January 16, 2004*          

Vaccine-related (including autism)

►January 16, 2004 - Gov't ordered to pay hepatitis B sufferers 16.5 mil. yen - Mainichi Daily News, Japan - "Three people who launched a damages suit against the government after becoming infected with hepatitis B following group immunizations were Thursday awarded 16.5 million yen in compensation...In a Sapporo High Court decision that altered an earlier district court ruling, the court accepted the causal relationship between the immunization of the victims and their contraction of the virus."

►January 16, 2004 - Chiron to Test HIV Vaccine on People - Los Angeles Times via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract)

►January 16, 2004 - Polio Eradication Under Gun - Atlanta Journal-Constitution via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract) - "The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say that to eradicate polio entirely from the planet, at least 250 million children in several high-risk areas must be vaccinated at least three times during 2004, lest the 15-year program to eliminate the disease be for nothing."

►January 16, 2004 - Preliminary Assessment of the Effectiveness of the 2003-04 Inactivated Influenza Vaccine--Colorado, December 2003 - Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract) - "The results did not show much effect from the vaccine against ILI, such as cough or sore throat, but more specific studies will be needed to define how well the vaccine protects against ILI this season. CDC still encourages that the vaccine be used, especially for individuals at high risk for influenza related complications."

Comment: Continuing to recommend a vaccine that they admit probably does not work? What more proof do we need that the CDC is on the side of industry and not the consumer?

►January 16, 2004 - Shortage of a Vaccine Used for Acute Infections Pushes B.C. to Ration - Candian Press via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract)

►January 15, 2004 - Thailand Rejects Criticism of AIDS Vaccine Trial - AP via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract)

►January 15, 2004 - B.C.-Bred SARS Vaccine Trial Gets a Booster - Vancouver Sun via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract)

►January 14, 2004 - Immunization Policy to Booster Shot - Lowell Sun via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract) - "With only 92 percent of students in Massachusetts-based Lowell Public Schools up-to-date on all of their required immunizations, School Committee member Regina Faticanti believes language in a state law that allows students to attend classes without immunizations should be altered. Currently, students attend classes after providing evidence that efforts are underway to receive immunizations. Faticanti believes only a doctor's appointment should be considered evidence, rather than just a verbal agreement as is permitted now."

►January 14, 2004 - Tests Planned for Genetically Engineered TB Vaccine - Reuters via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract)

►January 15, 2004 - 7th Grade Leads State In Shots - www.starfl.com

►January 15, 2004 - United States: Herpes Vaccine for Women Being Tested - Courier-Journal via www.aegis.org

►January 16, 2004 - Immunisation drive could wipe out polio by end of 2004 - The Guardian, UK - "Polio, which used to kill and disable many thousands of children every year, could be eradicated by the end of 2004 in one final last ambitious push to immunise 250 million children several times each, the head of the World Health Organisation's campaign said yesterday...'We really do have a one-time opportunity to get it finished,' said Bruce Aylward, its global coordinator. 'The goal is to finish it by the end of 2004, but we may still be mopping up at the beginning of 2005...If we are still dealing with widescale transmission in 2005, the world will have squandered that opportunity.'"

►January 16, 2004 - California's Chiron Corp. Pursues AIDS Vaccine - Contra Costa Times via www.pharmacytimes.com

Autism-related, developmental/behavioral issues

►January 15, 2004 - Room is ray of hope for brain-damaged kids - Adopting a therapy that originated in the Netherlands, Jackson Memorial Hospital unveils a new multisensory room to treat children with brain injuries. - The Miami Herald

►January 15, 2004 - Love of horses, children in woman’s blood - Sun Current - "Though Jodi Townsend may receive a state award this year, she feels rewarded almost daily watching young children ride horses on her ranch...Townsend, 33, operates Majestic Hills Ranch in southern Lakeville. The ranch functions as a place where children with special needs can ride horses as a form of therapy. Townsend and her team of volunteers have operated the ranch since 1997."

►January 16, 2004 - Mercury: The Latest Green Scare Campaign - www.anxietycenter.com  - "The Greens have mastered the ability to conjure up a scare campaign about almost anything to such perfection, one almost forgets that they are a lying bunch of lowlifes whose past lies have harmed the timber industry, those engaged in ranching and agriculture, those who provide the chemical building blocks of everything we use every day, and those responsible for providing the energy this nation requires to function."

►January 16, 2004 - Mercury Debate Hits JAMA - The Attack of the Bernards * The DanishRoll In a Response - Schafer Autism Report

"Vaccine-preventable" disease-related

►January 15, 2004 - VN Health, WHO to discuss bird flu tests - Viet Nam News

►January 15, 2004 - Burkina Faso: Government Seeks $12m to Tackle Meningitis - IRIN via www.allafrica.com

►January 15, 2004 - Killer Bird Flu Fuels Plague Fears - New Worldwide Flu May Be Brewing in Asia - WebMD Health

►January 16, 2004 - DOH: Bird-flu infection unlikely to enter country - The Manila Times

►January 13, 2004 - Bird Flu Kills 3 in Vietnam, Spreading - Bird Flu Continues to Spread in Vietnam, WHO Determining if It Is Linked to More Human Deaths - AP via ABC News

►January 17, 2004 - WHO confirms avian flu outbreak in Hanoi - journal article (BMJ)

►January 16, 2004 - WHO Says SARS Helped Asia on Bird Flu - AP via The Herald-Sun

►January 14, 2004 - Bird flu 'may be worse than Sars' - Bird flu could be "worse than Sars", if it mutates so it can spread between humans, experts have warned. - BBC

Other diseases/conditions (some already in the vaccine pipeline)

►January 15, 2004 - Mad cow as bioterrorism? - Scientists worry that US gov't classification of BSE prions as 'select agents' could hinder research - The Scientist  

►January 16, 2004 - WHO Finds Evidence Animals Play SARS Role - AP via The Herald-Sun

►January 15, 2004 - Officials discuss eradicating brucellosis from bison, elk - AP via Casper Star Tribune

►January 16, 2004 - Mad People Disease (opinion) - The Jewish Journal - "In the Torah’s story about Joseph, Pharaoh has a dream in which seven sickly cows consume seven healthy cows. Joseph interprets this, and Pharaoh’s other dream of seven withered ears of corn consuming seven full ears of corn, to indicate that there will be seven years of plenty in Egypt followed by seven years of severe famine...Today, we do not have a Pharaoh’s dreams to warn us of impending dangers, but we have a somewhat comparable situation in which cows with 'Mad Cow Disease' in England, Canada, the United States and other countries are having devastating effects on cattle industries in these countries."

►January 15, 2004 - Navy Enlists Microbes To Cut Costs - SpaceDaily - "Microbes have been exploited for thousands of years to help us make bread and alcohol, and more recently, to make antibiotics and clean up toxic spills. Now the Office of Naval Research is hoping the one-celled organisms will reduce the costs of producing a missile propellant, and in the process, lead to a new age of 'bioproduction.'"

►January 15, 2004 - Sick Animals May Be Source Of Ebola - AP via www.intelihealth.com

►December 2003 - Mycobacterium tuberculosis: a model system for structural genomics - (requires registration) - Current Opinion in Structural Biology via BioMedNet Magazine - Over the past five years, genomics has had a major impact on Mycobacterium tuberculosis research. With the publication of the sequences of two virulent strains (H37Rv and CDC1551) and three closely related sequences, M. tuberculosis is becoming a model system for proteomics and structural genomics initiatives. Together with the promise of structures of proteins with novel folds, high-resolution structures of drug targets are providing the basis for rational inhibitor design, with the goal of the development of novel anti-tuberculars. In addition, this work is aiding scientists in the quest for an effective vaccine against this persistent pathogen.

►January 2004 - VEGF and ALS: the luckiest growth factor? - (requires registration) - Trends in Molecular Medicine via BioMedNet Magazine - Converging evidence points to a role for vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in neuronal protection from hypoxic, ischemic and related forms of injury. Recent findings also suggest a previously unsuspected connection between VEGF and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a major neurodegenerative disease of unknown etiology. Further investigation of the relationship between VEGF and ALS could provide insight into the pathogenesis of ALS, and facilitate the development of therapeutic approaches for this currently untreatable and fatal crippling disease of motor neurons.

►December 21, 2003 - SIDS - serotonin insufficiency during sleep? - (requires registration) BioMedNet Magazine - Should sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) be renamed in light of evidence for the importance of the serotonergic system in unexplained infant death? Some US researchers certainly think so.

►January 2004 - Respiratory symptoms and lung function in relation to atopy in children born preterm - journal article (Pediatric Pulmonology)

November 2003 - A qualitative study, using focused interviews, of the information needs of families whose children's names are on a cerebral palsy register - journal article (Child: Care, Health and Development) 

►January 2004 - Prevalence of Neutralizing Antibodies against Different Rotavirus Serotypes in Children with Severe Rotavirus-Induced Diarrhea and Their Mothers - journal article (Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology)

►February 2004 - CD38 Expression in CD8+ T Cells Predicts Virological Failure in HIV Type 1-Infected Children Receiving Antiretroviral Therapy - journal article (Clinical Infectious Diseases)

►January 14, 2004 - Transmission and Clinical Features of Enterovirus 71 Infections in Household Contacts in Taiwan - journal article (JAMA)

►January 2004 - Human Metapneumovirus Infection in Japanese Children - journal article (Journal of Clinical Microbiology)

►January 2004 - Detection of an Unusual Human Rotavirus Strain with G5P[8] Specificity in a Cameroonian Child with Diarrhea - journal article (Journal of Clinical Microbiology)

►January 13, 2004 - Program to Lower Drug Prices Launched - AP via Yahoo!

►December 30, 2004 - Aventis,Altana Submit FDA New Drug Application For Alvesco - Dow Jones Business News via Yahoo! Finance

►January 15, 2004 - Xcyte Therapies, Inc. and Fresenius Biotech GmbH Enter HIV Gene Therapy Collaboration - Business Wire via www.pharmacytimes.com

►January 16, 2004 - Corporate CEOs Call Tort Costs a National Economic Problem - Insurance Journal - "The high cost of the U.S. tort system makes products more expensive for all Americans and inhibits investment that can create jobs. It is not an insurance industry problem, but a national economic problem, industry leaders told insurance executives attending the eighth annual Property/Casualty Joint Industry Forum, held this week in New York City."

Miscellaneous

►January 15, 2004 - Shortages of public health workers poses risk - Public Health Association via www.scoop.co.nz

►January 15, 2004 - International Paper plan emissions have lowered over the years, but concern persists - Addison County Independent

►December 23, 2003 - Human stem cells show abnormalities - (requires registration) - BioMedNet Magazine - The first report of chromosomal abnormalities in human embryonic stem (ES) cells has appeared, prompting concern that the phenomenon may be more widespread than has been recognized until now. It suggests that caution should be taken over developing stem cell-based therapies in future.

►January 6, 2004 - The symmetry of schizophrenia - (requires registration) - BioMedNet Magazine - High-resolution mapping of brain areas that are altered in schizophrenia has highlighted regions associated with language and personality. The results lend support to a theory that schizophrenia might be the evolutionary price we pay for language.

►January 14, 2004 - Indirect vs. Direct Hospital Quality Indicators for Very Low-Birth-Weight Infants - journal article (JAMA)

►January 2004 - Pediatric Observation Status Beds on an Inpatient Unit: An Integrated Care Model - journal article (Pediatric Emergency Care)

►January 2004 - Can schoolchildren provide valid answers about their respiratory health experiences in questionnaires?  Implications for epidemiological studies - journal article (Pediatric Pulmonology) 

►January 13, 2004 - Patient outcomes are better indicator than patient volume for selecting hospitals for VLBW babies - JAMA via www.eurekalert.org 

►January 13, 2004 - Some programs still over-working young doctors - In early July, days after new rules were supposed to limit the number of hours he and other new doctors could work, Dr. Troy Madsen almost made a fatal mistake. - AP via CNN

►January 14, 2004 - Success in School Translates to the Working World - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology via Ivanhoe

►January 15, 2004 - Analysis: Disparities report in dispute - UPI via http://interestalert.com - "A report on U.S. healthcare disparities has stirred up controversy over its editing, with Democrats accusing the administration of watering down the severity of the problem and Republicans answering they simply focused on the positive rather than the negative."

►January 16, 2004 - OSU study finds huge variability in vitamin E absorption - Oregon State University News via www.vidyya.com

►January 15, 2004 - How does the Bush administration solve health problems faced by minorities? - Democratic National Committee

►January 15, 2004 - Lupus Foundation of America Appoints Medical Director; Joan Merrill, M.D., Noted Lupus Researcher, Named to Post - PRNewswire via http://interestalert.com

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