►March 14, 2004 - Alarm on children's prospects - www.theage.com.au - "He said all available data on Australia's young children indicated a 'terribly alarming picture that shows things are much worse for children than they were 30 years ago. If you look at premature births, autism, suicide, behavioural problems, mental health; all of these areas are much worse.'"

Comment:  But of course it couldn't have anything to do with vaccines.  Why?  Because the benefits of vaccines (far) outweigh their risks.  Or so we keep hearing.

►March 14, 2004 - Army moves chef in jab row - The Scotsman

►March 14, 2004 - Antibacterial cleaners do little to ward off illness - The Washington Post via The Seattle Times

►March 13, 2004 - Full dose of vaccine for infants put on hold - National shortage prompts use of two instead of four doses for healthy babies - The Daily Star

►March 13, 2004 - Elk death mystery in Wyoming - UPI via http://interestalert.com

►March 13, 2004 - Firms abandoning antibiotics research - Drugs that make more money sought - Boston Globe

►March 14, 2004 - Passengers on Detroit flight exposed to measles - AP via Detroit Free Press

►March 13, 2004 - News service answers common questions about mad cow disease - The Shawnee News-Star

►March 13, 2004 - Bill seeks to allow organ transplants among HIV patients - AP via Daily Southtown

►March 13, 2004 - A year after SARS, heightened vigilance still apparent - Canadian Press via http://cnews.canoe.ca

►March 14, 2004 - Wet summer, warm December - Global warming now worse than ever - http://www.sunstar.com.ph

►March 13, 2004 - New Computer to Track Local Diseases - www.wlns.com

►March 13, 2004 - Outside View: FBI behind the anthrax curve (commentary) - UPI via http://interestalert.com

►March 13, 2004 - IEP clinic a success - Danville Register Bee

►March 14, 2004 - Chickens die in Chiang Mai sparking bird flu fears - The Nation

►March 13, 2004 - Officials say bird flu won't advance in Ohio - Gannett News Service via www.bucyrustelegraphforum.com

►March 13, 2004 - Fears spreading in Japanese town hard hit by bird flu - AP via The Globe and Mail
 
►March 13, 2004 - New vaccine could prevent travellers' upset stomachs - The Telegraph, UK

►March 13, 2004 - VaxGen Rises on U.S. Plans to Buy Vaccine (requires registration) - Bloomberg News via The Los Angeles Times

►March 13, 2004 - US anthrax vaccine from Manchester - www.manchesteronline.co.uk

►March 13, 2004 - Lapeer: Student at West contracts viral meningitis - The Flint Journal via www.mlive.com

►March 13, 2004 - Anthrax jab claim soldier moved - An army chef at the centre of claims anthrax vaccinations were linked to baby deaths in soldiers' families has been moved from his regiment - BBC

►March 13, 2004 - Milk terrorism subject of researchers' study - Tri-City Herald

►March 13, 2004 - Exposed: More Shoddy Science in GM Maize Approval - press release - The Institute of Science in Society

►March 13, 2004 - Savage: 3 whooping cough cases found - Pioneer Press via www.twincities.com

►March 14, 2004 - Looking Back: Give me those old-time remedies - The Journal-Standard

►March 13, 2004 - Horse flu snuffs out another victim - www.iol.co.za

►March 14, 2004 - 'The Great Influenza' and 'Microbial Threats to Health': Virus Alert (requires registration) - book review - The New York Times

►March 13, 2004 - Mission mercury; citizens testify to eliminate toxic emissions - Bozeman Daily Chronicle

►March 13, 2004 - New Waterford Mystery (includes video) - W5 via www.ctv.ca - "New York City. At a detox center not far from the World Trade Centre site, Duncan MacIntyre sweats away on a treadmill, trying to cleanse his body of the toxic metals inside. While the towers collapsed on Sept. 11, 2002, they sent clouds of smoke, laden with PCBs, dioxins and heavy metals into the air and lungs of the city’s rescue workers, leaving their health in ruins...Many of those emergency personnel now go to the same facility as MacIntyre to cleanse their systems through a regime of exercise, vitamins and saunas...But MacIntyre isn’t a firefighter, and he says he became ill after being exposed to toxic dust while working far away from the World Trade Centre, and in a very different line of work -- as a doctor at New Waterford Consolidated Hospital in Nova Scotia."

►March 13, 2004 - Passengers on Detroit flight exposed to measles - AP via www.mlive.com

►March 14, 2004 - Asia mops up bird flu outbreaks amid warnings crisis is far from over - AFP via www.channelnewsasia.com

►March 14, 2004 - Chickens, ducks back as bird flu suppressed - Xinhuanet via China View

►March 14, 2004 - Ministry to file complaint against bird flu farm - Yomiuri Shimbun

►March 14, 2004 - Mercury pollution/State should pass cleanup plan - editorial (requires registration) - Star Tribune

►March 14, 2004 - Chisholm misled MSPs over hepatitis, claim campaigners - Sunday Herald - "HEALTH Minister Malcolm Chisholm was last night under mounting pressure to answer claims he had misled the Scottish parliament over the hepatitis C medical scandal...Campaigners and opposition MSPs launched a furious attack on him after it emerged that documents from the Irish government and a Dublin law firm appeared to contradict statements he made last year."

►March 13, 2004 - Scientists try to grow organs, body parts - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

►March 14, 2004 - Grass-roots coalition helps families deal with autism - Leavenworth Times

►March 14, 2004 - Thailand's 27 provinces become areas free of bird flu virus - Xinhuanet via China View

►March 14, 2004 - Bird flu persists in Thailand, 11 provinces affected - Reuters AlertNet

►March 14, 2004 - FBI informant says he's a suspect in Erie anthrax scare (requires registration) - AP via www.pennlive.com

►March 14, 2004 - Protecting Your Kidneys - HealthDay via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

►March 13, 2004 - A secretive system - The Guardian, UK - "At first glimpse this week's warnings from the Committee on the Safety of Medicines (CSM) that doctors should avoid prescribing Seroxat, Britain's best-selling anti-depressant drug, at higher doses than 20mg a day, looked like a regulatory body performing as it should: protecting patient interests. Alas, if only this was true. Yesterday, the curtain on an unseemly behind-the-scenes row was lifted by the resignation of Richard Brook, chief executive of the mental health charity Mind, from an expert group looking at Seroxat on which he was representing consumer interests. His reason for resigning was the failure of the regulator to be more open about the threats that high doses of the drug posed."

►March 13, 2004 - Drug safety agency accused of cover-up - The Guardian, UK - "The chief executive of Mind, the mental health charity, last night resigned from a high profile review of modern antidepressant drugs, accusing the British medicines regulatory body of negligence...Richard Brook had a unique position as a lay member of the expert working group on the class of antidepressants which includes Seroxat and Prozac...His resignation came in protest at what he considered a cover-up by the regulators, after months of pressure on him not to reveal the review's findings that Seroxat has for years been prescribed by doctors in an unsafe dose and that the regulators had the evidence in their possession for more than 10 years."

►March 13, 2004 - The riddle of the drug regulators - Critics press for review of licensing system - The Guardian, UK - "Mr Brook was appointed as a lay member of the group, set up by the Committee on the Safety of Medicines last year for a thorough look at all the allegations against the antidepressant Seroxat, after years of patients' and consumer groups' concern about the side-effects of modern antidepressants. Some people say they cannot stop taking them, because withdrawal makes them feel so bad, others say the drugs have made them violent or suicidal...On Thursday the CSM issued a warning to doctors about the appropriate dosage of Seroxat, a warning for which Mr Brook had been pressing in the light of trial data more than 14 years old which the CSM failed to consider in three successive reviews of the drug."

►March 14, 2004 - Canada Food Guide To Healthy Eating To Undergo An Update - Halifax Live

►March 14, 2004 - Forcing medicine violates rights - letter - Sunday Gazette-Mail - "I am writing this letter to take strong exception to a letter from William F. Byrne regarding requiring people with mental illness to take their medication. The legislation he supports is simply ludicrous. Just think of the outrage that would be voiced if people with diabetes or heart disease or some other chronic disease were snatched from their homes, placed in some facility, forced to take their medication, and all this would occur without the right to representation by an attorney or other advocate. Talk about instituting a gulag right here in the land of the free and the brave. This is a clear violation of the constitutional rights of people with mental illness, and threatens the rights of all of us. What’s next?"

Comment:  What's next?  What was first?  Vaccines.

►March 14, 2004 - Spring sting: Allergies already flaring - The Gleaner

►March 14, 2004 - Youth are immunized for free (requires registration) - Times Picayune via www.nola.com

►March 14, 2004 - Teens on Pins and Nails When It Comes to Body Art - Youths scratch tattoos onto each other with rough implements, which can lead to infections or worse. Experts urge safety. (requires registration) - AP via The Los Angeles Times

►March 14, 2004 - Under a shadow - An outbreak of avian flu threatens the heart of Maryland's chicken country, where nearly everyone's livelihood is linked to poultry. - Baltimore Sun

►March 14, 2004 - Fear of avian flu virus spreads in Japan - Discovery of the disease in crows heightens alarm it could spread to humans - Baltimore Sun - "'That's really worrying," Kaoru Iwamoto, a 55-year-old housewife, said just a few blocks away from a farm being disinfected. "You can control where the chickens go, but crows fly all over the place.'"

►March 14, 2004 - Chicken eaters, servers unconcerned about flu - Lancaster Eagle-Gazette

►March 14, 2004 - Officials: State safe from bird flu - Lancaster Eagle-Gazette

►March 14, 2004 - Community disservice - opinion - Baltimore Sun - "THE FULL dimensions of the public health problem resulting from Maryland General Hospital's appalling use of faulty equipment and procedures to test patients for HIV and hepatitis C are not yet known. But the impact could be severe, not only on individual patients given inaccurate results, but also on the entire campaign to encourage people at risk for these infectious diseases to be tested...Thus, it was dismaying that hospital executives have sought to minimize this tragedy and blame it on low-level workers - one of whom was the whistle-blower who alerted city and state health officials."

►March 14, 2004 - State is poised to implement tougher testing for mad cow - Sacramento Bee via Marin Independent Journal

►March 2004 - Neural correlates of humor detection and appreciation - journal article (NeuroImage)

►March 14, 2004 - Officials Seek Approval to Begin Wider Testing for Bird Flu (requires registration) - AP via The New York Times

►March 14, 2004 - Japan finds sixth crow with deadly bird flu - AP via China Post

►March 14, 2004 - MMR jags for teens in mumps 'epidemic' - In extreme cases, mumps can cause partial deafness and it has been linked to infertility in males, but many are reluctant to be vaccinated by the MMR jab - The Scotsman

►March 14, 2004 - Kid deaths haunt BC Roy again - Times of India

►March 12, 2004 - Broken promises haunt after seven more crib deaths - Times of India

►March 13, 2004 - Measles Exposure in Iowa - www.whotv.com - "The person diagnosed yesterday is from Iowa."

►March 14, 2004 - Measles Scare In Eastern Iowa - Vaccination Clinic Held Sunday In Cedar Rapids - www.theiowachannel.com - State health officials say passengers at the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids may have been exposed to measles...Iowa Department of Public Health spokesman Kevin Teale said a passenger on Northwest Airlines Flight 3786 from Detroit to Cedar Rapids was diagnosed with the disease...The flight was Friday and Teale said anyone who was at the airport between noon and 3 p.m. Friday may have been exposed."

►March 13, 2004 - Vaccine Bill Fails to Pass - The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register - "A bill that could have allowed religious exemptions to West Virginia's vaccination law did not pass through the Legislature this session, and groups on both sides of the debate are happy with the outcome."

►March 13, 2004 - Animal Shelter Survives Outbreak - The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register

►March 14, 2004 - Parents, add another shot to list - Columbus Telegram - "The chicken pox vaccine has recently been added to the list of childhood immunizations required by the state. The requirement is effective July 1 and pertains to 2- to 5-year-olds enrolled in a school-based program not licensed as a child care provider, kindergartners and first-grade students entering school for the first time, students entering seventh grade and transfer students from outside the state entering any grade."

►March 13, 2004 - Scientists in race to disprove one another - The Scotsman - "IN THE so-called "mercury wars" being waged in the United States, scientific studies are used as ammunition by both sides to seek to prove or disprove that its use in vaccines is linked to autism...Two researchers, Dr Mark Geier and David Geier, have devoted much of their careers to proving the hypothesis - that mercury in vaccines is linked to autism. They believe the assertion may turn out to be greater than the thalidomide scandal which hit Britain in the 1960s...While their work is supported by an army of scientists who claim the mercury in vaccines was a reckless error, this is met by an opposite army from the vaccine manufacturers facing a potential £30 billion lawsuit."

►March 12, 2004 - Prepare Early For Mosquito Season - www.wave3.com

►March 12, 2004 - Newman takes the Next Step - Malden Observer via www.townonline.com - "Malden resident Karen Newman is excited to be participating in an area organization that will help give support to teenagers and young adults who are survivors of childhood diseases - services she wishes were available when she was a teenager...Newman, 31, was diagnosed with bone cancer just before her 17th birthday, and now she is volunteering her time with Next Step to help children who've been diagnosed with cancer."

►March 12, 2004 - One million disabled adults lack adequate help with essential needs - University of California, San Francisco via UC News Wire - "About 3.3 million adults living in the community need assistance from another person in two or more activities of daily living essential for their survival, and nearly a million of those individuals need more help than they currently receive, according to a new study by researchers at the Disability Statistics Center at the University of California, San Francisco."

►March 12, 2004 - Over 450 Medical Professionals Issue Call-to-Action to Reverse Obesity Epidemic at Unprecedented Nutrition & Health Conference - PRNewswire via www.14wfie.com

►March 12, 2004 - Patients with long-term chronic diseases such as asthma and diabetes have been promised better support from the NHS. - www.nhs.uk

►March 12, 2004 - United States: Syphilis Shows Some Resistance to Antibiotic in United States - Reuters via www.aegis.org

►March 12, 2004 - Medics cleared over athlete's tragic death - The Scotsman

►March 12, 2004 - Panel seeks ways to save money - Developmentally disabled service costs doubled in five years. - The Sacramento Bee via The Fresno Bee - "The number of people with developmental disabilities such as cerebral palsy, autism and mental retardation who receive services has grown by more than 5% a year, far outpacing the overall population growth rate of 1.7%."

Comment:  If many of us are right about vaccines being implicated in autism, then the cost of life-long care of around 1 out of 150 children (or more) clearly needs to be factored into the benefit/risk ratio vis a vis vaccines.  (Note that in developed nations, many of the diseases our children are vaccinated against rarely had life-long consequences, further eroding the validity of the claim that "the benefits of vaccinations (far) outweigh their risks".

►March 13, 2004 - Film test shows our brains react alike - www.theage.com.au - "Love or hate Clint Eastwood, when people watch Sergio Leone's spaghetti western, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in which Eastwood stars as a hapless cowboy, their brains react in a remarkably similar fashion, research has found...The study, by an Israeli team, showed patterns of brain activity were most closely matched when the viewers were responding to surprising or emotionally charged moments in the film, such as gunshots or explosions, or sudden twists in the plot...Other brain areas that were in sync included the bits that light up in response to seeing faces or outdoor scenes...The discovery raises ethical issues, the researchers say, since it could be used to check people's reactions to commercials or political propaganda films, so they could be finetuned to evoke the desired response in viewers...It could also be used to try to understand why children with autism do not engage with what is happening around them."

►March 12, 2004 - Money To Meet The Needs Of Our Children - http://icnorthernireland.icnetwork.co.uk

►March 12, 2004 - Diet and gout: the risks and the benefits (requires registration or subscription) - BioMedNet

►March 12, 2004 - Immunizations will be brought to kids - Mobile clinics to reach more who still need their shots - Corpus Christi Caller-Times

►March 12, 2004 - Doctors flee insurance costs, state - Saying malpractice insurance premiums have soared, they relocate to Wisconsin or Indiana (requires registration) - Chicago Tribune

►March 13, 2004 - Children say they are not involved enough in their treatment - journal article (BMJ)

►March 13, 2004 - Complaints against doctors in child protection work have increased fivefold - journal article (BMJ) - "The threat of complaints and ruined reputations is driving paediatricians away from fulfilling their role in child protection, leaving vulnerable children at risk of abuse, says the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health...A survey of college members, to which almost 80% of the country's 6072 paediatricians replied, has shown that the number of complaints made against doctors involved in child protection has risen fivefold in the last seven years...And while complaints have risen, paediatricians have turned their backs on child protection work. Currently 30% of posts where paediatricians take a lead in child protection are unfilled.'

►March 13, 2004 - GM foods should be submitted to further studies, says BMA - journal article (BMJ)  

►March 13, 2004 - Authors reject interpretation linking autism and MMR vaccine - journal article (BMJ) - "'They said, "The main thrust of the paper was the first description of an unexpected intestinal lesion in the children reported . . . We wish to make it clear that in this paper no causal link was established between MMR vaccine and autism as the data were insufficient. However, the possibility of such a link was raised and consequent events have had major implications for public health. In view of this, we consider now is the appropriate time that we should together formally retract the interpretation placed upon these findings in the paper.'"

►March 13, 2004 - UN warns of dangers of drugs sold on internet - journal article (BMJ) 

►March 13, 2004 - Randomised controlled trial of tetanus treatment with antitetanus immunoglobulin by the intrathecal or intramuscular route - journal article (BMJ)  

►March 13, 2004 - Blowing the whistle on review articles - What should we know about the treatment of type 2 diabetes? - journal article (BMJ)  - "Whether we are trying to choose the best storm door at Home Depot or the best treatment for patients with type 2 diabetes, most of us turn to experts to help us make the decision, or, in some cases, to make the decision for us.¹ Experts are easy to use, and almost by definition are not subject to questioning. After all, they are 'the experts.'...In a recent analysis of review articles on the treatment of type 2 diabetes, we found that the experts writing them often did not tell us—the readers—the most important research evidence published in the past 25 years in the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes.² It's time to explore the value of experts and examine our reliance—or even addiction—to the pronouncements of experts.'

►March 13, 2004 - How do general practitioners manage domestic violence? - journal article (BMJ)

►March 13, 2004 - Personal feelings and medical journals - journal article (BMJ)

►March 2004 - Return Visits to a Pediatric Emergency Department - journal article (Pediatric Emergency Care)

►March 2004 - Child Abuse in Infants With Proximal Physeal Injuries of the Femur - journal article (Pediatric Emergency Care)

►March 2004 - Misdiagnoses of Ovarian Masses in Children and Adolescents - journal article (Pediatric Emergency Care)

►March 2004 - The Use of Restraint for Pediatric Psychiatric Patients in Emergency Departments - journal article (Pediatric Emergency Care)

►March 2004 - Growth, energy intake, and meal pattern in five-year-old children considered as poor eaters - journal article (Journal of Pediatrics)

►March 2004 - Aspiration of bile as a cause of respiratory distress in the newborn infant - journal article (Journal of Pediatrics)

►March 2004  - Insulin Resistance and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Children of Parents With the Insulin Resistance (Metabolic) Syndrome - journal article (Diabetes Care) 

►March 2004 - Advances in adult and pediatric asthma - journal article (Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology)

►March 2004 - Hepatitis A is back in the news - journal article (Journal of Pediatrics)

►March 2004 - Psychosocial functioning of young children with learning problems - journal article (Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines)

►March 2004 - Impairment and coping in children and adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome: a comparative study with other paediatric disorders - journal article (Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines)

►March 2004 - Correlation of in situ detection of infectious agents in the placenta with neonatal outcome - journal article (Journal of Pediatrics)

►March 2004 - Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Infants and Children from Argentina - journal article (Journal of Clinical Microbiology)

►March 2004 - Prevalence and Correlates of Successful Transfer From Pediatric to Adult Health Care Among a Cohort of Young Adults With Complex Congenital Heart Defects - journal article (Pediatrics)

►March 13, 2004 - Britain - where medics still inject mercury into babies - The Scotsman - "WHILE Britain has spent years worrying about links between autism and the MMR jab, a far more serious threat has been gathering - involving one of the oldest and most lethal poisons on earth: mercury...It is a proven neurotoxin, so strong that the contents of a thermometer could pollute a small lake, yet Britain’s NHS is still using it in a cheap triple DTP jab. The defence is not that mercury makes the vaccine work better - the ingredient is used simply as a preservative, to give it a longer shelf life. UK officials say there is "no evidence" that mercury is linked to autism, and there is no cause to remove it from routine vaccinations."

Comment:  There is also the claim that the mercury in vaccines, being ethyl- and not methyl-mercury, is not known to be toxic.  The claim is often made "that there is no evidence" that ethyl-mercury acts similarly to methyl-mercury.  Even if that were true, the common sense, even ethical, approach, were it actually the case that there was no evidence, would be to "err on the side of caution".  It's hard not to wonder why that has not been the position taken.  Regardless of any past claims (true or not) that there is no evidence, however, a recent study by Deth et al provides strong evidence that ethyl-mercury is highly toxic and related to autism.

►March 13, 2004 - Autism: new risk in NHS vaccine - The Scotsman - "INFANTS injected with the whooping cough vaccine routinely used by the NHS are six times more likely to contract autism than those given the version used in the United States, according to new research."

►March 11, 2004 - Anti-vaccine activists get jabbed - Scripps Howard News Service via www.knoxstudio.com - "Organized international efforts to scare the living tar out of parents of small children have just been dealt a stunning setback with the retraction of an influential but fraudulent article in a major medical journal...To the extent the retraction is publicized, it should prevent sickness and possible death in kids and help shove anti-vaccination groups back into the conspiracy theory cesspool from whence they arose."

Comment:  The kind of mean-spiritedness displayed in this opinion piece does nothing to advance society or expand knowledge. 

Comment:  Letter to the Editor from Helen Tucker of www.vaccinescience.org: "In Fumento's bitter diatribe, 'Anti-vaccine activists get jabbed,' Fumento attacks Wakefield's study as science baloney.'  Yet he the proceeds to cite other studies that have even less scientific merit.  Just as one example, Fumento discusses the 2003 Madsen study of autism incidence in Denmark from 1971 to 2000 as proof that thimerosal cannot have caused autism.  In this study, much of the increase in diagnosis was an artifact of a change in diagnostic definition, an artifact that Fumento later acknowledges ("Increased diagnoses without increased incidence are common").  Yet he fails to see this very obvious flaw when the conclusions of the study support his personal views.  To Fumento, the word "science" must mean any publication with statistics that one can use as a personal soapbox." (For a more detailed critique of Madsen's 2003 study, visit http://www.vaccinescience.org/reviews/2003/madsen03.html)

►March 10, 2004 - Medical marketing - Device makers target consumers with their ads - Boston Globe

►March 10, 2004 - For Doctors, Malpractice Picture Gets Grimmer (requires registration) - The Hartford Courant via www.ctnow.com

►March 11, 2004 - For doctor, time doesn't pay - A family practitioner who sees two patients an hour finds herself struggling to make ends meet. - St. Petersburg Times

►March 11, 2004 - Push grows for online health data (subscription required) - Wall Street Journal

►March 9, 2004 - Doctors feeling pinched - Seen seeking ways to hike incomes - Boston Globe

►March 8, 2004 - Heart implants save lives, study says (requires registration) - Star Tribune

►March 8, 2004 - Tracking Hospital Infections Low Priority - AP via The Washington Post

►March 8, 2004 - Online rankings rankle hospitals - Insurers offering data to consumers - Boston Globe

►March 8, 2004 - Not exactly a quiet zone - Hospitals have become noisier, making rest and recuperation more difficult. (requires registration) - Los Angeles Times

Comment: No kidding.

►March 12, 2004 - Unreliability of Scientific Papers as Evidence - letter in response to Authors reject interpretation linking autism and MMR vaccine (BMJ) - "All this means is that science itself is the very reason why parents cannot wait for scientists to stop their dithering. Science requires repeatable and reproducible results, taking proof to a level beyond question or fallibility of human judgement. Until that has been done it means multiple immunizations are not just a possible cause of the allergy, autism and other epidemics we are seeing, but the only realistic suspect. Just because some scientists argue that the evidence establishing a causal connection to the scientific standard has not yet been produced does not mean immunization is not the cause. Applying the same scientific standard of proof, no one can be sure there is no causal connection until that is generally established to that standard."

►March 10, 2004 - Group wants "alternate courts" for medical malpractice suits - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

►March 11, 2004 - Welsh grandmother abseils for autism - Daily Post via www.awares.org

►March 13, 2004 - 2 crows test positive for avian influenza - Yomiuri Shimbun

►March 12, 2004 - Chickens test negative for bird flu in Osaka Pref. - Yomiuri Shimbun

►March 13, 2004 - Chickens, ducks back as bird flu suppressed - China Daily

►March 12, 2004 - Avian flu control area established east of Vancouver - AP via Seattle Post-Intelligencer

►March 12, 2004 - Bird flu hits second B.C. farm - CP via The Globe and Mail

►March 12, 2004 - Avian flu highlights risk management as issue for poultry industry - AP via The News-Sentinel via www.fortwayne.com

►March 12, 2004 - Thailand: New bird flu outbreak confounds “all clear” declaration - www.just-food.com

►March 12, 2004 - Bird flu 'is contained' - Evening News via The Scotsman

►March 12, 2004 - Bird flu epidemic now under control in Asia - OIE - Reuters

►March 12, 2004 - Measures to disinfect environment in post-bird flu period - Vietnam News Agency

►March 12, 2004 - Japan to catch crows, pigeons to monitor bird flu - Reuters AlertNet

►March 12, 2004 - Free at last - or is he? - Medical pot advocate says jail conditions cause of his hepatitis C - Halifax Herald

►March 12, 2004 - Crohn's Relief - Medstar.com via http://rdu.news14.com

►March 12, 2004 - Learning to make plans - Being infected with HIV and AIDS is no longer the death sentence it once was, as drugs extend people’s lives. - York Daily Record

►The Laws of the Pharmaceutical Industry - The main principles governing the pharmaceutical “business with disease.” It is not in the financial interests of the pharmaceutical industry to prevent common diseases – the maintenance and expansion of diseases is a precondition for the financial growth of this industry. - Dr. Rath Health Foundation

►March 12, 2004 - Where you live says a lot about your health - Evening News via The Scotsman

►March 12, 2004 - Meningitis survivor at Palace - Evening News via The Scotsman

►March 12, 2004 - Making the case for a dental caries vaccine - International & American Association for Dental Research via www.eurekalert.org - "In a symposium during the 82nd General Session of the International Association for Dental Research, five scientists will make a case for the scientific and moral imperative of a vaccine to prevent caries in disadvantaged populations, in the United States and other industrialized countries as well as in developing countries throughout the world. In disadvantaged populations especially, a vaccine is the most plausible and desirable method of preventing disease. Indeed, vaccination is a very significant method of combating an infectious disease whose importance has been recognized in a recent report by the Institute of Medicine."

►February 17, 2004 - Teen singer performs, produces benefit CD in the name of love - Times Union

►March 12, 2004 - Media’s ‘vanishing’ epidemic - A new study and panel discussion about the media’s treatment of HIV/AIDS exposes waning interest in covering the epidemic, which coincides with the public’s changing perceptions of the disease. - Washington Blade

►March 12, 2004 - WHO to host meeting on human influenza pandemic - Xinhuanet via China View

►March 12, 2004 - Senate Approves McClellan for Medicare Job - Reuters via ABC News

►March 12, 2004 - Senate Approves McClellan for Medicare Job (requires registration or subscription) - Reuters via The New York Times

►March 12, 2004 - Subclinical and Non-Pneumonic SARS Coronavirus Infections Identified in Hong Kong - The Lancet via Doctor's Guide

►March 12, 2004 - WNV: An Evolving Epizootic - www.thehorse.com

►March 12, 2004 - Hot Product: Merix Bio's Technology Drew Interest From Two Suitors - www.localtechwire.com

►March 12, 2004 - Doctors pioneer vaccine in move to beat leukaemia - Liverpool Daily Post via http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk

►March 12, 2004 - DOH mission: Finding ‘missed children’ - Today via www.abs-cbnnews.com

►March 12, 2004 - Gov't to Stockpile New Anthrax Vaccine (requires registration) - AP via The Kansas City Star

►March 12, 2004 - Anthrax terror attack USA prepares - Medical News Today

►March 12, 2004 - Whooping cough claims Indian child - New Mexico fighting treatable disease - Native American Times

►March 12, 2004 - Scientists slam rationale behind largest HIV vaccine trial (requires registration) - The evidence for a combination HIV vaccine is too weak to justify conducting a Phase III trial, says a group of US HIV researchers. - Nature Review Drug Discovery via www.nature.com

►March 12, 2004 - Ageing: Growing old gracefully (requires registration) - Across the industrialized world, birth rates are falling and people are living longer. This will require a new focus on research to promote healthy ageing, rather than simply treating the diseases of old age. Alison Abbott reports. - Nature via Nature Review Drug Discovery via www.nature.com

►March 12, 2004 - Stem cells: Making more of yourself (requires registration) - Nature Reviews Genetics via www.nature.com

►March 2004 - A Census of Human Cancer Genes (requires registration) - journal article (Nature Reviews Cancer)

►March 2004 - Interferon induction by siRNAs and ssRNAs synthesized by phage polymerase (requires registration and subscription to full article) - journal article (Nature Biotechnology)

►March 13, 2004 - Death of exiled leper remembered 100 years on - A century ago, suspected leper Kim Lee died alone in a cave on a tiny island in Wellington Harbour. This weekend he will be remembered in style. - Dominion Post via www.stuff.co.nz

►March 11, 2004 - Fighting Fungal Infections - HealthDay via Atlanta Journal-Constitution

►March 9, 2004 - Bad Habits Faulted for One-Third of American Deaths - HealthDay via Atlanta Journal-Constitution

►March 9, 2004 - Blinding Eye Disease More Common Than Thought - HealthDay via Atlanta Journal-Constitution

►March 12, 2004 - State upset over plan to relax rules on mercury emissions - AP via http://kobtv.com

►March 2004 - Understanding co-morbidities affecting children with epilepsy (requires subscription for article but not for abstract) - journal article (Neurology) 

►March 11, 2004 - UCI study identifies how new neurons grow in adult brain - Findings have potential implications for the use of stem cells to treat neurological diseases - University of California - Irvine via www.eurekalert.org

►March 12, 2004 - Mouse Antibodies Thwart SARS Virus - press release - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases via www.nih.gov