South Korea says third bird flu case confirmed
A third case of bird flu has been discovered in southwestern South Korea just as officials have completed culling hundreds of thousands of poultry from two earlier outbreaks.
Last month South Korea confirmed its first cases of the H5N1 strain in about three years, saying the virus had been found at two poultry farms close to each other in the North Cholla province.
The fresh case emerged after South Korea completed culling all 760,000 poultry near the two farms, raising concerns that quarantine measures had failed to control the outbreak.
Children suffer when mother lacks input, UNICEF says
Children are likely to be undernourished in households where women are denied a voice in family decisions like doctor visits, food expenditures and trips to see friends and relatives, says a report by the U.N. Children’s Fund, UNICEF, released on Monday.
Tracing the life cycle of women, the report said eliminating discrimination against women has a profound impact on the survival and well-being of boys and girls.
Breast cancer screening under 50 questioned
Screening women under 50 years old for breast cancer does not significantly reduce deaths from the disease, British researchers said on Friday.
They estimated giving women annual mammograms beginning at the age of 40 could save about four lives for every 1,000 women screened.
Obese diabetics at high risk for kidney disease
Adults with type 1 diabetes who are obese, especially those who carry excess weight around the middle, are at increased risk for developing kidney disease, a study shows.
“These results,” Dr. Ian H. de Boer told Reuters Health, “suggest that weight control is important in type 1 diabetes...and that lifestyle interventions, such as exercise and diet, may be useful in preventing kidney and heart disease in this group of people.”
Balance Training Better than Tai Chi at Improving Mobility in Older Adults
Physicians and physical therapists in recent years have explored whether tai chi, balance programs and fitness routines can help decrease the likelihood that older adults will fall and injure themselves. Many of these programs have shown promise, but their relative value is still open to debate.
Now, a study from researchers at the University of Michigan Health System and the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System suggests that a program focusing on increasing step length and speed is more effective at improving mobility and balance than tai chi. While tai chi - a Chinese martial art form consisting of slow, rotational movements and weight-shifting - offers many benefits, the researchers say, they’re not as great as those produced by a balance-training program.
Successful Lung Cancer Surgery Not Enough to Break Nicotine Dependence in Many Smokers
A new study has found that close to half of 154 smokers who had surgery to remove early stage lung cancer picked up a cigarette again within 12 months of their potentially curative operation, and more than one-third were smoking at the one year mark. Sixty percent of patients who started smoking again did so within two months of surgery.
The study, led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine and published in the December issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, is the first to look at smoking relapse among people who were “forced” to quit due to impending surgery.
