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UK
doc developing obesity gum
LONDON --
Veteran appetite researcher Dr Stephen Bloom found himself
in a sticky situation. Despite having published evidence
in NEJM back in 2003 that the hormone pancreatic
polypeptide could be used to produce an anti-obesity
medicine, he couldn't attract any investment because
the naturally-occurring hormone isn't eligible for patent
protection. But now, the Wellcome Trust, a large medical
charity, has offered Dr Bloom something to chew on --
funding to the tune of £2.2 million ($4.6 million
CDN) to develop an anti-obesity chewing gum. Why gum?
"We hit on the idea of a chewing gum because obese people
like chewing," Dr Bloom told the BBC.
Milk
ruins tea's heart benefits
BERLIN --
If you add milk to a cuppa -- long a palatal abomination
to darjeeling aficionados -- you may also be doing a
disservice to your cardiovascular system. German researchers
had 16 healthy female subjects drink tea, either black
or with skim milk. Those who took their tea straight
had markedly increased vascular flow-mediated dilation
compared to either the tea-with-milk set or the controls.
The study appears in the January 9 online edition of
the European Heart Journal.
Quebecers
can hit Cuba for hips
QUEBEC CITY --
Two Quebecers have established a new nonprofit called
Services SantéInternational (SSI), in association
with Cuba's Tourism Department, to perform hip replacements,
cataract surgery and plastic surgery on Canadians who
don't want to wait. Announced in mid-January, the company
charges $200 to have Cuban doctors assess a patient's
file within a few days. Hip replacements run $5,000-$6,000
and cataract operations cost $2,000. SSI only connects
people to Cuban doctors, patients are responsible for
their own travel and insurance.
Vision
zap goes the distance
ALICANTE, SPAIN
-- LASIK and PRK laser eye surgeries are safe
and their effects are surprisingly effective 10 years
after the procedure. In research from Universidad Miguel
Hernandez presented at a recent American Academy of
Opthalmology's meeting, the average patient's eyesight
after a decade was a still-excellent 20/25. LASIK patients
fared slightly better for more severe impairment and
PRK was better for minor vision problems, but researchers
explained that advances in PRK techniques have now made
the two procedures essentially comparable.
HIV
man infects girlfriend, guilty of gross bodily harm
BOURNEMOUTH, UK
-- A 35-year-old Zimbabwean man living in the
UK has been jailed for deliberately infecting his 25-year-old
British girlfriend with HIV. Before having unprotected
sex, the woman asked him if he had the virus. He denied
it, although he'd been diagnosed in 2000. The woman
found out when her boyfriend's health worker contacted
her to urge her to have an AIDS test. The test was positive
and the woman contacted police, fearing, she said, that
he would infect other women. He's been sentenced to
three-and-a-half years.
North
Carolina docs to be barred from gallows
RALEIGH, NC --
The Medical Board of North Carolina is soon expected
to announce new policies that will condemn physician
participation in lethal injections. The board's new
regulations will continue to allow doctors to serve
as witnesses in executions, but they won't be permitted
to actively participate (eg monitor vital signs). The
state has two lethal injections slated for this month.
Since 1976, 43 people have been put to death.
Hopes
for "bubble boy" cure
MILWAUKEE --
Houston's "bubble boy" lived with severe combined immunodeficiency
disease (SCID) inside a germ-proof plastic sphere until
the age of 12. But most of the 40-100 American children
born without a functioning immune system aren't so lucky;
the majority die in infancy if a bone-marrow transplant
cannot be found in the first several months. Now a Wisconsin
Children's Hospital pediatrician is beginning work on
a study to determine the disease's prevalence by screening
babies in hopes of learning more about the disease.
Katrina-survivor
embryo born
COVINGTON, LA
-- Noah Benton Markham was born in January after
having endured a remarkable ordeal, which gave his parents
the inspiration for his Biblical name. Back when he
was just a frozen embryo in 2005, he was rescued by
a police boat from a tank of rapidly defrosting coolant
two weeks after Hurricane Katrina cut the power to New
Orleans' Lakeland Hospital. Over 1,400 other embryos
were saved in the rescue effort.
Blessed
be thy internet
MADISON, WI --
Praise the net! A University of Wisconsin study soon
to be published in the journal Psycho-Oncology
found that breast cancer patients who pray in online
message groups see improved mental health. Researchers
analyzed transcripts of messages for words like "pray,"
"God," and "faith," and found that higher frequency
of use of such words was associated with more positive
emotions and feelings of well-being, regardless of patients'
prior religious beliefs.
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