Korea culls 3 million birds as flu spreads fast
South Korea said on Thursday it had culled 3 million farmed birds and confirmed three more outbreaks of bird flu, as the country grapples with its worst avian influenza outbreak in four years.
In just two weeks South Korea has confirmed 15 cases of the deadly H5N1 strain, raising alarm as the highly virulent virus is spreading at its fastest rate since the country reported its first case in 2003.
The farm ministry said on Thursday it had seven new reports of suspected bird flu outbreaks at poultry farms in North and South Jeolla provinces, some 320 km (200 miles) south of Seoul, where the first bird flu recurrence for a year was reported earlier this month.
Premature baby’s fate depends on more than age
Four factors beyond gestational age influence whether an extremely premature baby will survive and grow up healthy, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.
Girls, babies that weigh more and babies that do not have a twin all survived premature birth better, as did babies whose mothers were treated with steroids to hasten the development of the lungs, the researchers reported in The New England Journal of Medicine.
These factors also lowered the risk of neurodevelopmental problems such as blindness, hearing loss, thinking problems and cerebral palsy.
Sickened pork workers have new nerve disorder
Eighteen pork plant workers in Minnesota, at least five in Indiana and one in Nebraska have come down with a mysterious neurological condition they appear to have contracted while removing brains from slaughtered pigs, U.S. researchers and health officials said on Wednesday.
They said the illness is a new disorder that causes a range of symptoms, from inflammation of the spinal cord to mild weakness, fatigue, numbness and tingling in the arms and legs.
“As far as we are aware it is a brand new disorder,” said Dr. Daniel Lachance of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who presented his findings at the American Academy of Neurology meeting in Chicago.
Mid-life high cholesterol raises Alzheimer’s risk
High cholesterol levels in your 40s may raise the chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease decades later, according to a study underscoring the importance of health factors in middle age on risk for the brain ailment.
The study involving 9,752 people in northern California found that those with high cholesterol levels between ages 40 and 45 were about 50 percent more likely than those with low cholesterol levels to later develop Alzheimer’s disease.
The findings were presented on Wednesday at a meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Chicago.
Tiny magnets used in anti-cancer gene therapy
Tiny magnets have been used to deliver anti-cancer gene therapy in mice in a development that could make the treatment much more effective, scientists said on Thursday.
The idea behind gene therapy is to replace faulty genes. But the approach has had mixed success because of the difficulty of getting genes to the right part of the body.
One option is to use viruses to carry genes, but this increases the risk of triggering an immune system reaction.
Chemotherapy effects on brain may be a myth
"Chemofog” - impairments in memory and in thinking, or “cognition,” that have been attributed to chemotherapy—was not seen in two studies of women being treated for breast cancer, according to a presentation at the 60th annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Chicago..
In Melbourne, Australia, Dr. David G. Darby of CogState Ltd, where a cognitive assessment test bearing its name was developed, and colleagues, used the test to evaluate the changes in cognitive function in breast cancer patients. CogState Ltd. is an international, publicly held company that sells diagnostic tools.
The researchers tested 30 women with breast cancer, and 30 “control” subjects matched by age, before each cycle of chemotherapy and 28 days after the last cycle. Both groups of women also provided a subjective assessment of their cognitive function and feelings of depression and anxiety at each evaluation.
Aerobic Exercise Boosts Older Bodies and Minds, Review Suggests
Aerobic exercise could give older adults a boost in brainpower, according to a recent review of studies from the Netherlands.
“Aerobic physical exercises that improve cardiovascular fitness also help boost cognitive processing speed, motor function and visual and auditory attention in healthy older people,” said lead review author Maaike Angevaren.
Around age 50, even healthy older adults begin to experience mild declines in cognition, such as occasional memory lapses and reduced ability to pay attention. Convincing evidence shows that regular exercise contributes to healthy aging, but could the types of exercise a person does influence his or her cognitive fitness?
Women More Likely to Comply with Stroke Prevention Despite Being More Depressed
After a stroke, women are more likely to become depressed than men, but despite being depressed, women are more likely than men to take stroke medications, according to research that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Chicago, April 12–19, 2008.
The study involved 491 stroke survivors who were all prescribed drugs prior to hospital discharge aimed at preventing a second stroke by lowering cholesterol, reducing high blood pressure and preventing blood clots. Three months later, researchers evaluated the participants’ level of depression, quality of life, and whether they were still taking the stroke prevention drugs. A total of 385 people, or 78 percent, were still taking their medications after three months.
Nineteen percent of women reported feelings of depression, compared to 10 percent of men. Thirty percent of women reported sleep problems, compared to 22 percent of men. But the men who kept taking their drugs reported a better overall quality of life than women who stuck with their medications.
