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Cloning
lie hid major find
BOSTON —
In 2005 he claimed to have derived embryonic stem cells
from adult cells. He lied. But Boston scientists who
are reviewing Korean scientist Hwang Woo Suk’s
fabricated cloning research discovered that Dr Hwang
had stumbled upon something else of significance without
noticing: his team developed embryonic stem cells through
parthenogenesis using unfertilized eggs, reported the
Boston group in Cell Stem Cell on August 3. “It
would have been a seminal finding if they hadn’t
had their blinders on,” Dr Kent E. Vrana, an expert
on parthenogenesis, told the New York Times.
No
brain? No problem
MARSEILLE —
A 44-year-old man’s MRI for a leg injury surprised
doctors: the scan revealed “little more than a
sheet of actual brain tissue,” reported Reuters.
He had massive fluid build-up in the lateral ventricles
such that the chambers took up most of the space in
his skull. The man has an IQ of 75, below average but
not considered disabled. “What I find amazing is
how the brain can deal with something which you think
should not be compatible with life,” Dr Max Muenke,
a paediatric brain defect specialist, told Reuters.
Who is this man with nearly no brain? A French civil
servant and married father of two.
Clampdown
on Crocs
TORONTO —
Healthcare workers shouldn’t wear Crocs, says the
Ontario Hospital Association (OHA). Many doctors and
nurses find the ubiquitous rubberized foam shoes comfortable
during long shifts and they’re easy to wash, but
the OHA insists the ventilation holes on top of the
Crocs increase the risks of accidental syringe pricks
and fluid-based infection spread. A number of Canadian
and international hospitals and health authorities have
already banned the clogs. “I can’t believe
hospitals are spending time talking about Crocs while
there are more pressing issues, such as retaining staff
and overtime hours,” Canadian Federation of Nurses
Unions president Linda Salis said.
Obese...
or just greedy?
LONDON —
It’s no use sticking medical labels on them —
obese people “are just greedy,” British Medical
Association chairman Dr Hamish Meldrum told the Evening
Standard. Obese Britons shouldn’t be given
pills and doctors’ appointments for their weight
problems, he said. Dr Meldrum fears “over medicalizing”
obesity may be stopping people from making lifestyle
changes. “How can obesity not be medicalized if
there are 45 core morbidities associated with obesity
and overwhelming evidence of a causal link?” asked
the baffled head of the National Obesity Forum.
Red-faced
disease unmasked
SAN DIEGO —
Rosacea affects millions but until now doctors didn’t
know what caused it. The culprit is a defective inflammatory
protein, cathelicidin, that’s part of the body’s
defense system, says the study in the August 5 online
edition of Nature Medicine. This discovery indicates
that antibiotics, often prescribed for rosacea, are
probably useless.
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