* ►September 2006 - Low expression of the interleukin (IL)-4 receptor alpha chain and reduced signalling via the IL-4 receptor complex in human neonatal B cells - journal article (Immunology) - "Diminished neonatal antibody responses following infection or immunization may stem in part from intrinsic characteristics of neonatal B cells."

►September 2006 - Flow-assisted allergy diagnosis: current applications and future perspectives - journal article (Allergy)

* ►August 21, 2006 - Changing the world one boy at a time - New Statesman - "We cannot afford to neglect the differences between boys and girls, differences that make boys four times more likely than girls to suffer from developmental disorders such as reading delay, hyperactivity, autism, stammering and Tourette's syndrome. Although some feminists may desire it, you cannot simply wish away patriarchy and a certain type of masculinity."

* ►August 17, 2006 - Medical Malpractice and Patient Safety - journal article (NEJM)

►August 17, 2006 - Neonatal MRI to Predict Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Preterm Infants - journal article (NEJM)

►August 17, 2006 - Neuroimaging and the Prediction of Outcomes in Preterm Infants - journal article (NEJM)

►August 17, 2006 - AIDS in 2006 — Moving toward One World, One Hope? (full free text) (includes audio) - journal article (NEJM)

►August 17, 2006 - Changing the Paradigm for HIV Testing — The End of Exceptionalism - journal article (NEJM)

►August 17, 2006 - The Treatment Triangle for Staphylococcal Infections - journal article (NEJM)

►August 17, 2006 - Methicillin-Resistant S. aureus Infections among Patients in the Emergency Department - journal article (NEJM)

►August 17, 2006 - Getting Serious about Cholera - journal article (NEJM)

►August 17, 2006 - The Inflammasome — A Linebacker of Innate Defense - journal article (NEJM)

►August 17, 2006 - Language Ability after Early Detection of Hearing Impairment - journal article (NEJM)

►August 17, 2006 - Chronic fatigue, pain linked to Sinusitis - Feeling worn out and achy and don’t know why?. - PakTribune

►August 17, 2006 - Health woes hit West Coast children - Isolation and deprivation are damaging the health of West Coast children, a report says. - The Press via www.stuff.co.nz

►August 17, 2006 - Every Breath You Take As the Clean Air Act gathers dust, air pollution is taking a heavy toll on Americans' health - Understanding the next evolution

* ►August 17, 2006 - Vaccine-makers predict a full supply - Past two flu seasons dogged by shortages - San Francisco Chronicle

* ►August 17, 2006 - Bird flu vaccination can ‘worsen spread’ - The Herald, UK - "Vaccinating poultry flocks against bird flu could make the spread of deadly strains such as H5N1 worse, Scottish scientists have found."

* ►August 16, 2006 - The Age of Autism: Something Wicked -- 1 - United Press International - "In previous installments of this column, I've sketched the natural history of the disorder beginning with child psychiatrist Leo Kanner's landmark 1943 paper, 'Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact.' And I've suggested that from the very beginning, an environmental trigger -- something harmful coming from the outside in -- was alarmingly evident. As Macbeth put it, there's reason to worry that 'Something wicked this way comes.'"

* ►August 16, 2006 - Gene-Altered Crops Denounced - Environmental Groups Seek Moratorium on Open-Air Tests (requires registration) - Washington Post - "In a toughly worded 52-page decision released without fanfare late last week, a U.S. District judge in Hawaii concluded that USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which grants permits for the planting of genetically engineered crops, should have first investigated whether the plants posed a threat to any of that state's hundreds of endangered species. The corn and sugar cane plants, already harvested because the experiments involving them were completed before the case was decided, had been modified to produce human hormones, drugs and ingredients for vaccines against AIDS and hepatitis B."

NVIC - Barbara Loe Fisher Note: These scientists and vaccinologists just can't stop fooling around with Mother Nature. Perhaps they need to develop a vaccine to inject into themselves to protect the rest of the humanity from their obsessive desire to fix what isn't broken. Now they are mucking around in our food supply, experimenting with spiking our corn on the cob and the sugar we put in our coffee with drugs and vaccines we never said we wanted in the first place.

What is with these people? And why do we give those who choose to enter the scientific profession so much power to alter the biological integrity of the world humans successfully inhabited long before Jenner came up with the idea of smallpox vaccine or Pasteur was hired to save the beer industry?

At least one U.S. District Court judge in Hawaii is slapping the hands of USDA scientists for genetically engineering crops on hundreds of acres of Hawaiian land to produce drugs and vaccines in them without first investigating whether the genetic hybrid plants posed a threat to the state's hundreds of endangered species. Opposing the new practice of "bio-pharming," environmental groups are calling for a moratorium on open-air testing of bio-engineered crops that could permanently contaminate the food chain and make animals and humans sicker.

As more Americans demand organic foods which are pure and unadulterated, why would these bio-pharmers think that people would want to eat drug and vaccine contaminated crops? Unless they believe they can persuade the politicians to force us to eat them - for the greater good, of course.

►August 16, 2006 - Agreement Reached On Teen's Cancer Treatment - Medical News Today

* ►August 16, 2006 - Court pact says Va. teen can forgo chemo - AP via Houston Chronicle - "Under the decree, Starchild Abraham Cherrix, who is battling Hodgkin's disease, will be treated by an oncologist of his choice who is board-certified in radiation therapy and interested in alternative treatments. The family must provide the court updates on Abraham's treatment and condition every three months until he is cured or turns 18."

* ►August 16, 2006 - Future promising for AIDS vaccine - Reuters via http://maconareaonline.com - "Even a partially effective vaccine could be useful, said Stephen Lewis, the United Nations delegate to Africa for AIDS. 'I think it's fair to say ... even a modestly effective vaccine could cut the number of new infections by one-third over a decade, saving tens of millions of lives,' Lewis told the news conference."

* ►August 16, 2006 - AIDS Vaccine Advocates Outline Serum Development Plan - At the 16th International AIDS conference in Toronto, AIDS vaccine supporters issued a comprehensive report outlining policy initiatives aimed at speeding the development of a vaccine. The measures include everything encouraging work with only the most promising vaccine candidates to calling on biotechnology companies to lend a hand in the search for a vaccine. - Voice of America

* ►August 16, 2006 - New Hope for HIV Vaccine - WebMD

* ►August 16, 2006 - AIDS Vaccine Still Long Way Off; Researchers, Experts Still Optimistic - www.kaisernetwork.org

►August 16, 2006 - Food a basic need in HIV fight: UN agency - Reuters, UK

►August 16, 2006 - HIV testing can have severe consequences, especially for women: Robinson - Canadian Press via CBC News

►August 16, 2006 - At AIDS Conference, Vaccines Take a Back Seat to Microbicides - Seed Magazine

►August 16, 2006 - HIV-reduction plan to be tested in Vancouver - CTV News

►August 16, 2006 - Call for widespread HIV testing - Experts are calling for a massive increase in routine testing for HIV to try to combat the spread of the virus. - BBC

►August 16, 2006 - US criticised for HIV aid effort - US policy is undermining the efforts of African countries to fight the HIV epidemic, a leading UN figure has said. - BBC

►August 16, 2006 - Work starts to expand special Autism centre - Work has started on a £1.4 million building scheme to expand the Holbrook Centre for Autism. - Belper Today

►August 16, 2006 - National Autism Network - http://wfrv.com

►August 16, 2006 - Sigourney Weaver hopes film will offer fresh autism insight - Press Association via www.24dash.com

►August 16, 2006 - English woman with autism speaks to UNH conference on autism - The Union Leader

►August 16, 2006 - Broader look at autism - Overturning prior beliefs, researchers find disorder's reach has impact across many brain functions - Newsday

►August 16, 2006 - Health Alert: Autism (includes video) - www.wistv.com

►August 16, 2006 - Children with Autism - Tooele Transcript-Bulletin

►August 16, 2006 - Family barbecue allows those with autism to let loose - durham region news

►August 16, 2006 - Understanding autism - Q. My grandchild doesn’t seem to be communicating at the same level as other children his age. Could he have autism? - Indianapolis Star

* ►August 16, 2006 - Faulty Brain-Wide Circuitry May Underlie Autism - Child Neuropsychology via MedPage Today

►August 16, 2006 - A Mountain out of a Mump Hill - www.itp.net

* ►August 16, 2006 - Officials try to alleviate parents' mercury-contamination fears - Press of Atlantic City

* ►August 16, 2006 - Mercury symptoms unlikely to turn up later, Kiddie Kollege parents told - The Gloucester County Times via www.nj.com

* ►August 16, 2006 - Parents Angry Over Mercury Contamination - Expert Not Sure Of Long-Term Effect Of Mercury On Children (includes video) - www.nbc10.com

►August 16, 2006 - Cardinal Mooney High closed after dozens exposed to mercury - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

►August 16, 2006 - US running short of vaccine - Cherry Hill Courier-Post

►August 16, 2006 - School Vaccinations (includes video) - www.whsv.com - "'Wouldn't it be awful if a child got chicken pox and died from it, when it's a vaccine that would prevent it or at least with one dose it's a lesser case,' Goff adds."

►August 16, 2006 - Get Your Child Immunized for School (includes video) - www.klastv.com

►August 16, 2006 - Back to school boosters - www1.whdh.com

* ►August 16, 2006 - Bird flu warning over partial protection of flocks - Science and Development Network - "One of the main policy options for limiting the threat of bird flu could encourage the spread of the virus if it is only implemented partially, researchers have warned."

* ►August 16, 2006 - New Bird Flu Drugs Possible, Study Says - New Bird Flu Drugs Possible, Study Using Advanced X-Ray Technology Discovers - AP via ABC News

►August 16, 2006 - New Weakness in Avian Flu Virus Found - HealthDay via Forbes

►August 16, 2006 - District to stockpile drug in case of flu pandemic - Seattle Times

►August 16, 2006 - Officials assess flu preparedness - 12 counties attend regional 'tabletop exercise' on pandemic - The Register-Mail

►August 16, 2006 - “No mass vaccination” - www.lexpress.mu - "Broilers, some parent stocks and the small commercial layers are not vaccinated. There are sentinel birds (not vaccinated) in the vaccinated farms as recommended by the O.I.E."

►August 16, 2006 - Counties unite in first emergency drill - East Central Minnesota Post Review

►August 16, 2006 - Mo. ponders drug buy for flu pandemic - Tamiflu would be subsidized - Columbia Missourian

►August 16, 2006 - State ramping up avian flu testing - Migratory birds will be captured and analyzed - Seattle Post-Intelligencer

* ►August 16, 2006 - Immunisation gaps linked to China polio outbreak - Reuters - "Oral polio vaccines containing live but weakened virus are used in many countries, partly because they are cheaper than their alternative, which contains a polio virus that is inactive. But live-virus vaccine can cause sporadic cases of polio, either from the vaccine itself, or from the live virus in the vaccine getting out into the community -- which may have been what happened in the Guizhou case."
 

NVIC - Barbara Loe Fisher Comments: Public health authorities in all countries have long known that the live oral polio vaccine (OPV) can cause polio in recipients or their close contacts. When the U.S. abandoned mass use OPV in the late 1990's the only cases of paralytic polio in the U.S. were being caused by the vaccine.

The relentless mass vaccination campaigns of poor children in Africa, India and other underdeveloped countries using OPV have no doubt resulted in many undiagnosed or misdiagnosed cases of vaccine strain paralytic polio. Polio will always remain a problem in nations using live virus polio vaccine which can contaminate the water, exposed sewers and food sources with live vaccine strain polio virus from the body fluids and waste products of those recently vaccinated.

Ironically, it was the live polio vaccine's ability to "passively" immunize innocent bystanders who come in contact with recently vaccinated individuals which helped persuade public health officials to abandon the killed Salk vaccine in favor of Sabin's live virus version of the vaccine in the early 1960's. However, the polio eradicators did not factor in their own contribution to the disease's spread: the perpetuation of vaccine strain paralytic polio through mass vaccination campaigns using the live virus vaccine.

* ►August 16, 2006 - 20 sought after 'anthrax death' - Press Association via The Guardian, UK - "Artist Christopher 'Pascal' Norris, 50, who worked with animal hides in the Scottish Borders town of Hawick, died last month from blood poisoning which tests show was most likely to be caused by the deadly bug."

►August 16, 2006 - Another Anthrax Case Confirmed - www.keloland.com

►August 16, 2006 - Anthrax Detector Developed - www.physorg.com

►August 16, 2006 - Iomai Bets Big on Needle-Free Vaccine - By Arlene Weintraub

* ►August 16, 2006 - Iomai Bets Big on Needle-Free Vaccine - The biotech hired product designers at Ideo to come up with a cheap and effective way to provide vaccines with a patch - BusinessWeek

* ►August 16, 2006 - Genetically Engineered Crops Denounced - Free Internet Press

►August 16, 2006 - "Therapeutic Vaccine" Could Improve Quality of Life for People with Lung Cancer - University of Kentucky News

►August 16, 2006 - New vaccine could stamp out cervical cancer - University of South Alabama Vanguard

* ►August 16, 2006 - Mosquito virus victim clings to life - Brockton Enterprise - "Derek Ashworth, 23, of Snipatuit Road in Rochester, had a seizure a couple of days after the state's Aug. 8 aerial fumigation to kill mosquitoes. He had a second seizure on Saturday, was taken to Boston Medical Center and is being treated for swelling of the brain, according to Garret Perry, owner of the Middleboro Cobras semi-pro football team, on which Ashworth is a wide receiver."

* ►August 16, 2006 - 388 Human Cases Of West Nile Virus In US, 13 Deaths - Medical News Today

►August 16, 2006 - Case Of West Nile Meningitis Confirmed In Fort Collins - www.thedenverchannel.com

►August 16, 2006 - Pine Belt battles West Nile virus threat - Hattiesburg American - "Carol Lindley of Hattiesburg didn't know she had the West Nile virus in November 2003 until the hospital received her test results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. 'They took me in thinking it was meningitis,' said Lindley, who never suspected her illness could have started with a mosquito. 'We weren't even aware of West Nile then.'"

►August 16, 2006 - Meningitis victim now a spokesperson - The Ashburton Guardian

►August 16, 2006 - Ways to Prevent the Spread of Staph - AP via www.wtopnews.com

►August 16, 2006 - Early diagnosis, quick treatment are key with Lyme Disease - The Daily World

►August 16, 2006 - A Silent Killer: Hepatitis B - East West Magazine

►August 16, 2006 - Local health unit reports increase in hepatitis B cases - www.sootoday.com

►August 16, 2006 - Racial differences in hepatitis C viral responses - African American patients with hepatitis C (HCV) infections experience a lower response rate to the peginterferon alfa-2a and ribavirin combination treatment than Caucasian Americans*, according to a study published in the August issue of Gastroenterology, the journal for the members of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA). - www.news-medical.net

* ►August 16, 2006 - Letter: FDA approval means little - letter - Ashland City Times - "People should be warned that an FDA 'approval' these days doesn't mean much since the pharmaceutical industry has gotten so heavily involved in government. Today, testing is typically being done on the population in clinical trials."

►August 16, 2006 - New Cancer Institute Director Named - ScienceNOW

►August 16, 2006 - Diet supplement maker to pay $260,000 to settle ephedra charges - AP via Newsday

►August 16, 2006 - Five more horses diagnosed with West Nile virus - Billings Gazette

* ►August 16, 2006 - Novartis Releases Fluvirin Influenza Virus Vaccine to US Distributors - Fluvirin vaccine release signals the first availability of injectable flu vaccine in the United States this year - Novartis via www.pharmalive.com

* ►August 16. 2006 - Cyto Pulse Sciences, Inc. Awarded $2 Million by NIH for DNA Vaccine Delivery System Commercialization - PRNewswire via InterestAlert

* ►August 16, 2006 - Pennridge Director of Pupil Services Robert Phillips has been planning for an illness. - News Herald via ZWire - "The POD system for delivering vaccines is based on models for managing an anthrax outbreak and the hope is that a success with flu shots will translate to any similar emergency. The key to success is mobilizing what Schellhorn called "community buy-in" as quickly as possible. At least 75 people are needed to run a POD, so large numbers of volunteers will be needed to absorb rapid on-site training and go right to work, Schellhorn said."

►August 16, 2006 - Overnight Phone Call From Police Wakes Thousands - WJZ CBS - "The calls, which were scheduled to begin at 11 a.m., were programmed to inform parents of new vaccinations that students are required to get before starting school this fall. But police say a computer glitch made the calls start at 11 p.m. instead."

►August 16, 2006 - Medicine morality - San Gabriel Valley Tribune

►August 16, 2006 - Is the African AIDS pandemic a bluff? - afrol News

►August 16, 2006 - The structure of H5N1 avian influenza neuraminidase suggests new opportunities for drug design - journal article (Nature)

►August 16, 2006 - Ethics draft provokes anger - The Australian

►August 16, 2006 - Northwestern receives Gates Foundation grant for medical diagnostics - Northwestern University via www.eurekalert.org

►August 16, 2006 - Bill Gates to China: Will $200M help? - Toronto Star

►August 16, 2006 - Ministry Calling for Measures to Control Encephalitis B - Xinhua via CRIEnglish

►August 16, 2006 - Trojan Parasite - The Times of India

►August 16, 2006 - Study Shows Long-Term Health Effects from West Nile Illnesses - Infection Control Today

►August 16, 2006 - NIH awards nearly $8 million to Colorado State for tuberculosis research - Colorado State University

►August 16, 2006 - Location, location, location! - Brain neurons found to combine economic value and spatial information - Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory via www.eurekalert.org

►August 16, 2006 - Reins and Spurs for the Immune System - Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research via www.innovations-report.de

►August 16, 2006 - 83 Year Old Beats Deadly Congestive Heart Failure Without Prescription Drugs Using Nutritional Supplements - In 1997 Ira Marxe, now CEO of Good Health Supplements, was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and beat the odds by taking on his heart disease head on by turning to unique nutritional supplements, not drugs, to solve his health crisis and now at 83 years young..."I'm stronger and healthier than I was 20 years ago!" - ClickPress

►August 16, 2006 - Study finds MRSA most common cause of skin infections in patients presenting in nation's ER's - University of California - Los Angeles via www.eurekalert.org

►August 16, 2006 - PanAfrica: Breast is Best - Even for Babies With HIV+ Mums - Health-e (Cape Town) via www.allafrica.com

►August 16, 2006 - Researchers seek to solve mystery of natural HIV control - In search of new vaccine strategies, study will examine genetics, immune systems of those able to suppress viral replication - Massachusetts General Hospital via www.eurekalert.org
 
►August 16, 2006 - Healing potential discovered in everyday human brain cells - Common brain cells may have stem-cell-like potential - University of Florida via www.eurekalert.org
 
►August 15, 2006 - Polio outbreak from oral vaccine identified -- and controlled -- in China - Infectious Diseases Society of America via www.eurekalert.org
 
►August 15, 2006 - Common anti-depressants similarly safe and effective for treating postpartum depression - University of Pittsburgh Medical Center via www.eurekalert.org

* ►August 15, 2006 - Future promising for AIDS vaccine: group - Reuters

* ►August 15, 2006 - Analysis: Why docs. don't say sorry - UPI via The Washington Times - "Medical errors result in tens of thousands of deaths and tens of millions of dollars worth of additional costs to the American healthcare system each year, yet the Institute of Medicine has estimated that as few as five percent of these mistakes go reported."

* ►August 15, 2006 - Over 50? You're On Your Own - The Washington Post - "They argue that the standard policy for flu vaccinations that favors older men and women over younger adults should be changed in preparation for a possible pandemic of avian flu."

* ►August 15, 2006 - Bat bite kills teen; Houston in uproar - Los Angeles Times via Journal Gazette via www.fortwayne.com - "The rabid bat that killed 16-year-old Zach Jones apparently flew into the house while Jones was asleep. Feeling the bat brush against his face, Jones woke up. The bat was caught in a towel and released outside. Jones didn’t suspect he had been exposed to rabies and so did not seek treatment. About a month later, he became ill and was admitted to the hospital, where he died May 12. His is the only known human rabies death this year in the United States."

* ►August 15, 2006 - Ovarian Cancer Survivor's Immune System Keeping Her Alive - Newswise via InterestAlert - "After five injections, the trial doctor, Dr. Kunle Odunsi, told Christine that she was showing a strong immune response, and offered to give her another round of vaccinations. All in all, she received twenty injections of the NY-ESO-1 vaccine. While receiving treatment, Christine learned a lot about cancer immunotherapy from Dr. Odunsi. "It's a mind-boggling science, very complex, but Dr. Odunsi explained everything to me, about how the vaccine was teaching my immune system to recognize and destroy the cancer."

►August 15, 2006 - AIDS experts: World unprepared to ensure access to new HIV prevention methods - AP via USA Today

►August 15, 2006 - Global Fund, global need - The Times via www.nj.com

►August 15, 2006 - Biosecurity Research Institute to Provide Research for Food Safety and Security Efforts - Biosecurity Research Institute via Newswise via InterestAlert

►August 15, 2006 - Unmasking Nutrition's Role In Genes And Birth Defects - Expectant mothers may someday get a personalized menu of foods to eat during pregnancy to complement their genetic makeup as a result of new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Researchers used transparent fish embryos to develop a way to discover how genes and diet interact to cause birth defects. - Washington University School of Medicine via ScienceDaily

►August 15, 2006 - Ear Infection? Think Twice Before Inserting a Tube (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times

►August 15, 2006 - Results of Phase 2 Study of Tolevamer for C. difficile-Associated Diarrhea Published in Clinical Infectious Diseases - Genzyme Corporation via Clinical Infectious Diseases via PRNewswire-FirstCall

►August 15, 2006 - Pharma IPO: Highlights from Emergent Biosolutions' S-1 Filing - SeekingAlpha - "According to Frost & Sullivan, a market research organization, from 2002 to 2005, annual worldwide vaccine sales increased from $6.7 billion to $9.9 billion, a compound annual growth rate of approximately 14%. Frost & Sullivan estimates that the worldwide sales of vaccines will grow at a compound annual rate of approximately 10.5% from 2005 through 2012."

►August 15, 2006 - NIH Funds Fourteen High-End Instrumentation Grants - Nearly $22 Million Will Enable the Purchase of Cutting-Edge Research Equipment - NIH - "In addition, two awards will fund the purchase of nuclear mass resonance (NMR) spectrometers, designed to determine three-dimensional structures of large proteins and protein complexes. For example, the University of California will use its NMR spectrometer to study protein interactions with bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella."

* ►August 15, 2006 - A Threat of Microscopic Proportions - Pro Athletes May Need Serious Protections From MRSA Infection. The Rest of Us Can Just Wash Our Hands of It. (requires registration) - Washington Post

►August 15, 2006 - P'burg acts to end staph infections - Three students contract skin condition. District hopes to prevent further spread of serious disease. - The Express Times via www.nj.com

►August 15, 2006 - Nose Spray Could Ease War Wounds - Drug company Intranasal Therapeutics gets $39 million for a nose spray to ease battle wounds. - Red Herring

►August 15, 2006 - Pro-Life Group Calls for Withdrawal of Von Eschenbach FDA Nomination - www.lifenews.com

►August 15, 2006 - Meningitis vaccine scarce - San Angelo Standard-Times

►August 15, 2006 - Therapist dedicated to autistic children - Suffolk News-Herald

►August 15, 2006 - Autistic child finds success in program - Suffolk News-Herald

►August 15, 2006 - Pharmacists Should Be Held Accountable for Refusing to Honor Prescriptions for Emergency Contraception, NYCLU Says - press release - American Civil Liberties Union

* ►August 15, 2006 - Bio-terror bill advancing - U.S. Sen. Richard Burr expects his bio-terrorism bill to hit the Senate floor when Congress reconvenes in a few weeks. - Wilson Daily Times - "Burr's subcommittee has jurisdiction over a wide range of bio-terrorism and public health issues including BioShield, the Centers for Disease Control, immunizations, infectious diseases and vaccines."

* ►August 15, 2006 - Vietnam to import bird flu vaccines from Russia - Vietnam has discussed with Russian partners the purchase of vaccines for the nationwide poultry inoculation program, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said. - Thanh Nien Daily - "A draft agreement between the two sides envisages Vietnam importing 30 to 50 million shots from Russia for the second phase of the program this year and the first phase of 2007."

* ►August 15, 2006 - UP governor asks Centre to check efficacy of vaccines - PTI via The Hindu - "Expressing serious concern over increasing number of deaths due to Japanese Encephalitis and rise in polio cases in the state, Uttar Pradesh Governor T V Rajeshwar today asked the Centre to send its team to check efficacy of vaccines given to children."

►August 15, 2006 - Cousin of Indonesian bird flu case dies with flu-like symptoms - Antara

►August 15, 2006 - Mercury decision is welcome - Idaho Mountain Express and Guide - "In just a few words, Idaho Gov. Jim Risch literally struck a major blow for perpetual clean air enforcement for the state by deciding not to join a federal shell game that does nothing to reduce hazardous smokestack fallout."

►August 15, 2006 - Ranbaxy gets nod to sell HIV drug for children - Hindu

►August 15, 2006 - Clinton promises conference he's in HIV-AIDS fight for the long haul - Canadian Press via CBC

►August 14, 2006 - AIDS activist never gives up - Louise Binder sparks big changes - Toronto Sun - "While Binder was crusading in 2002 for Tenofovir, a new Health Canada-approved AIDS drug not approved in Ontario, she was contacted by the Hospital for Sick Children. The Harris government refused to pay for common childhood vaccines for children with AIDS, she said. One hundred kids were affected at a cost of $100 per child, but they wouldn't pay for them because they said they don't pay for anyone, she said."

►August 14, 2006 - Probe Faults Prescription Drug Directory - A federal prescription drug directory fails to list more than 9,000 medications but catalogs tens of thousands more that are no longer on the market, according to a report Monday. - FOX News

* ►August 14, 2006 - Parvovirus Vaccine - Restricted T cell receptor dominates T cell response to parvovirus B19 - Journal of Virology via NewsRx

* ►August 14, 2006 - Silent spread of H5N1 in vaccinated poultry - journal article (Nature) - "Here we show that this 'silent spread' can occur because of incomplete protection at the flock level, even if a vaccine is effective in individual birds. The use of unvaccinated sentinels can mitigate, although not completely eliminate, the problem."

* ►August 14, 2006 - Cytokine Storm in a Phase 1 Trial of the Anti-CD28 Monoclonal Antibody TGN1412 (pdf) (includes audio) - journal article (NEJM)

* ►August 14, 2006 - Volunteers at Risk (pdf) (editorial) - journal article (NEJM)

* ►August 14, 2006 - Probe faults prescription drug directory - AP via The Oregonian - "A federal prescription drug directory fails to list more than 9,000 medications but catalogs tens of thousands more that are no longer on the market, according to a report Monday."

►August 14, 2006 - 5 new Encephalitis B cases seen in China - AP via San Luis Obispo Tribune

►August 14, 2006 - Research Pinpoints West Nile Virus Antibody Binding Site - Purdue University via Biocompare

►August 14, 2006 - T-Cell Costimulation -- Biology, Therapeutic Potential, and Challenges (pdf) - journal article (NEJM)

►August 14, 2006 - Orphans are Africa's next AIDS challenge - Reuters

►August 14, 2006 - Researchers Discover Novel Genomic Disorders Causing Mental Retardation -  University of Washington via SceinceDaily

►August 14, 2006 - Finding may lead to skin test for Alzheimer's - Reuters

►August 13, 2006 - Small pox Threat – Author Explores The Risks in Medical Thriller - Sledgehammer (book review) - With the constant fear of terrorist's attacks, author Paulo J. Reyes explores the threat of a small pox attack in his fiction thriller Sledgehammer. - PRWeb

* ►August 13, 2006 - Panel Suggests Using Inmates in Drug Trials (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "'Free and informed consent becomes pretty questionable when prisoners don’t hold the keys to their own cells,' Professor Murphy said, 'and in many cases they can’t read, yet they are signing a document that it practically takes a law degree to understand.'"

NVIC - BL Fisher Note: Lawyer and self styled bioethicist Lawrence Gostin recently convinced the prestigious Institute of Medicine to call on the pharmaceutical industry to use America's 2.3 million prisoners as guinea pigs for experimental drugs and vaccines. Lamenting the lack of private citizen volunteers for potentially toxic drug and vaccine trials, the Institute of Medicine apparently is helping one of its biggest funders - the pharmaceutical industry - to experiment on captive populations in the name of the "greater good." Professor Gostin preaches utilitarianism, a 19th century consequentialist theory branded as a pseudo- ethic by the Nuremberg Tribunal after doctors and scientists on trial for forced experimentation on captive prisoners during World War II used the "greater good" defense to justify their actions.

Gostin was paid by the CDC to create the Model State Emergency Health Power Act, which was rammed through many states after September 11, 2001. This legislation took away civil liberties in order to allow state militia to arrest, quarantine and force vaccination and experimental drugs on citizens without their informed consent or access to legal counsel whenever public health officials convince the Governor to declare a public health "emergency." An HIV/AIDS activist, Gostin has stated that "The HIV'AIDS pandemic is probably the defining historical event of the late 20th century and threatens to further define our future." Gostin is working with others in academia and public health agencies to pave the way for forced use of experimental HIV vaccines on captive prison populations in preparation for forced use of HIV vaccine by the entire U.S. population without securing voluntary informed consent from individuals.

There are 2.3 million Americans in prison today. They are fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters. They are behind bars for crimes big and small. Some are innocent. They are all human beings.

I am reminded of the warning by holocaust survivor Martin Niemoller: "In Germany, they came first for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."

Beware the elitists who come to take away your human rights in the name of the greater good.

►August 12, 2006 - TB warning to patients and staff at two hospitals - The Scotsman

►August 12, 2006 - BIsB sponsors a medical study about diseases of newly born babies in Bahrain - Mr. Yousif Saleh Khalaf, Chief Executive of Bahrain Islamic Bank (BIsB), the first Islamic commercial bank in the Kingdom of Bahrain, recently received at his office a high-level medical delegation from the Arabian Gulf University's (AGU) College of Medicine. - AME Info

►August 11, 2006 - Immune Cell Insights Could Fight Arthritis, Lupus - HealthDay News via Forbes

* ►August 10, 2006 - GlaxoSmithKline settles claim of inflating prices on cancer drugs - AP via Newsday

►August 10, 2006 - Commensal bacteria damage host DNA - Both pathogenic and good bacteria produce toxins that break eukaryotic DNA - The Scientist

►August 10, 2006 - U.S. shortens list of bio-agro applicants - Department of Homeland Security cuts 29 proposed sites for new facility to just 18 - The Scientist

►August 10, 2006 - Cephalon shares plunge after FDA rejects hyperactivity drug - AP via Star-Telegram - "The company said late Wednesday that the FDA's decision came after one patient taking Sparlon was suspected of developing Stevens Johnson syndrome, a potentially life-threatening skin disease. Cephalon said it submitted opinions from several experts that the patient didn't develop the disease."

►August 10, 2006 - Warning of online drugs 'danger' - People who buy medicines over the internet could be unwittingly putting their health at risk, warn UK doctors. - BBC

►August 10, 2006 - Dutch Biopharmaceutical Company AM-Pharma Strengthens Intellectual Property Position for Lactoferrin Derived Antimicrobial - AM-Pharma via europa press

►August 10, 2006 - Diabetes Improved with Chromium Picolinate - Toronto Fashion Monitor

►August 10, 2006 - Alzheimer's study results reported - UPI

* ►August 9, 2006 - Sanofi fighting generic drugs tooth and nail in US courts - AFP via Yahoo!

* ►August 9, 2006 - Looking for The Right Dosage - Russia Profile - "Instead, physicians are more interested in prescribing a medicine, getting a kickback from a pharmaceutical firm and seeing the patient again to prescribe another drug, Danishevsky said."

►August 9, 2006 - Indonesia's wet markets must be cleaned up to fight bird flu: expert - Daily News

* ►August 8, 2006 - Think Tank Challenges FDA - Brandweek via Adweek - "The Washington Legal Foundation, a conservative think tank, has filed a petition with the Food and Drug Administration challenging the FDA's authority to send warning letters to drug companies whose advertising it finds misleading."

* ►August 8, 2006 - Call to release human drug trial data (requires registration or subscription) - Financial Times

* ►August 8, 2006 - Biota Awarded up to US$8.5 m to develop LANI/FLUNET compounds - Biota via www.pharmalive.com - "LANIs offer potency and/or duration of action, which confers particular advantages for the pandemic influenza stockpiling market. All of these compounds appear to offer the potential for a single dose for treatment or once weekly dose for prophylaxis. Pre-clinical studies have demonstrated that FLUNET has a higher potency and longer duration of action than the currently marketed influenza antivirals, Tamiflu and Relenza."

►August 8, 2006 - Human bird flu death toll rising in Indonesia - Latest deaths could lift total to 44 and make it world's hardest hit nation - AP via MSNBC

►August 8, 2006 - New Study Reveals Rett Syndrome Can Strike Males - Research Australia via Biocompare

►August 8, 2006 - Scientists Learn How The Brain 'Boots Up' To Process Information From The Senses - Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center via Biocompare

►August 8, 2006 - Polysciences Announces New Line of Microbiology and Bacterial Detection Products - Polysciences via WebWire

►August 8, 2006 - The A2 milk story - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

* ►August 7, 2006 - Health officials recommend rabies shots for 18 Girl Scouts - Nearly 1,000 Girl Scouts may have been exposed to bats, some of which can be infected with rabies, while on a summer outing at Camp Potomac Woods near Lovettsville. The Loudoun County Health Department has recommended that 18 of them receive a course of inoculations that prevents rabies from developing. - Loudoun Times-Mirror via Times Community

* ►August 7, 2006 - Safety makes way for profit - doctor - The Sydney Morning Herald - "One of Australia's most senior cancer specialists has accused pharmaceutical companies of manipulating clinical trials of medicines for commercial reasons, including delaying the release of negative findings and being reluctant to fund research into the toxicity of their drugs."

* ►August 7, 2006 - More medical research transparency needed – editor - Reuters via The San Diego Union-Tribune - “For-profit companies also can exert inappropriate influence in research via control of study data and statistical analysis, ghostwriting, managing all or most aspects of manuscript preparation, and dictating to investigators the journal to which they should submit their manuscripts,” she wrote."

* ►August 7, 2006 - Pfizer Moves To Block Memo On Controversial Drug Sale - Brandweek - "The secrecy order applies to Pfizer and Peter Rost, the former vp-marketing at Genotropin, who is suing his ex-employer for wrongful dismissal. Rost alleges that Pfizer fired him in revenge for disclosing the allegedly illegal growth hormone sales."

* ►August 7, 2006 - Is family a Gulf War casualty? - Ruling lets ill widower propel lawsuit - The Detroit News - "It was Janyce Brown who got her husband an appointment with Forstall, who diagnosed Arvid Brown with leishmaniasis in October 1998. Chemotherapy put the disease into remission, though Brown continues to struggle with his health today. By 2000, Janyce Brown and both children had also tested positive for leishmaniasis. As Janyce struggled to care for her husband and look after two young children with cerebral palsy, her own health rapidly deteriorated. She died at home of cancer."

►August 7, 2006 - Dead Iraqi Cats Infected With H5N1 Virus - www.newswire.co.nz

►August 7, 2006 - The Devil’s in the Details: A Closer Look at Merck’s Vioxx Trials - The mission of MedTech Futures, which appears on MidwestBusiness.com every other Monday, is to provide insights into developments in the medical technology and health-care scene in the Midwest as well as globally. - Midwest Business & Technology News

►August 7, 2006 - Kenya: How Kenya's Malaria, Measles Campaign is Touching Rural Communities - East African Business Week (Kampala) via www.allafrica.com

►August 7, 2006 - Slowing in black disease death rate - The Australian

►August 7, 2006 - Rewiring The Mammalian Brain -- Neurons Make Fickle Friends - Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne via Biocompare

►August 7, 2006 - Infants, As Early As Six Months, Do See Errors In Arithmetic - University of Oregon via Biocompare

* ►August 6, 2006 - Pushing Pills - Mining Prescription Records for Fun and Profit California has become a battleground in a debate over how Big Pharma's access to prescription data affects patient care and the price of drugs - San Francisco Chronicle

* ►August 6, 2006 - Glaxo's cure for 'restless legs' was an unlicensed drug - The Sunday Times, UK - "Some doctors claim the condition, also labelled Ekbom’s syndrome, has been concocted or at least exaggerated to help sell drugs. While patients had previously complained to doctors of leg cramp at night, few had heard of restless legs syndrome before drugs became available to treat the illness."

* ►August 6, 2006 - Marchin' for Merck in New Orleans (requires registration or subscription) - The drug giant has budgeted $1 billion for battles against claims of injury from its painkiller Vioxx, and leading those fights in federal courts is Chicago lawyer Phil Beck, who helped George Bush win the contested 2000 election. - Chicago Tribune

* ►August 5, 2006 - Victim of drugs trial in Britain shows signs of cancer, paper says - AFP via Yahoo! - "David Oakley, 35, from London, has been told by doctors that he is showing "definite early signs" of lymph cancer, the Mail on Sunday reported."

►August 4, 2006 - Thais Make Cheap Generic Bird Flu Drug - IPS via Yahoo!

►August 4, 2006 - China Bans Antibiotic Blamed for Death (requires registration or subscription) - AP via The New York Times - "China has banned a domestically produced antibiotic after a child died from being treated with it and other patients suffered effects ranging from diarrhea to anaphylactic shock, the government said Friday."

►August 2, 2006 - Tiny Inhaled Particles Take Easy Route From Nose To Brain - University of Rochester Medical Center via Biocompare

►August 2006 - New drug-resistant bugs pose threat to healthy kids, adults - ConsumerReports

►August 2006 - The Relationship of Otitis Media in Early Childhood to Attention Dimensions During the Early Elementary School Years. - journal article (Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics)

►August 2006 - Gastroesophageal reflux disease and irritable bowel syndrome: a common overlap syndrome. - journal article (Current Gastroenterology Report)

►August 2006 - Evaluation of gastroesophageal reflux in pediatric patients with asthma using impedance-pH monitoring. - journal article (The Journal of Pediatrics)

►August 2006 - A Unique Dendritic Cell Subset Accumulates in the Celiac Lesion and Efficiently Activates Gluten-Reactive T Cells - journal article (Gastroenterology)

►August 2006 - Human brain development tied to gene - Altered RNA may help tell the story of how human brains evolved from chimps - The Scientist

►August 2006 - Bridging the Gulf - Biotechs eager for newly minted PhDs are finding applicants with a lack of skills in dealing in a world where science and commerce must coexist - The Scientist

►July/August 2006 - Ruling out food allergy in pediatrics and preventing the "march" of the allergic child - journal article (Allergy and Asthma Proceedings)

* ►July 2006 - New-onset rheumatoid arthritis after anthrax vaccination. - journal article (Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology)

►July 2006 - Anaphylaxis: a review of 601 cases. - journal article (Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology)

►June 2006 - Arginine:glycine amidinotransferase (AGAT) deficiency in a newborn: Early treatment can prevent phenotypic expression of the disease - journal article (The Journal of Pediatrics)

►October 2006 - Inflammation and miscarriage - journal article (Seminars in Fetal and Neonatal Medicine)

►October 2006 - Inflammation and pre-eclampsia - journal article (Seminars in Fetal and Neonatal Medicine)

►October 2006 - Inflammation in preterm and term labour and delivery - journal article (Seminars in Fetal and Neonatal Medicine)

* ►September 2006 - Parents Concerned About Vaccine Safety - journal article (American Journal of Preventive Medicine)

* ►September 2006 - Epicutaneous immunization converts subsequent and established antigen-specific T helper type 1 (Th1) to Th2-type responses - journal article (Immunology)

►September 2006 - Pregnancy, but not the allergic status, influences spontaneous and induced interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6, IL-10 and IL-12 responses - journal article (Immunology)

►September 2006 - An Empirically Derived Taxonomy of Factors Affecting Physicians' Willingness to Disclose Medical Errors - journal article (Journal of General Internal Medicine)

►September 2006 - Association between exposure to farming, allergies and genetic variation in CARD4/NOD1 - journal article (Allergy)

►August 30, 2006 - Complement and demyelinating disease: No MAC needed? - journal article (Brain Research Reviews)

►August 16, 2006 - India has 60% of Asia’s HIV-infected - Daily News & Analysis

►August 16, 2006 - Mercury Spill Shuts Down Florida School - AP via The Guardian, UK

►August 16, 2006 - Obasanjo Laments Fresh Polio Outbreak - This Day

* ►August 16, 2006 - Kirby wants government to level with public about vaccine risks - David Kirby, speaking here Saturday, questions role of mercury in causing disorder. - Syracuse Post Standard via www.syracuse.com - "Kirby dug into the issue and wrote a book, 'Evidence of Harm Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy,' that was published last year. The book made the New York Times best-seller list and received the Investigative Reporters and Editors 2005 Award for outstanding investigative reporting in a book."

* ►August 16, 2006 - Study provides evidence that autism affects functioning of entire brain - Previous view held autism limited to communication, social behavior, and reasoning - NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development via www.eurekalert.org

 * ►August 16, 2006 - Novartis releases Fluvirin® influenza virus vaccine to US distributors - press release - Novartis AG via WebWire

* ►August 15, 2006 - Teenager with cancer ponders life as court date nears - Virginian-Pilot - "Some people have questioned whether the media attention has boxed him into a corner, or influenced his thinking. He says no. 'I have my own mind and body,' he said. 'And I decide what's right.'"

NVIC - BL Fisher Note: In a now celebrated case about whether American citizens can freely exercise the human right to informed consent to a medical intervention which can cause harm, 16-year old Abraham Cherrix stands firm in his conviction that he is the master of his fate and the captain of his soul. Having already undergone one round of cancer chemotherapy he says almost killed him, Abraham's parents have been charged with child medical neglect for failing to obey U.S. medical doctors who have ordered Abraham to undergo another round of toxic chemotherapy against his will.

A Virginia Circuit Court Judge has ordered a trial set for Wednesday, August 16, 2006 to determine whether medical doctors can force Abraham to undergo chemotherapy treatment without his informed consent. The eyes of the world are on America: will the U.S. judicial system protect a citizen's right to self determination in matters of life and death or will it hand over more power to medical doctors and government officials determined to strip from citizens the human right to make voluntary decisions about medical interventions which can cripple or kill them?

►August 15, 2006 - Face of autism - Pensacola teen reaches beyond limitations with modeling - Pensacola News Journal

►August 15, 2006 - Councilman promoting autism awareness - Naples City Councilman Gary Price and his wife, Kim, are putting out a personal plea to community leaders to help win the battle against autism. They are inviting local leaders to a breakfast on Friday, August 25, to introduce them to Autism Speaks, an organization dedicated to funding research, education and family support for children with autism. - Naples Sun Times

►August 15, 2006 - Finding a Voice in the Classroom - Tips for Good Communication with AAC Users in School - press release - DynaVox Technologies via PRNewswire via Yahoo!

* ►August 15, 2006 - The tortuous three-year wait for a diagnosis of autism in our boys - Belfast Telegraph - "It has been revealed that a staggering 652 children in Northern Ireland are facing a 35-month delay because only seven of the 18 health trusts and none of the health boards have established diagnostic assessment and early intervention teams - despite having been asked to do so by the Department of Health in 2004/05."

* ►August 15, 2006 - First Comprehensive Study to Discover the Genetic Causes of Autism; The Autism Consortium Brings Together Funding, New Technology, and Experts for Landmark Research to be Conducted With Harvard-MIT's Broad Institute - press release - The Autism Consortium via Business Wire via PharmaLive via www.medadnews.com

* ►August 15, 2006 - Affymetrix technology chosen for autism study - San Jose Business Journal - "Santa Clara-based Affymetrix (NASDAQ:AFFX) said the Autism Gene Discovery Project will be conducted by the Autism Consortium and the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. Researchers will use Affymetrix applications to perform whole-genome association studies across 3,700 samples collected from autistic subjects."

* ►August 15, 2006 - What's wrong in the fight against anthrax? (requires registration or subscription) - Mercury News - "Almost five years after a deadly series of mailed anthrax attacks prompted warnings that a new anthrax vaccine was 'urgently needed,' the nation's nearly $1 billion effort to develop the drug at a Bay Area company, VaxGen, is in trouble."

►August 15, 2006 - Delivery schedule (requires registration or subscription) - VaxGen via Mercury News

* ►August 15, 2006 - Results of vaccine studies are mixed (requires registration or subscription) - Mercury News - "Although VaxGen has received nearly $1 billion in federal contracts since 2002 to make an improved anthrax vaccine, it's not yet clear whether the vaccine will be better than the existing one, known as AVA."

* ►August 15, 2006 - Troubled Quest for Vaccine (requires registration or subscription) - Mercury News - "The challenge: In March 2004, the government offers $877.5 million to any company that could provide 75 million doses of a new anthrax vaccine."

* ►August 15, 2006 - Researchers at St. Louis U. expand anthrax vaccine trial - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

* ►August 15, 2006 - Emergent BioSolutions ready for IPO - Washington Business Journal - "The company started operations in Michigan in May 1998 under the name BioPort. Later, a reorganization made BioPort a subsidiary of the larger Emergent BioSolutions."

* ►August 15, 2006 - Bavarian Nordic Prepared to Provide New Smallpox Vaccine to U.S. Government; Phase II Clinical Trials Progressing Rapidly - press release - Bavarian Nordic via U.S. Newswire

* ►August 15, 2006 - Minorities refuse polio drops in UP - Daily News & Analysis - "As in most other cases, these two children had also taken the 'Pulse Polio' dose a number of times. Even Health Department officials say it’s indeed startling to note that one of these children, Laxmi (17 months) had taken the dose seven times. 'I can only attribute this to some shortcoming in the polio drops,' the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Lucknow, KK Singh told DNA."

* ►August 15, 2006 - Polio Outbreak from Oral Vaccine Identified and Controlled in China - Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) via Infection Control Today

►August 15, 2006 - Polio Cases Rise in Afghan South (requires registration or subscription) - New York Times

* ►August 15, 2006 - Vaccines Need a Shot in the Arm - www.livescience.com - "American children who are not vaccinated remain healthy for now because they are essentially freeloading on the herd immunity all around them.  Their immediate environment is virus-free because everyone else is vaccinated and such diseases cannot spread."

* ►August 15, 2006 - Back-to-school season means shots for many - Internet has opened up many parents' eyes to dangers of immunizations, but doctors say they are still necessary. - News-Leader

►August 15, 2006 - Parents Reminded to Ensure Children Get Immunizations for School Entry - Kansas City infoZine

►August 15, 2006 - Checklist: A Guide to Kids' Checkups - Childhood is a time for vaccinations and medical checkups. A guide to when youngsters should see a doctor—and what their parents should expect. - Newsweek via MSNBC

►August 15, 2006 - August is National Immunization Awareness Month - www.wwaytv3.com

►August 15, 2006 - Broncos announce "Take the Sting out of Immunizations" with a free ticket - OurSports Central

►August 15, 2006 - Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia Issues Immunization Reminders as Part of Back to School Preparation - press release - Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia via PRNewswire via Yahoo!

►August 15, 2006 - Booster Shots - www.wnct.com

►August 15, 2006 - Disease vaccine in good supply - The Gloucester County Times via www.nj.com

►August 15, 2006 - NJ Students Facing Meningitis Vaccine Shortage - AP via WPVI

►August 15, 2006 - Recommended Booster Vaccines for School Children - www.14wfie.com

►August 15, 2006 - Analysis: Novavax`s flu shot shows promise - UPI via Monsters & Critics

►August 15, 2006 - Bird flu suspected in Wash. swans - AP via Boston Herald

►August 15, 2006 - Officials prepare for future flu season - Counties plan for pandemic, bird flu - Myrtle Beach Sun News

►August 15, 2006 - Iowa Health Officials Given 'OK' to Stockpile Antiviral Medication - www.woi-tv.com

►August 15, 2006 - Iowa Prepares for Flu Pandemic - www.whotv.com

►August 15, 2006 - Phinij calls for better lab diagnosis - Bangkok Post

►August 15, 2006 - Bird flu kills 1,800 ducks in China, 210,000 culled - Reuters AlertNet

►August 15, 2006 - New Avian Flu Center Awards First Grant to Laos - Voice of America

►August 15, 2006 - UN enlists action hero to tackle bird flu - Sapa/AP via Independent Online - "Action star Jackie Chan is starring in a new video to help protect children and families from another deadly villain - bird flu."

* ►August 15, 2006 - Franklin Township parents begin organizing over mercury contamination - Press of Atlantic City - "The Office of the Attorney General recently said that air and soil samples showed potentially high levels of mercury, and the center voluntarily closed July 28 after the New Jersey Departments of Environmental Protection, and Health and Human Services said the building couldn't be used any longer. No criminal charges have been filed."

►August 15, 2006 - Day-care site's owner blames mercury on DEP - Philadelphia Inquirer

►August 15, 2006 - Global mercury pollution: A Declaration - Isthmus Daily Page - "The Eighth International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant, held last week at Monona Terrace, wrapped up Friday, Aug. 11 with ratification of a Conference Declaration."

►August 15, 2006 - Critics question mercury removal plan (requires registration or subscription) - KRT via McClatchy Newspapers via Mercury News

►August 15, 2006 - Catalytic antibodies active in plants - Israeli scientists have found a novel strategy to confer herbicide-resistance to plants. The new approach uses catalytic antibodies which can destroy certain types of herbicides. - www.checkbiotech.org

* ►August 15, 2006 - Acne med may trigger bowel disease - Reuters

* ►August 15, 2006 - Judge finds Man insane in wife stabbing - AP via Seattle Post-Intelligencer - "Defense lawyers conceded that Attwood stabbed his wife of 60 years while she was sleeping on Oct. 3, but they argued that it was caused by a bad reaction to the prescription antidepressant Wellbutrin. Attwood had been taking the drug for 12 days."

* ►August 15, 2006 - Improper production of 'Xinfu' claims 6 - Shanghai Daily

►August 15, 2006 - MultiVu Video Feed: Hidden Dangers in the Classroom - The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) Has an Important Warning for Parents of Children With Severe Allergies - press release - The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network via PRNewswire via Yahoo!

* ►August 15, 2006 - In Durham, Merck shows off vaccine plant - News & Observer - "Merck's vaccine to prevent shingles in adults, which won regulatory approval in May, will be mixed, put into vials and shipped around the world from the company's $300 million manufacturing plant under construction north of Durham."

* ►August 15, 2006 - Superinfections a new worry for creators of AIDS vaccines - CanWest News Service via Vancouver Sun - "HIV superinfections, where a person is infected with multiple strains of the AIDS virus, are occurring more often than had been believed, a worrisome finding that calls into question extensive vaccine development, U.S. and Canadian scientists say."

►August 15, 2006 - Scientific Hurdles Slow Development of HIV Vaccines (Update3) - Bloomberg

►August 15, 2006 - Appeals Court Backs Student in Lawsuit Over HIV (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times

►August 15, 2006 - Prevention research into HIV/AIDS goes beyond ABC, scientist says - Canadian Press via CBC

►August 15, 2006 - More Fundamental And Creative HIV Vaccine Research Needed - Medical News Today

►August 15, 2006 - Access to new HIV prevention methods lacking - The big buzz at the world's largest AIDS conference is that a microbicide to help women protect themselves from HIV might be available in several years. - AP via CNN

►August 15, 2006 - Bid to solve riddle of 'natural resistance' to HIV - New Scientist

►August 15, 2006 - `Orphan' virus could help fight HIV - Tame GBV-C seems to mitigate killer's effects - In infants, its presence cuts transmission rate (requires registration or subscription) - Toronto Star - "A benign virus that can float harmlessly in the human bloodstream for years may be able to reduce transmission rates of HIV from mothers to their infants seven-fold, a University of Toronto study suggests."

►August 15, 2006 - International Federation announces new five-year-programme to combat HIV and AIDS in southern Africa - International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) - Switzerland via Reuters AlertNet

►August 15, 2006 - A shot at ending cervical cancer? - The vaccine Gardasil promises help for millions of American females at risk of developing the disease - San Diego Union-Tribune

►August 15, 2006 - Time to Worry When West Nile Virus Joins My Running Group - New West

►August 15, 2006 - If you've got meningitis symptoms, get to the doctor as soon as possible - Devil's Lake Daily Journal

►August 15, 2006 - Disease is a mystery - MetroWest Daily News - "U.S. health officials are trying to figure out whether more than 5,000 people who claim to have a skin disease suffer from a real infection or are simply delusional."

►August 15, 2006 - Rash cases show up in other jails - Gary Post Tribune - "Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus manifested itself in several inmates in Lake County’s booking area, forcing jail officials to institute a 48-hour quarantine from Thursday morning through Saturday morning."

►August 15, 2006 - Virus caused student’s death - News-Sentinel via www.fortwayne.com

►August 15, 2006 - Whooping cough cases now up to 56 - www.kuam.com

►August 15, 2006 - Shingles: Chickenpox, a Second Time Around - www.wtopnews.com

►August 15, 2006 - Bat Rabies Threat Rises With Summer Temperatures - National Geographic

►August 15, 2006 - China cracks 167,000 cases of illegal medical production in H1 - Xinhua via China Daily

►August 15, 2006 - Management of Grapefruit-Drug Interactions - American Family Physician

►August 15, 2006 - Nurse Sentenced For Non-Approved Botox Injections - www.koin.com

►August 15, 2006 - FDA Nanotechnology Task Force - Medgadget

►August 15, 2006 - FDA Drug Directory Contains Inaccuracies, HHS OIG Report Says - www.kaisernetwork.org

►August 15, 2006 - State gives Cornell $50 million for new veterinary facility - AP via www.wstm.com

* ►August 15, 2006 - Nasvax to develop bird flu vaccine - Globes, Israel

* ►August 15, 2006 - Cyclooxygenase-2 Inhibitor Enhances the Efficacy of a Breast Cancer Vaccine: Role of IDO - journal article (The Journal of Immunology)

►August 15, 2006 - Autoantibodies from Synovial Lesions in Chronic, Antibiotic Treatment-Resistant Lyme Arthritis Bind Cytokeratin-10 - journal article (The Journal of Immunology)

►August 15, 2006 - New avian flu facility awards its first grant - The Avian and Human Influenza Facility, a multidonor financing mechanism administered by the World Bank, announced today that the Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) was awarded a grant in the amount of US$2 million for the Avian and Human Influenza Control and Preparedness Project. - World Band via www.news-medical.net

►August 15, 2006 - Do You Get Enough Probiotics In Your Diet? - The Common Voice

►August 14, 2006 - Lindane: Pesticide or Medicine? EPA Bans And FDA Still Approves - All Headline News

►August 14, 2006 - Pataki announces new Cornell funding - News 10 Now - "And, Cornell officials say the center will help fight current diseases as well, like West Nile, Anthrax and E. Coli."

►August 14, 2006 - Glow In The Dark Eggs Could Lead To New Cancer Treatment - www.nbc11.com

►August 14, 2006 - With the Predicted Launch of 2 Pipeline Antibodies in the Next 5 Years, the Infectious Disease Area is Set to Grow in Importance - Research & Markets via Genetic Engineering News

* ►August 14, 2006 - IAC EXPRESS Issue #615 - Immunization Action Coalition - "New: IAC develops form for healthcare workers to sign if declining influenza vaccination - In July, IAC developed the one-page form 'Declination of influenza vaccination.' It is intended for the use of healthcare employers who recommend that their employees receive annual influenza vaccination. It succinctly states reasons for vaccinating healthcare workers against the disease and provides space for the employee's signature if the employee declines vaccination."

* ►August 14, 2006 - Hepatitis vaccine plea after needle stick terror - A Council worker is calling for binmen and street cleaners to be vaccinated against deadly Hepatitis B after he was jabbed by a needle at work. - Glasgow Evening Times

►August 14, 2006 - ViroPharma and Wyeth Announce Achievement of Proof of Concept Milestone for HCV-796 - Companies Preparing to Initiate Phase 2 Clinical Evaluation - press release - ViroPharma Incorporated via PRNewswire-FirstCall

►August 14, 2006 - MedMira Offers New Rapid Diagnostic to Combat "the hidden epidemic" - Co-infection with HIV/Hepatitis C - Multiplo Delivers Simultaneous Rapid Diagnosis of HIV and Hepatitis C - XVI International AIDS Conference - press release - MedMira Inc via CNW Group

►August 14, 2006 - It's time for students to get immunized - CNN via www.wnct.com

►August 14, 2006 - GlaxoSmithKline, Shionogi complete HIV drug study - Reuters

►August 14, 2006 - How US could reduce AIDS further (requires registration or subscription) - Miami Herald

►August 14, 2006 - Gilead Licenses HIV Drug to 3 Companies - AP via Houston Chronicle

►August 14, 2006 - Morristown doctor seeking guides for antidepressants - Area hospital's chief of psychiatry wants new regulations for medicine - Daily Record

►August 14, 2006 - Czech scientists find promising compound to fight bird flu - Deutsche Presse-Agentur via Monsters & Critics

►August 14, 2006 - Mystery over drug trial debacle deepens - New Scientist

►August 14, 2006 - Shanxi calls for vaccines as disease hits city - Shanghai Daily - "More than 740,000 encephalitis B vaccines are needed to inoculate everyone under the age of 20 in Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province, where a recent outbreak of the disease has claimed 19 lives, local officials said yesterday."

►August 14, 2006 - Intercell announces Q2 results: Positive JEV Phase III Results - Strategic Marketing and Distribution partnership with Novartis - Intercell AG via Presse Portal

►August 14, 2006 - Government Lawyers Warn of Constitutional Showdown Over Plan B - New York Sun

►August 14, 2006 - Autism Society of America Launches New U.S. Postage Stamp Series; Artist Metin Bereketli's Artwork Honors Victims of Sept. 11 - press release - Autism Society of America via U.S. Newswire

►August 14, 2006 - Inside fighting endangers nonprofit group - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - "The Morgellons Research Foundation, fighting on behalf of a possible skin and neurological disease still unrecognized by any public health organization, faced enough roadblocks before it started creating its own."

►August 14, 2006 - New STD vaccine available at Watkins - University Daily Kansan 

►August 13, 2006 - New HPV cancer vaccine is arriving here - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

►August 12, 2006 - India to miss polio eradication target; cases increase - The Hindu via Indian Catholic

►August 11, 2006 - New York Based Biotech and Pharmaceutical Information Management Company Expands Overseas Operation - Cognia Corporation via PRNewswire via www.pharmalive.com

►August 11, 2006 - Produce doesn't mix with ragweed allergies - HealthCentersOnline

* ►August 10, 2006 - FDA warns 3 pharmacies making copies of drugs - journal article USA Today

* ►August 10, 2006 - A Proposal for Radical Changes in the Drug-Approval Process - journal article (NEJM)

►August 10, 2006 - Neonatal-Onset Multisystem Inflammatory Disease Responsive to Interleukin-1 Inhibition - journal article (NEJM)

►August 10, 2006 - Belmont Revisited: Ethical Principles for Research with Human Subjects (book review) - journal article (NEJM)

►August 10, 2006 - Wrestling with Behavioral Genetics: Science, Ethics, and Public Conversation (book review) - journal article (NEJM)

* ►August 9, 2006 - Effectiveness of Haemophilus influenzae Type b Conjugate Vaccine Introduction Into Routine Childhood Immunization in Kenya - journal article (JAMA)

►August 9, 2006 - Hunting Down Parkinson's Risks - JAMA via Ivanhoe

* ►August 8, 2006 - Flu Vaccinations in Canada Delayed For a Month - AP via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract)

►August 8, 2006 - Treatment of childhood migraine attacks with oral zolmitriptan and ibuprofen - journal article (Neurology)

►August 8, 2006 - Iatrogenic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease - journal article (Neurology)

►August 7, 2006 - Cerebral microcirculation shear stress levels determine Neisseria meningitidis attachment sites along the blood–brain barrier - journal article (The Journal of Experimental Medicine)

►August 6, 2006 - Bangladesh Launches Polio Vaccinations for 24 Million Children After New Cases - AP via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract)

►August 6, 2006 - UNICEF Starts Immunisation Program in Lebanon - AFP via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract)

►August 4, 2006 - Travelers Facing Diseases Overseas - Health officials warn of usual ailments, lesser-known illnesses - The Baltimore Sun

* ►August 4, 2006 - Simply Disclosing Funds Behind Studies May Not Erase Bias - The Wall Street Journal - "Studies of psychiatric drugs by researchers with a financial conflict of interest -- receiving speaking fees, owning stock, or being employed by the manufacturer -- are nearly five times as likely to find benefits in taking the drugs as studies by researchers who don't receive money from the industry, according to a review of 162 studies published last year in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Studies that the industry funded, but in which the researchers had no other financial ties, didn't have significantly different results than nonindustry-funded studies."

* ►August 4, 2006 - Doctors ask drug firms for freebies - The Australian - "One medical specialist requested $60,000 in return for time seeing a drug company's sales representatives; another requested $80,000 to cover a nurse's salary. Researchers from the University of NSW and University of Queensland who conducted the study said doctors who accepted expensive gifts from drug companies felt obliged to prescribe that company's products."

* ►August 2, 2006 - New Vaccine for Cervical Cancer Virus Raises Access Questions: Vaccine Approved - The Nation's Health via Medscape

►August 2, 2006 - Serum Procalcitonin Plus CSF Protein Predicts Bacterial Meningitis - Reuters Health via Medscape

►August 1, 2006 - Bocavirus Source of Pediatric Respiratory Infections - Reuters Health via Medscape

►August 1, 2006 - ADHD and the Misuse of Medications by Teens: Child and Psychiatry Viewpoint (requires registration) - Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry via Medscape Psychiatry & Mental Health

►August 1, 2006 - Lipid Injectable Emulsions: 2006 - journal article (Nutrition in Clinical Practice) - "The clinical use of alternative oils, such as medium-chain triglycerides, fish oil and olive oil show benefits over conventional soybean oil formulations. In adults, for example, the administration of {omega}-fatty acids via soybean oil-based lipids produces a heightened inflammatory response via production of 2-series prostaglandins, whereas substitution of a portion of the lipid with {omega}-3 fatty acids via fish oil can favorably dampen the inflammatory response. In infants, for example, substitution of soybean oil with fish oil has recently been shown to reverse parenteral nutrition-associated liver disease. These advances should lead to safer infusion therapy in patients receiving lipid injectable emulsions."

* ►August 2006 - Rotavirus Vaccination and Intussusception: Can We Decrease Temporally Associated Background Cases of Intussusception by Restricting the Vaccination Schedule? - journal article (Pediatrics)

* ►August 2006 - Assessment of Immunization Registry Databases as Supplemental Sources of Data to Improve Ascertainment of Vaccination Coverage Estimates in the National Immunization Survey - journal article (Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine)

* ►August 2006 - The Alaska Haemophilus influenzae Type b Experience: Lessons in Controlling a Vaccine-Preventable Disease - journal article (Pediatrics)

* ►August 2006 - Parental Report of Health Conditions and Health Care Use Among Children With and Without Autism - journal article (Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine)

►August 2006 - Psychosocial outcomes at 15 years of children with a preschool history of speech-language impairment - journal article (Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines)

►August 2006 - Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus sterile-site infection: The importance of appropriate initial antimicrobial treatment. - journal article (Critical Care Medicine)

►August 2006 - State Newborn Screening in the Tandem Mass Spectrometry Era: More Tests, More False-Positive Results - journal article (Pediatrics)

►August 2006 - Comparison of Accidental and Nonaccidental Traumatic Head Injury in Children on Noncontrast Computed Tomography - journal article (Pediatrics)

►August 2006 - Associations between antioxidant status, markers of oxidative stress and immune responses in allergic adults - journal article (Clinical & Experimental Allergy)

►August 2006 - Risk of Vitamin A Toxicity From Candy-Like Chewable Vitamin Supplements for Children - journal article (Pediatrics)

►August 2006 - Changes in immune regulation in response to examination stress in atopic and healthy individuals - journal article (Clinical & Experimental Allergy)

►August 2006 - Suffering in Silence: Why a Developmental Psychopathology Perspective on Selective Mutism Is Needed. - journal article (Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics)

►August 2006 - Longitudinal Associations Between Blood Lead Concentrations Lower Than 10 µg/dL and Neurobehavioral Development in Environmentally Exposed Children in Mexico City - journal article (Pediatrics)

►August 2006 - Prolonged exclusive breastfeeding is associated with increased atopic dermatitis: a prospective follow-up study of unselected healthy newborns from birth to age 20 years - journal article (Clinical & Experimental Allergy)

►August 2006 - The Influence of Temperament on Weight Gain in Early Infancy. - journal article (Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics)

* ►July 31, 2006 - Potential Residential Exposure to Toxics Release Inventory Chemicals during Pregnancy and Childhood Brain Cancer (requires registration) (full text) - Environmental Health Perspectives via Medscape

►July 31, 2006 - Prebiotic Infant Formula May Reduce the Incidence of Atopic Dermatitis CME (requires registration) - Medscape Medical News

►July 31, 2006 - Nonpharmacologic Approaches to Treating ADHD (requires registration) (full text) - Medscape Psychiatry & Mental Health

* ►July 28, 2006 - Combo Vaccine Comparable to MMR and Varicella Vaccines Given Separately - Reuters Health via Medscape

►July 26, 2006 - Whooping cough hits Bow Valley - Vaccine available to residents to prevent the potentially life threatening virus - Banff Crag & Canyon

* ►July 17, 2006 - Seroepidemiology study of rubella antibodies among pregnant women from seven Asian countries: Evaluation of the rubella vaccination program in Taiwan - journal article (Vaccine)

* ►July 7, 2006 - Human cerebrospinal fluid contains CD4+ memory T cells expressing gut- or skin-specific trafficking determinants: relevance for immunotherapy (pdf) - journal article (BMC Immunology) - "The results extend our previous findings that antigen-experienced CD4+ memory T cells traffic through the CSF in proportion to their abundance in the peripheral circulation. Furthermore, the ready access of skin- and gut-homing CD4+ memory T cells to the CNS compartment via CSF has implications for the mechanisms of action of immunotherapeutic strategies, such as oral tolerance or therapeutic immunization, where immunogens are administered using an oral or subcutaneous route."

►July 7, 2006 - Epidemiologic shift in the prevalence of Hepatitis A virus in Saudi Arabia: A case for routine Hepatitis A vaccination - journal article (Vaccine)

►July/August 2006 - The role of IL-18 in Th1/Th2 balance in children - journal article (Allergy and Asthma Proceedings) - "We suggest that IL-18 may play an immunoregulatory role in allergic and autoimmune diseases and decreased expression of IL-18 can shift the immune responses to both Th1- and Th2-mediated ways."

* ►July 2006 - Vaccination-related Adverse Events. - journal article (Pediatric Emergency Care)

* ►July 2006 - West Nile Encephalitis Mimicking Herpes Encephalitis - journal article (Pediatric Neurology)

 

►July 2006 - Drug-resistant tuberculosis: A disease of target populations in Houston, Texas - journal article (Journal of Infection)

►July 2006 - Complementary and Alternative Medicine During Cancer Treatment: Beyond Innocence - journal article (The Oncologist)

►July 2006 - Biomedical Orthodoxy and Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Ethical Challenges of Integrating Medical Cultures - journal article (Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine)

►July 2006 - Use of Herbal/Natural Supplements According to Racial/Ethnic Group - journal article (Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine)

►June 19, 2006 - GM-CSF-surface-modified B16.F10 melanoma cell vaccine - journal article (Vaccine)

►June 5, 2006 - Phase II randomized, placebo-controlled trial of M. vaccae-derived protein (PVAC®) for the treatment of psoriasis - journal article (Vaccine)

►June 5, 2006 - Strattera seen effective for ADHD over 2 years - Reuters Health via PediatricHealthOnline

►June 5, 2006 - Father's heat exposure tied to childhood tumors - Reuters Health via PediatricHealthOnline

* ►June 2006 - Increased levels of mercury associated with high fish intakes among children from Vancouver, Canada - journal article (The Journal of Pediatrics)

►Issue 3, 2006 - Polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation for schizophrenia - journal article (Cochrane Review)