they used childlessness as a surrogate for male infertility, Eisenberg said.

"In general, most married men will have the opportunity to reproduce. Whether they and their partner chose not to have children or whether there were some biological problems, we can't determine," Eisenberg said.

Eisenberg and colleagues focused on 135,000 married or formerly married men who were 50 or older at the start of the study in 1996. Almost all, or 92 percent, had fathered at least one child and 50 percent had three or more offspring.

Nearly all of the men -- 95 percent -- were white.

The researchers then tracked death rates from some 70 causes using Social Security and other databases and questionnaires sent to surviving family members.

Over the course of the 10-year follow up period, some 10 percent of the men died, and one out of every five of these deaths was from heart disease.

When looking at the parental status of these men, childless participants in the study had about a 17 percent higher risk of heart disease than those who were fathers.

Eisenberg said it was not possible to determine whether men in the study simply chose not to have children or whether the men's partners were infertile.

But excluding unmarried men offered an approximation of male infertility, and the link to heart disease raises important questions that merit further research.

"My belief it there is a biologic reason," Eisenberg said.

The researchers stress that the study does not suggest being childless causes heart problems, but since infertility affects a man's health at a much younger age, understanding this link could help doctors identify heart problems earlier, when there is more time to intervene.

(Editing by Jackie Frank)

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

Read More

With Bed Bugs, the Cure May Be Worse Than the Disease

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Bloodsucking bed bugs have made a comeback in recent years. But as victims of infestation have become increasingly desperate to rid their homes of the bedeviling pests, many have only done themselves more harm.

Bed bugs do not transmit disease or cause illness — but the insecticides used to kill them do. A total of 111 illnesses associated with bed bug-related insecticides were reported in seven states between 2003 and 2010 (mostly in the last three years), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday. Most cases of poisoning were not severe, but the data included one death.

PHOTO: Bed Bugs: the Beauty Shots

That case involved a 65-year-old woman in North Carolina who died in 2010. After she complained to her husband about bed bugs, the CDC report said, he saturated the interior of their home, including the baseboards, walls and the area around the bed, with the insecticide Ortho Home Defense Max. He then applied a different product, Ortho Lawn and Garden Insect Killer, to their mattress and box spring. Neither insecticide is registered for use against bed bugs, the CDC said.

That day, the couple also released nine cans of Hot Shot Fogger in their home. Two days later, they reapplied the insecticides and unleashed nine more cans of Hot Shot Bedbug and Flea Fogger. The woman then applied the pesticide Hot Shot Bed Bug and Flea Killer directly to her arms and chest, and doused her hair with it before covering her head with a plastic cap.

Two days later, her husband found her unresponsive. She was taken to the hospital where she remained on a ventilator for nine days until she died. The woman had had a history of health problems, including kidney failure, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, and depression, the CDC report said. She had been taking at least 10 medications at the time of her death.

MORE: Q&A: How to Avoid, Detect and Defeat the Bed Bug

In other cases where the factors contributing to insecticide-related illness could be determined, the CDC found that excessive insecticide application was among the most frequently reported. Other contributors included the failure to wash or change pesticide-treated bedding, as well as the improper use of pesticides. People used outdoor-only bug killers inside, for example, or sprayed insecticides not meant for use on humans or against bed bugs. Nearly 90% of exposures involved insecticides containing pyrethroids, pyrethrins or both.

Aside from the one reported death, most other cases of poisoning were mild. Commonly reported symptoms of exposure included headache and dizziness, breathing difficulties, nausea and vomiting.

The actual number of insecticide-related illnesses may be far higher than found in the CDC study, because it included only those that were reported to a surveillance system in 12 states. Further, many people experiencing minor symptoms, who didn't seek medical treatment or advice from a poison control center, would not have been captured by the system.

In nearly 40% of cases of insecticide-related illness, extermination was attempted by consumers who weren't certified to use pesticides. The problem is only being made worse by bed bugs' increasing resistance to commonly available pesticides, the CDC said, which may further drive people's misuse of toxic chemicals.

MORE: Thought Bed Bugs Were Bad? Try Bed Bugs with MRSA

To lower the risk, the CDC recommends that people with bed bug problems seek professional pest control companies that employ both chemical and non-chemical methods to eradicate bed bugs. The report advises:

CDC and EPA promote integrated pest management (IPM) for bed bug control. IPM is an effective pest control method that uses information on the life cycle of the pest and incorporates nonchemical and chemical methods. Nonchemical methods to effectively control bed bugs include heating infested rooms to 118°F (48°C) for 1 hour or cooling rooms to 3°F (-16°C) for 1 hour by professional applicators; encasing mattresses and box springs with bed bug–excluding covers; and vacuuming, steaming, laundering, and disposing of infested items.

Do-it-yourselfers should follow product instructions carefully. For more information on the safe use of pesticides, you can download the Environmental Protection Agency's safety guide here. The CDC's full report on insecticide-related illness is available here.

MORE: How to Build Your Own Bed Bug Detector

Meredith Melnick is a reporter at TIME. Find her on Twitter at @MeredithCM. You can also continue the discussion on TIME's Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

Read More

Leaders vow to cut deaths from chronic disease

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — World leaders have pledged to take wide-ranging action to prevent millions of deaths from cancer, diabetes, and heart and lung disease by tackling the key causes — smoking, excessive drinking, lack of exercise and unhealthy diets dominated by fast food.

But the 13-page political declaration approved at the first-ever General Assembly meeting on chronic diseases which ended Tuesday left unanswered the question of coordinating an international response to what the leaders called "a challenge of epidemic proportions."

The declaration notes "with profound concern" that according to the World Health Organization, an estimated 36 million of the 57 million global deaths in 2008 were due principally to cancer, diabetes and heart and lung diseases — including about 9 million men and women below the age of 60. WHO said 80 percent of these deaths were in developing countries.

At a final round-table discussion, Prime Minister Denzil Douglas of St. Kitts and Nevis said, "Our response must be urgent, it must be comprehensive, and it has to be fully coordinated at the national, regional and local levels."

Douglas, who chairs the Caribbean Community known as CARICOM, said priority must be given to international coordination so there can be effective monitoring of the diseases and effective measures to reduce the risk factors and strengthen health care systems, especially in developing countries where cases of the four diseases are increasing rapidly.

The only other high-level General Assembly meeting on a health issue, in 2001, led to creation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, with billions of dollars provided by governments and private groups such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

At the round-table, many speakers proposed that the global fight against non-communicable diseases follow the same model. Some proposed a coordinating body, possibly under the World Health Organization, and Poland said an international network of organizations specializing in chronic diseases would be valuable.

The declaration asks U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to submit options to strengthen and facilitate global action to combat these diseases to the General Assembly by the end of 2012.

"Non-communicable diseases can be prevented and their impacts reduced, with millions of lives saved and untold suffering avoided," the declaration said.

To achieve this, the leaders pledged to accelerate implementation of WHO's anti-smoking treaty and its global strategies to promote healthy diets and physical activity, and reduce the harmful use of alcohol.

They also pledged to promote cost-effective measures to reduce salt, sugar and saturated fats and eliminate industrially produced transfats in foods and to encourage policies that support the production and consumption of foods that contribute to healthy diets.

The leaders also pledged to promote increased access to cost effective cancer screening programs, help improve "access and affordability for medicines and technologies" to prevent and control chronic diseases, and try to identify and mobilize sustained funding.

Many countries said they were already taking action to address the crisis.

South Africa said it had just passed regulations to reduce the use of trans fats and is drawing up regulations to reduce salt content in processed food. Kenya said its parliament has banned smoking in all public places and prohibited tobacco advertising and the sale of tobacco products to anyone under the age of 21. Australia announced it is giving $25 million to help Pacific island countries tackle non-communicable diseases — and starting next year it will require all tobacco products sold in Australia to have the same "unattractive dark brown" packaging covered by graphic health warnings to discourage smoking.

WHO Director General Margaret Chan, who urged world leaders to stand up to the tobacco and fast food industries in a keynote speech Monday, applauded efforts in Australia, Uruguay and elsewhere to counter tobacco company advertising campaigns.

But she urged vigilance, telling Tuesday's round-table participants: "Watch out. Even an old dog like the tobacco industry can learn some dirty new tricks."

Associated Press

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

Read More

HEALTH MANAGEMENT. Analysis: Forecast bad for UN chronic disease meeting

LONDON (Reuters) - ten years to commit to the fight against AIDS, the United Nations takes on an even bigger pile of Mörder--common chronic ailments-in what design is up for a bruising battle between big business, Western Governments and the world's poor.
Tobacco, food and drink companies are in the firing line for peddling products, accused in connection with cancer, diabetes and heart disease while politicians in the rich world, in the absence of a fixed goals or means the appropriate against provide.
"This is an opportunity generation." Rebecca Perl the World Lung Foundation (WLF) we have millions of life here, and it said is a disgraceful and immoral could save that industry lobbying short-term profits to a public health disaster has put, "told of Reuters." WLF participates in irritable preliminary talks for several months.
The fear is that the large company has successfully lobbying rich Governments only half-heartedly in non-communicable diseases or NCDs, fight despite predictions that they paralyze the health systems of developing countries could be.
A bit a short-term financial requires such as climate change, prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases affluent Nations and multinational companies hours to prevent that overwhelmed poor countries in the future.
Fears grow in these strict times already, that a high-level UN Conference in New York on September 19-20-only the second in the Centre of the disease after an AIDS in the year 2001-could be a flop.
The collection includes scores of delegates of the UN Member States, including about 20 head of Government as well as representatives of the public health groups, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and science.
After a draft of political declaration, that are the foundation of the United Nations think many platitudes but few concrete commitments on NCDs contains close to the negotiations.
Ann Keeling, Chairman of the NCD Alliance, which groups of 2,000 health organizations from which all over the world, said "There is no strong and temporally fixed commitments there," the news agency of Reuters. "It's a big disappointment from this point of view."
NOT ROCKET SCIENCE
The extent of the problem is immense. Some 36 million people die each year from NCDs--about 80% of them in poor countries where prevention programmes are virtually non-existent, and access to diagnosis and treatment is extremely limited.
As a result, death of NCDs are almost twice as high in poor countries as in the industrialized world.
Prevent that outrun this Todesfälle-- or at least a good part - is not rocket. A simple improvement enables proven measures such as the reduction of smoking, diet, drugs available and promote the use could tap a huge hole in this number.
"It is a common history, the cancer, cardiovascular, diabetes and respiratory medicine to tobacco, alcohol, diet and General-links and that's where we have the most cost-effective impact", says David Kerr, President of the European society for medical oncology.
The key points are money, goals and control.
Complete a billion people from lighting, or to prevent every day cheap medications such as aspirin and Statins, heart attacks and strokes may be less expensive, but the repayment does not quickly and it is unlikely that many votes to win.
"The time horizon for return on investment is very long and many political horizon." So it is difficult to require people to this kind of resources, ", says Gordon Tomaselli, President of the American Heart Association."
The NCD Alliance says spending $9 billion a year on tobacco control, food risks would advice and treatment for people with heart avert millions of premature deaths in this decade.
That's a lot? Compared to care for HIV patients in developing countries already costs by 13 billion per year.
In contrast to combat AIDS, which UN focus was ten years ago, the price of drugs of less is a problem here, as many as cheap generic drugs are available, although there are disputes about the costs for some more products expensive such as insulin.
STUBBING FROM TOBACCO
The sharpest concentrated themselves this time on fatty foods, sugary drinks and--in allem-- the tobacco industry, the World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan was described as "an industry that has lots of money and no scruples, for use in the insidious as possible."
With tobacco, if the development however, that public health lobby says nothing else does the UN session, it should be predicted to kill more than one billion people of this century at least a smoke-free world of one of its central objectives.
Smoke alone causes one of three cases of pulmonary diseases, one of four cases of cancer and in 10 cases of heart disease, says Perl. "So what a bang, get for your money there, to look for."
Conflicts Governments find it hard. Japan tobacco is of, for example, 50 percent owned by the Japanese Government, and the massive profits U.S. cigarette to strengthen the US economy manufacturers.
China, the world's male smokers, the combination of taxes and sale of China national tobacco houses a third-all State Office-account for about 9 percent of annual tax revenue of the Government.
This is one reason more, according to Paul Lincoln of UK National Heart Forum and Jaakko Tuomilehto, an epidemiologist at the University of Helsinki, hiking tobacco taxes, advertising to put the brakes and insist on health warnings graphic.
"There are no excuses," Lincoln said. "We have the know-how." "The challenge for public health as ever and ever is to overcome the ideological and vested interests."
Tuomilehto is more stump: "it is a crazy thing to have a product in the shops, the every second consumer-it kills is madness."

Read More