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Columbus brought
pox home
ATLANTA —
The New World
gave the Old World potatoes, chilis, tomatoes, tobacco
and, new evidence strongly suggests, syphilis. New genetic
research from deep in the jungles of Guyana, published
January 15 in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
by a team of Canadian, American and British researchers,
connects Old World syphilis to strains of the skin infection
yaws in the New World, by way of a bacterium associated
with both. As well, syphilis happens to have first been
reported in Europe in 1495, just two years after the
return of the Niña and the Pinta. Blame it on
Columbus, the authors conclude.
Big
Apple cracks down on junk
NEW YORK CITY
— Calorie counts will be displayed on fast-food
menus as New York City officials try to encourage customers
to make more informed decisions about what they eat.
The New York City Board of Health passed the regulation
last month; they affect fast-food chains with 15 or
more outlets in the city, which account for roughly
10% of New York's eateries. Some chains already provide
nutritional information on pamphlets, but the calorie
counts must be listed directly on menus beginning March
31.
Scientists
spark vivid memory
TORONTO —
Canadian scientists have accidentally stumbled upon
an incredible discovery about the way memory works.
While experimenting with electrical deep-brain stimulation
for appetite suppression, an obese 50-year-old patient
suddenly recounted a day he spent in the park with his
friends 30 years ago in vivid detail. "It was a eureka
moment," lead scientist Dr Andreas Lozano, whose account
was published January 30 in Annals of Neurology,
told CP. "I think that in scientific discoveries these
are the best ones. The ones you're not expecting."
Dope
dispenser for patients
SAN FERNANDO,
CA — The Timothy Leary Medical Dispensary
in San Fernando, CA has begun using an unusual medical
marijuana vending machine. After a patient's authorization
card and fingerprint are verified, and the bill settled,
out pops the pot. Automation has cut the price of the
drug to just $40 per eighth of an ounce; users are limited
to one ounce a week. Two machines are now installed
in California. Federal authorities are not amused and
suggest that the vending machine operators could be
prosecuted.
No
scars with gene gel
BRISTOL, UK —
A new kind of gene-suppressing gel speeds internal and
external wound healing and reduces scarring. University
of Bristol researchers developed the gel, described
in the Journal of Experimental Medicine on January
7, after discovering that the gene osteopontin contributes
to the production of collagen in scars. The gel also
encourages the regeneration of damaged blood vessels
and tissue in the skin as well as internal organs. "The
next step will be to find a pharmaceutical drug which
can do the same thing as this gel is doing," one tissue
expert told BBC News.
When
killers want to heal
STOCKHOLM —
Should convicted murderers be permitted to become
physicians? Sweden's Karolinska Institute thinks not.
The school recently expelled Karl Helge Hampus Svensson,
31, a first-year med student who served six and a half
years for killing a union member in a neo-Nazi-inspired
hate crime in 1999. Some have argued that Mr Svensson
lacks the compassion necessary to become a physician;
others say he deserves a second chance.
Have
kidney, will travel
OTTAWA —
There must have been some red faces at the CMA when
they checked their ad on the National Post website
recently. Adjacent to it was an article about Indian
surgeon Amit Kumar, dubbed "Dr Horror" by the Indian
press. Dr Kumar ran a surgery out of the basement of
his home in a New Delhi suburb that sold kidneys extracted
at gunpoint from India labourers to wealthy foreigners.
Dr Kumar has relatives in Canada, visits regularly and
is now suspected of hiding out here. That unfortunately
placed CMA ad? It read: "CANADA NEEDS MORE DOCTORS."
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