Parents of student get custody of ‘abandoned’ baby

JITRA: The parents of a 20-year-old student who lied to police about finding a baby behind her house will have custody of the newborn girl.

The Kubang Pasu welfare department said the parents of the student – from a higher education institution in Selangor – have agreed to take care and look after the infant.

The student initially claimed she found the infant, with the umbilical cord still attached, behind her house in Taman Rasa Sayang here on Saturday evening.

She claimed she was bathing when she heard the baby crying and later “rescued” the child.

She and her mother later lodged a police report about finding an abandoned baby.

Police investigators later found that the 2.8kg baby was actually the newborn child of the student.

Police saw through the ruse when she began to make inconsistent statements about finding the baby.

The Jitra Hospital later examined her and confirmed she had just given birth.

AIDS virus in monkeys much older than thought: study

WASHINGTON — An HIV-like virus that infects monkeys is thousands of years older than previously thought and its slow evolution could have disturbing implications for humans, according to a new study.

Scientists said the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) -- the ancestor to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS -- is probably between 32,000 and 75,000 years old and may even date back a million years.

"If it took thousands of years for SIV to evolve into a primarily non-lethal state, it would likely take a very long time for HIV to naturally follow the same trajectory," a statement from Tulane University said.

The work led by researchers from Tulane and the University of Arizona included a genetic analysis of SIV strains found in monkeys on Bioko, an island off the coast of what is now Cameroon which split off the continent of Africa after the ice age more than 10,000 years ago.

The study, published in the September 17 issue of the journal Science, calls into question previous DNA sequencing data that estimated the virus's age at only a few hundred years.

"The biology and geography of SIV is such that it goes from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean all the way to the tip of Africa," said virologist Preston Marx of the Tulane National Primate Research Center and a co-leader of the research.

"It would take many, many thousands of years to spread that far and couldn't have happened in a couple of hundred years."

Marx tested his theory that SIV had ancient origins by seeking out DNA samples from monkey populations that had been isolated for thousands of years.

The researchers found four different strains of SIV that were genetically divergent from those found on the mainland. They compared DNA sequences of the viruses with the assumption that they were tracking how both evolved over 10,000 years.

The computer modeling showed the rate of mutation to be much slower than previously thought, indicating that virus is between 32,000 and 75,000 years old to have evolved to its current state. These dates set a new minimum age for SIV, although it is likely to be even older, Marx says.

Researcher Michael Worobey of the University of Arizona said this slow evolution from a deadly virus to a relatively harmless suggests AIDS may continue to be a killer.

"If HIV is going to evolve to lower virulence, it is unlikely to happen anytime soon," he said.

But the scientists said the study also raises new questions about how HIV became an epidemic. It remains unclear why, if humans had been exposed to SIV-infected monkeys for thousands of years, the HIV epidemic only began in the 20th century.

"Something happened in the 20th century to change this relatively benign monkey virus into something that was much more potent and could start the epidemic. We don't know what that flashpoint was, but there had to be one," Marx said.

Smoke-Free Laws May Help Kids Breathe Easier

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Laws that ban smoking in workplaces and public settings seem to show a fringe benefit: Scottish researchers report that such legislation is linked with a decline in hospital admissions for childhood asthma.

Researchers have long known that exposure to tobacco smoke increases the incidence and severity of asthma, and that children are especially vulnerable.

While other studies have looked at the effects of smoking bans on all ages, and have taken into account on-the-job exposure, "ours is the first study to have looked at a subgroup of the population [children], who do not have occupational exposure," said lead researcher Dr. Jill Pell, the Henry Mechan Professor of Public Health at the University of Glasgow.

In March of 2006, the Smoking, Health and Social Care Act was passed in Scotland. It banned smoking in all enclosed public places and in workplaces.

For the study, Pell and her colleagues identified all the hospital admissions for asthma among children under the age of 15 from January 2000 through October 2009.

The investigators found a total of 21,415 admissions for asthma. Before the smoking law passed, admissions were increasing, on average, by 5.2 percent per year.

After the law passed, there was a reduction, on average, of 18.2 percent each year, relative to the rate on the day the law went into effect.

"The evidence from Scotland is that legislation has an effect that extends beyond the locations that are covered by the restrictions," Pell said. "In Scotland there has been an increase in voluntary bans in the home and a resultant reduction in exposure to secondhand smoke among children. It is clear that legislation has a more general effect on smoking attitudes and behaviors."

She is confident the same effects are already occurring in the United States as well, as smoking bans have been passed.

In the Scottish study, the decline in admissions for asthma was seen in both preschool and school-age children.

When the legislation was first discussed, some feared that the bans in public and workplaces might cause home smoking to increase. But there's no evidence of that, she said. Instead the laws seem to have been followed by an increase in voluntary restriction of smoking at home.

The study was supported by a grant from NHS Health Scotland.

"The findings are a confirmation of the beneficial effect of reducing the exposure of children to environmental tobacco smoke," said Dr. E. Rand Sutherland, chief of the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at National Jewish Health, in Denver.

"The study also suggests, importantly, that children [and not just adults] can be the beneficiaries of smoke-free policies which target the workplace and public spaces," he added.

In the United States, more than 200,000 episodes of childhood asthma each year have been blamed on parental smoking, some research has found.

Test hope in prostate cancer battle

A single blood test for men aged 60 could identify those most likely to develop and die from prostate cancer, new research has suggested.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, with 35,000 in the UK diagnosed every year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Screening is used in certain countries, but remains open to debate with medical experts weighing up the benefits of screening against the potential harms and costs of over-diagnosis and over-treatment of healthy men.

Prostate cancer can develop when cells in the prostate gland start to grow in an uncontrolled way.

The findings in the British Medical Journal suggested the single test could pinpoint which men needed to be monitored closely and others who needed no further checks.

Professor Philipp Dahm and colleagues at the University of Florida reviewed six previous screening trials involving 387,286 participants. They found routine screening aided the diagnosis of prostate cancer at an earlier stage, but did not have a significant impact on death rates and raised the risk of over-treatment.

A second study by headed by Professor Hans Lilja, showed a single "prostate-specific antigen" (PSA) level test at age 60 strongly predicted a man's risk of diagnosis and death from prostate cancer.

The team found 90% of prostate cancer deaths occurred in men with the highest PSA levels at age 60, while men with average or low PSA levels had negligible rates of prostate cancer or death by age 85.

The findings suggested at least half of men aged 60 and above might be exempted from further prostate cancer screening.

Gerald Andriole, chief of urologic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine, suggested PSA testing should be geared to individual risk. He recommended young men at high risk of prostate cancer, for example those with a strong family history, should be monitored closely, while elderly men and those with a low risk of disease could be tested less often.

Autopsy: Penn star had brain disease

A study of the brain tissue of Owen Thomas, a University of Pennsylvania football captain who committed suicide in April, reportedly revealed the beginning stages of a degenerative disease that is believed to be caused by repeated head trauma.

A brain autopsy of Thomas showed chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the same disease found in more than 20 deceased NFL players, including former Eagles safety Andre Waters, who committed suicide in 2006 and was found to have suffered from late stages of the disease.

Thomas' mother, Kathy Brearley, said she believes that her son never experienced a concussion in all his years playing football. The junior defensive end apparently hanged himself in his off-campus apartment.

"Up to this point, this concern about head concussions was not on my radar," said Brearley, a minister in Allentown. "That Owen had the onset of this disease at the age of 21 should be a concern to everyone."

Brearley said there is not enough evidence to conclude that a brain injury contributed to her son's death. But she believes the issue should be studied further since she had thought the issue was a concern only for NFL players.

"The evidence coming in from Owen - and it will have to be confirmed from much further study - is that this [injury] is not just a question of a person getting big hits and then ignoring them," Brearley said. "This is a person getting many little hits, starting from a young age. Football linebackers might get 1,000 little hits. Now we're thinking these are like teaspoons. A thousand teaspoons of water could be the same as a big jug. It's possible."

Thomas' disease may have developed from subconcussive collisions, or repetitive blows, doctors told the New York Times, which first reported the results of the research at Boston University.

Dr. Daniel Perl, a professor of pathology at the U.S. Defense Department's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, said he was amazed that the disease had manifested itself in a person as young as Thomas.

"It may just be an isolated case, but if it is not, it could be very important," said Perl, who was speaking personally and not on behalf of the government. "I think this broadens the range in which we look for this disease."

Perl said the disease is basically the same that has been reported for years in boxers and is now being reported in hockey players.

However, much more research is needed, said Perl, who is studying traumatic brain injuries sustained in combat.

Perl recently reviewed the slides of the tissue at the request of the doctors at Boston University and confirmed the diagnosis was correct.

"It's clearly this disease," he said.

Brearley made it clear that she is not on an anti-football crusade.

"My father-in-law played for Millersville. My husband played for the University of Virginia. My son Matthew also played for Penn. My son Morgan played for East Stroudsburg," she said. "It's a household that just lives, sleeps, and breathes football. We have the interests of the game at heart. We like a robust game. People can say, 'You don't want these head injuries, just don't play it.' We don't say that. We're very passionate about the sport."

Penn football coach Al Bagnoli said Monday that the school had no record of Thomas, a two-year starter, ever suffering a concussion.

"We've been very proactive for the last four years," Bagnoli said. "Every single kid coming in has to take a baseline neurological test. If he has shown any signs of a concussion, he cannot practice until he gets back to that baseline. It takes the guesswork out of it."

Brearley said she and her husband, Tom Thomas, also a minister, got a call two weeks ago from a researcher at the Boston University School of Medicine informing them of the autopsy result. "When she announced he had this CTE, I was astounded," Brearley said. "It was very bittersweet, to tell you the truth. It adds one missing piece. Maybe there are others.

"Suicide is a very complex issue. It's very painful for everyone involved. There are very subjective factors. It's a huge field of research."

Brearley said she wanted to be careful not to try to presume she had a complete picture of her son's thoughts in his final weeks.

"We had regular contact with Owen," she said. "We did notice that he was a lot more subdued [in the] first part of 2010. He did seem to find his classes overwhelming. Owen set very high standards for himself. I tried to counsel him. . . . He was a normal, energetic outgoing person. That last week, I think he really changed. It's sad. My husband and I feel very sad that we never even thought about this sort of thing."

Brearley said she was surprised when Chris Nowinski, a former professional wrestler who has become an activist on the issue of brain trauma, requested her son's brain for an autopsy. The family expected little to come of it. The BU research team was the same one that recently found pathological evidence that repetitive head trauma experienced in collision sports is associated with motor neuron disease, which affects voluntary muscle movements.

"One of the things with Owen, it's so bittersweet - he did not have a history of depression in his life," Brearley said. "He was such a vibrant person. The police have never come around to us about Owen. Maybe he's gone off and done stuff. But it never came to our attention. He was never in a car accident. He never fell out of a tree. There's no other head injury. I think you have a clear a clinical subject as you could ever want to have, to ask: Why does this disease start its path? I think it's a gift in some ways."

Thomas was the second Penn player to commit suicide in five years. Running back Kyle Ambrogi killed himself in 2005.

Brearley said these findings do not mean the family holds anybody responsible; it is not considering any legal action. She knows many studies are tracking head trauma at several age levels.

"I think it's a good opportunity for the Ivy League schools to take the initiative," Brearley said. "They care deeply about our brains. I think this is an opportunity to take a leadership role. I'm sure they will."

Natural Cure For Diabetes Creating Panic Within The Pharmaceutical Industry

Rita Smith

As more people like Rita Smith, 64, from Modesto, discover the natural cure for diabetes, pharmaceutical companies that produce insulin are having to increase their advertising campaigns to keep people from rethinking their dependence on prescription medication, as can be seen all over the web.

“Health care is a multi-billion dollar a year industry, and so long as people stay sick, the better the customer they are. I can't believe more people don't know about [the natural cure for diabetes].” says Rita

Of course, what Rita Smith is referring to is the act of replacing our diets with foods that are dense in phytonutrients, which has been regarded for thousands of years to holistically force your body into cleansing and recovering at a cellular level.

The implications of a natural cure for diabetes being known in the mainstream have the pharmaceutical industry set on damage control, spending millions of dollars on ads which attempt to communicate a connection between the disease that insulin is not natural to your body and that you need to maintain a prescription.

When asked of her battle with diabetes, Rita says,

“I was 50lbs overweight when I was diagnosed with diabetes...and it was simply devastating. After 2 years of injecting myself with insulin, I was desperate to find a way out and stumbled across Matt Traverso's book 'Reverse Diabetes Today!'... In it, I learned the truth about the drug industry and what needed to be done to cure diabetes by changing my lifestyle [and] I ended up losing over 80lbs... I have been free of diabetes for years now.”

Upon further investigation, it appears that the pharmaceutical companies which produce insulin will never advertise a natural cure for diabetes by way of change in lifestyle and diet in an effort to secure profits. However, that goes beyond the scope of this article. If you or someone you love is pre-diabetic, or currently suffering from diabetes, then you can pick up a copy of Matt Traverso's book “Reverse Diabetes Today!” and stand a good chance of becoming a success story just like Rita Smith from Modesto.

Cesareans more likely for women at for-profit hospitals, study finds

For-profit hospitals across the state are performing cesarean sections at higher rates than nonprofit hospitals, a California Watch analysis has found.

A database compiled from state birthing records revealed that women were at least 17 percent more likely to have a cesarean section at a for-profit hospital than at a nonprofit or public hospital from 2005 to 2007. A surgical birth can bring in twice the revenue of a vaginal delivery.

In addition, some hospitals appear to be performing more C-sections for nonmedical reasons -- including an individual doctor's level of patience and the staffing schedules in maternity wards, according to interviews with health professionals.

The statewide database revealed significant differences among 253 hospitals in California. New mothers with low-risk pregnancies had a 10 percent chance of giving birth by C-section at the public Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, for example, whereas low-risk pregnancies at the for-profit Los Angeles Community Hospital ended in a surgical birth nearly half of the time.

The numbers provide ammunition to those who have long suspected that unnecessary C-sections are performed to help pad the bottom line.

"This data is compelling and strongly suggests, as many childbirth advocates currently suspect, that there may be a provable connection between profit and the cesarean rate," said Desirre Andrews, president of the International Cesarean Awareness Network, a nonprofit group that would like to see C-sections only in cases of medical need.

This was the first independent analysis of C-section rates at the 253 hospitals reporting birth statistics to state health authorities. The data focuses on low-risk pregnancies where cesareans are more likely to be unnecessary -- excluding deliveries by older mothers, women with certain medical conditions and women with previous C-sections.

But some hospital officials dispute the notion that their institutions could be pushing C-sections for money. "Decision-making about C-section versus vaginal birth is between a doctor and the patient, and our goal is to support that decision-making process with evidence-based practices," said Leslie Kelsay, a spokeswoman for Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, which had the highest cesarean rate for low-risk pregnancies in Santa Clara County at 22 percent.

Rick Black of Tenet Healthcare, which owns a number of hospitals in California and elsewhere, agreed. "You don't just come into a hospital and they say, 'We want to give you a C-section so we can drive up profits', he said.

Gene Declercq, professor of community health sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health, agrees

(Click to enlarge)

that hospitals would not explicitly push C-sections for profit. But subtle incentives to increase efficiency could have the same effect.

"It's a lot easier if you can do all your births between seven and 10 in the morning and know exactly how many operating rooms and beds you need," he said. Vaginal births are unpredictable, creating inefficiencies that can hurt the bottom line.

In 2008, more than 180,000 C-sections were performed in California.

Pressure for procedure

Even at some nonprofit hospitals, some women say they feel pressured to have a C-section. Rebecca Zavala, a teacher and makeup artist in Ventura, is one.

Zavala, 29, consented to have her delivery induced a week early because the baby's head seemed large and because the doctor was about to leave for vacation. But complications arose during the procedure, conducted at the nonprofit Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center.

After several hours, her doctor informed Zavala that her baby was showing signs of distress and recommended a C-section. Zavala agreed.

But Zavala said she felt manipulated. Her doctor hadn't told her that induction increased the likelihood that she'd have a C-section, and that C-sections came with health risks, she said.

"She told me nothing," Zavala said of her doctor, noting that the doctor left for her vacation shortly after the delivery.

Zavala's doctor would not comment. The hospital could not discuss the specifics of the case because of patient privacy but responded with the following statement:

"Our policy requires physicians to obtain informed consent from patients undergoing C-sections. The process, which we followed completely, involves discussing the risks, benefits and alternatives to the procedure, and documenting that the discussion occurred and the patient opted to proceed."

Zavala did sign the consent but said it was impossible for her to interpret and assess the issues laid out in small print. Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center has one of the highest rates of C-section deliveries in the state, ranking 15th out of 253 hospitals, for women whose pregnancies were deemed to be low-risk.

For some, a C-section can have devastating consequences.

Heather Kirwan said her doctor at the for-profit Rancho Springs Medical Center in Murrieta urged her to have a C-section, warning that the baby was too big for her birth canal. She reluctantly agreed.

"She ended up being a 5-pound, 12-ounce baby," said Kirwan, 26, a manager for The Home Depot who lives in Murrieta, and who now believes she could have delivered vaginally.

When Kirwan got pregnant again, doctors discovered the embryo was developing outside the uterus -- a life-threatening condition called an ectopic pregnancy which is more likely to occur after a C-section. The embryo was removed along with one of Kirwan's ovaries and fallopian tubes. She has been unable to conceive since.

Kirwan's doctor and Rancho Springs Medical Center didn't respond to requests for comment. The hospital's C-section rate is among the state's lowest, ranking 207th out of 253 medical centers.

Searching for a link

Medical experts have been unable to pinpoint exactly why some hospitals perform far more C-sections, or "operative deliveries," than other medical facilities.

Yet one important factor has always loomed over the debate about the rise in C-sections: the bottom line. In California, hospitals can increase their revenues by 82 percent on average by performing a C-section instead of a vaginal birth, according to a 2007 analysis by the Pacific Business Group on Health.

The group -- a coalition of business, education and government agencies -- estimated that average hospital profits on an uncomplicated C-section were $2,240, and profits for a comparable vaginal birth were $1,230.

California Watch examined the births least likely to require C-sections, those in which mothers without prior C-sections carry a single fetus -- positioned head down -- at full term, and found that, after adjusting for the age of the mothers, the average weighted C-section rate for nonprofit hospitals was 16 percent, and for-profit hospitals had a rate of 19 percent.

That may seem like a small percentage gap to the casual observer, but medical experts consider it significant. It means women are 17 percent more likely to have a C-section if they give birth at a for-profit hospital.

"That's a decent-sized difference," said Declercq, of Boston University School of Public Health.

Less than one in five maternity hospitals in the state is a for-profit institution, but among the 15 hospitals with the highest rates of C-sections, 10 are for-profit facilities. Among the 15 hospitals with the lowest rates, none are for-profit medical centers.

Riverside County Regional Medical Center in Moreno Valley has one of the lowest C-section rates for low-risk births at 9 percent.

Guillermo Valenzuela, vice chairman of obstetrics at Riverside County Regional, attributes his hospital's low rate to doctors working in shifts. Shift workers have no financial incentive to hurry a delivery along: The doctor is paid the same and can end a shift regardless of whether he or she delivers 10 babies or simply monitors the early stages of labor.

"If I come in in the morning, look over the charts and see that one of the patients just had a C-section without medical indication," Valenzuela said, "you can bet that I'm going to start asking questions."

A new generation of caregivers takes control of kids

1. The number of children being raised by their grandparents has risen sharply since the start of the recession in 2007, according to a new Pew Research Center study that found one in 10 children in the U.S. now lives with a grandparent.

The trend was most noticeable among whites, Pew said in its analysis of census data. Those whites who were primary caregivers for their grandchildren rose 9 percent from 2007 to 2008, compared with a 2 percent increase among black grandparents and no change among Hispanics. In all, 2.9 million children are being raised mainly by at least one grandparent, or 4 percent of all children.

For most of the decade, the number of children having a grandparent as their primary caretaker rose slowly and steadily, Pew noted. But as the economy soured, the rise was sudden and steep. Three quarters of the 8 percent total increase since 2000 in the number of grandparents raising their children's kids occurred in the year following the official start of the recession in December 2007.

In another study earlier this year, Pew said the number of households composed of multiple generations is higher than it has been in half a century, because of all the job losses and foreclosures that mark this recession.

The economy is not entirely to blame, however.

There has been a nationwide effort to have children from troubled families placed with relatives like grandparents, instead of in foster homes. Montgomery County, for example, has experienced an upswing in grandparents as caregivers, but most of it is from urging them to "step up to the plate" so that their grandchildren don't enter foster care, said Angela English, administrator in the county's Child Welfare Services.

In addition, some military parents facing multiple deployments in Iraq or Afghanistan have entrusted their children to the grandparents.

Nonetheless, advocates for intergenerational families say the recession has dealt multiple blows to grandparents. Some are caring for grandchildren while their own children have gone away to look for another job or get career retraining. Meanwhile, many financially strapped states and counties have cut programs that provided financial and emotional support to so-called kinship families, including respite care and support groups. The families often are dealing with added emotional issues that stem from job loss. And many grandparents have diminished financial resources themselves as their retirement funds have been decimated by the economic downturn.

"If there's been a loss of a house, a loss of a job, the need to retrain for another, you're talking about people whose dreams have changed and whose lives have dramatically changed," said Donna Butts, executive director of Generations United, which focuses on intergenerational issues. "They have to come to terms with that, as well as the new roles they all have to assume."

Groups that offer assistance are being sought out by grandparents seeking help for the first time in their lives.

"People who haven't struggled or needed services in the past need it now," said Cathy Tompkins, director of the undergraduate social work program at George Mason University and a researcher in gerentology who is working with Fairfax County to assess needs of people providing kinship care.

One grandmother who attended a recent meeting held by Fairfax County's Family Services agency told officials her granddaughter used to invite her friends over, but as a teenager never entertained at home because all her friends were living with their parents, said Tompkins who attended the session. The grandmother wanted a support group for teens so they would not feel so alone and "different."

Amy Goyer, a family expert with AARP, said anecdotes she has heard suggest the recession-related increase is large.

"That's the thing abut this recession; it's hit so many people at different socioeconomic levels," she said.

According to the Pew study, almost two-thirds of the grandparents who are primarily responsible for their grandchildren are under 60. In the 2000 Census, the average age was 57.

"These are not necessarily grandparents who are retired," said Goyer. "They're preparing for retirement, and a lot of times their retirement savings is going down the drain. They lost it or it was undermined by the economic situation, and now they're spending it on family. It puts the grandparents' generation in jeopardy as well."

Catherine Zeta Jones’ agony over Michael Douglas’s throat cancer

Welsh actress Catherine Zeta Jones has opened about her agony over husband Michael Douglas’s throat cancer.

The beauty refuses to accompany Oscar-winner Douglas to the hospital for chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

“I know maybe I should be stronger but emotionally I just don’t want to see the man I love hooked to a chemo IV or lying motionless on a radiation table under a positioning mask,” the Daily Express quoted Jones as saying during in an emotional interview with a US magazine.

Zeta-Jones feared for Douglas, a heavy smoker, before his condition was diagnosed.

“It wasn’t a huge shock, I knew something was up but the one thing that struck me first was: ‘This doesn’t happen to Michael Douglas’. The hardest part is seeing his fatigue because Michael is never tired. I’m 25 years younger than him and he wears me out,” she added.

Immediate chest compressions better cardiac arrest outcomes

A new study reported in BMC suggests that chest compressions prior to defibrillation are just as good as immediate electrical defibrillation and in some case the chest compression first approach may offer sudden cardiac arrest patients some extra benefits.

The review study showed that there was no difference between the chest compression first and immediate electrical defibrillation in terms of the rate of return of spontaneous circulation, survival to hospital discharge or neurological outcomes in patients who suffered out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Current guidelines recommend patients suffering out-of-hospital cardiac arrest should receive immediate electrical defibrillation, according to ABC News. Researchers were cited as saying defibrillation is still important, but the findings may have some impact on future recommendations on how to respond to cardiac arrest.

For the study, Dr. Pascal Meier of the University of Michigan and colleagues reviewed data from four randomized controlled trials involving 1,503 patients to compare the effects of the compression-first approach versus the defibrillation-first approach on outcomes for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Dr. Meier et al. did find patients who were treated with the chest compression first approach had a better one-year survival and were more likely to leave the hospital after cardiac arrest than those treated with defibrillation only, 11 percent versus 8.6 percent.

Chest compressions are commonly performed as part of cardiopulmonary resuscitation

to revive cardiac arrest patients. One early study released in 2007 in The Lancet suggests that chest compression without rescue breaths is better than the conventional CPR method which requires mouth-to-mouth breaths.

The study conducted by Japanese researcher Ken Nagao of Surugadai Nihon University Hospital in Tokyo showed that patients treated with chest compression only were less likely to suffer severe brain damage induced by cardiac arrest. The favorable neurological outcome for chest compression was 19.4 percent compared to 11.2 percent for the traditional CPR.

Another study of about 2000 patients who suffered sudden cardiac arrest showed that chest compression only cardiopulmonary resuscitation saved 12.5% of patients who were able to live to hospital discharge after being resuscitated while the conventional CPR saved 11%.

The study was led by Thomas D. Rea, M.D. at the University of Washington and colleagues and reported in the July 29, 2010 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

In the same issue, Leif Svensson, M.D., Ph.D. at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and colleagues reported that chest compression alone helped 8.7% of patients to survive for 30 days or more while the standard CPR helped just 7% of patients.

Sudden cardiac arrest is a condition in which the heart suddenly stops beating. When the condition is not corrected in a matter of 3 to 5 minutes, the patient would die because of massive brain damage due to lack of oxygen.

Cardiac arrest is often caused by arrhythmias meaning that the heart beats too fast or too slow or with an irregular rhythm. The condition differs from myocardial infarction or heart attack which occurs when blood flow to part of the heart muscle is blocked.

Defibrillation sends an electric shock to the heart to restore its normal rhythm. According to American Heart Association, an estimated 294,851 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the united States each year. Ninety five percent of patients with cardiac arrest can't survive.

The National Lung Heart and Blood Institute says that a beneficial healthy diet should include fruits, vegetables and grains and foods should be low in saturated fat, trans fat, salt, added sugar and cholesterol.

Embryonic stem cell research can once again go ahead

The government

announced Friday that funding for embryonic stem cell research can once again go ahead, at least for the time being. Although research can continue, the fate of human embryonic stem cell research is still very much in limbo.

The three-judge panel said in a brief they would lift the ban while they consider the initial, temporary injunction handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth on August 23. The federal judge last month stopped the use of taxpayer money for the stem cell research. That led the National Institutes of Health to suspend its work to fund new projects and to warn that 22 projects due to get yearly checks in September would have to find other money

to continue.

The temporary ban will allow the National Institute of Health to provide $78 million to 44 scientists awaiting previously approved funds while the agency evaluates new applications from scientists seeking federal funding for stem cell research.

Removing the ban lets the government continue to givie tens of millions of dollars to researchers looking for cures for diseases such as Parkinson’s, spinal cord injuries and genetic conditions. The decision, which has met strong criticism, has given Congress some time to consider whether the ban is needed or not.

Embryonic stem cells can grow into any kind of tissue and could have the potential to speed up an array of research.

US church wants to resume Zimbabwe AIDS work

OHANNESBURG — A California church wants to get back to helping AIDS orphans in Africa, once it resolves questions over licensing that led to the arrests of six of its workers in impoverished Zimbabwe, a minister said Sunday.

The six — five Americans and a Zimbabwean — were arrested Friday and have been held at Harare Central police station, where conditions in the cells are notoriously grim. They will appear in court Monday on charges of operating without proper medical licenses, according to their lawyer in Zimbabwe.

Theophous Reagans, a minister at the Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland, California, said by telephone Sunday the church has been working in Zimbabwe for more than a decade and that this is the first time questions over licensing have been raised. He said one of the Americans lives in Zimbabwe, while the others are among church members who visit three or four times a year, paying their own way to help at a home for AIDS orphans the congregation has adopted.

"Our prayer and our hope is that they will be released," after Monday's hearing, Reagans told The Associated Press.

The church's work in Zimbabwe was started in 2000 by Robert C. Scott, an Allen Temple member, AIDS activist and doctor. Scott died last year.

"Dr. Scott worked diligently for 10 years to build that ministry and serve," Reagans said. "We want to continue."

Reagans said most of Allen Temple Baptist Church members are black, and feel a strong connection to Africa.

In 2008, at the height of a political crisis in Zimbabwe, the government accused independent aid groups of supporting opposition activists and barred them from distributing aid for three months.

Zimbabwe also has clashed with aid groups over funding. In 2007, Zimbabwe's central bank confiscated U.S. dollars being held in local bank accounts, including about $12 million belonging to the Global Fund, a major international supporter of programs to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. When the central bank failed to return its money, the Global Fund threatened to cut off aid. Its funds were eventually returned.

Conditions for international aid workers have eased since longtime ruler Robert Mugabe was forced into a power-sharing agreement with his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai as prime minister last year. The partnership has been strained. Mugabe's supporters continue to be accused of abusing human rights, but Tsvangirai's party has been praised for its administration of key ministries, including health, education and finance.

Reagans said his church had not been affected by previous problems encountered by international aid workers in Zimbabwe.

"We really believe that for the last nine-10 years, we have been working in consort with the authorities in Zimbabwe," he said.

The Herald, a state-run Zimbabwe newspaper, quoted police as saying the church workers were being questioned about operating an unlicensed clinic and dispensing medicine without a pharmacist's supervision.

"It is our duty to ensure that all clinics and medical institutions are registered for easy monitoring," police spokesman Augustine Zimbili told The Herald. "There is a risk of dispensation of expired drugs. When premises are not licensed, it is difficult to check if (the law) is being complied with."

Jonathan Samukange, the lawyer in Zimbabwe representing the detained church workers, said they have proper licenses and were only supervising a pharmacy that mainly gave out AIDS medications.

The church's Web site said its work in Zimbabwe began when Scott and other church members attended an international AIDS conference in neighboring South Africa.

They made a trip to Zimbabwe alongside the conference, and moved by what they saw at the Mother of Peace Orphanage, persuaded their church to support the home just outside Harare for children who have lost parents to AIDS.

In Scott's obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle, Gloria Cox Crowell, who ran a church AIDS outreach program with Scott and was among those arrested in Zimbabwe last week, was quoted as saying the orphanage cemetery "was the biggest motivation" in the decision to support Mother of Peace.

"We saw the little tiny crosses for the children who had died there, and they had all died of complications from AIDS. He (Scott) wanted to do something about that."

Scott had earlier founded the AIDS Project of the East Bay to support HIV-positive people in Oakland and try to prevent the spread of the virus, and the AIDS program at his church.

Embryonic Stem Cell Funds Resume by U.S. After Ruling

Lifting the ban allows the government to temporarily continue funneling tens of millions of dollars to scientists seeking cures for diseases such as Parkinson’s, spinal cord injuries and genetic conditions. Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Embryonic stem cell research, grants, and funding reviews at the National Institutes of Health have resumed after a U.S. court suspended a ban, the agency said today in a statement.

A U.S. appeals court said yesterday that the government can keep funding embryonic stem cell research, at least during the initial stages of the agency’s challenge to a federal judge’s ban on the financial support. The NIH, the federal government’s health research agency, said today it will temporarily resume its operations that had been suspended.

Lifting the ban allows the government to continue channeling tens of millions of dollars to scientists seeking cures for diseases such as Parkinson’s, spinal cord injuries and genetic conditions. Embryonic stem cells can grow into any kind of tissue and may have the potential to accelerate a range of research. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington ordered funds to be halted on Aug. 23.

“Human embryonic stem cell research holds the potential for generating profound new insights into disease, cell-based therapeutics and novel methods of screening for new drugs,” the NIH said in an e-mail statement. “The suspension of all grants, contracts and applications that involve the use of human embryonic stem cells has been temporarily lifted.”

The agency, based in Bethesda, Maryland, said it will present further arguments supporting the research to the court in coming weeks. Opponents of federal stem-cell funding have until Sept. 14 to file a response, and the U.S. can submit a response on Sept. 20, the appeals court said yesterday.

Long-term users of bone strengthening medications called oral bisphosphonates have nearly double the risk of developing esophageal cancer, a study from Oxford University claims.

The study involved some 80,000 patients and took place over the course of seven years. According to the findings, those patients who were diagnosed with esophageal cancer were 1.93 times as likely to have received at least 10 prescriptions for oral bisphosphonates compared with controls not having cancer, ABC News reports.

While research findings so far suggests these osteoporosis drugs can have an influence on the development of cancer, more studies need to be conducted to in order to find the exact links and causes.

“But the risk, if it does exist, is small in absolute terms and is not something people taking these drugs should worry too much about,” Oxford University epidemiologist Dr. Jane Green told WebMD.

For the moment it is unknown why these drugs could increase the risk of cancer, it however a fact that the medication irritates the throat and esophagus.

Dr. Green, however, maintains the chances of developing cancer when taking the drugs is very small.

Nurse's patient is long-lost dad

NEW YORK -- It was a bittersweet and unlikely reunion.

When Wanda Rodriguez, a nurse at a Bronx hospice, went to greet her new patient last week, she was stunned to find her estranged father, Victor Peraza.

She hadn't had contact with him for more than 40 years -- since he left her mother when she was an infant. But since that tearful reunion Wednesday, they've been drawn together even as their time together runs out.

Rodriguez has been feeding and bathing her father, who's dying of cancer. "I welcomed him with open arms," she said.

"I've always wondered where my dad had been. ... He's here now. He's terribly ill. It's not my nature to hold a grudge. ... You can't change the past, and he's begged me for forgiveness. ... I'm cherishing every moment," she said.

"When we embraced each other, it was a miraculous moment," said Peraza, 61. "I thank God for my daughter."

Rodriguez says it feels good to be with him. "When I said good night, I called him 'Daddy,' 'Papi.' I said, 'I love you.' I couldn't believe it, it sounded so natural."

Right There: Benefit battles breast cancer

A skeleton dressed in a pink tutu, a pink Radiology Associates T-shirt, and a pink boa with a big pink bow on its head greeted me at the door to Bombay Lounge on Aug. 24.

It was the NSIDE Magazine and Corpus Christi Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s Coastal Bend August mixer, and proceeds from the event were to benefit the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer program, so it was all about the pink.

Everyone who walked in the door was greeted by Zonia Vesely of Radiology Associates, who was giving out pink bracelets. I got mine and then sauntered over to Debbie Perry and Carmen Arias, who were chatting about all of the fun breast cancer awareness ideas they had going for the fall.

They have some great stuff planned, but some of it is top secret. Stay tuned for more details!

This month’s honorees were Radiology Associates’ Mammography Team of Dr. Burk Strong, Dr. Kenneth Cook, Dr. Everett Gayle, and Dr. James Nudelman. The Making Strides against Breast Cancer program provides wigs, prosthesis, and support counseling for local cancer patients, so I was glad to be there wearing the pink ribbon that Cathy De La Paz stuck on my dress as I toured the room.

As I slowly but surely made my way to the yummy pasta table (there were a lot of people there!) I ran into Mark Scott and his wife Carol, who is excited to be next month’s honoree. Adrian and Tracy Garza also were there, enjoying.

After I survived the pasta table, I decided to go outside and enjoy the live music. The Clarissa Serna band was out there playing some great music, and there was a comfy outdoor seating area, so I decided to have a seat and enjoy it all.

Omar Lopez was out there taking pictures of all the party happenings, and I also ran into Eric Von Wade and Jill Jacobs, who were just arriving. It was a fun evening for a great cause, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for next month’s mixer!

I also attended another event, this time as a Master of Ceremonies.

On Aug. 20 South Side Christian Church had a “Night with the Stars,” a musical evening with guest performances and a silent auction, all to raise money for the church’s youth group.

Judy Williams, the youth group’s leader, asked me to help out with the silent auction, so of course I popped in and had a great time. I especially enjoyed Dr. Chuck Volk’s jazz band- they didn’t only play New Orleans jazz, but when they did it made me feel like I was back in the Crescent City instead of the Coastal Bend. Chris Thomasson and Charlotte Murray were the celebrity Masters of Ceremonies, and it was fun to watch their antics as they introduced the musical guests.

Expert warns of complacency after swine flu fizzle

HONG KONG — A leading virus expert urged health authorities around the world Sunday to stay vigilant even though the recent swine flu pandemic was less deadly than expected, warning that bird flu could spark the next global outbreak.

A World Health Organization official also defended the U.N.'s health body against accusations that it wasted governments' money and enriched pharmaceutical companies with its strong warnings during the swine flu outbreak's early days last year.

WHO declared the swine flu pandemic over last month. The latest death toll is just over 18,600 — far below the millions that were once predicted. The head of the global health body has credited good preparation and luck, since the H1N1 swine flu virus didn't mutate as some had feared.

But speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an influenza conference in Hong Kong, researcher Robert Webster warned against complacency.

"We may think we can relax and influenza is no longer a problem. I want to assure you that that is not the case," said Webster, chairman of the virology and molecular biology department at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

Webster predicted that the next pandemic could be sparked by a virus that spreads from water fowl to pigs and then onto humans — such as the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has killed 300 people over the past seven years. He noted that after several years of decline, the number of bird flu cases in humans increased in 2009, lifted by an uptick of cases in Egypt.

"H5N1 can kill 61 percent of humans infected, but it doesn't know how to spread from human to human. But don't trust it because it could acquire that capacity. So we must stay vigilant," he said.

Sylvie Briand, head of WHO's global influenza program, said its surveillance has shown that the bird flu strain isn't capable now of jumping between humans except in rare cases of close personal contact, but echoing Webster, warned: "These are viruses that are evolving. They are changing all the time."

Both experts said it was difficult to predict when — or if — bird flu might set off a new pandemic.

"We don't understand enough about the virus to make predictions," Webster said.

University of Hong Kong microbiologist Malik Peiris said scientists are closely monitoring mutations by influenza viruses — including bird flu viruses — but it's hard to determine which mutations are most likely to spread among humans.

Briand also defended WHO against accusations that it hyped the swine flu pandemic, saying it was acting with limited information when the virus first surfaced and adjusted its response when it became clear the outbreak wasn't as serious as expected.

WHO received at least $170 million from member states to deal with the outbreak, some of which was invested in immunization programs long after the virus strain was known to provoke only mild illness in most of those infected. Governments spent many times that amount buying vaccines and antiviral medicines that are now being junked.

European legislators have repeatedly accused WHO of overstating the danger of swine flu and playing into the hands of the pharmaceutical industry, which has earned millions from the outbreak since it began in April 2009.

"We prepared for the worst and hoped for the best. And as the information became available, there was adaptation of the plan and adaptation of the recommendations in order to really tailor the response to the reality," Briand said. "But it took some time."

Michael Douglas suffers throat cancer

On Tuesday night, Michael Douglas, a well-known American movie star and film producer, revealed on David Letterman's "Late Show" that he was diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer

early this summer and has been receiving chemotherapy and radiotherapy for a week.

Mr. Douglas suspected something's wrong when he felt a sore throat that did not go away. But it took a few months for Michael Douglas's doctors to finally diagnose the disease, which understandably made Douglas's wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, an award winning actress, mad.

Douglas told Letterman's audience that his doctors told me his survival rate is 80 percent even though the prognosis is generally poor for a stage 4 throat cancer, which can be any of a few head and neck cancers including cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx and larynx.

It remains unknown what type of throat cancer Mr. Douglas suffered. But he was cited as saying that the malignancy was caused by smoking and drinking, which is a major known risk factor for throat cancer.

Many lifestyle parameters can affect a person's risk of throat cancer. A few studies are cited below for those food consumers who may wonder if eating certain foods or diet would modify the risk. Evidence is strong that dietary pasterns and certain foods were associated with throat cancer risk.

One study led by De Stefani E. and colleagues from Universidad de Clínicas, Facultad de Medicina in Montevideo, Uruguay and published in March 2009 in International Journal of Cancer suggests that the prudent diet was negatively associated with cancers of upper aerodigestive tract including throat cancer.

Another case-control study 800 patients with confirmed cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx led by Garavello W. and colleagues from Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri in Milan, Italy found that diversity within vegetables and fruits were associated with 38 and 33 percent reduced risk of the oral and pharyngeal cancer, respectively.

Sapkota A. and colleague of International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France found that consumption of dairy products was negatively associated with cancers of larynx and the esophagus while consumption of yellow/orange vegetables was inversely linked with oral/pharyngeal and laryngeal cancer.

Preserved vegetables on the other hands were associated with increased risk of oral/pharyngeal and laryngeal cancer.

The study was published in the Dec 2008 issue of Cancer Causes and Control.

Foods that may help cut the risk of throat cancer include allium vegetables like onions and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, according to early studies. But overall, fruits and vegetables are important foods that people can eat to reduce the risk.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — A new state program that offers health insurance to small businesses has begun signing up members. It's called the Health Insurance

Getting less than five hours sleep a night makes healthy 17 to 24-year-olds three times more likely to suffer from mental health illnesses than their counterparts who get the recommended eight to nine hours sleep.

According to new research carried out by the George Institute of Global Health, insufficient sleep makes it more likely that mental health problems will become more persistent or in some extreme cases trigger mental health issues for the first time.

It was also found that every hour of lost sleep each night could have an impact on people's mental wellbeing.

Lead author, Professor Nick Glozier, said: "The study has revealed a number of links between mental health problems and lack of sleep among young adults."

According to the UK's Sleep Council, exercising regularly, creating a restful atmosphere in the bedroom and keeping regular hours can all help people get a better night's sleep.

Wash. begins enrolling companies in health program

OLYMPIA, Wash. —

A new state program that offers health insurance to small businesses has begun signing up members.

It's called the Health Insurance Partnership. Enrollment started Wednesday and coverage will begin next year.

Companies with 50 or fewer employees are eligible. Employers contribute about 40 percent of the coverage cost, compared to what the state says is the standard 75 percent on the small group market.

Premium subsidies are available for some workers after accounting for family income.

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