The World Health Organization [WHO] warns there is a global shortage of safe blood. World Blood Donor Day, which is today (June 14). WHO is appealing for more voluntary blood donors to boost the supply of this life-saving product.
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Category Archives: Health
Study: Common chemical may cause damage to tooth enamel
A chemical compound that’s been linked to a number of health problems in animal studies may also damage tooth enamel in humans. BPA is found in many resins and plastics that people use everyday, such as water and baby bottles and food containers.
BPA, or Bisphenol A, can leach from the plastic and into food, water or snacks – and from there into us. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control survey in 2003/2004 found detectable levels of the chemical in 93 percent of more than 2,500 urine samples tested. It can also contaminate the environment, with countless plastic bottles littering many landscapes and waterways.
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Supreme Court says no to patentable human genes
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that companies cannot patent human genes in their natural state. Patients’ rights groups are calling the decision a victory. The court, however, left room to protect patents on key biotechnology applications.
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Gene ruling may have benefits for biotech, breast cancer research
Everyone has BRCA genes in their cells. If you are a woman and one of your BRCA gene copies has a mutation, your risk of developing breast cancer is very high – up to 87 percent in some cases.
A biotechnology company called Myriad Genetics Inc. was the first to discover the healthy, normal code of BRCA. Because a mutation is an error in that code, the normal sequence can be used to test for the breast cancer-causing BRCA mutation. Myriad developed the test, and won patent protection for it and the original BRCA gene.
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WHO says coronavirus has potential of becoming pandemic
The World Health Organization is asking health workers around the world to be on alert for symptoms of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus.
Monday’s warning came as WHO officials ended a six-day investigation in Saudi Arabia, where 40 of the 55 cases of the respiratory disease have occurred. Sixty percent of those people with known infections died.
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Global health faces big changes
The 8th Global Conference on Health Promotion is underway in Helsinki, Finland. The meeting focuses on how public policy can meet the health challenges of a growing and changing global population.
WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan says the challenges facing public health have changed enormously since the start of the 21st Century. She said that health is being shaped by ageing, rapid urbanization and the globalization of unhealthy lifestyles.
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Possible treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder developed
Researchers have developed a possible treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, a mental condition characterized by increased anxiety, depression and problems with memory triggered by witnessing a traumatic event. Scientists say the drug potentially could be given to someone immediately following a trauma to prevent development of the psychiatric condition.
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New treatment for MS could offer hope
Researchers have developed what’s being hailed as a “breakthrough” in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, a crippling autoimmune disease that attacks the outer sheath of nerve cells, eventually disabling many of those with the neurological condition. The new treatment involves sweeping away immune system cells responsible for MS.
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Could camel milk have risks?
Camels are known for their ability to travel long distances across the desert without water, but they’re also becoming an increasingly important source of milk for people in drought-prone regions. That includes East African countries like Kenya, where populations of camels, the single-humped kind technically known as dromedaries, have grown rapidly over the past few decades.
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Controversy in revision of mental illness guide
A long-anticipated revision of an official diagnostic guide to mental illness, known as the DSM-5, was released this week. While the new manual is being welcomed by some doctors as reflecting advancements in the understanding and diagnosis of mental disorders, critics say its definitions of psychiatric conditions are based too much on symptoms and too little on the biological causes of mental illness.
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