West Nile vaccine making progress
People inoculated with a vaccine being developed to protect against West Nile virus infection suffer no ill effects, and nearly all of them develop antibodies that neutralize the virus, researchers report.
“These are the first complete phase I results from a clinical trial of a West Nile virus vaccine,” Dr. Thomas Monath, Chief Scientific Officer for vaccine maker Acambis, told Reuters Health.
Results with the vaccine, called ChimeriVax-West Nile, were presented Wednesday at the National Foundation for Infectious Disease’s 8th annual vaccine meeting in Baltimore.
Judge threatens California prison health takeover
Outraged at what he called the poor quality of medical services for California’s prisoners, a federal judge threatened on Tuesday to take over the prison health care system of the most populous U.S. state.
“The prison medical delivery system is in such a blatant state of crisis that in recent days defendants have publicly conceded their inability to find and implement on their own solutions that will meet constitutional standards,” U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson wrote.
Israel moves to halt unauthorised patient tests
Israel has tightened hospital supervision after an investigation uncovered a spate of unauthorised experiments on children, psychiatric patients and the elderly, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
A report from the state comptroller found that in one hospital, 40 geriatric patients had signed consent forms to undergo experiments - some with only a fingerprint - even though they had mental illnesses, including dementia.
The report has drawn intense criticism in the Israeli media with one headline calling it a ‘scandal’ and another accusing the ministry of negligence.
Intelligence doesn’t explain health disparities
Although intelligence seems to play some role in a person’s well-being, new research casts doubt on the theory that intelligence explains the health disparities seen between low- and high-income people.
In a study of nearly 6,000 British adults in various civil service jobs, researchers found that a person’s intelligence—as measured by a standard test—was related to certain measures of health. It did not, however, explain the relationship between lower socioeconomic status and poorer health.
EU sets strict limits for banned dyes in spicy food
EU authorities have set strict limits for a group of illegal dyes in food that may cause an increased risk of cancer, officials said on Wednesday.
Any products containing higher amounts of the industrial colourings - the Sudan and Para Red dyes - must be withdrawn from the market. Detection limits are set at between 0.5 and 1.0 milligrams per kilogram, but the aim is to lower this level.
Sudan dyes are a group of four red dyes used for colouring solvents, oils, waxes, petrol, and shoe and floor polishes. They have a carcinogenic effect and a potential risk of genotoxicity.
Yemen polio outbreak may cripple 100 children - WHO
A polio outbreak in Yemen could cripple more than 100 children before it is brought under control, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.
A Yemeni Health Ministry official said in the capital Sanaa on Monday the number of children diagnosed with the paralysing disease had risen to 40, nearly double the initial 22 cases the WHO confirmed in late April.
But the WHO said more suspected cases were under investigation.
Sweat scent study suggests gay men’s brains differ
A compound taken from male sweat stimulates the brains of gay men and straight women but not heterosexual men, raising the possibility that homosexual brains are different, researchers in Sweden reported on Monday.
It also strengthens the evidence that humans respond to pheromones - compounds known to affect animal behavior, especially mating behavior, but whose role in human activity has been questioned.
The pheromone in question is a derivative of testosterone called 4,16-androstadien-3-one, or AND.
Tsunami children suffering mental problems - WHO
Up to a quarter of the children caught up in the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia’s Aceh have mental health problems that need professional treatment, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.
Most of the tsunami-affected adult population is also suffering from trauma-related distress, a WHO-funded study by the University of Indonesia found.
The mental health problems are far beyond the capabilities of Aceh’s lone mental hospital and so the government has decided Aceh will be the first Indonesian province to have community mental health services, said Dr. Stephanus Indrajaya, technical officer for WHO Indonesia.
U.S. judge upholds Calif. smog agency on fleet fuel
A U.S. federal judge has upheld a California air quality agency’s rule that fleet owners must use vehicles that run on the cleanest-burning fuels.
U.S. District Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper, in a decision on Friday, said the South Coast Air Quality Management District can enforce its order for state and local government to purchase fleet vehicles that run on fuels like methanol and compressed natural gas instead of diesel fuel.
The district - the smog control agency for Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties - adopted the rules for both private and government fleets in 2000 and was challenged in federal court in Los Angeles by the Engine Manufacturers Association, a trade group.
UK doctors call for hepatitis B jabs for children
Doctors called on Tuesday for all British children to be vaccinated against the Hepatitis B virus that can cause serious liver disease.
The British Medical Association (BMA) said transmission of the virus has more than doubled in the past decade.
“It makes sense to immunise all children against Hepatitis B.
Premature birth could have genetic component
A woman has a higher risk of delivering a premature baby if a relative has also given birth too early, and there may be a way to determine risk by analyzing genes, researchers said on Monday.
Premature birth is “the No. 1 problem in obstetrics today and the incidence continues to grow,” said Dr. Kenneth Ward, chairman of the department of obstetrics-gynecology at the University of Hawaii School of Medicine and lead author of a study using genetic databases compiled by Utah’s Mormon population.
“There is an underappreciated genetic component to the problem,” he said at a meeting here of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
