February 17, 2004                 

►February 13, 2004 - Association of Atopobium vaginae, a recently described metronidazole resistant anarobe, with bacterial vaginosis  - journal article (BMC Infectious Diseases)

►February 13, 2004 - The presence of non-organ-specific autoantibodies is associated with a negative response to combination therapy with interferon and ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C - journal article (BMC Infectious Diseases)

►February 9, 2004 - Can the caged bird sing? Reflections on the application of qualitative research methods to case study design in homeopathic medicine. - journal article (BMC Medical Research Methodology)

►February 11, 2004 - Infant Mortality Trends in a Region of Belarus, 1980-2000 - journal article (BMC Pediatrics)

►February 14, 2004 - Prevalence, and associated risk factors, of self-reported diabetes mellitus in a sample of adult urban population in Greece: MEDICAL Exit Poll Research in Salamis (Medical Express 2002) - journal article (BMC Public Health)

►February 13, 2004 - Current problems of perinatal Chlamydia trachomatis infections - journal article (Journal of Immune Based Therapies and Vaccines)

►February 13, 2004 - Long terminal repeat retrotransposons of Mus musculus - journal article (Genome Biology)

►February 12, 2004 - The Knee Clinical Assessment Study - CAS(K). A prospective study of knee pain and knee osteoarthritis in the general population - journal article (BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders)

►February 12, 2004 - TLR4 signaling is essential for survival in acute lung injury induced by virulent Pseudomonas aeruginosa secreting type III secretory toxins - journal article (Respiratory Research)

►February 10, 2004 - Universal changes in biomarkers of coagulation and inflammation occur in patients with severe sepsis, regardless of causative micro-organism [ISRCTN74215569] - journal article (Critical Care)

►February 9, 2004 - Does managed care make a difference? Physicians' length of stay decisions under managed and non-managed care - journal article (BMC Health Services Research)

►February 23, 2004 - Medicare enrollment delays leave doctors out in the cold - A new database has slowed contractors' ability to process applications. - www.ama-assn.org

►February 23, 2004 - Guidelines tailor heart health message to women - Growing awareness that women are at risk for cardiovascular disease is leading to new prevention and intervention strategies. - www.ama-assn.org

►February 23, 2004 - Medicaid facing financial crisis, hard choices in cuts - The program's fiscal challenge is expected to continue even if the nation's economy turns around. The prediction: reductions for many patients and doctors. - www.ama-assn.org

►February 23, 2004 - Doctors to get national billing ID numbers - Universal identifiers could cut paperwork, but some experts worry about the government's ability to manage the database. - www.ama-assn.org

►February 23, 2004 - Tort reform wouldn't dent health spending -- CBO report - Changes should focus on fairness to both patients and physicians, the study concludes. - www.ama-assn.org

►February 23, 2004 - Kaiser cited as staffing model - The work force debate heats up with a challenge to the generally accepted idea that there will be a physician shortage. - www.ama-assn.org

►February 23, 2004 - Revisiting the crisis in Nevada: Tort reform in need of reform - Doctors hope passage of a fall ballot initiative will improve practice conditions. Trial lawyers say it would only make the situation worse. - www.ama-assn.org

►February 23, 2004 - Judge OKs CIGNA settlement with doctors - Negotiations continue with other managed care companies. - www.ama-assn.org

►February 23, 2004 - IOM report asks schools to boost minority recruitment - Some medical leaders said practicing physicians need to be more involved in attracting minorities. - www.ama-assn.org

►February 23, 2004 - CME provider tries to target what you treat - A firm is mining insurance claims in an attempt to gear specific educational programs to the physicians most likely to want them. - www.ama-assn.org

►February 23, 2004 - Massachusetts doctors advocate needle exchange - The state medical society says programs help limit the spread of disease. - www.ama-assn.org

►February 23, 2004 - States boosting doctor oversight - A New Jersey bill aims to bring quicker reviews of complaints against physicians; a South Dakota bill toughens discipline standards. - www.ama-assn.org

►February 23, 2004 - Mile-high ambitions: Divergent success stories - Two Denver-area hospitals have vastly different patient bases and different ways of serving them. But both are out to prove that location alone doesn't dictate profit or quality. - www.ama-assn.org

►February 23, 2004 - Florida, Kentucky officials envision state e-health networks - Florida's governor and a Kentucky legislator have independently proposed the creation of online networks to foster more efficient, less costly health care. - www.ama-assn.org

►February 23, 2004 - Capitation tossed as HMO market dries up - A Cincinnati group's shift from full capitation to full fee for service is an example of changes in some regions from managed care to PPOs. - www.ama-assn.org

►February 23, 2004 - Tobacco control: Vigilance remains imperative (opinion) - This is the 40th anniversary of the first surgeon general's report on the dangers of tobacco. But millions of Americans still smoke, and the battle continues on many fronts. - www.ama-assn.org

►February 23, 2004 - Letters to the Editor (opinion) - Diminished commitment can be traced to profession's diminished rewards - Physician attitudes and work habits are changing, but then so is medicine - Physician wellness under assault during residency - www.ama-assn.org

►February 23, 2004 - Human metapneumovirus plays big role in infant respiratory infections - Scientists say putting a name to the second-most-common viral cause of respiratory illness is an important step toward finding a treatment. - www.ama-assn.org

►February 23, 2004 - Asian-Americans don't have to be heavy to develop diabetes - Body mass index charts may not be relevant for assessing actual risk in this racial group. - www.ama-assn.org

Comment:  Sadly, that concern does not extend to mercury injected via vaccines. 

►February 17, 2004 - China uplifts independent vaccine R&D - Xinhuanet via China View

►February 17, 2004 - China uplifts independent anti-SARS vaccine R&D - Chinese scientists have reported significant improvement in vaccine research and development. A leading researcher cites the example of an anti-SARS vaccine, developed in just nine months, to explain what's behind the success of the independent work.  In the past, almost all vaccines manufactured in China modeled western countries' products. But the situation has changed greatly as far as an anti-SARS vaccine is concerned. Project Manager Yin Weidong says it's the first anti-SARS vaccine developed in China and first ever used in clinical tests in the world . - People's Daily

►February 17, 2004 - New insight into HIV vaccine development - University of Wisconsin-Madison via Medical News Today

►February 17, 2004 - Wales is world asthma blackspot - The Western Mail via http//:icwales.co.uk

►February 17, 2004 - Enhancing autism awareness with Smarter talk - Borneo Bulletin via www.brudirect.com

►February 17, 2004 - Poker run benefit for autism in March - The Lafayette Daily Advertiser

►February 17, 2004 - FBI Questions EPA Scientist About Anthrax Case (requires registration) - The Hartford Courant

►February 17, 2004 - HIV exhausts the immune system through chronic non-specific activation - Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine via Medical News Today

►February 17, 2004 - Thailand warns more bird flu outbreaks expected as crisis widens - AFP via www.channelnewsasia.com

►February 17, 2004 - Minister: Hundreds of storks have died of bird flu in Thailand - AP via www.thestar.com.my

►February 17, 2004 - Cambodian woman remains bird flu suspect - Xinhuanet via China View

►February 17, 2004 - Test reports 1st recorded AIDS in college demographic - The Badger Herald

►February 16, 2004 - Food fright - The Washington Times - "'It is fatal unless you use the EpiPen,' Mrs. Cole says about the shot of epinephrine she has on hand to stop symptoms of allergic reaction. 'Until it hit home with me, I had no idea of the severity and risk of fatality involved. It's startling when you first learn about it.'"

Comment:  What is the incidence of allergy among infants allowed to breastfeed on demand, particularly those that are allowed to wean themselves or nurse until toddler age and beyond?  And, of course, what is the incidence among the vaccinated compared to the never vaccinated?  And if the vaccinated are more allergic, is there some protective effect of breastfeeding among the vaccinated?  (For more on the possible relationship between vaccination and allergies, go to Out of Control: "Childhood vaccinations and the risk of asthma"  - a CDC study.

►February 16, 2004 - Approved drug blocks deadly anthrax toxin - University of Chicago Medical Center via www.eurekalert.org - "In the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team led by Wei-Jen Tang of the University of Chicago shows that in vitro adefovir dipivoxil (sold as Hepsera®) can effectively reduce the effects of edema factor, one of the two deadly toxins produced by anthrax...'These toxins pack a one-two punch that makes inhalational anthrax extremely harmful,' said Tang, an associate professor in the Ben May Institute for Cancer Research at the University of Chicago. 'For the first time, we have a clinically approved drug that, at least in tissue culture, completely eradicates half of that toxic team, and does it at non-toxic doses.'"

►February 16, 2004 - Drug "Cocktail" Benefits Women with Advanced HIV/AIDS - Montefiore Medical Center via www.newswise.com

►February 16, 2004 - New mad cow strain similar to human CJD - UPI - "Italian researchers said Monday they have discovered a new strain of mad cow disease that is very similar to a spontaneously occurring form of a deadly human brain disorder called sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease...Scientists previously thought the consumption of meat infected with the mad cow pathogen could only cause a specific form of the fatal disorder known as variant CJD...The new finding, which appears in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, increases the possibility some cases of sporadic CJD also could be due to mad cow-infected meat, said Salvatore Monaco, a co-author of the study and a professor in the department of Neurological and Visual Science at Policlinico G.B. Rossi in Verona, Italy"

►February 17, 2004 - MDC MP Mpala died of meningitis: postmortem - The Herald

►February 16, 2004 - Disease-fighters in our mouths provide clues to enhancing the immune system - University of Washington via www.eurekalert.org - "Studies of natural antibiotics in our mouths may lead to new treatments for oral infections, as well as ways to boost the infection-fighting powers of mouthwashes, denture coatings, and wound dressings, according to a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). These compounds, called beta-defensins, are key components of our innate immune system...'Innate immunity describes the defenses that we're are born with; they're coded in our genes. In contrast, we develop the antibodies of our acquired immune system over time as we're exposed to bacteria and viruses,' said Dr. Beverly Dale, professor in the University of Washington Department of Oral Biology, School of Dentistry, and scientific director of the UW Comprehensive Center for Oral Health Research. 'It's when our innate defenses fail that the acquired immune system picks up the slack.'

►February 16, 2004 - Worker files $12 million anthrax claim against government - AP via The Daily Press

►February 17, 2004 - Payouts for those who get bird flu on the job - The Straits Times

►February 16, 2004 - Cord Blood Cells Proven to Differentiate Into Heart Muscle, Brain Cells - AScribe Newswire - "Scientists at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center have scientifically validated for the first time that stem cells in umbilical cord blood can infiltrate damaged heart tissue and transform themselves into the kind of heart cells needed to halt further damage...Clinical proof of this principle has existed for a decade, as Duke physicians have used cord blood to correct heart, brain and liver defects in children with rare metabolic diseases. But until now they lacked the molecular evidence to prove that cord blood stem cells were the root of a cure."

►February 16, 2004 - U.S. study suggests antibiotic, breast cancer link - CBC

Comment:  While this might well have some benefits, it also has the potential to be mis-used to create hysteria over nothing.

►February 16, 2004 - Hepatitis Linked to BBQ Restaurant - KGBT4 via www.team4news.com

►February 16, 2004 - Nigeria's Polio Situation Frightening - WHO - This Day via www.allafrica.com

►February 16, 2004 - Jackson man finds calling in eradicating polio (requires registration) - The Jackson Citizen Patriot via www.mlive.com

►February 16, 2004 - Kaua‘i Rotarians fighting polio in India - The Garden Island via www.kauaiworld.com

►February 13, 2004 - State of the Nation's Health - Public Agenda via www.allafrica.com

►February 16, 2004 - Germany Begins its First AIDS Vaccine Trial, Partnering with IAVI - press release - International AIDS Vaccine Initiative via PRNewswire via Yahoo!

►February 16, 2004 - Germany Launches HIV/AIDS Vaccine Trial (requires registration) - The Kansas City Star

►February 16, 2004 - Doc's appeal fails - Harrow Times - "DR David Pugh has lost his bid to be reinstated by the General Medical Council, despite evidence which he claimed proved his controversial single vaccinations for measles, mumps and rubella were safe...He was banned from practising in October after allegations by Hertsmere Primary Care Trust that 40,000 children, many from Harrow, treated at his private clinic in Elstree were at greater risk of catching the diseases because doctors did not follow manufacturers' guidelines for administering the jabs.

►February 16, 2004 - 'Immunisation Data Should Be Realistic' - This Day via www.allafrica.com

►February 16, 2004 - Medical marijuana test inhaler - Medical News Today

►February 16, 2004 - Parents pay up for jabs - Evening Mail via icBirmingham.co.uk

►February 16, 2004 - Bird Flu Resurfaces in Thailand, Vietnam - Voice of America

►February 16, 2004 - Efforts intensified to prevent bird flu spread in Tibet - Xinhuanet via China View

►February 16, 2004 - SAARC officials meet on bird flu in India - Xinhuanet via China View

►February 16, 2004 - What are dangers of the bird flu? (registration required) - United Features Syndicate via The Post and Courier

►February 14, 2004 - DRC: Measles Epidemic Reported in Equateur Province - UN Integrated Regional Information Networks via www.allafrica.com

►February 16, 2004 - Priority Healthcare Supports Florida Department of Health's Hepatitis Awareness Day, ►February 17 - press release - Priority Healthcare Corporation via PRNewswire-FirstCall via Yahoo!

►February 16, 2004 - Hepatitis C article sparks flurry of calls from readers - Belfast Telegraph

►February 16, 2004 - Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Thailand -This is a Follow-up report (No. 1) via OIE on the recent outbreak of Avian Influenza in Thailand. - Poultry News via www.thepoultrysite.com

►February 16, 2004 - Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in the US - This is a report via OIE on the recent outbreak of Avian Influenza in America. - Poultry News via www.thepoultrysite.com

►February 16, 2004 - Recycling rate of mercury 'just laughable' - Portland Press Herald - "Nearly three years after Maine lawmakers mandated that mercury-containing thermostats be recycled, the program is stuck at a dismal recycling rate of 2 percent."

►February 16, 2004 - Florida joins global efforts to fight epidemic of obesity (requires registration) - Orlando Sentinel

►February 16, 2004 - Deer disease rises - Canadian Press via Calgary Sun via www.canoe.ca

►February 16, 2004 - Conflicting data on CWD in state - Scientists aren't sure of success in fighting disease in deer, elk - Rocky Mountain News

►February 16, 2004 - Scientists tracking source of bird flu in China - China Daily

►February 16, 2004 - Another human bird flu case - AAP via The Australian

►February 16, 2004 - Provinces announce contained bird flu - Voice of Vietnam

►February 16, 2004 - A hint of the flu - The Globe and Mail - "Health experts fear that somewhere in the world today -- perhaps in Asia, where avian flu has killed at least 19 people -- a particularly dangerous genetic change may be taking place in a known influenza virus and creating something new, like the SARS virus, to which humans have no immunity. If such a virus were able to spread easily from person to person, a pandemic could occur similar to the one in 1918-19, when Spanish flu killed an estimated 50 million people around the world...Flu viruses undergo such antigenic changes frequently (though thankfully with less dire consequences).

►February 16, 2004 - Officials from South Asia hold meeting on bird flu - AP via http://thestar.com.my

►February 16, 2004 - Outbreak of avian flu is confirmed - AP via The Miami Herald

►February 16, 2004 - Cloning it's not (requires registration) - The Jerusalem Post

►February 16, 2004 - Act Fast on Mercury Threat - editorial - (requires registration) - The Los Angeles Times - "Environmental Protection Agency scientists reported a striking finding this month: About 15% — twice the rate previously assumed — of the roughly 4 million babies born annually in the United States may be exposed to potentially harmful levels of mercury in the womb. Although the estimate is preliminary, based on an analysis by EPA scientist Kathryn Mahaffey, it should prompt fast action by the EPA to require power plants to reduce mercury emissions — and by the Food and Drug Administration to better warn consumers about foods that may contain high concentrations of mercury."

Comment:  No mention of vaccines, or the fact that at least one vaccine being recommended for infants (the flu vaccine) can contain the same amount of mercury in it that used to routinely be found in many infant vaccines.

Comment:  For a different perspective on what it means to be a heptatitis B carrier, go to Scandals: The CDC and “The New Math”, where 1 + 1  does not equal 2.  And for more on the problem with  "unsafe injection practices" go to Scandals: "But Faith, fanatic Faith, once wedded fast To some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last." - Thomas Moore (Scandals - update and "flashback").

►February 15, 2004 - Onions May Be To Blame - www.krgv.net - "Dr. Lorenzo Pelly has treated several hepatitis patients. He tells NEWSCHANNEL 5 that the employee at Rudy's Country Store and Barbecue may not be the only source of the Hepatitis-A outbreak. Dr. Pelly says workers in the Mexican onion fields could be carrying the virus or the water that's being used to irrigate the Mexican onions may be contaminated with Hepatitis-A. Pelly says the best way to get rid of the virus is to boil or cook the onions."

►February 17, 2004 - Despite F.D.A. Ban, Ephedra Won't Go Away (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times

►February 17, 2004 - Unpublished letter from an MD in response to: Autism and Vaccines (The Wall Street Journal) - "As a physician for 30 years, a strong advocate for vaccines, a conservative Republican and supporter of tort reform, I must say you missed the boat in this article."

►February 16, 2004 - Letter from Dr. Jane Orient of the AAPS to Colorado's Senate HEWI committee (and read on the Senate floor

►February 16, 2004) re: Senate Bill. 04-139, “Concerning notification to persons of immunizations for their children under specified circumstances.” - www.aapsonline.org - "Public health departments are stretched thin nationwide. Scarce public health dollars should not be diverted to Big Brother functions. Your constituents are smart enough to make their own vaccine decisions. Governmental resources are better spent on informing citizens than on monitoring them."

►January 2004 - The effect of quality of the relationship between mothers and adult children with schizophrenia, autism, or down syndrome on maternal well-being: the mediating role of optimism. - journal article (Am J Orthopsychiatry)

►February 2004 - X-Linked Mental Retardation and Autism Are Associated with a Mutation in the NLGN4 Gene, a Member of the Neuroligin Family. - journal article (Am J Hum Genet)

►February 9, 2004 -Slide presentation by Jeff Bradstreet, M.D.  - presented to the IOM - www.nomercury.org

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