|
Spare
a kidney, miss?
LEEDS, UK —
Eighteen-year-old Laura Moon found out she had a pair
of extra organs during an ultrasound last year. "I realized
that the doctor scanning me hadn't said anything for
a long time," she told The Observer. "I thought
he was going to give me bad news. But then he said:
'You've got four kidneys.'" After recently hearing about
a three-year-old in need of a kidney transplant, she's
resolved to donate "at least one."
Spoonful
of sugar eases pain
CINCINNATI —
Mary Poppins knew what she was talking about.
A spoonful of sugar keeps the volume of infants' screams
down when they're getting their shots, says a new study
published in last month's Pediatrics. Pennsylvania
researchers found that giving babies pacifiers coated
in oral sucrose reduced the kids' pain by 78.5%. "You
hear it all the time, that grandmothers say, 'oh, this
calms babies, this helps them,' and I thought, well,
there had to be some science behind it or it wouldn't
have survived all these years," co-author Linda Hatfield
told the Canadian Press.
'Hastened
death' nets charges
SAN LUIS OBISPO,
CA — Dr Hootan C Roozrokh, a California
transplant surgeon, may face eight years in prison if
convicted of three felony charges related to his alleged
hastening of a brain-dead patient's death in order to
harvest the organs. He's pleaded not guilty. "If you
think a malpractice lawsuit is scaring surgeons off,"
Dr Goran Klintmalm, the president of the American Society
of Transplant Surgeons, warned The New York Times,
"wait to see what happens when people see a surgeon
being charged criminally and going to jail."
One
of two GERD drugs cleared of cardio risk allegations
OTTAWA —
Esomeprazole doesn't raise cardiovascular risk but another
GERD drug, omeprazole, may, says a recent Health Canada
safety review. Officials haven't able to conclude whether
omeprazole imperils patients' hearts or not. Health
Canada began studying the connection between the GERD
drugs and CV risk last August after two European clinical
trials indicated a possible link.
Yellow
fever outbreak incites panic in Paraguay
ASUNCION, PARAGUAY
— Short on yellow fever vaccines in the
throes of its first outbreak in 30 years, Paraguay is
facing massive civil unrest. Protesters yelling "We
want vaccines" have clashed with riot police as they
blocked roads and tried to break down the doors of health
clinics. The government declared a state of emergency
in mid-February after four citizens died of the disease.
The outbreak spread from Brazil, where 13 people have
died of yellow fever since December.
Black
pepper reverses vitiligo
LONDON, UK —
Piperine, a compound in black pepper, offers treatment
hope for Michael Jackson and fellow vitiligo sufferers.
The disfiguring condition, which affects one percent
of the world's population, attacks melanin in the skin,
leading to a gradual whitening. Topical treatment with
piperine followed by UV-ray phototherapy stimulates
skin pigmentation, write scientists in February's British
Journal of Dermatology.
Turn
down that darn music!
PITTSBURGH —
The 279 most popular songs of 2005 have been on heavy
rotation at the University of Pittsburgh's School of
Medicine. Researchers there recently announced that
kids receive about an average of 35 references to substance
abuse for every hour of music they listen to. They claim
their work, published last month in The Archives
of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, suggests
music depicting substance use leads teens to positively
associate drinking and taking drugs.
Dust
storms carry disease
WASHINGTON, DC
— Ongoing research into the health effects
of intercontinental dust storms has climate change researchers
and public health experts worried, reported the Washington
Post last month. One study published in February's issue
of the journal Global and Planetary Change said transoceanic
dust storms may be a significant health danger. Older
studies have blamed the precipitous rise in asthma rates
in the Caribbean to the rise in African dust blown across
the Atlantic. Some US experts are pushing for an international
early warning system to track dust storms.
Anti-obese
law just a joke
JACKSON, MS —
A widely denounced plan to have restaurants throughout
Mississippi bar obese patrons wasn't meant to be passed
into law, says its author, state representative John
Read. After all, he said, at 104kg himself, the legislation
would have limited his own options of where to eat.
Rep Read says he was merely "trying to shed a little
light on the number one problem in Mississippi," where
30% of adults are obese.
Crackdown
on unruly Serb MDs
BELGRADE —
Serbian doctors, nurses and hospital staffers are hereby
forbidden from gossiping, being grumpy, being rude,
accepting bribes and criticizing their superiors, the
country's Health Ministry recently decreed. Also, no
miniskirts. "There needs to be ground rules for decency,"
a government official told Reuters.
|
