What Your Blood Type Reveals About Your Health

If you’re wondering whether you’re at a higher-than-average risk for heart disease, your answer may very well be a pinprick away. A new Harvard study published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology shows that your blood type can actually predict your risk for heart disease. Additional current research shows that certain blood types are associated with other dangerous disorders as well. Which blood type puts people at highest risk for heart disease? The study investigated whether certain blood types were associated with the risk of coronary heart disease, by looking at information from two large observational studies, the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. These two studies followed a combined 89,501 American men and women over a 24 to 26 year period. Participants with the blood type AB had the highest risk of coronary heart disease, the Harvard researchers found. In fact, people with AB blood type were 23 percent more likely to develop coronary heart disease. People who were blood type B had a 15 percent increased risk, and those with blood type A had a 6 percent increased risk compared to the O blood group. Why would blood type affect the risk of coronary heart disease? The studies did not explain the exact link between blood type and heart disease. “Blood type is very complicated, so there could be multiple mechanisms at play,” study author Lu Qi said in a news release. However, blood type A has been linked to elevated levels of cholesterol, as well as high levels of LDL, or “bad” cholesterol. People with blood type O have been found to bleed more, which makes them less likely to have blood clots. Since clots which block blood flow through coronary arteries lead to heart attacks, this theory may very well explain the low risk for cardiovascular issues among people with blood type O. What’s the link between blood type and other diseases? There have been earlier studies showing links between blood type and risks of infections or diseases. Here are some examples. •Both men and women with blood type AB, and women with blood type B, are more likely to suffer from strokes than people with O blood type. •The gut pathogen Rotavirus, which causes diarrhea and vomiting, has certain strains which are more likely to infect people with blood type A. (Infants can get vaccinated against rotavirus, and frequent handwashing is a good preventative measure for older children and adults.) •People with type B blood have a 72 percent increased risk of pancreatic cancer, and the risk is also elevated for AB blood types (51 percent) and those with blood type A (32 percent) compared to people with blood type O, according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. •It’s not all bad news for A and AB blood types, at least not for women seeking fertility treatments—research shows they have more eggs in their ovaries than women with type O blood, who are more likely to have difficulty with fertility treatments. •Certain types of cancers seem to be more prevalent in specific blood types, according to information compiled from 2640 male and female cancer patients in India. •People with type A blood appeared to have higher incidences of breast cancer and lung cancer, blood types B and O were more likely to suffer from gastrointestinal cancer, and people with type B and A blood had higher incidents of oral cancer. In general, those with blood type A seemed to have an increases probability of getting cancer, and those with blood type O had a significantly lower risk. Reducing Heart Attack Risk Taking steps to improve your cardiovascular health can save your life, no matter what your blood type is. Avoiding tobacco use, maintaining a healthy weight, and exercising for a half hour or more five days a week will reduce your risk of coronary heart disease. Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, including fish twice a week, and limiting sodium, alcohol and sugary drinks is also recommended.

Drunk people cameras??? Where is the liberty?

A picture of your face could reveal that you're drunk. But it won't be the droopy eyes and drool that give you away. A new study reports that a thermal camera could detect drunkenness in the temperature of the face. Researchers at the University of Patras in Greece had 20 healthy participants down an 11-ounce (330-milliliter) glass of beer every 20 minutes. In total, they had four drinks, and after each, the researchers took a sequence of infrared pictures of their faces. Twenty minutes after the last beer, another series of pictures was taken. The researchers showed that two different approaches could be used to spot a drunk. In the first method, an algorithm was used to compare the photos to a database of facial pictures of drunk and sober people. The model could pick out inebriated participants based on certain hotspots on the face that are signatures of drunkenness. The researchers said similar technology has been used to determine whether a person was infected with a virus, such as SARS. In the second approach, another algorithm analyzed the temperature differences on certain points in an individual's face. For drunk people, the nose and mouth regions are generally hotter compared with the forehead. The researchers, led by Georgia Koukiou and Vassilis Anastassopoulos, said such technology could be used to scan people before they buy more alcohol or enter airports and other public spaces. Their work was published in the latest edition of the International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics.

McDonald to go vegetarian ?????

US fast food giant McDonald's, famed for its beef-based Big Mac burgers, on Tuesday said it will open its first ever vegetarian-only restaurant in the world in India next year. The world's second-biggest restaurant chain after Subway already tailors its menus to suit local tastes -- which in India means no beef to avoid offending Hindus and no pork to cater for Muslim requirements. It will open its first vegetarian outlet in the middle of next year near the Golden Temple in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar in northern India, where religious authorities forbid consumption of meat at the shrine. "It will be the first time we have opened a vegetarian restaurant in the world," a spokesman for McDonald's in northern India, Rajesh Kumar Maini, told AFP. After the opening in Amritsar, the US chain plans to launch another vegetarian outlet at Katra near the Vaishno Devi cave shrine in Indian Kashmir -- a revered Hindu pilgrimage site that draws hundreds of thousands of worshippers a year. It sees the potential for many more vegetarian restaurants across the country. McDonald's in India already has a menu that is 50 percent vegetarian. Its McAloo Tikki burger at 28 rupees or 50 cents -- which uses a spicy fried potato-based patty -- is the top seller, accounting for a quarter of total sales. Among the chicken-only meat offerings, the Maharaja Mac is also a favourite. Currently India, with its population of 1.2 billion, is still a "very small market for McDonald's", said Maini. "We have just 271 restaurants in India and across the world we have nearly 33,000," Maini said. The chain serves half a million customers a day in India, out of 50 million people it serves daily in over 100 countries. "When you look at the potential of the country, it's one of the top priority countries and we're laying the groundwork for capturing the market," said Maini. "We plan to nearly double the number of outlets to 500 plus within the next three years," he said. McDonald's realised soon after it entered the country that it had to rework its international menu to Indian tastes. "The reasons were very compelling -- cow slaughter is not allowed because of religious reasons and we couldn't do pork either," Maini explained. Hindus, who account for 80 percent of India's population, regard cows as sacred. For Muslims, the consumption of pork is prohibited in the Koran. "It was the whole idea of going local and creating flavours that would create acceptance for us," Maini said. "We had to look at the whole market innovatively and we realised only chicken-based and vegetarian food would work." McDonald's is not alone in "Indianising" its offerings. Domino's Pizza, another leading fast food chain in India, has created pizzas with extra spicy toppings. But growing consumption of food high in fat is spurring concern that India is importing the Western disease of obesity, creating a ticking public health timebomb.

Lots of things to cover soon

There is a lot to cover soon. I have been busy on my other site http://freestocksadvice.blogspot.com/

A little pepper spray=xbox???

A woman trying to improve her chance to buy cheap electronics at a Walmart in a wealthy suburb spewed pepper spray on a crowd of shoppers and 20 people suffered minor injuries, police said Friday. The attack took place about 10:20 p.m. Thursday shortly after doors opened for the sale at the Walmart in Porter Ranch in the San Fernando Valley. The store had brought out a crate of discounted Xbox video game players, and a crowd had formed to wait for the unwrapping, when the woman began spraying people "in order to get an advantage," police Sgt. Jose Valle said. "Faces were red," shopper John Lopez told ABC News Radio. "This one guy was coming up to my wife going, 'Call an ambulance! Call an ambulance!'" Matthew Lopez, 18, told the Los Angeles Times he heard screaming and yelling. "Moments later, my throat stung. I was coughing really bad and watering up," he said. In the aftermath, video showed dozens of shoppers milling around while employees urge them to back up and make room. It was the only major violence reported at a Southern California store involving Black Friday Thanksgiving holiday sales. Ten people were slightly injured by the pepper spray and 10 others suffered minor bumps and bruises in the chaos, Valle said. They were treated at the scene. "People could have gotten trampled," he said. "Good thing there were no small kids." The woman got away in the confusion, but it was not immediately clear whether she got an Xbox, Valle said. "Walmart is going through register receipts to see if it was purchased," he said. The store remained open and those not affected by the pepper spray kept shopping. "This was an unfortunate situation. We're glad everyone seems to be OK," Walmart said in a statement. "We're working with law enforcement to provide what information we have, such as surveillance video, to assist in their investigation." The woman could face felony battery charges if she is found, Valle said.

School Hygiene Program Reduce Flu

A hand hygiene and cough etiquette program for elementary school children reduced cases of flu and the number of absences, a new study says. The study included five Pittsburgh schools that received the training program and five schools that received no special hygiene training. Lessons taught to the children in the five-step "WHACK the Flu" program were: •Wash or sanitize your hands often. •Home is where you stay when you are sick. •Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. •Cover your coughs and sneezes. •Keep your distance from sick people. During the academic year, schools that received the training program had 52 percent fewer confirmed illnesses caused by influenza A and 26 percent fewer student absences. However, there was no decrease in the number of illnesses caused by influenza B. It's not clear why there was no decrease in influenza B, but the University of Pittsburgh researchers suggested it may be because of "basic differences in the biology or epidemiology" of influenza B, or because influenza B occurred later in the flu season and mainly in younger children. The study, published in the November issue of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, also found that the flu program was successful in getting students to use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer regularly, an average of 2.4 times per day. "Respiratory hygiene education and the regular use of hand sanitizer can be an important adjunct to influenza vaccination programs to reduce the number of influenza A infections among children," Dr. Samuel Stebbins and colleagues wrote in a journal news release.

hello we are back

Were Back!

Were Back!

BP's Haywayrd says he didnt know what company was doing

Well folks ive been deeply saddened as of late. Watching this crisis go on in the Gulf is killing me. Hayward today says he wasnt aware of the decision made at the rigs...maybe not, but how does he explain the 370 million in fines over 600 safety violations, when the next oil giant only had 8...yes 8 in the last 5 years. WTF is up with them....unreall

BP oil spill update

Seems the oil spill will now be shutting down fishing in the gulf. If the oil hits the currents in the atlantic, fish could be poisoned for generations. So now not only do we need to worry about mercury in fish, but contamination form the oil too. Eating fish will be a slow but sure death sentence

BP Oil spill

Well the BP oil spill is hitting land now. I am inclined to believe that not only will it kill wildlife, but im quite confident that someone in the region will either get stuck in the slick or end up drinking the contaminated water and getting sick. Its just a hunch, but i bet it happens

Obesity may shorten lifespan..nothing new

Because Americans are getting heavier at an earlier age and failing to lose the extra pounds for longer, researchers now believe that chronic illness and life expectancy will be worse than previously estimated.


The study authors report that one in five people born between 1966 and 1985 became obese -- a step above merely overweight -- when they were between 20 and 29 years old.


By contrast, those who were born from 1946 to 1955 didn't reach the level of obesity until they were in their 30s. And those who were born between 1936 and 1945 didn't get to that weight category until their 40s, according to the report published in the April 12 issue of the International Journal of Obesity.


"Many people have heard that Americans are getting heavier. But it's very important to understand who the obesity epidemic is affecting," study lead author Dr. Joyce Lee, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Michigan Mott Children's Hospital, said in a news release. "Our research indicates that higher numbers of young and middle-age American adults are becoming obese at younger and younger ages."


In the new federally funded study, the researchers found that blacks and women are especially hard hit by obesity when compared to past generations.


"Black Americans already experience a higher burden of obesity-related diseases, and the obesity trends will likely magnify those racial disparities in health," Lee noted in the news release.

Autism bowel disease not a real condition?

A new autism disease identified in a flawed paper linking a common children's vaccine to autism, may not exist, new research says.

A dozen years ago, British surgeon Andrew Wakefield and colleagues published a study in the journal Lancet on a new bowel disease and proposed a connection between autism and the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella.

The study was widely discredited, 10 of Wakefield's co-authors renounced its conclusions and the Lancet retracted the paper in February. The research set off a health scare, and vaccination rates in Britain dropped so low measles outbreaks returned.

In research published Friday in the medical journal BMJ, reporter Brian Deer examines if the illness described by Wakefield and colleagues — autistic enterocolitis, a bowel disease found in autistic people — actually exists.

In 1996, Wakefield was hired by a lawyer to find a new syndrome of bowel and brain disease to help launch a lawsuit against drug companies that made the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, according to BMJ article.

According to reports from London's Royal Free Hospital, eight of the 11 children included in Wakefield's original study had normal bowels. But in the Lancet study, 11 of the 12 were said to have a swollen bowel, which was said to be proof of a new gastrointestinal disease affecting autistic children.

In 2005, Wakefield started a clinic in Texas to research and treat the syndrome.

The original biopsy slides from the children in the Lancet study are no longer available. Deer asked independent experts to examine hospital reports on the biopsies, who failed to find any distinctive inflammation that would qualify as a new disease.

In an accompanying editorial, Sir Nicholas Wright from the Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, said "any firm conclusion would be inadvisable." He said several studies have shown a link between inflamed bowels and autism, but too little evidence exists to prove there is a new illness.

In January, Britain's General Medical Council ruled Wakefield had acted unethically. He and the two colleagues who have not renounced the study face being stripped of their right to practice medicine in Britain.

Researchers find annual Chlamydia screening may not be enough for some to prevent Pelvic Inflammatory disease

Once-a-year screening for chlamydia isn't likely to protect women from developing pelvic inflammatory disease, researchers say.


A new study has found that most cases of pelvic inflammatory disease occur in women who didn't have chlamydia infection when they were screened, which suggests they may have become infected later.


Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted infection in Europe and the United States. An estimated 3 million new infections are diagnosed annually, and because there are often no symptoms, many cases remain undiagnosed, according to background information provided in a news release about the study. Undiagnosed chlamydia infection may lead to pelvic inflammatory disease.


The study included 2,529 sexually active females, aged 16 to 27, who completed questionnaires and provided vaginal swabs to check for chlamydia. Some of the swabs (1,254) were tested immediately while others (1,265) were tested after a year.


Chlamydia was found in 68 (5.4 percent) of the women who were screened at the start of the study and in 75 (5.9 percent) of those screened a year later. During the study period, pelvic inflammatory disease developed in 15 (1.3 percent) of the women who were screened immediately and in 23 (1.9 percent) of those who were screened after one year.


The majority of cases of pelvic inflammatory disease (79 percent) were among women who tested negative for chlamydia at their initial screening, the study authors found. This suggests that, among high-risk people, frequent testing for chlamydia may be more effective at preventing pelvic inflammatory disease than annual screening, said Dr. Pippa Oakeshott, of the University of London, and colleagues.


Public campaigns should emphasize the need for screening whenever a woman has a new sexual partner, the study authors recommended in the report published online April 9 in BMJ.


"It is disappointing but not surprising that this study could not provide a clear answer as to whether screening is effective in reducing the incidence of pelvic inflammatory disease," Jessica Sheringham, of University College London, wrote in an editorial accompanying the study.

POLISH PRESIDENT DIES IN PLANE CRASH!

Polish President Lech Kaczynski and some of the country's highest military and civilian leaders died on Saturday when the presidential plane crashed as it came in for a landing in thick fog in western Russia, killing ~97 people, officials said.

Russian and Polish officials said there were no survivors on the 26-year-old Tupolev, which was taking the president, his wife and staff to events marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre in Katyn forest of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet secret police.

The crash devastated the upper echelons of Poland's political and military establishments. On board were the army chief of staff, the navy chief commander, and heads of the air and land forces. Also killed were the national bank president, deputy foreign minister, army chaplain, head of the National Security Office, deputy parliament speaker, Olympic Committee head, civil rights commissioner and at least two presidential aides and three lawmakers, the Polish foreign ministry said.

Although initial signs pointed to an accident with no indication of foul play, the death of a Polish president and much of the Polish state and defense establishment in Russia en route to commemorating one of the saddest events in Poland's long, complicated history with Russia, was laden with tragic irony.

Reflecting the grave sensibilities of the crash to relations between the two countries, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin personally assumed charge of the investigation. He was due in Smolensk later Saturday, where he would meet Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who was flying in from Warsaw.

"This is unbelievable — this tragic, cursed Katyn," Kaczynski's predecessor, Aleksander Kwasniewski, said on TVN24 television.

It is "a cursed place, horrible symbolism," he said. "It's hard to believe. You get chills down your spine."

Andrei Yevseyenkov, spokesman for the Smolensk regional government, said Russian dispatchers asked the crew to divert from the military airport in North Smolensk and land instead in Minsk, the capital of neighboring Belarus, or in Moscow because of the fog.

While traffic controllers generally have the final word in whether it is safe for a plane to land, they can and do leave it to the pilots' discretion.

Air Force Gen. Alexander Alyoshin confirmed that the pilot disregarded instructions to fly to another airfield.

"But they continued landing, and it ended, unfortunately, with a tragedy," the Interfax news agency quoted Alyoshin as saying. He added that the pilot makes the final decision about whether to land.

Russia's Emergency Minister Sergei Shoigu said there were 97 dead. His ministry said 88 of whom were part of the Polish state delegation. Poland's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Piotr Paszkowski, said there were 89 people on the passenger list but one person had not shown up for the roughly 1 1/2-hour flight from Warsaw's main airport.

Some of the people on board were relatives of those slain in the Katyn massacre. Also among the victims was Anna Walentynowicz, whose firing in August 1980 from the Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk sparked a workers' strike that spurred the eventual creation of the Solidarity freedom movement. She went on to be a prominent member.

"This is a great tragedy, a great shock to us all," former president and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa said.

The deaths were not expected to directly affect the functioning of Polish government: Poland's president is commander in chief of its armed forces but the position's domestic duties are chiefly symbolic. Most top government ministers were not aboard the plane.

According to the Aviation Safety Network, there have been 66 crashes involving Tu-154s in the past four decades, including six in the past five years. The Russian carrier Aeroflot recently withdrew its Tu-154 fleet from service, largely because the planes do not meet international noise restrictions and use too much fuel.

The aircraft was the workhorse of East Bloc civil aviation in the 1970s and 1980s, and many of the crashes have been attributed to the chaos that ensued after the breakup of the Soviet Unio

Poland has long discussed replacing the planes that carry the country's leaders but said they lacked the funds.

The presidential plane was fully overhauled in December, the general director of the Aviakor aviation maintenance plant in Samara, Russia told Rossiya-24. The plant repaired the plane's three engines, retrofitted electronic and navigation equipment and updated the interior, Alexei Gusev said. He said there could be no doubts that the plane was flightworthy.

The plane tilted to the left before crashing, eyewitness Slawomir Sliwinski told state news channel Rossiya-24. He said there were two loud explosions when the aircraft hit the ground.

Rossiya-24 showed footage from the crash site, with pieces of the plane scattered widely amid leafless trees and small fires burning in woods shrouded with fog. A tail fin with the red and white national colors of Poland stuck up from the debris.

Polish-Russian relations had been improving of late after being poisoned for decades over the Katyn massacre of some 22,000 Polish officers.

Russia never has formally apologized for the murders but Putin's decision to attend a memorial ceremony earlier this week in the forest near Katyn was seen as a gesture of goodwill toward reconciliation. Kaczynski wasn't invited to that event. Putin, as prime minister, had invited his Polish counterpart, Tusk.

Putin and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev both called Tusk to express their condolences and they promised to work closely with Poland in investigating the crash. Tusk said they had been the first to offer condolences.

"On this difficult day the people of Russia stand with the Polish people," Medvedev said, according to the Kremlin press service.

Putin told Tusk that he would keep him fully briefed on the investigation, his spokesman said.

Rossiya-24 showed hundreds of people around the Katyn monument, many holding Polish flags, some weeping.

Poland's parliament speaker, the acting president, declared a week of national mourning. Tusk called for two minutes of silence at noon (1000GMT) Sunday.

"The contemporary world has not seen such a tragedy," he said.

In Warsaw, Tusk also called an extraordinary meeting of his Cabinet and the national flag was lowered to half-staff at the presidential palace, where several thousand people gathered to lay flowers and light candles. Black ribbons appeared in some windows in the capital.

Kaczynski, 60, was the twin brother of Poland's opposition leader, former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Kaczynski's wife, Maria, was an economist. They had a daughter, Marta, and two granddaughters.

Lech Kaczynski became president in December 2005 after defeating Tusk in that year's presidential vote.

The nationalist conservative had said he would seek a second term in presidential elections this fall. He was expected to face an uphill struggle against Parliament speaker Bronislaw Komorowski, the candidate of Tusk's governing Civic Platform party.

The constitution says the parliament speaker announce early elections within 14 days of the president's death. The vote must be held within another 60 days.

Poland, a nation of 38 million people, is by far the largest of the 10 formerly communist countries that have joined the European Union in recent years.

Last year, Poland was the only EU nation to avoid recession and posted economic growth of 1.7 percent.

It has become a firm U.S. ally in the region since the fall of communism — a stance that crosses party lines.

The country sent troops to the U.S.-led war in Iraq and recently boosted its contingent in Afghanistan to some 2,600 soldiers.

U.S. Patriot missiles are expected to be deployed in Poland this year. That was a Polish condition for a 2008 deal — backed by both Kaczynski and Tusk — to host long-range missile defense interceptors.

The deal, which was struck by the Bush administration, angered Russia and was later reconfigured under President Barack Obama's administration.

Under the Obama plan, Poland would host a different type of missile defense interceptors as part of a more mobile system and at a later date, probably not until 2018.

Kaczynski is the first serving Polish leader to die since exiled World War II-era leader Gen. Wladyslaw Sikorski in a plane crash off Gibraltar in 1943.

In the village of Gorzno, in northern Poland, the streets were largely empty as people stayed home to watch television.

"It is very symbolic that they were flying to pay homage to so many murdered Poles," said resident Waleria Gess, 73.

"I worry because so many clever and decent people were killed," said high school student Pawel Kwas, 17. "I am afraid we may have problems in the future to find equally talented politicians."

E. Coli outbreak in Washington

A deadly strain of E. coli spread from child to child at a Washington state day care, killing one and sickening three others despite what health officials determined were appropriate hygienic practices.

The four children were hospitalized, and Elizabeth Winter of the Washington state Department of Early Learning said her department was notified Friday that one of them, a 4-year-old boy, had died.

Fletch Family Daycare — a tidy single-story yellow rambler on a large lot in Vancouver, Wash. — is closed.

The other three children have been released, said Dr. Alan Melnick, health officer with the Clark County, Wash., health department. He declined to provide any further details on the child who died.

Melnick said the department learned of the first hospitalization involving the E. coli O157:H7 bacteria strain on March 19.

Health officials determined that the business' hygienic practices were acceptable, but closed it down in April 2 when it became apparent that E. coli was spreading from person to person, Melnick said in an interview with Portland's KGW-TV.

"We believe we have it confined," Melnick told reporters Friday.

Winter said the center, near Portland and operated by Dianne and Larry Fletch, has been open since 1990 and no complaints have been filed against it. Lately, it has been caring for about 22 children.

"This is a very difficult time for the family who has suffered such an incredible loss," the Fletches said in a statement Friday. "It is also a difficult time for our day care families and the children who were his friends. It is an especially difficult time for us as day care providers."

The statement said the day care has worked closely with the health department to put measures in place to control the spread of the illness.

The Fletches did not immediately return phone messages from The Associated Press seeking additional comment.

E. coli is a common and ordinarily harmless bacteria, but certain strains can cause abdominal cramps, fever, bloody diarrhea, kidney failure, blindness, paralysis and death.

The strain involved in this case, E. coli O157:H7, is best known for its role in large outbreaks traced to ground beef or produce.

However, person-to-person transmission can be a problem in day-care settings or nursing homes without sufficiently thorough hand washing after toilet use or diaper changing. In some cases, especially in young children, infection can lead to life-threatening complications.

Investigators have not pinpointed a precise source of the outbreak, but Melnick said the infection was spread from person to person.

Health investigators have tested the 22 children, as well as four adults, Melnick said. Seven additional people, a mix of staff and children, showed no symptoms but had E. coli in their stool, he said.

Symptoms can take as long as 10 days to appear after exposure so the health department is checking with staff and the children's families daily.

Melnick said the day care will remain closed until affected staff show no presence of the bacteria on two consecutive tests. Children who tested positive will have to meet the same criteria before being allowed to attend any day care or school, he said.

Stem Cells to fight HIV?

Researchers are studying a new approach that arms the immune system with
an intrinsic defence against HIV.

While speaking at the Society for General Microbiology's spring meeting in
Edinburgh, Professor Ben Berkhout explained how this new approach could
dramatically improve the quality of life and life expectancy for HIV
sufferers in whom antiviral drugs are no longer effective.

In the absence of an effective vaccine, daily administration of
anti-retroviral drugs is the most effective treatment for HIV. However,
low patient compliance rates combined with the virus's ability to easily
mutate has led to the emergence of drug-resistant strains that are
difficult to treat.

Professor Berkhout from the University of Amsterdam is investigating a
novel gene therapy that has long-lasting effects even after a single
treatment. It involves delivering antiviral DNA to the patients' own
immune cells that arms them against viral infection. "This therapy would
offer an alternative for HIV-infected patients that can no longer be
treated with regular antivirals," he suggested.

The therapy involves extracting and purifying blood stem cells from the
patient's bone marrow. Antiviral DNA is transferred to the cells in the
laboratory, after which the cells are re-injected into the body. The DNA
encodes tiny molecules called small RNAs that are the mirror image of key
viral genes used by HIV to cause disease. The small RNAs float around
inside the immune cell until they encounter viral genes which they can
stick to like Velcro(tm). This mechanism, called 'RNA interference' can
block the production of key viral components from these genes.

Transferring the antiviral DNA to stem cells would help to restore a large
part of the patient's immune system. "Stem cells are the continually
dividing 'master copy' cells from which all other immune cells are
derived. By engineering the stem cells, the antiviral DNA is inherited by
all the immune cells that are born from it," explained Professor Berkhout.

New website to be created hosting all sources of public health employment

You heard right folks. I got the idea today sitting im the lounge at the school of public health listening to first and second year students trying to figure out where to search for such jobs. Then it hit me, why not have a place that links to all possible sites that emply public health employess. Certainly not every possible department of health or hospital will be listed, but I figure it'd be best for those in the market for finding the largest forums available. Ill be posting the link to the website soon.

Swine Flu killing children

Ok its been a while since my last post and I apologize to my followers. Thank you for your understanding. It turns out I had the H1N1A influenza. I had 104 fever, lack of appetite, severe muscle aches, and intestinal issues. this disease has luckily been mild overall, yet it seems to be disproportionately affecting children. In fact there have been 55 deaths in children in the US since the outbreak began in April....although most deaths have been among those with chronic underlying conditions, the sheer bulk of those infected appear to be under forty, with most spread in the middle and high schools. We are seeinh very few cases among the elderly, partyl due to the fact that many were exposed to the original swine flu in 1976. If you visit the CDC website, www.cdc.gov, you will learn how to protect yourself. But one thing to understand is that getting vaccinated against both swine and seasonal flu is the best way to protect yourself

Lots of things happen in 2 months

Well my friends it has been a while since I have posted due to my workload. Had my hands full with getting ready for certain examinations, and of course, following swine flu. By now, anyone who reads my posts knows about swine flu, so all I am going to say about it is 1) vaccine production is under way, 2) Swine flu may be more common than 'regular' flu this winter and 3) as of now swine flu is rather mild. However, should the virus tweak slightly, it could become much more virulent and dangerous.


On another topic, the FDA recently advised that people stop using Zicam, as the Zinc that is used in the product can damage your olfactory nerves, causing you to lose your sense of smell. And of course, smell and taste are intricately linked, so of course you will lose ability to taste too. Better safe than sorry, if you have some, toss it!

Finally, wanted to say that President Obama is set to sign a massive legislation against smoking, essentially givning regulatory power to FDA. While I think that FDA does a good job, I dont know if this is the right move. However, I do know that they will tell us EVERY chemical found in the tobacco used, so that will beinteresting...we already know a few hundred carcinogens. This move will make it MUCH harder for smaller/newer tobacco companies to survive, as there is major advertising limits. Effectively, they have given Philip-Morris a monopoly, as they already have like 50% market share. New companies just wont be able to compete. Imagine that???? But if it prevents kids from taking up the habit...then im all for it. I dont care if PM gets richer. Eventually smoking (tobacco) will be a thing of the past...at least with all the nasty chemicals its treated with. Be talking to you all soon. Good to be back!