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SALUD (142)
MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer
NEW YORK (AP) —
It's an eye-catching angle in the story of an experimental treatment for Ebola: The drug comes from tobacco plants that were turned into living pharmaceutical factories.
Using plants this way — sometimes called "pharming" — can produce complex and valuable proteins for medicines. That approach, studied for about 20 years, hasn't caught on widely in the pharmaceutical industry.
BASHIR ADIGUN, Associated Press
KRISTA LARSON, Associated Press
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) —
A Nigerian nurse who treated a man with Ebola is now dead and five others are sick with one of the world's most virulent diseases, authorities said Wednesday as the death toll rose to at least 932 people in four West African countries.
The growing number of cases in Lagos, a megacity of some 21 million people, comes as authorities acknowledge they did not treat Patrick Sawyer as an Ebola patient and isolate him for the first 24 hours after his arrival in Nigeria last month. Sawyer, a 40-year-old American of Liberian descent with a wife and three young daughters in Minnesota, was traveling on a business flight to Nigeria when he fell ill.
RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Where a woman delivers her baby can make a major difference to her own health — a quality gap that remains largely hidden from mothers-to-be.
A new study comparing hospitals nationwide finds that women who delivered at low-performing facilities suffered more than twice the rate of major complications for vaginal births. For cesarean section deliveries, the disparity was even greater: nearly a fivefold difference, according to the study in Monday's issue of Health Affairs.
But try to figure out which hospital in your area provides better care and odds are you'll be frustrated. There's no comprehensive database that women and their families can rely on to find the best hospitals ahead of time.
SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Scientists have linked more than 100 spots in our DNA to the risk of developing schizophrenia, casting light on the mystery of what makes the disease tick.
Such work could eventually point to new treatments, although they are many years away. Already, the new results provide the first hard genetic evidence to bolster a theory connecting the immune system to the disease.
More than 100 researchers from around the world collaborated in the biggest-ever genomic mapping of schizophrenia, for which scientists had previously uncovered only about a couple of dozen risk-related genes.
DANVILLE, Pa. (AP) —
Doctors had a simple goal when they first saw how a football-size rock thrown from an interstate overpass in Pennsylvania had shattered Sharon Budd's skull — to keep her alive.
After nearly two weeks, including a surgery lasting more than 13 hours that involved removing damaged parts of her brain, they are cautiously optimistic.
Screws, bolts and plates now hold together the face of the seventh-grade teacher from Uniontown, Ohio, who was left with a large, gaping wound across her forehead and broken bones when she was struck on July 10.
LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) —
There is no concussion-proof football helmet, but manufacturers may soon have to meet new testing standards against certain concussion-causing forces — a step in the quest for more protection.
The organization that sets safety standards for athletic equipment was preparing to adopt the testing criteria on Friday.
It is part of a movement to try to make contact sports safer, as concern about concussions is growing. There's even a new smartphone app to help parents and coaches recognize right away if a player may have a brain injury.
MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Nearly 80 percent of senior executives at the Department of Veterans Affairs got performance bonuses last year despite widespread treatment delays and preventable deaths at VA hospitals and clinics, a top official said Friday.
MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Chief Medical Writer
A bold new way to test cancer drugs started Monday in hundreds of hospitals around the U.S. In a medical version of speed dating, doctors will sort through multiple experimental drugs and match patients to the one most likely to succeed based on each person's unique tumor gene profile.
It's a first-of-a-kind experiment that brings together five drug companies, the government, private foundations and advocacy groups. The idea came from the federal Food and Drug Administration, which has agreed to consider approving new medicines based on results from the study.
MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Food companies and restaurants could soon face government pressure to make their foods less salty — a long-awaited federal effort to try to prevent thousands of deaths each year from heart disease and stroke.
The Food and Drug Administration is preparing voluntary guidelines asking the food industry to lower sodium levels, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg told The Associated Press. Hamburg said in a recent interview that the sodium is "of huge interest and concern" to the agency.
Subburaj Kannan
-Biology Division - Science Department
Southwest Texas Junior College,
Is there such a thing as “long term consequences of overuse of social networking tools”? Yes. It does exist. It is called “Trigger Thumb Syndrome”.
A few examples of how the general public makes the best use of this 21rst century mile stone, “Texting”. Instant communications for small things with definite benefits has given rise to new or renewed ailments with catchy names like “iPhoneitis,” “BlackBerry Thumb” and “Droid-digits,” otherwise known as Tendinitis (also called tendonitis). Unlimited texting plans have been made available by leading carriers. American teenagers sent and received an average of 2,272 text messages per month in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the Nielsen Company — almost 80 messages a day, more than double the average of a year earlier.