Raw Story reported Tuesday on a new technique pioneered by researchers at Florida International University for treating HIV by acting directly on the brain, delivering medicine across the blood-brain barrier through the use of nanoparticles. Wednesday, we spoke to Florida International University…
‘Worse than AIDS’ – sex ‘superbug’ discovered in Japan called disaster in waiting
“This might be a lot worse than AIDS in the short run because the bacteria is more aggressive and will affect more people quickly,” Alan Christianson, a doctor of naturopathic medicine, told CNBC.The new strain of gonorrhea, H041, was first discovered in 2009 after a sex worker fell victim to the superbug in Japan. Medical officials reported that the medication-resilient ‘sex superbug’ was discovered in Hawaii in May 2011, and has since spread to California and Norway, the International Business Times reports.Nearly 30 million people die from AIDS-related causes each year, and the H041 superbug could have similar consequences, according to Alan Christianson, a doctor of naturopathic medicine.”Getting gonorrhea from this strain might put someone into septic shock and death in a matter of days,” Christianson said. “This is very dangerous.”The gonorrhea strain has not yet claimed any lives, but the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have asked Congress for $54 million to find an antibiotic to treat the strain.In a Capitol Hill briefing last week, health officials said an education and public awareness campaign is crucial in minimizing the effective of HO41. William Smith, executive director of the National Coalition for STD Directors, said that if the ‘sex superbug’ spreads, it could quickly kill many people before a treatment is discovered. And that risk becomes increasingly more likely if Congress does not provide the funds to find a cure, he said.”It’s an emergency situation. As time moves on, it’s getting more hazardous,” he told members of Congress.”We have to keep beating the drum on this,” he added. “The potential for disaster is great.”In the United States, there are 20 million new STD infections each year, which results in about $16 billion in medical costs, the CDC reports. More than 800,000 of these cases gonorrhea infections, most of which occur in young people ages 15 to 24. Gonorrhea is sometimes difficult to detect, since it shows no symptoms in about half of all women. Those who fall ill to the deadly strain may not notice it until it’s too late.“That’s what’s kind of scary about this,” Smith said.Although health officials have widely reported that cases of H041 were discovered in California, Hawaii and Norway, the CDC has disputed those claims and told CNBC on Monday that the infection has not been confirmed anywhere outside of Japan. The CDC did, however, make an announcement in 2011 that it was noticing greater gonorrhea bacterial resistance to certain types of antibiotics in Hawaii and California. CDC officials said that the US and Norwegian cases were treated effectively with antibiotics not routinely recommended and that these cases were mistakenly identified as H041. But the agency continues to urge Congress for research funding, indicating that the risk of infection is high regardless of where the cases occurred.Christianson is urging people to practice safe sex and get STD tests if they are in a new relationship, since a superbug infection could be around the corner.”This is a disaster just waiting to happen,” he told CNBC. “It’s time to do something about it before it explodes. These superbugs, including the gonorrhea strain, are a health threat. We need to move now before it gets out of hand.” … Read More
Study finds genetic similarities between different types of aggressive cancers
Some of the most devastating forms of cancer have genetic similarities even though they strike different body parts, according to new studies out Thursday. The new research — one study focused on a form of leukemia, in the New England Journal of Medicine, and a second on endometrial cancer,…
Japanese PM visits Russia to build ‘personal confidence-based relations’
Abe will visit Moscow at the behest of Russian President Vladimir Putin on a trip that will last until May 30. “I would like to build a trusted personal relationship with President Putin,” Abe told reporters at a media briefing at Haneda Airport in Tokyo.”The talks will mainly focus on prospects for further promotion of Russian-Japanese trade, economic, investment and energy cooperation,” the PM’s press service said.A considerable number of governmental agreements and business documents relating trade, investment and economic cooperation, inter-regional contacts, agreements in medicine, culture and sports will be signed, Kremlin’s press service said.Putin and Abe have held a number of personal meetings in the past, meeting several times during Abe’s previous premiership in 2006 and 2007, on the sidelines of the APEC summits in Hanoi and Sydney and the G8 summit in Hailigendamm.The last time the two communicated directly was in a telephone conversation last year. The foreign ministers of Russia and Japan met four times in 2012.Abe’s ‘economic diplomacy’Abe expressed hopes that his visit to Moscow will mark “the first stage of economic diplomacy” that would make economic cooperation the centerpiece of bilateral relations.Relations between the two countries remains tense due to a territorial dispute between Russia and Japan over Kuril Islands. However, Russian and Japanese businesses still cooperate closely on a growing number of issues.Abe is accompanied by the biggest-ever business delegation in the history of relations between the two countries: Over 120 Japanese executives hoping to expand cooperation with Russia in energy, medicine, and urban development and infrastructure in the Far East, where some Japanese companies are opening assembly installations.The trade turnover between Russia and Japan in 2012 reached $32 billion, a 5.3-percent increase over 2011. In January and February of 2013, Russia-Japan trade turnover totaled $4.3 billion, a 6 percent increase over the same period in 2012.Russia is Japan’s 15th-biggest foreign trade partner, while Japan is Russia’s eighth-biggest, Tass reported. Mineral resources account for over 80 percent of Russian exports to Japan. Japanese imports from Russia mainly consists of machinery, chemicals, equipment and transport. Overall Japanese investments into Russia have reached $11 billion.Japan imports oil and gas from Russia’s Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 projects, and is boosting energy cooperation in the production liquefied gas, building petrochemical enterprises and improving gas and transport infrastructure.Currently, 270 Japanese companies operate in Russian markets.Kuril Islands stumbling pointA decades-long dispute over the ownership of South Kuril Islands has prevented Moscow and Tokyo from signing a formal peace treaty for 67 years recognizing the cessation of hostilities following the end of World War II.Tokyo has demanded that Moscow recognize Japan as the rightful owners of the South Kurils – the Kunashir, Shikotan, Iturup and Habomai Rocks. Moscow maintains that the USSR’s annexation of these islands from Japan following World War II are non-negotiable.”Russia believes that despite the complexity of the problem the dialogue should be aimed at finding the mutually acceptable solution and be held in a calm and respectful atmosphere,” the Kremlin said ahead of the visit. … Read More
Mind games
A YEAR AGO, at the end of a University of Toronto lecture on mental health promotion, I asked 400 medical students whether they would be content if psychiatrists moved them from being distraught to a state of “normal unhappiness.” My mentor had asked me the same question when I began my training. The concept of normal unhappiness helped me accept that things were not always going to go well, and it also helped me understand my role as a psychiatrist: to intervene when time alone could not heal, and when my patients and their families or their communities could not cope. This concept of normal unhappiness has long been the standard in therapy courses, and I have raised it with my own students on and off for the past twenty-five years. That day, though, it was on my mind for other reasons.Continue Reading… … Read More
Couple’s second child dies after they opt for prayer over treatment
Herbert and Catherine Schaible are members of a fundamentalist Christian church that believes faith healing will cure an ailment before modern medicine. Eight-month-old Brandon Schaible died last week after suffering from diarrhoea and breathing maladies. He had also stopped eating, and the Associated Press reported that Brandon’s sickness lasted for at least a week. The couple was sentenced to 10 years’ probation after being convicted for involuntary manslaughter in the death of their 2-year-old son Kent, four years ago. Kent died after a similar sickness left him with a loss of appetite as well as congestion and heavy coughing. Prosecutors said they were waiting for the autopsy report on Brandon’s death before deciding whether to press charges. They admitted in court Monday that they had prayed for their son’s good health instead of seeking out a doctor. “You did that once, and the consequences were tragic,” said Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Benjamin Lerner. Lerner also told the couple “you are a danger to your children,” as quoted by the Philadelphia Daily News. “There are way more questions than answers at this point. We haven’t seen the autopsy report. We don’t know the cause of death of this child,” said Mythri Jayaraman, Catherine Schaible’s attorney. “What we do know is Mr. and Mrs. Schaible are distraught, they are grieving, they are tremendously sad about the loss of their most recent baby.” Lerner professed his sympathy for the parents but said the tragedy could have been avoided. “I am sorry for their loss,” he said. “But in all honesty, I am more sorry for the fact that this innocent little child will not grow up to be what he wanted to be.” The couple promised after their first son died that they would not rely on prayer over medicine in the future. Judge Lerner scolded them for “knowingly, intentionally, hypocritically and callously” violating the terms of their probation. Prosecutors sought to keep the couple jailed until the autopsy concluded but Lerner ordered them free because their other seven children had been removed from the home. The Schaibles’ pastor said that they never received medical attention themselves, although they had brought their children in for regular checkups under the terms of the probation. “Nobody argues that these aren’t very loving, nurturing parents,” said Jayaraman. “Whether their religion had anything to do with the death of their baby, we don’t know.” The Schaible family attends First Century Gospel Church, where the parents have also worked as teachers. A sermon on the church’s website was titled “Healing – From God or Medicine?” with a message that bore resemblance to Brandon’s death. “It is a definite sin to trust in medical help and pills; and it is real faith to trust on the Name of Jesus for healing,” it said. … Read More
I’m at a quarter-life crisis!
Dear Mr. Tennis,Do you believe there is such a thing as a “quarter-life crisis”? I’m turning 25 next week, but I am so sick of waiting for my life to begin.OK, background story: I decided very early in high school I wanted to be a nurse. I loved the idea of traveling and thought that nursing could translate across borders. So the life plan was simple: graduate from nursing school with a BSN, work two years as a staff nurse on a general medicine floor to get experience, then work abroad for Doctors Without Borders, return home and go to graduate school for my nurse practitioner degree, get married … (you get the trend). Well, Phases 1 and 2 have been accomplished. I’m currently working as a staff nurse at a busy city hospital and in September 2013 I’ll have been working there for exactly two years. So September is the big month, time for me to move on, do something or go somewhere new. Continue Reading… … Read More
