►December 26, 2003 - Mad Cow Scare Lingers in England - Early Missteps Contributed to Public Mistrust of Government and Science - Washington Post

►December 26, 2003 - Sugar Drink Helpful for Genetic Disease - Ivanhoe via www.healthcentral.com

►December 26, 2003 - Nicotine Vaccine - Ivanhoe via www.healthcentral.com

►December 24, 2003 - New understanding of why brain cells die after stroke will lead to development of new treatments - University of Toronto via www.eurekalert.org

►December 26, 2003 - Death Rate for Salmonella Strain Is Lower - AP via The Herald-Sun

►December 26, 2003 - R.I. Hospital to Resume Stomach Procedure - AP via The Herald-Sun

►December 26, 2003 - Flu 'widespread' in all but 5 states, CDC reports - AP via www.sunspot.net

►December 23, 2003 - Study: Stress weakens resistance to illnesses - The Washington Post via The Seattle Times - "Scientists are gaining new insights into the role of temperament in making some people vulnerable to physical disease through studies exploring how stress influences the immune system, weakening disease-fighting cells and creating fertile environments for pathogens...This month, a carefully done study showed that shy men have much less resistance to the AIDS virus than extroverted men and benefit far less from treatment with antiretroviral drugs. It is the first study to demonstrate through laboratory tests a connection between being introverted and the course of AIDS in individuals, researchers said."

►December 23, 2003 - Caution: All those warnings can be a downer - Toledo Blade - "But then, on the other hand, maybe there should be a warning sign on warning signs: CAUTION: Reading too many warning signs could be detrimental to your mental health and could turn you into a risk-averse, humorless curmudgeon."

►November 2003 - Visualizing How One Brain Understands Another: A PET Study of Theory of Mind - The American Journal of Psychiatry via http://mentalhelp.net - "Objective: Theory of mind (TOM), or 'mentalizing,' refers to the the ability to attribute mental states to self and others.  Inferring what people are thinking and feeling is an important aspect of human social interaction, and it is also an important aspect of both psychiatric diagnosis and treatment.  The authors conducted a positron emission tomography (PET) study to examine the neural substrates of TOM, using a task that mimics real-life social interaction."

►December 24, 2003 - French doctors face manslaughter charges - The Guardian, UK - "Six top staff, including two surgeons, at one of Paris's leading public hospitals are facing manslaughter charges over the death of a patient who contracted gangrene after undergoing surgery...The case, in which, coincidentally, the deceased had been the hospital's chemist overseeing internal hygiene, has come amid a mounting crisis in France's public health system. Hailed in Britain as a model for the NHS, the French service has been criticised at home for poor hygiene after reports that 10,000 patients a year died from infections contracted in the country's 1,500 state medical institutions."

►December 23, 2003 - Many Americans at High Risk from the Flu Have Not Gotten Vaccinated This Season - One in 10 Americans Report Difficulty Involving Shortages - Harvard School of Public Health

►December 22, 2003 - Environmental Working Group Files Legal Challenge to FDA Mercury Health Advisory - Group Seeks Tougher, Scientifically Sound Protections for America's Children - Environmental Working Group - "The Environmental Working Group (EWG) today filed a legal challenge seeking to block the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from issuing a weak proposed health advisory for mercury in seafood. New analyses contained within the filing show that FDA's advice fails to meet the standards for accuracy and scientific integrity of the Data Quality Act (The Act), a law passed in 2000. The Act requires all influential statements by the federal government to be accurate, reproducible, clear and based on the best peer-reviewed science. The FDA's proposed mercury health advisory meets none of these criteria."