Short break~

Taking a short break here and shared some news with you guys....

Ebola spreads panic faster than the disease

Few diseases inspire as much panic as an outbreak of Ebola fever.
In Uganda - where 100,000 people die of malaria each year - an epidemic of a new Ebola strain has killed just 36 people and infected 135 others but is spreading terror.
Yet apart from a doctor who died in Kampala after arriving from an affected area, all cases have been in western Uganda's Bundibugyio district.
Medics say the epidemic in the remote region along the Congo border could be contained within months.
But tell that to Thomas Ssema, an engraver in Kampala."This isn't over yet," he said, extending his fist as an alternative to shaking hands he fears could be carrying the lethal virus.
"It could spread everywhere. You only need one of those people to get to Kampala on a bus. I'm terrified."
Bank tellers have donned gloves to handle money and President Yoweri Museveni has told Ugandans to wave instead of shaking hands. But experts say much of the panic is overblown.
At a doctor's surgery in Kampala, a notice entitled "Ebola" in bold letters urges calm, pointing out that though the virus is spread easily through body fluids like blood, saliva and sweat, victims are not infectious until they show symptoms.
"As usual, the panic is out of proportion with the threat," said one general practitioner, who declined to be named.

Symptoms of Ebola start with a fever, vomiting and diarrhoea. Victims quickly degenerate. Most die of shock or multiple organ failure, unless their immune systems beat it back. Some bleed through the eyes, mouth, nose and other orifices.The disease was first identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan in 1976, which suffered simultaneous outbreaks of different strains miles apart.
In Congo, its most lethal mutation - the Zaire strain - infected 318 people, killed 280 and earned its name after the Ebola river where the epidemic was first identified.
The last time Uganda was hit, the milder Sudan strain infected 425 people. Just over half died. The other strains - Reston and Cote d'Ivoire - did not cause human epidemics.Uganda's current outbreak represents a fifth strain and the World Health Organization (WHO) says it is concerned because the initial symptoms are milder, making it harder to diagnose.

"The way it presents, you could mistake it for malaria, at the very early stage - high fever and headache. This strain has put us on so much alert," said Dr Andrew Bakinaga of WHO Uganda.
Medecins sans Frontieres says it is concerned the Christmas season will give Ebola opportunities to spread if the sick go to big family gatherings common in Ugandan villages at this time.
Government officials prefer to look on the bright side, pointing out that the 25 percent death rate makes it less lethal than the Zaire strain's 80 to 90 percent.
Some even speculate the virus could have adapted."We think something is happening to the virus - it is mutating to a less lethal form," said Dr Sam Zaramba, Uganda's director of health services.Dr Pierre Rollin, a specialist in hemorrhagic fevers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, doubts this."It's still too lethal," he said on a visit to Uganda.

"If humans were the main host of the virus it would make no sense for it to kill the people it infects so quickly."

"HIV is fantastic from (this) point of view. People survive for 10 years and ... spread it. It's perfect adaptation. Ebola is not adapted to humans."It is even more lethal to other primates like monkeys and chimpanzees, which means they cannot be its main store, either."The host must be something else," said Rollin.

"We think it's bats. We found bats with antibodies and genetic material from the virus. When infected, it doesn't seem that they die."


Japan confirms 34th case of mad cow disease

The Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said on Friday that a cow in northern Japan's Hokkaido had been tested positive for mad cow disease.

It was the 34th case of mad cow disease confirmed so far in the country. According to the ministry's press release, the 15-year-old cow was born in western Japan's Shimane Prefecture and was raised in Hokkaido. After it was killed on Wednesday, the beef was tested positive for mad cow disease during check-up by a local meat inspection institution

The result was confirmed shortly after further testing at Hokkaido University and another farming college nearby. The cow was the oldest one in all the mad cow disease cases in Japan. All of the cow's meat and gut was incinerated before entering market, the press release said.

Shanghai doctors give girl liver from parents

Doctors here have successfully carried out a liver transplant on a 15-year-old girl, using pieces of the organ from each of her natural parents.
The girl, Shi Yi, is currently in a stable condition after undergoing the operation on December 12, doctors said.
Her mother and natural father are also recovering following surgery.
Carried out by surgeons at the Shanghai Ruijin Hospital, the operation took 17 hours and included three simultaneously performed procedures on the girl and her parents.

It is the city's first successful transplant from two living donors.

Li Hongwei, president of the hospital, said yesterday the dual graft operation is appropriate for only a small number of patients.

"Because Shi Yi weighed 95 kg when she came into the hospital, the larger, dual graft transplant was urgently required. The only hope was to use parts of her parents' livers," Li said.

Shi's natural parents divorced five years ago. Since then, the girl has lived with her mother and stepfather, Qiu Jinsheng.
When Shi was diagnosed with Wilson's Disease, a genetic disorder, Qiu offered his liver for the transplant, but he was deemed incompatible because doctors said he had a fatty liver.

"As her stepfather, I felt regret that I was unable to share my responsibility for Shi Yi's illness," Qiu said yesterday.
Shi's mother convinced the girl's natural father, Shi Zhouming, to help with the transplant.

"Whatever it costs, I'll save my daughter. I'm her father, I'll help her," Shi Zhouming said.

Following medical tests, Shi's natural parents qualified as liver donors.

"Donors have to undergo major abdominal surgery to remove the parts of the liver that will form the graft," Li said.
"Keeping them safe is the most important thing."Shen Boyong, a doctor at Ruijin Hospital, said: "Due to the risks involved with the operation, dual graft liver transplants require the most advanced surgery techniques in the world.

So far, only five countries have been capable of doing them."Two similar operations have been carried out in China.

"After six to 12 months, both the donated pieces of liver in Shi and the remaining parts in the donors will grow back to normal size, allowing all three to resume their lives as healthy people," Shen said.

Oral anti-diabetic substance discovered

Research at the University ofHaifa in Israel has discovered a substance that may become an oraltreatment for diabetes and its complications, U.S. media reportedon Monday.

The substance, which is derived from yeast, is called GlucoseTolerance Factor (GTF). The research is now at the stage where the substance has been successfully tested on diabetic rats and was found to reduce sugar and lipids in the blood of the treated animals.

"The next stage of the research is to evaluate GTF efficacy inhumans," said Nitsa Mirsky, lead researcher.

Diabetics suffer from lack of insulin or a deficiency in thebody's ability to respond to insulin. It is a chronic illness withno cure and can lead to kidney failure, heart problems, strokes orblindness, as well as other complications.

Approximately 50 percent of diabetics are treated with insulin,which has to be injected, while the rest are treated with oralmedications which tend to be more difficult to regulate and oftenhave side effects.

The study by Mirsky's research team indicate that GTF actssimilarly to insulin in the rats, lowering the level of glucose,and of LDL-cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol), and raising thelevel of HDL-cholesterol (the "good" cholesterol).

GTF can also inhibit oxidation processes that can causeatherosclerosis and result in further complications of the diseaselike strokes and heart attacks.

Moreover, when GTF is given at early stage of the disease, itcould prevent or delay renal complications. GTF also helped toprevent cataracts and retinal damage.

It was also found that GTF improves the effectiveness ofinjected insulin. Further research is needed in order to find acombined regimen of insulin and GTF as a potential treatment fordiabetes, said the researchers.