[In Depth] Scandal clouds China's global vaccine ambitions
Health experts hail two new Chinese-made vaccines against hand, foot, and mouth disease as a milestone against a malady that has run rampant in China. But that triumph was overshadowed by a safety crisis involving other homegrown vaccines. In recent weeks, police have arrested more than 200 people in connection with the nationwide distribution of 2 million doses of expired Chinese-made vaccines against scourges such as hepatitis B and rabies. No adverse reactions have been confirmed. China's vaccine developers hope the debacle won't derail efforts to make inroads into the global $33 billion vaccine market. But without a ma...
Source: ScienceNOW - April 28, 2016 Category: Science Authors: Kathleen McLaughlin Tags: Infectious Disease Source Type: news
Cancun resort addresses hand-foot-and-mouth cases after Canadian's Facebook post
After an Alberta woman sounded the alarm on Facebook about multiple cases of hand-foot-and-mouth disease among children staying at the Royalton Riviera Cancun, the company managing the resort says it is taking action but does not consider the situation to be an "outbreak." (Source: CBC | Health)
Source: CBC | Health - March 2, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: News/Canada Source Type: news
Electronic health records can help catch undiagnosed cases of Type 2 diabetes, UCLA researchers find
In 2012, a group of UCLA researchers set out to mine thousands of electronic health records for a more accurate and less expensive way to identify people who have undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes. The researchers got much more than they bargained for.
Not only did they develop an algorithm with the potential to vastly increase the number of correct diagnoses of the disease by refining the pool of candidates who are put forward for screening; they also uncovered several previously unknown risk factors for diabetes, including a history of sexual and gender identity disorders, intestinal infections and a category of illnesses tha...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - February 16, 2016 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Behind the Headlines Top Five of Top Fives 2015
In this study, researchers wanted to see why this is and if there could be any human applications.
Researchers collected white blood cells from African and Asian elephants. They found elephants have at least 20 copies of a gene called TP53. TP53 is known to encourage cell "suicide" when DNA is damaged, stopping any potential cancer in its tracks. In contrast, humans are thought to have only a single copy of the TP53 gene.
Of course the big question – the elephant in the room, if you will – is how we can boost TP53 activity in humans to stimulate a similar protective effect. The simple answer is: we don't know...
Source: NHS News Feed - December 24, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: QA articles Medical practice Special reports Source Type: news
Yoga for Better Sleep
Yoga is a gentle and restorative way to wind down your day. A national survey found that over 55% of people who did yoga found that it helped them get better sleep. Over 85% said yoga helped reduce stress. You can use supportive props like bolsters, blankets, and blocks to make poses comfortable so that you can stay in the pose for longer and continue to breathe.
Your breath is key to be able to relax in these poses. Breath in yoga is equally important—if not more important—as the physical pose. Use a gentle and calming yoga breath technique called Ujjayi Breath, also known as Ocean Breath or Victorious Breath. Inhale ...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - December 4, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Marlynn Wei, MD, JD Tags: Behavioral Health Complementary and alternative medicine Exercise and Fitness Sleep restorative yoga Source Type: news
Fishermen Find Huge, Super Creepy Squid Floating In Hawaiian Waters
It wasn't exactly the catch they expected to bring home. Last week, a group of fishermen off the coast of Hawaii's Big Island stumbled across a 7-foot-long squid floating dead on the ocean surface. “It had clearly been attacked by something, because there was a bite mark in the head and several of the tentacles were missing," Cyrus Widhalm, who caught the squid and is owner of Kona Sea Adventures, told local news station KHON2. Widhalm told The Huffington Post that he was captaining a charter on Oct. 1 outside Keauhou Bay, south of Kailua-Kona, when one of his guests spotted the strange, motionless animal...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - October 6, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
Notes from the Field: Atypical Presentations of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease Caused by Coxsackievirus A6 — Minnesota, 2014
(Source: CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report)
Source: CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report - July 31, 2015 Category: American Health Source Type: news
Unusual Presentation of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease Detailed (FREE)
By Kelly Young
Edited by André Sofair, MD, MPH, and William E. Chavey, MD, MS
An MMWR article highlights an unusual presentation of hand, foot, and mouth disease observed in Minnesota in 2014. In June … (Source: Physician's First Watch current issue)
Source: Physician's First Watch current issue - July 31, 2015 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news
9 Childhood Illnesses: Get the Facts
WebMD shares facts on 9 childhood illnesses you may not know about: RSV, fifth disease, croup, scarlet fever, impetigo, Kawasaki disease, Reye's syndrome, whooping cough, and hand, foot, and mouth disease. (Source: WebMD Health)
Source: WebMD Health - July 25, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
What Life Is Like With A Disfigured Face
(Photo: © Anthony Gerace) In a world obsessed with beauty, living with a facial disfigurement can be hard. Neil Steinberg explores the past and present to find out what it’s like to look different.“Take your ear off for me, please,” Rosie Seelaus says to Randy James, who is sitting on a black exam chair in a special room designed for viewing colors in the Craniofacial Center on the Near West Side of Chicago.He reaches up and detaches his right ear, which she created for him out of silicone seven years before. The ear is shabby, stained from skin oil and mottled by daily use. Viewed under various lights in the neu...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - June 26, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
Is Sexism in Science Actually Paternalism?
There's an infection called Hand-foot-and-mouth disease, which is common among young children and is caused by a virus. Lately, there seems to be another illness, Foot-in-mouth disease, that's been going viral, at least socially. The main difference between these diseases is that the latter seems to affect mostly adults, and more specifically, adult male scientists.
The most recent victim of this Foot-in-mouth disease is Tim Hunt, a 2001 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine, for his comment about women in the lab.
His rather bizarre remark spurred a fury of backlash and some rather hilarious tweets by female sci...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - June 17, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
Adrian Bejan: "Growth Is Not Evolution"
Watching physicist Adrian Bejan as he demonstrates how snowflakes form tells you two things. One, he's not just a scientist. The confidence and balance he projects as he draws are a give-away to his training as an artist and as an athlete. And two, that there is a certain predictability to each snowflake.
I've quoted Adrian Bejan numerous times in books and articles about evolution, about
academic mafias and peer review, but somehow we never got around to having a full conversation. So I called him recently at Duke University, where he is now J.A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering, to chat ...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - April 20, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
After pain rehabilitation therapy, Mexico City pre-teen swaps wheelchair for skis
When Lucia Burillo Rojas arrived in Boston last fall, the 11-year-old from Mexico City could hardly stand up from her wheelchair. “It was very hard,” says her mother Sandra, who had traveled with her daughter, hoping that doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital could help relieve Lucia’s constant pain.
Sandra was desperate. Lucia had been a very active child who played soccer and tennis, and loved to dance, ski and ice skate. Then she was hit with a common hand, foot and mouth virus in September. The virus resolved, but not without devastating complications. “She started with bad migraines, sensitivity to li...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - March 10, 2015 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Lisa Fratt Tags: Our patients’ stories Source Type: news
What Causes Vesicular Exanthams?
Discussion
Vesicles are circumscribed, elevated, fluid-filled lesions < 1 cm on the skin. They contain serious exudates or a mixture of blood and serum. They last for a short time and either break spontaneously or evolve into bullae. They can be discrete (e.g. varicella or rickettsial disease), grouped (e.g. herpes), linear (e.g. rhus dermatitis) or irregular (e.g. coxsackie) in distribution.
Associated symptoms such as pruritus, fever, myalgias, coryza and cough, along with a history of potential contact can be helpful. Vesicular rashes that are associated with systemic findings such as fever are usually due to infe...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - March 2, 2015 Category: Pediatrics Authors: pediatriceducationmin Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news
Puppy Preparedness: 9 Tips to Keep Your Pets Warm and Safe This Winter
A version of this was originally written by Matthew Hurst, the American Red Cross Greater NY Region blog
Raise your hand if you knew last Friday was Love Your Pet Day. Now, raise your hand if it was so cold out you used your cat as a foot warmer and your dog as an extra blanket to celebrate this amazing day? If you’re anywhere in the eastern half of the country, you’ve weathered a winter filled with frigid temps and snow storms.
You know how to bundle up and keep your home heated safely, but what can you do to protect and prepare your pets during the winter? Here are a few simple tips to keep them safe:
1....
Source: Red Cross Chat - February 23, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Beth Pullias Tags: Preparedness greater ny region pet first aid pet safety winter pet safety Source Type: news
