How Coconut Oil Could Help Reduce The Symptoms Of Type 2 Diabetes

A new study in animals demonstrates that a diet rich in coconut oil protects against 'insulin resistance' (an impaired ability of cells to respond to insulin) in muscle and fat. The diet also avoids the accumulation of body fat caused by other high fat diets of similar calorie content. Together these findings are important because obesity and insulin resistance are major factors leading to the development of Type 2 diabetes.

The study is also interesting because it helps explain human studies showing that people who incorporate medium chain 'fatty acids', such as those found in coconut oil, into their diets can lose body fat.

Dr Nigel Turner and Associate Professor Jiming Ye, from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research, compared fat metabolism and insulin resistance in mice fed coconut oil and lard based diets. Their findings are now published online in the international journal Diabetes.

"The medium chain fatty acids, like those found in coconut oil, are interesting to us because they behave very differently to the fats normally found in our diets," said study leader Nigel Turner.

"Unlike the long chain fatty acids contained in animal fats, medium chain fatty acids are small enough to enter mitochondria - the cells' energy burning powerhouses - directly, where they can then be converted to energy."

"Unfortunately the downside to eating medium chain fatty acids is that they can lead to fat build up in the liver, an important fact to be taken into consideration by anyone considering using them as a weight loss therapy."

Fat storage is determined by the balance between how much fat is taken in by cells and how much of this fat is burned for energy. When people eat a high fat diet, their bodies attempt to compensate by increasing their capacity to oxidise fat. The medium chain fatty acid (coconut oil) diet was more effective at increasing the oxidative capacity of muscle than the long chain fatty acid (lard) diet leading to less fat storage in muscle and better insulin action.

According to Turner, the lard-based diet used in this research is similar to the diet eaten by people in the Western world. "Its fatty acid composition is about 40% saturated fats, 40% monounsaturated fats and 20% polyunsaturated fats, of which the vast proportion is omega-6, rather than omega-3," he said.

"Obese humans usually eat 40-50% of their calories as fat. Our mice were fed 45% of their calories as fat."

"No high fat diet is good, and the normal dietary combination of long chain fats leads to an overload that our bodies can't cope with. Therefore high consumption of common dietary fats is contributing directly towards the global escalation of obesity and Type 2 diabetes."

"If someone is trying to prevent weight gain, we can see they may benefit from substituting oils containing medium chain fatty acids for other oils in their diet, as long as consideration is given to the potential problem of excess fat in the liver. Other natural dietary alternatives, such as fish oil, might be helpful because the fatty acids in fish oil are thought to exert a lot of their beneficial effects through improving fat oxidation in the liver."

Source
Garvan Institute of Medical Research

UAB's Dr. Whitley Chosen To Serve On President's H1N1 Swine Flu Working Group

University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Director of Pediatric Infectious Diseases Richard Whitley, M.D., has been tapped to serve on the 2009-H1N1 influenza working group of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).

The group is providing recommendations to U.S. President Barack Obama, through PCAST, on federal activities needed to respond to H1N1, or swine flu. Issues examined by the group include infection data collection, vaccine production, drug stockpile, preparedness plans and other public-health concerns, Whitley said.

Whitley is co-director of UAB's Center for Emerging Infections and Emergency Preparedness and a renowned researcher on the antiviral therapies designed to fight infections in children and adults. A UAB professor of pediatrics, microbiology, medicine and neurosurgery, he also serves as vice-chair of the Department of Pediatrics.

Whitley is president elect of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and serves on the Advisory Council for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the National Institutes of Health.

PCAST, which is administered by the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and its working groups include the nation's leading scientists, doctors and engineers who directly advise the president and the Executive Office of the President on prevention, planning, best practices, resource allocation and other responsibilities.

Source: University of Alabama at Birmingham

Second Wave Of Swine Flu Could Overwhelm Resources In Europe And North America Say Canadian Expert

A panel of experts in Canada has written an article in a leading medical journal suggesting that if the H1N1 pandemic swine flu follows the same disease pattern in the northern hemisphere this fall as it has in the southern hemisphere, then resources in North America and Europe could be overwhelmed. The experts say strong leadership will be needed to mobilize effective immunization and other campaigns and they also call for the appointment of national and local leaders and champions.

The editorial article was written by Dr Paul Hébert, Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), and colleagues, and appears in the 17 August issue of the journal.

Hébert and colleagues wrote that vaccination must be the top priority against H1N1 flu this fall if the anticipated second wave of the pandemic virus follows the same pattern of spread in the northern hemisphere as it has in the southern hemisphere.

Canada and much of the Western world does not have much experience in implemeting time-sensitive mass vaccination campaigns, wrote the panel. We already struggle to get vulnerable groups vaccinated for seasonal flu, they added.

For example, in some years, only 15 per cent of people living in Nunavut (a major portion of northern Canada) are vaccinated, and last year, during the most recent outbreak of mumps in Nova Scotia's young adult population, only 15 per cent of targeted individuals were vaccinated (note this is the population segment most likely to be severely affected by the 2009 H1N1 swine flu).

"We need to act now to overcome these access and delivery problems," wrote Hébert and colleagues.

"No immunization program is 100 per cent effective. If a sufficient number of cases are not prevented, we can expect a large number of young critically ill patients filling all tertiary level intensive care beds," they warned, adding that although most infections have been mild so far, unlike most seasonal flu strains, in more serious cases the new 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus seems to invade the lower respiratory system more aggressively, causing more severe illness.

"The world's experience so far tells us that serious illness associated with this virus often manifests as acute lung injury resulting in overwhelming hypoxemia," they wrote.

Hébert and colleagues suggest Canada needs national leadership to make sure vaccines, expertise and equipment reaches everyone that needs them. New laws may be needed to give people power to act quickly.

Each country should have a "visible independent health care czar, with executive powers across all jurisdictions and who is ultimately accountable to the highest office," they added.

After that, the priority is local leadership, including "champions" to coordinate rapid response.

"In countries such as Canada that have shared responsibilities between many levels of government, collaboration and clear communication are essential as a first line of defence," they wrote.

"To see that this happens, governments need to have or enact laws to provide the necessary power to ensure rapid action on complex issues."

They also pointed out that a second wave is likely to hit the northern hemisphere this fall if the H1N1 virus follows the same pattern as it has in the southern hemisphere. This would overwhelm our resources; for example in most areas there are still no plans on how to get the correctly trained health professionals in place to "deliver technologies to help patients survive".

Hébert and colleagues wrote "this is not a time for complacency", and urged that health czars and other national leaders call an immediate summit and bring together officials from public health, critical care, first response, and other health care areas, as well as decision makers, community planners and members of the public to:

"Communicate next steps and to ensure that actions taken by leaders will work at the ground level".

One of the ideas that health czars need to get across to the public is that everyone has a responsibility in tackling the pandemic, it is not just a top down approach, but also a bottom up approach that is needed.

An example of the bottom up approach that Hébert and colleagues referred was one being promoted in the UK called the "flu buddy" system, where individuals partner with one another and take responsibility to check each other's health status regularly.

Improved Colorectal Cancer Survival Linked To Postdiagnosis Use Of Aspirin

US researchers found that patients who regularly took aspirin after being diagnosed with colorectal cancer had a reduced risk of dying from the disease, and the benefit was greater for patients with a type of colon cancer where the tumors overexpress the COX-2 enzyme, which happens in around two thirds of cases. However, more work needs to be done to confirm the result before applying it to patient care, said the researchers.

The study was the work of investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital and is published online in the 12 August issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Lead author Dr Andrew Chan, of the MGH Gastrointestinal Unit told the press that:

"While previous studies by our group and others showed that aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs reduce the risk of developing colorectal cancer, this study is the among the first to show that aspirin can also improve survival in patients who have already been diagnosed with colorectal cancers."

"Moreover, the benefit appeared to be especially strong among patients with cancers that express COX-2," he added, stating that:

"This is an important first step toward developing targeted approaches to improving patient outcomes."

Chan and colleagues brought together data from two ongoing prospective studies, the Nurses Health Study (NHS) and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS), which capture detailed health information on their participants every two years. Researchers use the comprehensive data from these studies to look for links between various factors such as use of drugs and incidence of several diseases.

For this study, Chan and colleagues focused on the data from 1,279 study participants who were diagnosed with stage 1, 2 or 3 colorectal cancer during the period of the studies and for whom data on their use of aspirin before and diagnosis was available.

The results showed that:

* After a median follow up of 11.8 years, 193 (35 per cent) of the 549 participants who regularly used aspirin after being diagnosed with colorectal cancer had died, and of these deaths 81 (15 per cent) were from colorectal cancer.

* This compared with 287 total deaths (39 per cent) and 141 colorectal cancer-specific deaths (19 per cent) among 730 participants who did not use aspirin.

* Compared with those who did not use aspirin, participants who regularly used aspirin after diagnosis had a 29 per cent lower risk of dying from the disease and a 21 per cent lower risk of dying from any cause.

* Among 719 participants who did not use aspirin before diagnosis, those that started using aspirin after diagnosis had a 47 per cent lower rate of death from colorectal cancer compared with those who did not.

* Tumor samples from 459 participants were tested for COX-2 expression.

* Among these, regular aspirin use after diagnosis was linked to a 71 per cent lower risk of dying from colorectal cancer for those participants whose tumors overexpressed COX-2, whereas aspirin use was not linked to lower risk among those whose primary tumors had weak or no expression of COX-2.

The authors concluded that:

"Regular aspirin use after the diagnosis of colorectal cancer is associated with lower risk of colorectal cancer-specific and overall mortality, especially among individuals with tumors that overexpress COX-2."

Senior author Dr Charles Fuchs of of Dana-Farber said:

"We believe our results could lead to improvements in the therapy of patients with colon cancer."

"We're now following up this observational study with a randomized trial to evaluate adding the COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib -- which is less likely to have the gastrointestinal side effects of aspirin -- to standard chemotherapy."

Antivirals Unlikely To Prevent Swine Flu Complications In Children, Study

Research published this week in a leading medical journal says that based on current evidence, which is limited and not easily generalized to children in the current swine flu epidemic, the antivirals oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) are unlikely to prevent complications in children infected with swine flu.

The study was led by Dr Matthew Thompson, senior clinical scientist at the University of Oxford, UK, and appears online in the 10 August issue of the BMJ.

Children are a high risk group during seasonal flu epidemics, which typically affect 40 per cent of pre-schoolers and 30 per cent of school age children, who are also the main route of transmission into households, said the researchers.

They went on to explain that the current control strategy for treating patients who get the flu and preventing its spread includes use of antivirals because vaccination coverage is often low and there is not enough time to make vaccine and get it to everyone who needs it because it's a continual race against emerging strains.

The last time this strategy was examined was in 2005 which is why they decided to do a new review and re-assess the benefits and harms of antivirals.

For this review Thompson and colleagues pooled and re-analyzed data from randomized controlled trials of the neuraminidase inhibitors oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) in treatment of children with seasonal influenza who were treated at home (ie not hospitalized).

They found that the antivirals provided a small benefit by shortening the duration of illness by a day and a half, and they reduced transmission in households, but they had little effect on asthma flare ups, increased ear infections and the likelihood of children needing antibiotics. Tamiflu also carries an increased risk of vomiting.

The effects of these drugs on the incidence of serious complication and the current A/H1N1 swine flu strain remain undetermined, they wrote.

For their analysis they reviewed data from published and unpublished controlled trials. They searched well known registeries, consulted with manufacturers and authors to make a comprehensive list of the trials.

They then selected only those trials that were randomized and controlled, assessed neuraminidase inhibitors in children aged 12 and under who were treated in the community (that is, not in hospital), with confirmed or clinically suspected influenza and did a systematic meta-analysis where they re-analyzed the pooled data.

The main measures of effectiveness that they looked for were how long it took for the illness to resolve and how many children in the households involved caught the flu.

After applying the eligibility criteria, the researchers found a total of four trials testing the antivirals in children treated at home for the flu. Two used Tamiflu (oseltamivir ) and two used Relenza (zanamivir). Between them the four trials covered 1,766 children (1,243 with confirmed influenza, of whom 55 to 69 per cent had influenza A).

They also found another three randomized trials (one with Tamiflu and two with Relenza) that tested the antivirals for postexposure prophylaxis (ability to prevent flu). These covered a total of 863 children.

The researchers emphasized that none of these trials tested the effectiveness of the two drugs against the current pandemic strain of swine flu.

After reviewing the results of these trials, Thompson and colleagues found that:

* The treatment trials showed a reduction in median times to resolution of symptoms, or return to normal activities, or both, of between 0.5 and 1.5 days, but this was significant in only two trials.

* Treatment was not linked with a reduced use of antibiotics.

* In the three postexposure prophylaxis trials, a 10 day course of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) resulted in an 8 per cent decrease in the incidence of symptomatic influenza (the 95 per cent confidence interval ranged from 5 to 12 per cent).

* Based on only one trial, oseltamivir (Tamiflu) "did not reduce asthma exacerbations or improve peak flow in children with asthma".

* While zanamivir (Relenza) was well tolerated, oseltamivir (Tamiflu) was linked with an increased risk of vomiting.

The authors concluded that:

"Neuraminidase inhibitors provide a small benefit by shortening the duration of illness in children with seasonal influenza and reducing household transmission. They have little effect on asthma exacerbations or the use of antibiotics."

"Their effects on the incidence of serious complications, and on the current A/H1N1 influenza strain remain to be determined," they added.

In the meantime, several new antiviral drugs are undergoing trials which may change this result in the future. One such drug showed promise in final stage trials, where according to this week's announcement from its manufacturer, the Japanese global pharma company Daiichi Sankyo, it outperformed Tamiflu in tests on children.

Effect Of Gastric Bypass Surgery On Kidney Stone Disease

UroToday.com - "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." (George Santayana in The Life of Reason 1905). One of the first unintentional human models created for calcium oxalate stone formation was in the obese patient who underwent a jejunal ileal bypass.

In this patient population, the risk of stone disease at 5 years after surgery rose to approximately 20%. In some patients, renal failure resulted. Given this situation, in 1979, the Food and Drug Administration declared a moratorium on jejunal ileal bypass.

Fast-forward 30 years. Enter the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery for obesity. In this comparison of 4,639 patients undergoing this procedure vs. 4,639 nonoperated obese patients, the incidence of urolithiasis (stones in kidney, bladder and/or urethra) was 7.65% vs. 4.63% (p < 0.001) with all patients having a minimum of 3 years of follow-up over the period from 2002-2006. Of note, Asplin and Coe had previously noted in patients undergoing the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, that oxalate levels averaged 78.4 mg., more than double normal oxalate levels. Indeed, the calcium oxalate super saturation among these patients was similar to what was seen in the jejunal ileal bypass patients 30 years ago.

To be sure, these patients are at an increased risk of stone formation after their procedures. Appropriate dietary measures were recommended by the authors (increased fluid intake, low protein diet, low salt diet, normal calcium diet); however, recommending a diet to someone who has undergone an operative procedure for obesity seems futile at best. Are we rediscovering what we already knew and have we now sewn seeds that over time will lead to worsening urolithiasis and new cases of renal failure?

WHO Seeks To Reassure Public About Swine Flu Vaccine Safety

Following media reports raising concern about the safety of vaccines for the swine flu pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a statement yesterday reassuring the public about the regulatory procedures for the licensing and approval of pandemic vaccines, which they said are rigorous and do not threaten safety or quality.

Dated 6 August, and issued from Geneva, where the WHO has its headquarters, the world agency said that vaccines are one of the most important medical devices for minimizing illness and deaths during a pandemic, but to be effective they have to be available quickly and in very large quantities.

If all goes to plan this swine flu pandemic will be the first where vaccines are available in time to anticipate a large surge in infections.

The 1918 pandemic killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide (according to WHO figures); there was no vaccine at all in those days.

And the most severe phases of the 1957 and 1968 pandemics were over by the time the vaccines were ready.

In 2007 the WHO got together with manufacturers, health officials and regulators worldwide to look at what would be needed to ensure the world was ready if another pandemic virus should emerge, and how to shorten the time between the arrival of a new pandemic virus and the production and availabiity of effective vaccines. A key step in that process is vaccine regulation and approval.

When they looked at the whole process and zoomed in on certain parts, they could see how to shorten some of the steps without reducing vaccine effectiveness and safety.

For example, in some cases pandemic vaccines are not entirely "new" because manufacturers can build on existing technology used to make seasonal flu vaccine, and much of the infrastructure for testing and regulatory control, including a vast reservoir of safety data, is already in place.

In this respect, approving a pandemic vaccine is similar to the steps taken to approve a new strain of seasonal flu vaccine, a routine occurrence every year when vaccines change to match the viruses circulating in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, said the WHO.

Another example of where the timescale can be shortened without compromising vaccine quality and effectiveness is to require less data from those manufacturers who already have a vaccine licence and have said they will use the same process to make pandemic vaccine. Those procedures already exist.

The European Medicines Agency, the regulatory body for the European Union, uses a rolling review procedure. This allows manufacturers to submit data required for a single approval application as it becomes available, as opposed to waiting until the end of all the trials cited in the application.

The WHO said given the safety record of season vaccines, they expect adverse events to be rare, and like seasonal vaccines, many that occur will probably be coincidental with time of vaccination and not necessarily caused by vaccination.

However, they did say, that in order to meet the timescale, full clinical testing of the vaccines will not have completed by the time the first batches are being administered and the test results will most likely roll out in parallel with vaccination programmes.

For these reasons, the WHO advises:

"All countries administering pandemic vaccines to conduct intensive monitoring for safety and efficacy."

They said that many countries already have plans in place to do this, and on a more positive note remind the public that mass vaccination programs can generate a lot of safety data in a short space of time, a matter of weeks, they said.

Another important factor in helping things move fast will be how data is collected and shared. The WHO said that the post-marketing surveillance data will be collected in line with protocols that follow a standard developed by the WHO so that it can be reported as it happens, in real time, and relayed worldwide via the WHO website.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the WHO also announced yesterday that manufacturers will be delivering the first doses of vaccine for pandemic H1N1 flu in September.

The first batches will be limited, but more are expected in October, said the LA Times report.

One of the media reports that questioned the safety of the new swine flu vaccine was a BBC Radio 4 documentary that alleged little or no data exists on the safety of flu vaccines in young children and pregnant women, two of the groups that will be targeted in the swine flu vaccination campaign.

There have been no trials of swine flu vaccies on pregnant women, said the BBC, which also noted that in 1976 the US government vaccinated 45 million for a swine flu outbreak that never happened.

However, following that campaign, 500 people were in a coma with a rare neurological condition called Guillame Barre syndrome and 25 of them died.

Peter Smith, Professor of tropical epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who also happens to chair the WHO's global advisory committee on vaccine safety, is one of the experts that remain mystified by the reaction.

Smith told the BBC that reaction has "not really been observed with subsequent influenza vaccines".

He said the experience influences the way in which the US treats all new vaccines.

Health experts think it is highly unlikely that such a reaction will happen again.

Gut Hormone Has 'Remote Control' On Blood Sugar

A gut hormone first described in 1928 plays an unanticipated and important role in the remote control of blood sugar production in the liver, according to a report in the August 6th Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication. What's more, the researchers show that rats fed a high-fat diet for a few days become resistant to the glucose-lowering hormone known as cholecystokinin (CCK).

"We show for the first time that CCK from the gut activates receptors to regulate glucose levels," said Tony Lam of the University of Toronto. "It does so via a gut-brain-liver neuronal axis."

Researchers already knew that CCK levels rise in the upper intestine in response to nutrients such as lipids to lower food intake, Lam explained. Now, his team shows that the CCK hormone binds local receptors on nerves of the small intestine, sending a powerful signal to the brain. The brain in turn tells the liver to stop producing glucose.

Lam said his group described the gut-brain-liver circuitry in a paper published last year. The new study shows that it is CCK that acts as the trigger.

A primary increase of CCK-8, the biologically active form of CCK, in the upper intestine lowers glucose production independently of any change to circulating insulin levels, they found. CCK-8's effects depend on activation of CCK-A receptors and the signals they send to the brain and on to the liver, where glucose production slows. Those effects of the hormone begin to fail early in the onset of high-fat diet-induced insulin resistance, they report.

The findings suggest that CCK resistance, like insulin resistance, might be a key contributor to the high blood sugar that often comes with a high-fat diet. It also suggests that drugs targeting the CCK receptors in the gut may hold promise for therapy. That's key, Lam said, because such gut-targeted drugs might be expected to have fewer side effects than currently available diabetes drugs that work directly on the liver.

"This raises the possibility that we might be able to tap into the circuitry [to lower blood sugar]," Lam said. "At least now we know where to start."

Drug combinations that could increase sensitivity to both insulin and CCK might better combat diabetes than either could alone, he added. While the magnitude of CCK's influence over glucose levels relative to the effects of insulin aren't yet known, Lam said it's now clear both are important and neither works properly in the case of diabetes or obesity.

The researchers further suggest that CCK's role in the gut might somehow explain why people often show improvements in their blood sugar levels following gastric bypass surgeries, even before they lose any weight.

"Since we described that duodenal CCK normally triggers a gut-brain-liver axis to lower glucose production but fails to do so in high-fat fed rodents, we propose that duodenal bypass surgeries improve glucose tolerance in diabetes and obesity partly because the surgery bypasses an acquired defect involving duodenal CCK resistance in response to high-fat feeding," they wrote. Further studies are needed to explore that notion.

The researchers include Grace W.C. Cheung, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Andrea Kokorovic, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Carol K.L. Lam, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Madhu Chari, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; and Tony K.T. Lam, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.

Pneumonic Plague Kills Third Human In Chinese Town

Authorities in China confirmed that a third man has died of pneumonic plague in Ziketan, Qinghai Province, China. The town has been sealed off. The 64-year-old man lived near the other two men who died, officials said.

Checkpoints have been set up around Ziketan, a town of 10,000 people, while medics disinfect the area. Teams of workers have been sent in to exterminate rats and insects.

Pneumonic plague is caused by Yersina pestis, a bacterial agent that infects the lungs. It is a disease of rodents and their fleas and humans. It can spread from animals to people and from person-to-person. Initial symptoms of pneumonic plague are fever, headache, weakness and a cough which produces bloody or watery sputum. Within two to four days it can cause septic shock. Without early treatment the disease is fatal.

It is caused by the same bacterium as the one that caused the Black Death which killed about 25 million people in Europe during the Middle Ages.

Human-to-human infection occurs through respiratory droplets. To become infected a human needs to have face-to-face contact with a sick person.

If treated early the following antibiotics are effective - streptomycin, tetracycline, and chloramphenicol. Although there is no vaccine, antibiotic treatment for seven days can protect people who have had face-to-face contact with infected people.

In the USA the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classify Yersina pestis as a Category A (high priority) bioterrorism agent.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has praised Chinese authorities for their swift response and for getting the situation under control. According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Chinese authorities are being open about this outbreak.

Local media report that so far approximately ten people have become infected. Authorities are urging anyone showing symptoms who has been to the town since the middle of July to seek medical attention immediately.

Gene Variant That Increases Ovarian Cancer Risk Discovered

By searching millions of DNA variations in the genomes of thousands of women with and without ovarian cancer, scientists have discovered a previously undetected region of DNA which when altered, can increase a woman's risk of developing ovarian cancer by 40 per cent. The hope is that this will one day lead to a reliable screening test for a disease that currently has a high mortality rate because it is difficult to detect early.

The study was conducted by an international research team that included UK scientists from University College London (UCL), the Cancer Research UK Genetic Epidemiology Unit, and the University of Cambridge, and is published in the 2 August online issue of Nature Genetics.

Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women in the UK, where around 6,800 new cases are diagnosed every year, which is a rate of about 130 women a week finding out they have the disease.

However, ovarian cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in women in the UK, where it kills around 4,300 women every year.

The human genome, the DNA-coded blueprint of how to make a human being, has more than 10 million genetic variants, of which just a small number will increase a woman's chance of getting ovarian cancer.

Scientists already know that variants in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast cancer genes significantly increase a woman's chances of getting ovarian cancer, but these are rare and account for less than 5 per cent of ovarian cancers.

Senior author Dr Simon Gayther of UCL said this study identified a significant new variant and there is real hope that as more are found:

"We can start to identify the women at greatest risk and this could help doctors to diagnose the disease earlier when treatment has a better chance of being successful."

Gayther and his gynaecological cancer research team's work is supported by funds from Cancer Research UK and The Eve Appeal charity.

For the study the scientists analysed 2.5 million variations in DNA base pairs from the genomes of 1,810 women with, and 2,535 women without ovarian cancer in the UK.

DNA base pairs are like letters of the words that spell out the genetic code. Strips of DNA base pairs (the "words" if you like) are called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Small alterations in the coding of particular SNPs, akin to "spelling errors" in words, link to ovarian cancer risk.

After eight years of searching, Gayther and colleagues found an SNP on chromosome 9 that was uniquely linked to ovarian cancer. Each of us has 23 pairs of chromosomes, each "copy" in the pair comes from one biological parent.

In collaboration with the international Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC) they confirmed the finding in another group of 7,000 women with ovarian cancer and 10,000 women without the disease. The samples came from women all over the world.

The scientists estimated that:

* Women carrying that particular version of the SNP on both copies of chromosome 9 have a 40 per cent higher lifetime risk of developing ovarian cancer than women who do not carry it on either copy of chromosome 9.

* The risk for women carrying both copies is 14 in 1,000 compared to 10 in 1,000.

* About 15 per cent of women in the UK have both copies of the variant.

* Women with only one copy of the variant have a 20 per cent higher lifetime risk of developing ovarian cancer than women who have none.

* The risk for women carrying only one copy is 12 in 1,000 compared to 10 in 1,000.

* About 40 per cent of women in the UK have one copy.

David Lammy, the Member of Parliament for Tottenham and Minister for Higher Education and Intellectual Property, had particular reason to be interested in this research because it included a DNA sample from his mother, Rose Lammy, who died of ovarian cancer last year. She carried both copies of the DNA variant that Gayther and colleagues identified.

Lammy said the study brings us a step closer toward earlier diagnosis of ovarian cancer, when treatment is more likely to succeed. He told the media:

"I am pleased that Mum's sample was included in this study."

"We now know the fact that she had this altered DNA meant that her lifetime risk had risen from 10 in 1,000 to 14 in 1,000, an increase of 40 per cent compared to those women who don't carry this DNA variation," he added.

Is Organic Food Really No Better Than Other Foods?

Some facts about the study:

* It did not include papers that were not written in English - estimated to be about half of all good quality studies.

* It did not include research from the European Union published in April, 2009.

* It ignored a study by scientists at Rhode Island Hospital which found a substantial link between increased levels of nitrates in our environment and food, with increased deaths from diseases, including Alzheimer's, diabetes mellitus and Parkinson's. The study was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Alzheimer's Disease (Volume 17:3 July 2009). Fair enough, this was published after the FSA had concluded their research. However, everyone knew this study was ongoing. Why not wait a little bit longer until it was completed?

* It did not use the top British centers of excellence in this field to carry out the study. Scientists at the Nafferton Ecological Farming Group at Newcastle University, in one of many studies, found that grazing cows on organic farms in the UK produce milk which contains significantly higher beneficial fatty acids, antioxidants and vitamins than their conventional 'high input' counterparts. A nationwide British daily newspaper, The Daily Mail, could not understand why the FSA used the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to carry out the study - a center of excellence, but not renowned as a leading center in this field - instead of, for example Newcastle University.

Why do people choose organic?
Putting the health issue to one side, there are many other reasons people wish to buy organic - two of them are listed below:

* The environment

o The effect on life forms within the soil - if you look at video footage of tractors ploughing fields forty years ago you will notice there used to be a sizeable number of birds gobbling up worms and bugs. Today there are very few of them, and sometimes none at all.

o There are significantly more birds, butterflies, beetles, bats and wild flowers on organic farms than conventional farms.

o Protection of endangered species - intensive farming is known to have a negative impact on the future of many endangered species. "A staggering 5 million skylarks are estimated to have vanished in the past 30 years as a result of agricultural intensification," (Speech given by Sir John Krebs, Chair of the Food Standards Agency at Queen's University, Belfast, on 5 November 2003).

o Coastal waters - there is much less run-off of nutrients from organic farms, compared to other farms, which cause algae blooms in coastal waters.

o Organic farming encourages practices which are more in line with measures to combat climate change. An example is the use of solar powered fertility through crops like red clover that fix nitrogen into the soil for subsequent crops.

* Animal welfare (farm animals)

As organically farmed animals are encouraged to pursue natural behavior, which usually includes plenty of space, more natural feeding habits, as well as receiving fewer drugs and antibiotics, their quality of life is generally of better quality compared to animals in other farms. In the vast majority of cases, organic farms with livestock have free-range animals. In every organic poultry farm in the UK, birds are kept in smaller flocks and spend much more of their time roaming outside on fresh grass - they also have considerably more indoor space, compared to non-organic poultry farms.

What about unknown long-term complications?
Can we really say organic is not better for health if we do not have enough long term evidence?

Scientists at Emory University, the University of Washington, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), found that by substituting elementary school-age children's foods with just organic products, the concentration of the organophosphorus pesticides found in their bodies decreased substantially to non-detectable levels until the conventional diets were re-introduced.

The researchers were specifically measuring the exposure of two organophosphorus pesticides - malathion and chlorpyrifos. Research team leader, Dr. Lu said "During the days when children consumed organic diets, most of their urine samples contained zero concentration for the malathion metabolite. However, once the children returned to their conventional diets, the average malathion metabolite concentration increased to 1.6 parts per billion with a concentration range from 5 to 263 parts per billion."

An elementary school child will most likely live another 70, 80 or even 90 years. We cannot and should not ignore potential long-term complications.

Swine Flu Might Infect 40% Of The US Population In The Next 24 Months

Health authorities in the United States have voiced concern that 40% of the country's whole population could be infected with the swine flu (H1N1) virus over the next 24 months. The estimates are based on data gleaned from the 1957 flu pandemic which killed nearly 70,000 people in the country. That pandemic was not as severe as the 1918-1919 Spanish flu one. If one hundred and twenty million people caught swine flu this time round, and vaccine campaigns were not successful, the eventual death toll could be in the hundreds of thousands.

Such a level of infection would be double the expected number during a normal flu season, say experts. However, if an effective vaccine were to come out in time many immunized people would show no symptoms - that is, if the vaccine worked and authorities managed to get enough of them out there.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) informs that approximately 160 million doses of swine flu vaccines should be available in October, as long as they pass testing. Testing has not started yet but will soon, officials say. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Center for Vaccine Development say testing will start in August, involving 1,000 volunteers in 8 centers around the country.

The American Medical Association estimates that approximately 36,000 Americans die each year from flu and complications from flu.

About 2 billion people are expected to become infected with swine flu worldwide over the next 24 months, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates. WHO added that we are in the initial phase of the current pandemic.

WHO has asked countries to seriously consider closing schools as a measure to slow down the spread of infection.

It is now virtually impossible to know accurately how many people have been infected so far. A significant proportion of infected individuals never go and see their doctor and recover completely by staying at home and self-medicating with OTC drugs. Others may go to see their doctor with some mild flu like symptoms and be sent home and told to drink plenty of fluids and rest.

Officials at the CDC say that it is likely that over one million Americans have so far been infected since the virus first started infecting people in April this year.

American and Japanese researchers have discovered that the Swine Flu virus reaches deeper into the lungs than normal seasonal flu. This may well indicate that it is more virulent than first thought.
Swine flu infection numbers jump in the UK
The Department of Health, UK, reported that about 100,000 people became infected last week - double the total during the week before. Help lines and a new website have been set up. The National Flu Service was set up whereby patients can access flu drugs on the phone and via the internet without having to see their doctor. The website received over 9 million hits per hour initially.

UK's Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson said that while the numbers rose from 55,000 to 100,000, the number of people being hospitalized for flu rose from 652 to 840 - a much lower percentage increase, which is encouraging. "There is no evidence to suggest it is becoming more virulent. Most people with no underlying conditions will get over the flu perfectly well," he said in a BBC interview. UK authorities said Tamiflu stocks are very high and there is absolutely no danger of running out.

Developing countries worry that when vaccines are ready they will be bought up by rich countries, leaving very little for the rest of the world.

Children Capable Of Lifesaving CPR

Nine-year-olds can and should learn CPR. A study of 147 schoolchildren, published in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Care, has shown that, although the smallest may lack the requisite strength, the knowledge of how to perform basic life support is well retained by young children.

Fritz Sterz, from the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, led a team of researchers who studied children who had received six hours of life support training. Upon examination four months after the training, 86% performed CPR correctly. Sterz said, "The usefulness of CPR training in schools has been questioned since young students may not have the physical and cognitive skills needed to perform such complex tasks correctly. We found that, in fact, students as young as 9 years are able to successfully and effectively learn basic life support skills. As in adults, physical strength may limit depth of chest compressions and ventilation volumes, but skill retention is good."

The skills taught to the children included automatic defibrillator deployment, providing CPR, usage of the recovery position and calling for the emergency services. For the critical skills of CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, BMI was the factor that had the biggest influence on depth of compressions and amount of air inhaled. Age did not play a role, indicating that a well-built nine-year-old can be just as capable as an older child.

The researchers conclude, "Given the excellent performance by the students evaluated in this study, the data support the concept that CPR training can be taught and learnt by school children and that CPR education can be implemented effectively in primary schools at all levels. Even if physical strength may limit CPR effectiveness, cognitive skills are not dependent on age, and with periodic retraining, children's performance would likely improve over time."

Doctors Call For Better Sex Education In Schools, Scotland

[NEWS]Commenting on figures released on Tuesday on Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in Scotland, Dr Charles Saunders, chairman of the BMA's Scottish Consultants Committee, said:

"Today's figures show that in Scotland the number of STIs diagnosed continues to rise, with almost a quarter of all acute STI diagnoses being in those aged less than 20. This demonstrates the need for improving the education of young people to help prevent the further spread of these infections.

"It is clear from government statistics that children are becoming sexually active at a younger age so it is imperative that we do more to inform young people of the risks of contracting STIs and educate them on how to prevent them. The BMA firmly believes that children should start sex and relationship education at primary school so that they gain the confidence to delay becoming sexually active and when they do decide to have sex, that they do it for the right reasons and take the necessary precautions."

BMA Scotland believes that in order to meet increasing patient need much more must be done to improve sexual health services, particularly for young people. Dr Saunders added:

"The increased incidence of STIs flags up the importance of education and prevention but also brings with it challenges for the NHS in treating these patients. Sexual health services need adequate and sustained funding to enable them to plan and deliver comprehensive services as locally as possible.

"Improving sexual health services is an essential part of disease prevention. Failure to treat infections promptly means that untreated patients who remain sexually active can continue to spread STIs. Ensuring that people have access to the right help at the right time is crucial." Thank you for reading :)

Blood Pressure Can Be Lowered By Reducing Salt Intake

Adults who use less salt in their diet can experience a slight reduction in their blood pressure in the medium term. However, whether in the long term this can also reduce the risk of late complications in people with sustained high blood pressure, otherwise known as essential hypertension, and whether in the long term their anti-hypertensive medication can be reduced remains unresolved. This is the conclusion of the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) in its final report published in the form of a rapid report on 20 July 2009.

This rapid report is part of a package commissioned by the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), in which the benefit of various non-drug treatment strategies for high blood pressure are to be assessed. Stress management and more physical activity are also included, as well as giving up smoking and cutting down alcohol consumption. IQWiG has already completed a report on the effect of weight reduction on blood pressure.

Assessment was based on secondary literature

IQWiG's benefit assessments are generally based on systematic searches and analysis of clinical trials, in other words, primary literature. However, this rapid report was prepared on the basis of secondary literature. In principle, this can be done - and is included in IQWiG's General Methods - if current, high quality systematic reviews are already available on a given topic. This was the case with reducing salt intake in hypertension, as IQWiG's preliminary search revealed.

IQWiG searched for systematic reviews (these basically provide an analysis of studies in summary) that compared the following patients with hypertension: an intervention group, which was to follow a low-salt diet over a long period, versus a control group, which either did not have this target or whose salt reduction was not so great as in the intervention group. The minimum duration of the studies had to be 4 weeks. In order not to overlook any current and potentially relevant studies, IQWiG also conducted an update search of recently published primary studies.

IQWiG was able to include in its assessment 7 reviews, in which the results of between 520 and 3391 participants from a total of 62 randomized controlled trials were analysed together.

No conclusions on cardiovascular disease or mortality possible

IQWiG found that no conclusions on late complications could be drawn from the available data. The reason for this is that none of the studies had the primary goal of investigating the effects of a low-salt diet on cardiovascular disease or all-cause mortality. Moreover, most of the studies were only of a few months' duration and had low numbers of participants, which meant that possible differences in late complications might not have been detected with certainty.

Uncertainty whether the reduction in blood pressure is sustainable

However, the investigations consistently show that a reduction in salt intake can assist in lowering blood pressure: over a period of up to one year, there was a mean drop of 3.6 to 8 mmHg in systolic values and a mean drop of approximately 2 to 3 mmHg in diastolic values. This applied primarily to patients who did not take any additional anti-hypertensive drugs.

The sustainability of this effect, however, remains unclear. The authors of at least one review report that the observed advantage disappears when the analysis is restricted to studies of a longer duration (at least 6 months).

None of the reviews solely considered patients who were simultaneously taking anti-hypertensive drugs or separately analysed data for participants on concomitant medication. The additional blood pressure-lowering effect of a low-salt diet in these patients is therefore uncertain.

Basically, it is still not known whether people with essential hypertension can reduce their drug dosage through less salt intake.

Report preparation procedure

Rapid reports are intended to offer timely information on a current topic. They are not designed for G-BA guideline decisions. In order to guarantee a shorter delivery time, the report preparation procedure differs primarily in two ways from that of the other reports: working documents, report plans or preliminary reports are not published, nor is there a submission of comments procedure. Furthermore, the assessment is generally based on information already published, i.e. IQWiG is not concerned with obtaining unpublished study data from drug manufacturers, for example.

The report was produced in collaboration with external experts. A preliminary version was reviewed by a further independent research group and the final version was despatched to the G-BA on 22 June 2009. Thank you for reading :)

Simian Virus 40 (SV40)

SV40 (simian virus) is the 40th virus identified by scientists studying monkeys. It has recently been identified in human mesothelioma cells. SV40 may work together (synergistically) with asbestos to cause mesothelioma. Polio vaccines administered to more than 90 million Americans during 1955 - 1961 were contaminated with SV40. During this time period polio vaccines were developed using monkeys to create the antibodies to protect people from polio. Both the Salk vaccine (administered by inoculation) and Sabin vaccine (administered orally) were contaminated with SV40 until at least the early 1960s. Researchers and vaccine manufacturers were aware of the SV40 contamination but did not take steps to remove the virus from the vaccines. However the implications of these facts are not totally understood and further research will be needed to clarify the link between malignant mesothelioma and a viral etiology.

Who Is At Risk of Asbestos Exposure?

Nearly everyone is exposed to asbestos fibers at some time during his or her life. Anyone who has been exposed to airborne asbestos fibers is at risk to develop asbestos related diseases. Although it is known that the risk to workers increases with heavier exposure and longer exposure time, investigators have found asbestos-related diseases in individuals who had only brief exposures.

Most cases of mesothelioma are found in males. This is associated with the fact that mostly males have worked in the occupations that deal with asbestos containing products.

Persons working in shipbuilding trades, asbestos mining and milling, manufacturing of asbestos textiles and other asbestos products, insulation work in the construction and building trades, brake repair, and a variety of other trades are likely to have exposed to asbestos. Demolition workers, drywall removers, and firefighters also may have been exposed to asbestos dust.

Workers' families may inhale asbestos fibers brought into the home on the shoes, clothing, skin, and hair of workers. People who live or work near asbestos-related operations might inhale asbestos fibers that have been released into the air by the operations.

The amount of asbestos to which someone is exposed will vary, according to:

• the concentration of fibers in the air;
• the duration of exposure;
• the person's breathing rate; and,
• weather conditions

Today's workers are less likely to be at risk than workers in the past because of improved work practices, increased awareness of the potential harm of asbestos, and government regulations.

Types of Mesothelioma

There are three types of malignant mesothelioma, differentiated by their cell types and appearance under the microscope (their histology). These are:

* epithelial type
* sarcomatous type
* mixed epithelial and sarcomatous type

Cell types are determined by taking a biopsy specimen from the tumor. The most common kind of malignant mesothelioma appears to be the epithelial type (half the cases in one series), then mixed (in about one-third of cases) and sarcomatous. Within the tumor, there may be great variation in cell types, however. Some experts say that the more biopsy specimens taken, the greater the likelihood of calling the tumor "mixed type".
The epithelial type of malignant mesothelioma may be hard to distinguish from a type of lung cancer, and the sarcomatous form may resemble other sarcomatous-type cancers. However, special laboratory techniques can be used to confirm the diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma, which may be important for litigation purposes.

There is some evidence that the epithelial type of malignant mesothelioma is associated with a better outcome.

Few Mesothelioma Facts & FAQs

What is mesothelioma?
Mesothelioma is a cancer of the cells that make up the lining around the outside of the lungs and inside of the ribs (pleura), or around the abdominal organs (peritoneum).

What does asbestos have to do with mesothelioma?
The only known cause of mesothelioma in the U.S. is previous exposure to asbestos fibers. Asbestos manufacturers knew about the hazards of asbestos seventy years ago - but they kept this knowledge to themselves. The first warnings to workers exposed to asbestos were given in the mid-1960s, and they were terribly inadequate. Even today, workers are not always told they are working around asbestos and are at risk for asbestos disease.

What can someone with mesothelioma do?

• Seek out the best and most up-to-date information.
• Seek out the best medical care.
• Early screening for mesothelioma diagnosis.
• Stay in close contact with your doctor.
• Consider whether or not you want to bring a lawsuit because of this asbestos-related injury.
• Remember that resources are available to you through community and medical support groups, asbestos victims' organizations, your place of worship, as well as your family and friends.

First Swine Flu Deaths Announced In Israel And Saudi Arabia

[NEWS] On Monday, the Health Ministries of Israel and Saudi Arabia reported their countries' first deaths from H1N1 swine influenza.

The Israeli Health Ministry confirmed that a 35-year old man, Shimon Azran, was infected with the novel H1N1 virus when he died, but did not confirm whether the virus had caused his death, reported Israel's daily newspaper Haaretz. Azran was admitted to hospital in Eilat after experiencing symptoms of pneumonia. Tests performed after his death confirmed the presence of H1N1 in his body.

The Saudi Arabian Health Ministry said that a 30-year old male Saudi citizen died of swine flu on Saturday, according to Arab media group Al Bawaba. The man was admitted to hospital with symptoms that included coughing, high fever, and difficulty breathing. He was given Tamiflu but his condition got worse.

These two deaths bring the total of deaths to swine flu in the Middle East to three. The first reported death in the region was of a 25-year old woman who died in Egypt after returning from a pilgrimage to Umrah in Saudi Arabia. She died in hospital on 18 July after testing positive for the H1N1 swine flu virus, said the Egyptian Health Ministry. Her symptoms on admission were "rheumatic fever, lack of oxygen in the blood and a stroke" said a MENA news agency report.

According to Israel's health ministry, there have now been more than 1,300 confirmed cases of H1N1 swine flu in Israel.

A two-year old from Bnei Brak who died on Sunday after being hospitalized with symptoms of pneumonia has since been confirmed as not being infected with H1N1. This followed news of two new cases of swine flu in Israel last Wednesday, a 50-year old man and a 13-year old girl, both of whom are in hospital.

Meanwhile four other swine flu patients in hospital in Israel, including a female tourist from Sweden, and a mother who has recently given birth, are said to be improving.

Saudi Arabia has reported 294 confirmed cases of swine flu, more than any other Arab country.

Health ministers are planning to ban children, the elderly and people with chronic illnesses from this year's annual Haj pilgrimage. At least 2 million people attended the last event, which this year falls in November.

On 16 July, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that it would stop issuing updates on pandemic H1N1 cases and deaths around the world because the virus was so widespread, and in fact had spread in 6 weeks as widely as previous pandemics had spread in 6 months.

The global agency also said on the 24th of July that many countries where the virus has spread widely have moved to testing only samples of people who are ill, and have moved from counting individual cases to watching trends.

But the WHO said it would still report on swine flu cases and deaths in newly affected countries.

-- WHO

[News] WHO Stops Tracking H1N1 Cases

"In a move that caught many public health experts by surprise, the WHO quietly announced Thursday that it would stop tracking swine flu cases and deaths around the world," the New York Times reports. According to the newspaper, the announcement "perplexed some experts, and even baffled a WHO spokesman, Gregory Hartl," who "earlier in the day … had confirmed Argentina, with 137 swine flu deaths since June, had surpassed Mexico, where the epidemic began in February, as the country with second largest number of swine flu deaths." While the last WHO updated indicated nearly 95,000 people worldwide had been infected with H1N1, "[m]any epidemiologists have pointed out that, in reality, millions of people have had swine flu, usually in a mild form, so the numbers of laboratory-confirmed cases were actually meaningless" while tests "overwhelmed national laboratories," according to the New York Times (McNeil, 7/16).

The WHO has asked countries who have yet to confirm cases of H1N1 (swine flu) to report their first cases to the organization and advises countries to watch for unexpected clusters of severe or fatal cases of H1N1 or "unexpected, unusual or notable changes in patterns of transmission" (WHO Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 briefing note 3, 7/16).

Obama Releases $1.8B To Prepare U.S. For H1N1

President Obama on Thursday released $1.825 billion for emergency use to enhance the capabilities of the U.S. to prepare for H1N1, Reuters reports. The money - that comes "from $7.65 billion Congress already appropriated to the Department of Health and Human Services for the swine flu pandemic" - "will go to buy vaccine ingredients, to help health officials plan immunization campaigns and to help get the vaccines approved at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Obama said in a letter to House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi," the news service writes (7/16).

U.S. Vaccine Maker Not Taking More H1N1 Vaccine Orders, Potential 'Scramble' Over Vaccines 'Brewing'

"While at least 50 governments have placed orders or are negotiating with drug companies for supplies of flu vaccine against the fast spreading H1N1 strain, the lone U.S.-based maker [Baxter International] has already taken on as much as it can handle," Reuters writes. Chris Bona, a spokesman for Baxter International "said [Thursday] the company has agreed to allocate a portion of its commercial production to the WHO to address global public health issues," the news service writes (Berkrot, 7/16).

Representatives of the drug makers Novartis and Baxter International who are in the process of developing an H1N1 vaccine on Thursday spoke out about the problems they are having "yielding a large amount of active ingredient," which could push back the H1N1 vaccine delivery, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to the newspaper, "The WHO is attempting to tweak the virus into a new copy that might yield more vaccine" (Whalen, 7/16).

"An ugly scramble is brewing over the swine flu vaccine - and when it becomes available, Britain, the United States and other nations could find that the contracts they signed with pharmaceutical companies are easily broken," the AP/Google.com reports. "Experts warn that during a global epidemic, which the world is in now, governments may be under tremendous pressure to protect their own citizens first before allowing companies to ship doses of vaccine out of the country," which "does not bode well for many countries, including the United States, which makes only 20 percent of the flu vaccines it uses, or Britain, where all of its flu vaccines are produced abroad," the news service writes.

The news service notes, "[a]bout 70 percent of the world's flu vaccines are made in Europe, and only a handful of countries are self-sufficient in vaccines," with the U.S. having "limited flu vaccine facilities," adding that "[i]f swine flu turns deadlier in the winter, the main flu season in the Northern Hemisphere, countries will likely be clamoring for" available vaccines. The article compares several countries plans for mass vaccination campaigns to the country location of the vaccine manufacturers that will produce the H1N1 vaccine (Cheng, 7/16).

The AFP/Google.com reports on how a spike in the numbers of H1N1-related deaths in Britain, has led the governments of Britain, Portugal and France to announce massive H1N1 vaccine orders even though WHO Director-General Margaret Chan has noted the vaccine will not be available for months. The country orders include: 132 million doses from Britain, a 94 million dose order from France and 6 million dose order from Portugal. "Neither [Portugal or France] has reported a death from swine flu," according to the news service (7/16).

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan on Thursday criticized wealthy nations of blocking developing countries from receiving H1N1 vaccines by booking up production capacity, the Mail Online reports (7/17).

Kick-Start Your Workout

One you'll do! When I want quick results, I do interval training. Research shows that vigorous bouts of aerobic exercise followed by easier ones, or mixing cardio intervals with strength training (as I do here), burns tons more calories in less time than if you were to work out at a steady intensity.

Intervals supercharge your metabolism, so you burn calories all day long. And constantly switching from one move to the next keeps things interesting.

The following program combines kicks, jumps, and squats. It really works your hips, thighs, and buns, so you tone and trim inches at the same time.

Your Toning Program
Beginner: Do 30 seconds of each of the five exercises; repeat the entire sequence four times for a total of 10 minutes.

Advanced: Do 1 minute of each exercise; repeat the entire sequence four times for a 20-minute fat-blasting routine.

Do three to five times a week.

1. Front Kicks
Stand with your feet apart, left foot in front, and hands in loose fists in front of your chin, palms facing each other.

Keeping your abs tight, lean your weight into your left leg. Lift your right knee to waist height, and kick your lower leg straight out in front of you as high as is comfortable. (It's a quick but controlled movement.) Keep your left (standing) leg slightly bent. Immediately bring your right leg back down. Do 5 to 10 kicks, then switch to your left leg.

2. Travel Squats
Stand with your feet together, arms at your sides. Step your left foot out to the side. As you land, sit back, bending at your knees and hips. Don't let your knees move forward over your toes. Raise your arms in front of you as you sit back.

Squeeze your butt, and press through your heels to stand back up. As you do, step your right foot in to meet your left foot. Then step your left foot out to the side as you squat once again. Do 3 or 4 squats to the left, then go to the right.

3. Do jumping jacks

4. March in place, or jog

5. Side Kicks
Stand with your feet wider than shoulder-width and your left foot turned out about 45 degrees. Hold your hands in loose fists in front of your chin, or rest your left hand on a chair for balance. Lean to the left, and cock your right hip up. For a printer-friendly version of all steps click below.

Lift your right knee. Then, without lowering it, kick your lower leg out to the side. Keep your abdominals tight, your left (standing) leg slightly bent, and your right foot flexed. Concentrate on kicking through your heel. Bend the knee back in, and bring your leg down. Do 5 to 10 kicks with your right leg, then switch to your left. Start low, gradually working up to higher, faster kicks.

[NEWS] US To Start Human Trials Of H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine In August

The United States will start human trials of an experimental vaccine for preventing the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus in August; the first study will involve 1,000 volunteer adults and children in 10 centres throughout the country.

The announcement was made yesterday by the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Center for Vaccine Development, one of 8 of a nationwide network of Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units (VTEUs) that will start recruiting volunteers and testing the vaccine in August.

The VTEU network, which will evaluate the safety of the vaccine and measure its ability to stimulate immune responses to the H1N1 virus, is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

This step is the first toward the US government's goal to have a safe and effective vaccine available to the public before the flu season starts in the fall.

The US government has declared the H1N1 flu outbreak a public health emergency, following the World Health Organization's declaration last month that the virus spread was now a global pandemic.

Experts anticipate that the virus will cause significant illness during the US flu season this fall and winter, including hospitalizations and deaths.

Dr Karen L Kotloff, who is a lead investigator at the VTEU, and also professor of pediatrics, and a researcher in the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, told the press that:

"Vaccines have always been a vital tool for controlling influenza. The results of these studies will help to guide the optimal use of the H1N1 vaccines in the US and elsewhere in the world."

The idea of VTEUs is not new: the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland School of Medicine has been an NIAID centre for more than 30 years.

Dr E Albert Reece, dean of the School, who is also Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland, and the John Z and Akiko K Bowers Distinguished Professor at the School of Medicine, said they were very pleased to lead the effort to stop the H1N1 pandemic before the start of the 2009 flu season.

"Our VTEU is now one of just eight in the country, and it is the only one in the mid-Atlantic region," said Reece.

The trial vaccine will first be tested on healthy adults and elderly volunteers. If they show good tolerance to the vaccine, it will then be tested on children. The researchers anticipate enrolling as many as 200 adults, 200 seniors and 600 children on the trial.

The trial will also test two strengths of the vaccine and evaluate which of them offers the best protection against the H1N1 swine flu.

All the volunteers will receive two doses of vaccine three weeks apart, and also give blood samples each time so the researchers can compare the response after one dose with the response after two doses. The volunteers will be asked to keep a log of how they feel and any symptoms they experience.

The researchers will continue to keep an eye on the volunteers for another two months, and check them after four and six months.

Kotloff told CNN:

"The purpose of these trials is always to make sure they are safe."

"But even after six weeks, if things look good, we're pretty sure the vaccine will work," she added.

Kotloff said in a press statement that because young people have not experienced a flu virus like this one before, she and her colleagues expect that the response may be different in different age groups.

"Learning the responses of different age groups of people to the vaccine will not only tell us the best way to use the vaccine in an individual, but we also learn ways to use the vaccine supply most efficiently to protect the greatest number of people," added Kotloff.

"Older adults might have some immunity to the new H1N1 virus as a result of being exposed to similar flu viruses in the past. As a result, older adults might need fewer doses or a lower strength of the vaccine than younger individuals," she explained.

Further trials will look at how the vaccine works when combined with the seasonal flu vaccine, and whether adding an adjuvant to boost the immune response helps the vaccine remain effective at lower doses.

The other 7 VTEU sites are: Baylor College of Medicine, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Emory University, Saint Louis University, Seattle Group Health Cooperative, the University of Iowa, and Vanderbilt University.

The Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City and Duke University Medical Center are also expected to join the VTEU network.

Earlier this week, a spokesperson for CSL Ltd, a biopharmaceutical company based in Melbourne, Australia, told CNN that they were planning to start the first human trials of a swine flu vaccine on Wednesday, with 240 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 64, who will also receive two shots, three weeks apart, and give blood samples so researchers can evaulate their immune response.

What Are Bed Bugs? How To Kill Bed Bugs

Bed bugs, known scientifically as Cimex lectularius (Cimicidae) are small wingless insects that feed by hematophagy - exclusively on the blood of warm blooded-animals. As we are warm-blooded animals we are ideal hosts for them. Over millions of years bed bugs have evolved as nest parasites - inhabiting the nests of birds and the roosts of bats. Some of them have learnt to adapt to the human environment and live in our nests, i.e. our homes, and more specifically, our beds. Newborns, called hatchlings or nymphs, are tiny, about the size of a poppy seed, while adults grow to about ¼ of an inch long. Their shape is oval and flattened. Both nymphs, eggs and adults are visible to the naked eye.

They are called bed bugs because of their preferred habitat in human homes: sofas, bed mattresses and other soft furnishings.

Bed bugs are seen as a growing problem within all types of dwellings, including private homes, dormitories, cruise ships, army barracks, and shelters.

When seen close up they may have a white, light tan to a deep brown or burnt orange color. Just after molting most of them are plain white. When they have had their feed a dark red or black blob may be observed within their body. They will instinctively seek shelter in dark cracks and crevices when disturbed.

How dangerous are bed bugs to humans?
Most bed bugs feed on their hosts while they are asleep. The host supplies them with blood in a painless way, never knowing it is happening. While feeding they inject a small amount of saliva into the host's skin. The more they feed on one particular host, say a human, over a period of several weeks, the more sensitized that human becomes to their saliva. Until eventually the host develops a mild to intense allergic response.

People who have become sensitive to bed bug bites - their saliva - have lesions similar to mosquito or flea bites. Most humans will think they have been bitten by some insect, such as a mosquito, and never realize who the true culprit was.

Articles about skin conditions/diseases

what is ringworm? What is body ringworm? What is scalp ringworm?

What is psoriasis? What causes psoriasis?

What is eczema? What causes eczema?

What are skin tags? What causes skin tags?

What are pimples? How to get rid of pimples

What are blackheads? How to get rid of blackheads

What are warts? What causes warts?

What are genital warts? What causes genital warts?

What is dandruff? What causes dandruff?

What is acne? What causes acne?

What is nail fungal infection? What causes nail fungal infection?

What is skin cancer? What is melanoma?
The common bed bug, (Cimex lectularius) has adapted well to human environments. It is generally found in temperate climates. Cimex hemiterus is more common in tropical regions, and has mainly poultry and bats as its host. Leptocimex boueti, found mainly in South America and West Africa feeds chiefly on humans and bats. Haematosiphon inodora, of North America, feeds primarily on poultry.

How do bed bugs feed?
The most active time for a bed bug is about one hour before sunrise - the peak time for feeding. However, they will try to feed at any time of day or night if they are hungry enough, and if the opportunity is there. They prefer nighttime and hate sunlight.

They will reach their host either by crawling straight towards them, or climbing a wall and then across the ceiling until they feel a heat wave - when they jump down onto their host. The bug is attracted to the host by both its warmth and the presence of C02 (carbon dioxide).

It pierces the skin of its host with two hollow tubes. One tube injects saliva which contains anesthetics, so that the host feels nothing, and anticoagulants, so that the blood flows out freely. The other tube sucks the blood in.

Feeding takes about five minutes, after which the bug returns to its hiding place. Bites are not noticeable by the host until at least a few minutes or some hours afterwards. Hosts, for example humans, will be aware of a bite after scratching it. Often bites may not be noticeable for several days.

Bed bugs will feed every five to ten days. They can, however, last for several months without feeding. If there is no food around they can become dormant for over a year. A well fed bed bug has a lifespan of about six to nine months.

How do bed bugs reproduce?
Bed bugs reproduce by traumatic insemination, also known as hypodermic insemination. The males have hypodermic genitalia which pierce the females anywhere on their abomen and ejaculate sperm into the body cavity. The sperm diffuse through the insides and reach the ovaries, resulting in fertilization.

The female bed bug lays approximately 5 eggs in one day and about 500 during her lifetime. Eggs are about 1 mm long and are visible to the naked eye. They have a milky-white tinge.

The eggs take about two weeks to hatch. The nymphs (baby bed bugs) start feeding as soon as they hatch, and pass through five molting stages before reaching maturity. During each molting stage they need to feed once. It takes about five weeks to reach maturity at a room-temperature environment.

Bed bugs can only reproduce when they have reached maturity.

How do bed bugs get into your house?
Bed bugs may get into a new home as stowaways when luggage, furniture and bedding is moved into a new home - especially in the case of second-hand furniture. Perhaps we should be careful when purchasing second hand furniture at knock-down prices - a careful visual inspection should result in detecting them, if any are present.

Even vacant and seemingly clean homes may have bed bugs in them - they can survive for many months without any food. They can also move from apartment to apartment through hollows in walls and holes and tubes that wires and pipes go through.

A bat or bird that flies into a home could introduce bed bugs, and some other bugs as well.

How do I know if I have bed bugs in my house?
The biggest sign of bed bugs is people complaining of bites that occurred while they were asleep. If this happens you should examine the bedrooms for bed bugs and signs of bed bug activity. Look carefully into the creases in the bed linen, and seams and tufts of mattresses and box springs for bugs or eggs. The eggs will look like tiny pale poppy seeds.

Signs of bed bug activity may exist beneath loose areas of wallpaper near beds, in the corner of desks and dressers, in laundry, and in drawers.

Look out for dark brown or reddish fecal spots (bed bug droppings, excrement). If an area is very infested you may sense a coriander-like odor. The excrement is a liquid that looks either light brown or black that can either bead up or be absorbed by the material around it.

Dogs can be trained to sniff out live bed bugs or past infestations. A dog's sense of smell is so acute that it can pick up the scent of a single bed bug.

What happens when I get bitten?
When you are bitten a raised red bump of flat welt (also called a papule or a wheal) will appear, often accompanied by very intense itching. The anesthetic contained in the bed bugs saliva causes an allergic reaction which results in the red bumps. They look very similar to mosquito bites, but last a lot longer. Signs and symptoms of bug bites will only affect the surface of the skin.

Bites can sometimes take up to nine days to become visible. Unlike flea bites, bed bug bites do not usually have a red dot in the center.

Bed bugs, like fleas, tend to bite in rows. There are likely to be two or three bites all in a row. This is probably because the bed bug is disturbed while feeding, and then comes back about half an inch further down for its next bite; or perhaps it had been trying to find a good vein, and needed several attempts.

About 50% of people who are bitten show no symptoms at all and do not know it happened. This makes it more difficult to prevent or identify potential infestations. Some individuals, however, may become ill and nauseous. It is possible get skin infections and scars from scratching the bites.

When people know they have an infestation of bed bugs in their house they tend to become alarmed. Research, however, indicates that bed bugs do not transmit disease, even though they do bite and take blood. Infections will occur as a result of scratching, and not from a pathogen passed on from the bug.

Very rarely, some people may have an anaphylactic reaction to bed bug bites. It is possible to have an asthmatic reaction when they shed skin as they grow and die; but cases are very rare.

Treatment of bed bug bites
Most bites resolve within one to two weeks. Treatment focuses on relieving symptoms, and include:

* Applying a topical cream, such as cortisone to relieve itching.
* Avoid scratching as this can cause infection.
* If infection does occur an oral antibiotic may be prescribed.
* If there is a severe allergic reaction oral corticosteroids may be prescribed.
* Antihistamines may also help relieve allergic reactions.

As soon as the symptoms are treated it will be necessary deal with the infestation (see below Controlling infestations of bed bugs)

Do bed bugs transmit disease?
Although they look very much like the kind of insect that would transmit disease, like mosquitoes, there are no records anywhere of disease transmission cause by bed bugs - even from sick host to healthy host.

A study carried out by scientists at the Department of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, USA, that reviewed the available evidence on bed bugs found that while they are highly resistant to various ways of getting rid of them, they seem to be more of a nuisance than a serious health problem, but the possibility that they could one day serve as a vehicle for disease has not been well researched.

Scientists say there may be as many as 40 pathogens that could potentially live inside a bed bug or around its mouth area. However, tests have concluded that bed bugs are highly unlikely to carry disease from host to host.

Researchers have concluded that they are much less hazardous to human health than fleas, or other common insects. Nevertheless, these are well formulated opinions, rather than the results of conclusive studies. Some say hepatitis B or Chagas disease could not be discarded as possibilities if the setting were right.

As mentioned before, the biggest risk for humans comes from secondary bacterial infection, which in this case would be as a result of scratching the skin. Scratching, if it breaks the skin, allows bacteria to penetrate - but the bacteria would not have been from the bed bug.

Although they are not known to carry diseases, bed bugs can affect the quality of life of a person who has been bitten, causing distress, discomfort, embarrassment and unsettled sleep.

Controlling infestations of bed bugs
Since they can hide in so many places, they are not easy to eradicate. Unless you have a lot of time at your disposal, and limitless patience, it is advisable to get a professional in pest control. Experts know where to look for them, as well as how to get rid of them.

You can help the pest control professional by removing excess clutter form your house. If your stuff is strewn about rooms the bed bugs will have many extra places to hide, making inspection and eradication that much more difficult.

Some pest control companies may ask you to move furniture away from walls and mattresses and box springs stood on edge before they come in, while others prefer everything to be left where it is so that they can check before moving them themselves.

If you live in an apartment or a house that adjoins another one, it may be necessary to inspect adjoining dwellings to. Bed bugs can easily disperse throughout a building.

The following procedures are advised:

* Bedding and garments which are prone to infestation need to be bagged and laundered at 120 F minimum, because these items cannot be treated with insecticides. Or….

* Place these items in the clothes drier. Set it to high heat for ten to twenty minutes. "Dry-clean only" clothes may be placed in the drier as long as they are completely dry beforehand and are set at moderate heat (less than 160 F). It is possible to send your stuff off to be dry-cleaned - this will kill the bugs; but you may be passing your problem onto the dry-cleaning establishment. When the dry-cleaners open your bags and sort them the little bugs may get away and infest their new home.

* For things that cannot be treated by washing or placing in the drier, wrap them in plastic and place them outdoors in a very hot and sunny location for at least 24 hours. For best results pack each bag loosely. The aim is for an internal temperature of at least 120 F.

* Freezing may also work, but may take several days. It may be an option during winter months when finding hot and sunny locations may not be possible.

* Do not try to kill them off by ramping up the heating in your house - it won't work. Some pest control companies have special heaters for this.

* Although thorough vacuuming may not catch every single bug and egg, it will help get rid of some of the infestation before treatment with insecticides. When vacuuming make sure you include cracks and crevices. Dislodging eggs is extremely difficult - scraping as you vacuum along infested areas, such as fabric folds of beds and sofas and the perimeter edge of wall-to-wall carpets, is more effective. When you have finished make sure you place the vacuum cleaner contents in a sealed bag.

* You may find it is best to throw some infested items away. A pest control professional will help advise you. Make sure you bag these items carefully before moving them.

* Insecticides are a crucial part of getting rid of bed bugs. Do not use baits for ants and cockroaches, they will not work with bed bugs. A good pest control professional will treat all areas where bugs are found, as well as areas bugs tend to like. Depending on the size of your home and the severity of the infestation, this may take several hours. Follow-up visits may also be necessary.

* If you have recently got rid of bats or birds in and around your home it is possible that the bed bugs that fed on them may have switched to human hosts. Bat and bird nesting sites must be treated too.

Scientists at Ohio State University have determined that combining bed bugs' own chemical signals with a common insect control agent makes that treatment more effective at killing the bugs.

Encasing your bed
You could encase both the mattress and box spring in a proactive cover, as some people do for allergy relief. Some pest control firms sell them, as do a number of retail outlets.

As soon as you have encased it and zipped it shut, any bug trapped inside will eventually die - as long as you do not unzip it. Some people keep their new beds encased as it prevents the bugs from getting into the mattress and crevices and makes it easier to keep the surface clean and bug free. It is important to remember that encasements do not stop bugs from crawling onto them. Thank you for reading :)

What Is Hair Loss (Alopecia)? What Is Baldness?

The word alopecia refers to any type of hair loss, thinning hair or baldness in any hairy region of the body. Baldness tends to be a more specific term among lay people, as it usually refers to hair loss on the scalp - however, it can mean hair loss in any part of the body. Alopecia areata means "hair loss in areas". In the majority of cases hair loss is a normal process of aging, and not a disease. Because it is not seen as life-threatening to doctors it is often disregarded. This is unfortunate because hair loss can cause serious distress in some people, with some far reaching psychological effects. In some cases hair loss may be a consequence of some medical treatment, especially cancer treatment drugs - when the hair loss is generally temporary.

There are several types of alopecia, below is a list of the main types:

Alopecia areata - hair loss occurring in patches anywhere on the body. Hair is lost from some or all areas of the body, generally from the scalp. As it causes bald spots on the scalp, especially during its early phase, it is sometimes referred to as "spot baldness". A small proportion of alopecia areata cases spread to the whole scalp, or even the entire body. Approximately 0.1% to 0.2% of all humans are affected. It occurs in both men and women, but more commonly among women.

Most people who develop alopecia areata are apparently healthy and have no skin problems. When it does occur, it tends to start during the late teenage years, early childhood, or early adulthood. However, it can strike at any age.

Alopecia areata is not contagious. It is more commonly found among people who have close family member who have/had it. People who have a close relative with some kind of autoimmune disease are more likely to develop alopecia areata. That is why most experts believe it is an autoimmune disease - a disease where the body attacks good parts of the body as if they were foreign undesirable objects, such as some bacteria or viruses; in this case the body is attacking its own hair follicles. Studies indicate that T cell lymphocytes cluster around attacked follicles, causing inflammation and hair loss. Scientists say something, combined with hereditary factors, trigger the condition - we do not know what that something is, although some suspect it may be emotional stress or a pathogen. A pathogen is a disease-producing agent, e.g. a virus, bacterium or other microorganism. A study found that there is a close relationship between infection outbreaks on teeth and the presence of alopecia areata.

Symptoms usually appear as small, soft, bald patches. They may be of various shapes, but are generally round or oval. The scalp and beard are the most commonly affected areas; but can occur in any hairy part of the body. The patient may feel tingling, or even some slight pain in affected areas. Some parts of the body may experience hair re-growth while others will not. It can go into remission for long or short periods, and even forever (gets better and never comes back).

When the hair falls out on the scalp it tends to do so over a short period, and more so on one side than the other.

People with this type of alopecia also have "exclamation point hairs" - hairs that become narrower along the length of the strand closer to the base.

Alopecia totalis - total hair loss of the scalp. This could happen rapidly, or from progression of alopecia areata. Experts are not sure what causes it, but know that it is an autoimmune disorder. Although many believe mental stress is a contributory factor, a sizeable number of people with alopecia totalis lead relatively stress-free lives.

This type of alopecia may be an intermediary condition between Alopecia areata and Alopecia Universalis (total body hair loss). It usually emerges as a fairly sudden total scalp hair loss, or more gradual. When it is gradual it tends to be a development from alopecia areata.

The majority of sufferers are either children or young adults under 40. However alopecia totalis can affect people of any age. The patient's nails may also become ridged, pitted or brittle in appearance.

Alopecia universalis - all hair is lost throughout the body. It generally involves rapid loss of hair, including eyebrows and eyelashes. Experts consider it to be the most severe form of alopecia areata. It affects approximately 1 in every 100,000 people in North America and Western Europe. It is an autoimmune condition.

Alopecia barbae - loss of facial hear. Barbae comes from Latin and refers to the bearded area of the face. It does, in fact, affect both men and women. However, it is of more interest to men as only men are generally bothered by it.

Alopecia mucinosa - also referred to as follicular mucinosis. It is an inflammatory condition of both the hair follicle and sebaceous glands (pilosebaceous unit) which can result in scarring as well as non-scarring hair loss. Severity of scarring indicates how advanced the disease is. There is mucin around hair follicles when examined under the microscope. Mucins appear like stringy, clear or whitish gunk in the skin, and are made up mostly of hyaluronic acid - this is a normal component of the ground substance surrounding collagen of the dermis (part of the skin).

Alopecia mucinosa generally affects the face, neck, and scalp, but can affect any part of the body.

Alopecia mucinosa can be one of three types: 1. Primary and acute disorder - this affects children and teenagers (Pinkus type). 2. Primary and chronic disorder - this occurs in people over 40. 3. Secondary disorder - this is associated with benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous) skin disease.

Experts are not sure why it occurs, but it is seen as an autoimmune disease. Early signs include raised spots (follicular papules) which appear in reddened plaques or patches, about 2.5 centimeters in diameter, but they can be bigger. Some patients may start with one or more lesions, while others may have a single lesion that develops to multiple lesions over several weeks or months. The affected follicles will commonly result in hair loss.

If treated early enough it is reversible - hair will grow back. In more severe cases hair will not grow back, even after the disease has cleared up.

Androgenetic alopecia (male pattern hair loss) - this is also known as male pattern baldness. The hair gradually thins out, to an almost transparent state. It can affect both men and women. Experts say this type of alopecia is most likely to be hereditary - the person can inherit from either the mother or the father. Androgens means hormones. This type of alopecia is the type most lay people refer to when talking about balding.

Male pattern baldness usually starts with a receding hairline, and/or hair loss on the top of the head.

The person has a genetically determined sensitivity to the effects of DHT (dihydrotestosterone). Experts believe DHT shortens the growth phase (anagen phase) of the hair cycle, causing miniaturization of the follicles, resulting in finer hair. DHT production is regulated by 5-alpha reductase, an enzyme. DHT exists in several tissues of the body, including the scalp.

About 50% of men are affected by this type of hair loss at some time in their lives. Men of Chinese or Japanese ancestry are less likely to be affected.

A Chinese study found that men who smoked were more prone to age-related hair loss.

A study identified two genetic variants in Caucasians that together produce an astounding sevenfold increase in the risk of male pattern baldness.

Adrogenetic alopecia (female pattern hair loss) - this is also known as female pattern baldness. Women have a higher risk of female pattern baldness when they undergo hormonal changes during the menopause. The hair on the head is thinner, while facial hair may be coarser. Although new hair is not produced, the follicles are still alive. This suggests that hair regrowth is possible.

Generally, female pattern baldness is different from male pattern baldness. The woman will experience hair thinning all over the head, but will not usually lose her frontal hairline (it will not recede). Loss of hair on the crown may be moderate, but his hardly ever progresses to total or near baldness. Women can lose hair for other reasons than female pattern baldness:

* Teologen effluvium (temporary shedding of hair)
* The hair may breaks after styling treatments, or the twisting and pulling of hair
* Alopecia areata
* Some skin diseases
* Iron deficiency
* Hormonal problems
* Underactive thyroid
* Vitamin deficiency

Traction alopecia - this refers to hair loss as a result of too much pulling or tension on the hair shafts - usually the result of some hair styles. This type of alopecia is more commonly found among women. If the traction alopecia is prolonged the person's hair, where lost, may never come back.

Very tight ponytails, braids, or pigtails may cause traction alopecia if the person frequently uses them. Toy dogs whose owners use barrettes to keep hair out of their faces may also develop this type of alopecia.

Anagen effluvium - generally brought on by the use of chemotherapy or radiotherapy to treat cancer. Hair loss starts off as patchy, and then becomes total. Fortunately, in the vast majority of cases, as soon as the treatment is stopped the hair comes back within about six or so months. Some other medications can also cause hair loss. Compulsive hair pulling can also cause this type of hair loss, as well as poisoning from toxic plants, and some other diseases.

Anagen effluvium is caused by sudden, profound disturbances to the matrix cells of the hair follicles.

Telogen effluvium - more than normal amounts of hair fall out. It is characterized by excessive and early entry of hairs into the telogen phase (resting phase). This is a temporary condition - the hair comes back. It is thought to be caused by marked emotional or physiological stressful events that may result in an alteration of the normal hair cycle. The events may include childbirth, chronic illness, major surgery, anemia, crash diets, severe emotional disorders, or drugs.

What are the treatments for alopecia?
If the hair loss is caused by an infection or a condition, treating that infection/condition may prevent further hair loss, and in many cases re-growth will occur.

Male-pattern baldness treatment

* Finasteride - this works by preventing the hormone testosterone converting to the hormone DHT (dihydrotestosterone) which causes hair follicles to shrink. Finasteride effectively brings back normal hair size (from being very fine hair). According the National Health Service, UK, two-thirds of males who are given finasteride experience some hair regrowth. However, even among the other third who experience no regrowth, most stop becoming balder. The effects of finasteride are not evident for at least four months. If the patient stops taking finasteride the balding process will resume. About 1 in every 50 men who take finasteride experiences a loss of libido (sex drive).

* Minoxidil - this is available as a lotion. The person rubs it into the scalp on a daily basis. In the UK, and most other countries it is available over-the-counter (no prescription needed). About 15% of men who use it experience hair regrowth, while half of all men notice that the balding process stops. For about 32% of all men, minoxidil has no effect at all. It is only after four months of daily applications that those who do benefit from minoxidil notice it. If treatment is stopped the balding process will resume. Side effects are uncommon.

* Laser phototherapy - a controlled clinical trial proved the clinical efficacy and safety of a laser phototherapy device for treating hereditary hair loss, according to an article.

* Dermabrasion gel - scientists have found a way to make the skin of laboratory mice give have fully working hair follicles complete with new hair by using a protein that stimulates follicle generating genes in skin cells under wound conditions.

Female-pattern baldness treatment

The only effective medication for women with female-pattern baldness is minoxidil. About 20% to 25% of UK women who take it experience hair regrowth, while the majority finds the treatment stops or slows the loss of hair. Other treatments include hair transplants, wigs, hair weaving, changes in hairstyle, plastic surgery (scalp reduction).

Alopecia areata treatment

There is no current reliable, safe, effective, long term treatment for alopecia areata, a study showed. Fortunately, about 80% of cases resolve themselves after a year without treatment and hair grows back. Therefore, watchful waiting may be the best initial strategy. If it does not resolve itself, some treatments are possible:

* Steroid injections - effective when the patient has small patches. A steroid solution is injected straight into the scalp, several times. The steroid stops the immune system from attacking hair follicles. After about four weeks this treatment may stimulate regrowth. Treatment might be repeated every few months. With some patients alopecia returns some time after treatment is stopped, while with others the regrowth is permanent.

* Topical steroids (creams and ointments) and steroid tablets - although these medications are widely prescribed for alopecia areata treatment, their long-term benefits are not clear. It seems there is a chance hair will regrow. Side effects become more common the longer the patient takes the steroid tablets or creams/ointments; they may include diabetes and stomach ulcers. Some patients experience itching, and sometimes hair growth in other areas.

* Minoxidil - applied in lotion form to the scalp every day, this treatment can stimulate hair growth. Benefits, if they do appear, do so after about two or three months. In the UK they are not recommended for people under the age of 16.

* Immunotherapy - this is the most effective treatment for total hair loss. DPCP (diphencyprone) is applied to the bald skin. The patient applies the chemical solution once a week, and the dosage is stronger each time. The DPCP generally causes an allergic reaction and the patient will develop mild dermatitis (mild eczema). Hair starts to regrow after about three months among patients who respond. Some patients may have a severe skin reaction. This can be dealt with by reducing the rate of dosage increase. A very small percentage of patients may develop vitiligo (patchy colored skin). Most patients find that hair continues falling out after treatment is stopped.

* Dithranol cream - this treatment is much less popular than immunotherapy because it is less effective and there is a greater risk of causing a skin reaction and itchiness. It can also stain the scalp and hair.

* UV light treatment - the patient is given about two to three sessions of light therapy each week. This is usually done in a hospital. After about 12 months patients may see some good results. It is not very popular as response rates are not so good.

* Tattooing the eyebrows - this is known as dermatography.

* Alternative therapies - alternative therapists commonly offer aromatherapy, massage, or acupuncture for alopecia treatment. Not enough studies exist to determine how effective these treatments are. Thank you for reading :)