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RE: Lawsuit: Celebrity hair product causes hair loss
12/16/2015 8:14:27 PM
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RE: Lawsuit: Celebrity hair product causes hair loss
12/16/2015 8:15:31 PM
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Antibiotic ~ linked to Type II Diabetes
12/27/2015 1:57:33 AM

It's prime time for more serious bouts of respiratory ailments now that it's winter—or, as doctors probably like to call it, antibiotic prescribing season. But before you willingly take that script for penicillin, you may want to weigh the risks that antibiotic therapy could pose to your health…and your waistline.

New research published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism has found a link between the use of antibiotics and the development of type 2 diabetes.

For the study, Danish researchers tracked data from more than 1.5 million participants and found that those who filled two to four antibiotic prescriptions had a 23 percent higher risk of developing diabetes, compared with those who didn't fill any antibiotic prescriptions. Even worse: Those who had filled five or more prescriptions were 53 percent more likely to develop the disease.

Researchers note the possibility that people with diabetes, and people who are at greater risk of developing diabetes, may be more likely to get sick—ultimately needing antibiotics—than the average, healthy person. But the study found an association between antibiotic use and diabetes up to 15 years before the diabetes diagnosis, suggesting the drugs could be playing a causal role.

This most recent study isn't the only one to look at a relationship between the development of diabetes and antibiotic use. Research published in the European Journal of Endocrinology also found a link between the two, saying just two to five courses of penicillin and similar antibiotics greatly increased diabetes risk.

Researchers say that antibiotics' impact on the fragile community of good and bad bacteria in our guts could be what's at play here. Since many antibiotics kill most bacteria (both bad and good), they can drastically disrupt the atmosphere down there, leading to things like insulin sensitivity and glucose intolerance, both of which can lead to the development of diabetes.

That being said, we still don't know for certain if antibiotics directly cause metabolic diseases like diabetes. Until then, be sure to take antibiotics only when you need them—as a remedy for an illness, not as protection against one.

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Zika virus
2/1/2016 10:11:40 PM
Zika-linked disease is WHO emergency

A disease linked to the Zika virus in Latin America poses a global public health emergency requiring a united response, says the World Health Organization.

Experts are worried that the virus is spreading far and fast, with devastating consequences.

The infection has been linked to cases of microcephaly, in which babies are born with underdeveloped brains.

The WHO alert puts Zika in the same category of concern as Ebola.

It means research and aid will be fast-tracked to tackle the infection.

There have been around 4,000 reported cases of microcephaly in Brazil alone since October.

WHO director general, Margaret Chan called Zika an "extraordinary event" that needed a co-ordinated response.

"I am now declaring that the recent cluster of microcephaly and other neurological abnormalities reported in Latin America following a similar cluster in French Polynesia in 2014 constitutes a public health emergency of international concern."

She said the priorities were to protect pregnant women and their babies from harm and to control the mosquitoes that are spreading the virus.

She advised pregnant women:

to consider delaying travel to areas affected by Zika

seek advice from their physician if they are living in areas affected by Zika, as well as protect themselves against mosquito bites by wearing repellent

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/zika-linked-disease-is-who-emergency/ar-BBoYPWX


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RE: Zika virus ~ weapon to fight
2/1/2016 10:50:12 PM
New weapon to fight Zika: The mosquito

Every weekday at 7 a.m., a van drives slowly through the southeastern Brazilian city of Piracicaba carrying a precious cargo — mosquitoes. More than 100,000 of them are dumped from plastic containers out the van's window, and they fly off to find mates.

But these are not ordinary mosquitoes. They have been genetically engineered to pass a lethal gene to their offspring, which die before they can reach adulthood. In small tests, this approach has lowered mosquito populations by 80 percent or more.

The biotech bugs could become one of the newest weapons in the perennial battle between humans and mosquitoes, which kill hundreds of thousands of people a year by transmitting malaria, dengue fever and other devastating diseases and have been called the deadliest animal in the world.

"When it comes to killing humans, no other animal even comes close," Bill Gates, whose foundation fights disease globally, has written.

The battle has abruptly become more pressing by what the World Health Organization has called the "explosive" spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus through Brazil and other parts of Latin America. Experts say that new methods are needed because the standard practices — using insecticides and removing the standing water where mosquitoes breed — have not proved sufficient.

"After 30 years of this kind of fight, we had more than two million cases of dengue last year in Brazil," said Dr. Artur Timerman, an infectious disease expert in Sao Paulo. "New approaches are critically necessary."

But the new efforts have yet to be proved, and it would take some years to scale them up to a meaningful level. An alternative to mosquito control, a vaccine against Zika, is not expected to be available soon.

So for now, experts say, the best modes of prevention are to intensify use of the older methods of mosquito control and to lower the risk of being bitten using repellents and by wearing long sleeves.

Women are being advised to not get pregnant and to avoid infested areas if pregnant, since the virus is strongly suspected of causing babies to be born with abnormally small heads and damaged brains.

One old method that is not getting serious attention would be to use DDT, a powerful pesticide that is banned in many countries because of the ecological damage documented in the 1962 book "Silent Spring." Still, it is being mentioned a bit, and some experts defend its use for disease control.

"That concern about DDT has to be reconsidered in the public health context," said Dr. Lyle R. Petersen, director of the division of vector-borne diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He said the damage to fish and wildlife stemmed from widespread outdoor use of DDT in agriculture, not the use of small amounts on walls inside homes to kill mosquitoes.

Other experts say the old methods can work if applied diligently.

"We've had great success using old methods for the last 50, 60 years," said Dr. Peter J. Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. "We just need to be very aggressive and exercise political will."

A determined American doctor named Fred L. Soper eradicated a malaria-carrying mosquito in Brazil in the 1930s, even before the widespread use of DDT. And dengue-carrying mosquitoes were eradicated in 18 Latin American countries from 1947 to 1962, Dr. Hotez said.

But Dr. Soper was a fanatic, making sure every house was thoroughly inspected and all standing water removed. In Brazil, he was backed by the government, which made it a crime to deny entry to an inspector. According to a profile of him in The New Yorker, Dr. Soper used to say that mosquito eradication was impossible in a democracy.

Such an autocratic approach might not be feasible in today's societies. Moreover, Latin American cities have grown tremendously since ...

Read more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/New-weapon-to-fight-Zika-The-mosquito/articleshow/50790933.cms

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