20 August 2007
USA - Effective Treatment in Counteracting Cocaine-Induced Symptoms
UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have discovered a treatment that counteracts the effects of cocaine on the human cardiovascular system, including lowering the elevated heart rate and blood pressure often linked to cocaine overdose. "We have found that cocaine's effects on the cardiovascular system can be reversed by the use of a drug called dexmedetomidine, which is currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for anesthetic purposes in operating rooms or intensive care units," said Dr. Wanpen Vongpatanasin, associate professor of internal medicine and senior author of a study appearing in the Aug. 14 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. ...[more]
Scotland – State-Funded Methadone a Deadly Drug
Officially, methadone is referred to as a "harm reduction programme", a medication to allow heroin addicts to stabilise their drug use and dependency. However, because methadone is a medication, it is often forgotten that it is also a class "A" drug - quite legal in the hands of a doctor, pharmacist or patient, but a criminal offence in the hands of a member of the public - and potentially fatal. There are those who have been on methadone for ten or 15 years and more. That is not striking in terms of effective treatment, but highlights the fact that thousands are simply parked on methadone, dumped in a council estate and forgotten about. There are also the fatalities associated with methadone. Each year, around 150 people die from fatal overdose. ...[more]
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USA - Can the Ravages of Dementia in HIV/AIDS be Arrested?
Despite improved therapies that have resulted in better prognoses in patients with HIV, there is still an organ of the body affected by the condition that goes largely unaddressed: the brain. According to Stuart Lipton, a professor at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research's Del E. Webb Center for Neuroscience and Aging Research in La Jolla, Calif., antiviral medications do not successfully cross the blood-brain barrier, allowing HIV to stow away in the brain for up to several years, quietly wreaking havoc. The result: HIV-associated dementia, characterized by, among other symptoms, memory loss, blurred vision, concentration deficits, speech difficulties and motor impairments. ...[more]
United Kingdom - Sexual Health Risk Rises Due to Embarrassment over Condoms
Almost two thirds of people (61%) are too embarrassed to talk easily about condoms with a new sexual partner, according to a survey carried out for the Family Planning Association. Hopes are that doctors and nurses can help allay the taboos around sexual health, to help reduce already growing sexually transmitted infection rates. In 2006 in England, genital herpes went up by 9% to 21,698 new diagnoses and Chlamydia went up 4% to 113,585. ...[more]
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USA - Electrodes Rouse Man from Six-Year ‘Slumber’
After six years of being unable to communicate or even swallow due to severe brain injuries after a mugging, a man has been given a ‘pacemaker for the brain’ and can eat without a feeding tube and can follow a conversation. While he has amnesia, he is now ‘regained his personhood… and has interests to represent’ commented Dr Fins, chief of medical ethics at Cornell University and co-author of the ‘brain pacemaker’ study. At one stage his mother signed a "do not resuscitate" order. But now she says, "I cry every time I see my son, but now it's tears of joy." The deep brain stimulator which transformed the man's life has already been approved for treating Parkinson's disease. ...[more]
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Australia - $500,000 Prize for Human Clone
Now that cloning and embryonic stem-cell research has become legal in Australia, the race is on to produce the first viable human clone to produce stem-cell lines. A half-million dollar prize offered by the state now encourages the venture, despite the raging controversy over the ethical implications of human cloning and embryonic stem-cell research. New South Wales Premier Morris Lemma says, "If successful it could well be a world first." ...[more]
Australia - Embryonic Stem-Cells Cheap Models for Testing
According to the latest publication of the journal, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, human embryonic stem cells could ‘revolutionize’ drug discovery and testing. While they have many significant hurdles to cross, researchers are confident that ESC’s can be used for primary screens, secondary pharmacology, safety pharmacology, metabolic profiling and toxicity evaluation. Admittedly, it is still proving difficult to make embryonic stem cells differentiate into other cell types properly, an essential requirement for reliable testing, but they claim that this technique will make Drug discovery more efficient. This, however, disregards the ethical controversy and concerns associated to embryonic stem cell research and the fact that human embryos are destroyed in the process. ...[more]
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USA - Government Must Link AIDS in Anti-Trafficking Efforts
A recently-published study shows that sex slaves spread AIDS, even after their rescue from human trafficking overlords and pimps. Christian Medical Association CEO Dr. David Stevens said, "… the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association highlights the link between HIV-AIDS and human trafficking. We have been encouraging U.S. health officials over the past several years to incorporate strong and clear policies that address this link", Jay Silverman of the Harvard School of Public Health said, "The high rates of HIV we have documented support concerns that sex trafficking may be a significant factor in both maintaining the HIV epidemic in India, and in the expansion of this epidemic to its lower-prevalence neighbours". Silverman and his team said the prevention of sex trafficking should be seen as a critical aspect of preventing the spread of HIV. ...[more]
Another article ....[read]
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USA – Media Spins Abortion-Pill Study
Misleading conclusions are being drawn in news stories based on a study that has indicated that the RU486 abortion drug is no more dangerous than surgical abortions. Major media headlines include: “Study Finds Abortion Pill Safe” (Time Magazine), “Study: Abortion Pill Doesn’t Increase Risks” (Chicago Tribune) and “Abortion Pill Gets all Clear” (New York Post). "Reporters are drawing the erroneous conclusion that this study means RU486 is completely safe. That's not what the study says, and nothing could be further from the truth," said Operation Rescue Senior Policy Advisor Cheryl Sullenger. "Women are dying at an alarming rate from RU486 abortions and its widespread misuse in the abortion industry. That has not changed." ...[more]
International Matter - Amnesty Ends Abortion Neutrality
Amnesty International has confirmed its controversial decision to back abortion in some circumstances, replacing its previous policy of neutrality. The recent decision by Amnesty's executive committee to support abortion for women in cases of rape, incest or violence, or where the pregnancy jeopardises a mother's life or health, was greeted with an outcry by churches. Roman Catholic leaders in particular accused Amnesty of betraying its commitment to human rights, and a senior Vatican official called on Catholics to stop funding it. ...[more]
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South Africa – Preventing Child Sex Tourism Workshop Planned
Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa (FTTSA) will discuss child sex tourism and a code of conduct intended to prevent it. The workshop would be hosted by FTTSA in Johannesburg on August 21 and in Cape Town on August 22. So far, Kenya is the only African country to have introduced the code, already used in many countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas, according to the FTTSA. It is hoped that the code will spur businesses and community members to take action against exploitative behaviour by tourists or others associated with the industry. UNICEF and the World Tourism Organisation fund the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism. ...[more]
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South African – Topical Abortion Muthi
Traditional healers across the country are illegally selling expensive potions they claim will result in abortion. They promise that all it takes is for the substance, mixed with Vaseline, to be rubbed on the pregnant woman's belly. Inside the "surgery" of a traditional healer in Cape Town, bottles were seen containing various substances and animal skulls. Customers had to sit on the floor or lie on a dirty sponge mattress. He said the herbs had no side-effects. "She will only bleed for a few days," he said. He was confident that what he prescribed would work. ...[more]
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