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brain death LONDON, Dec 15: Allowing relatives to witness tests to confirm a loved one is brain dead may help them to cope with their loss, doctors and nurses said today. ......more Drug firms studying how WASHINGTON, Dec 15: In the 1960s, several newborn babies died after being given an adult antibiotic that their tiny livers could not break down.....more Local anaesthesia could LONDON, Dec 15: Giving local instead of general anaesthesia to patients having surgery could reduce complications and deaths by about 30 percent, ......more 5 Muslims killed by Chinese police in clashes: Report BEIJING, Dec 15: Five Chinese Muslims were shot dead and over 40 injured in a violent clash with police ......more |
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Commission DURBAN, Dec 15: Chairman of the King Commission of Inquiry into cricket match-fixing called for tapping of phones, scrutinising e-mails of cricketers and restricting people allowed near cricketers while on tour to tackle this "evil".......more Too soon for animal-human heart transplants - Group WASHINGTON, Dec 15: It is too soon to start experimenting with animal-to-human transplants of hearts or lungs because the procedure is .....more Bid to smuggle BERLIN, Dec 15: German border police have foiled attempts to smuggle 24 Indians to Britain...more Civilian Govt in Pak ISLAMABAD, Dec 15: Speaker of the suspended National Assembly Elahi Baksh Soomro has....more |
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Observing brain death tests could help relatives LONDON, Dec 15: Allowing relatives to witness tests to confirm a loved one is brain dead may help them to cope with their loss, doctors and nurses said today. Families often find it difficult to accept that a relative who is still warm with no apparent injuries and breathing with the help of a ventilator can be brain dead, despite explanations from medical staff. A survey of nearly 100 intensive care doctors and nurses who deal with brain dead patients showed that 69 per cent believed witnessing the tests for brain death would be helpful for relatives. "Two-thirds of consultants and nurses who had previous experience of relatives being present during testing felt that the relatives had benefited from this," Dr Stephen Bonner said in a report in the British Medical Journal. The intensive care specialist at South Cleveland Hospital in Middlesbrough, Northern England, and his colleagues said relatives should be counselled before they witness the tests which confirm that the body can no longer function without medical assistance. "It is possible that allowing relatives to be present may help them to understand the diagnosis and assist the grieving process," Bonner said. Patients who suffer brain deaths are usually the victims of road traffic accidents, head injuries, severe strokes or cerebral haemorrhage. "These are not people with brain damage, these are people with total brain death. It is completely different to people in a persistent vegetative state who have the ability to breathe and therefore have the potential to wake up in a year or two," he added. (REUTERS) |
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Drug firms studying how medicines affect kids WASHINGTON, Dec 15: In the 1960s, several newborn babies died after being given an adult antibiotic that their tiny livers could not break down, proving that, when it comes to medicine, children are not just "little adults." Despite that lesson four decades ago, pediatricians remain in the dark about how most medicines affect their patients. Only about a fourth of all drugs have been tested in children, leaving doctors at times guessing at the best treatments. "That has left the medical community that cares for children in a very difficult situation," said Dr. Ralph Kauffman of children’s mercy hospital in Kansas city. "We either have to deny children useful medicines or we have to give them medicines without adequate prescribing information." But new data is coming in thanks to incentives begun two years ago and a federal measure that took effect this month, which have sent companies scrambling to do pediatric studies. Under the program created by Congress, drugmakers can gain an extra six months of market exclusivity before generic competitors hit the market for each product they study in children. That extra time can mean hundreds of millions of dollars in added revenue for a single drug. "The interest in developing the type of trials that need to be done has been pretty phenomenal," Dr. Dianne Murphy, associate director of pediatrics at the U.S. Food and Drug administration drug evaluation center, said in an interview. "The important thing is you can’t just do any study. FDA determines if there is to be a public health benefit." So far, drugmakers have proposed about 200 pediatric studies for medications for AIDS, allergies, asthma, depression and nearly every other ailment that afflicts children. The research could involve more than 20,000 children, from newborns to adolescents. By contrast, only 11 studies on children were done from 1991 to 1997, Murphy said. And starting this month, a federal rule gives the FDA power to require pediatric studies for drugs that might benefit children. Regulators want to know what doses work best for children and whether some drugs might produce unexpected reactions when they interact with kids’ immature organs and different bodily systems. The goal is information to add to labeling instructions for pediatricians and parents, and officials hope about 100 products will have new directions within the next two to three years. Doing research with children is not easy. Companies used to working with adult volunteers need to find researchers with the expertise to help run pediatric studies and address their unique challenges. For years, people worried that using children as guinea pigs was unethical. But Dr. Robert Ward, Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Utah, said he views that as largely settled. "We are treating children with less than optimal information about effectiveness, dosing and safety. You just have to ask yourself: what is more unethical? to treat a child in that situation or to treat a child in part of a controlled clinical trial?" Ward said. Doctors still must work to convince parents to expose their children to unknown risks and subject the kids to blood and other tests they normally may not need. The pool for recruits is small because there are fewer sick children than adults. In addition, getting children to cooperate can be tough. Younger ones may have trouble swallowing pills or may not take a medicine because it tastes bad. In those cases, researchers need to develop kid-friendly formulations. Equipment must be scaled down and tests redesigned to analyze smaller samples. "You can’t draw a bucket of blood from babies," Kauffman noted. And how do you ask very young children to describe pain? researchers need to find new measurements of whether medicines are working. Also, to minimize any fear of going to see a doctor, some research centers are being revamped with bright colors, games and activities to make the experience fun. Efforts to adjust infrastructure and science to the needs of children has produced what the FDA’s murphy calls the "NASA effect," comparing it to the vast scientific knowledge gained when the United States decided to explore space and the moon and poured resources into developing the needed technology. "Here we have a population (of children) that hasn’t been studied, and we are realizing we have these large scientific gaps" to fill in, she said. But the advances come with a price. While brand-name drug makers gain revenue, consumers pay higher prices for six months longer without a generic alternative for such popular drugs as allergy medicine claritin and antidepressant prozac. Generic drugmakers say they will press for modifications to the incentives program when congress considers whether to reauthorize it next year. While helping children, the current system can come at the expense of elderly or chronically ill patients with high medical bills, generic companies argue. But ward believes society owes it to children to make up for decades of neglect while adults reaped major benefits from medical advances. "I view that (cost) as paying the debt the country accumulated," he said. (REUTERS) |
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Local anaesthesia could cut deaths after surgery LONDON, Dec 15: Giving local instead of general anaesthesia to patients having surgery could reduce complications and deaths by about 30 percent, New Zealand researchers said today. Local or regional anaesthesia, in which the patient is still conscious and only a part of the body is numbed, is usually used for minor operations. Most patients undergoing major surgery have general anaesthesia and are unconscious. But a four-year analysis of 140 international studies has shown that there were fewer blood clots, infections, heart attacks and kidney failures in patients given local anaesthesia. "By combining study results, the benefits of regional anaesthesia can clearly be seen. Overall, regional anaesthesia reduced the risk of dying from post-operative complications by 30 percent," Dr Anthony Rodgers of the University of Auckland said in a statement. The research, published in the British Medical Journal, also showed a 25 to 50 percent reduction in blood clots in the legs and lungs, a potentially fatal development following surgery. The scientists said their findings show that the use of local anaesthesia should be considered more often, particularly for patients who have a risk of developing complications after surgery. "The benefits appear to be more certain than previously thought. Patients do not need to be awake during their surgery, as a light sedation or even additional general anaesthesia can be given in addition to regional anaesthesia," Professor Stephan Schug, a co-author of the study, added. (REUTERS) |
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5 Muslims killed by Chinese police in clashes: Report BEIJING, Dec 15: Five Chinese Muslims were shot dead and over 40 injured in a violent clash with police in Shandong province which erupted over an "insult" to the minority community, media reports said today. Members of the Hui Muslim minority had protested over an "insulting" banner hung in front of a meat shop on September 20 claiming to sell "Muslim pork". The community protested earlier on a number of occasions demanding its removal leading to continued clashes with the police in Yanxin county in the province, Hong-Kong based ‘South China Morning Post’ reported. Quoting the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, it said Muslims petitioned the local Government demanding the removal of the banner. Officials, however, issued a public notice in October saying the protests constituted "illegal activities" and held three members of the community, it said. The angered members of the community clashed thrice with the police in November over the issue, it added. The situation exploded last Saturday when a pig head was hung in front of a mosque. Violent confrontation broke out on Wednesday between the Han Chinese and the Muslims. Police fired into the air but failed to quell the mob and had to resort to firing into the crowd in which five Muslims were killed. A Chinese police official, however, denied the killing. A member of the community said the deceased will be buried today. (PTI) |
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King Commission recommends strict vigil on cricketers DURBAN, Dec 15: Chairman of the King Commission of Inquiry into cricket match-fixing called for tapping of phones, scrutinising e-mails of cricketers and restricting people allowed near cricketers while on tour to tackle this "evil". Justifying the recommendations, Edwin King said, "we are trying to protect young entrants to the game from unscrupulous people". King even recommends that cricketers be schooled in fair play and encouraged to blow the whistle on any one involved in under-hand activities in a second report handed over to the Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour late last night. The minister said he would pass on the report to President Thabo Mbeki and added that Sports Ministers from different countries should get together to discuss the recommendations made by king. The one-man commission also suggested that those cricketers involved in errant activities should first be slapped with simple fines for minor offences but ultimately should be banned for life. The report said in order to win the support of players, cricket administrators should also look at ways of improving pay and remuneration packages. King is due to start the final set of public hearings on January 25 and release his final report by the middle of next year. Meanwhile, Hansie Cronje, who has been banned for life from playing international cricket, has lodged a High Court action to get the King Commission to postpone its adjourned hearings in January. Cronje said his lawyers would not be available in January as they would be attending another important hearing. He said it was important that he retain his legal team for he did not have financial means to hire new lawyers. (PTI) |
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Too soon for animal-human heart transplants - Group WASHINGTON, Dec 15: It is too soon to start experimenting with animal-to-human transplants of hearts or lungs because the procedure is still far too risky, an International Transplant Group said today. Although taking organs from farm animals such as pigs offers the possibility of an almost limitless supply, the organs still do not work well in people and there is too big a chance that an unknown virus could pass into the human population, the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation said. "There are two major concerns — one is, can we get the immunology right, can we get the science right," said Dr. David Cooper, a former transplant surgeon and president of the International Xenotransplantation Association, said in a telephone interview. "The other major concern is, are we going to do any harm by transferring infectious agents to the patient ... Then infect the community." Several studies have shown that pigs carry viruses known as Porcine Endogenous Retroviruses (PERVS). People carry their own versions of such viruses, and it is not clear whether they can be passed on from tissue or organ transplants, although they have been shown to pass from one species to another. "We wanted to add our weight to the fact that we felt this should not be considered safe and at the moment there is not enough information about it," Cooper, who worked on the statement and who is currently at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, said. Scientists fear that not only could the patient be infected but that the viruses could change in their bodies, become more dangerous and then spread to the population at large. In August Charlestown, Massachusetts-based Biotransplant Inc. said it had bred miniature swine that carried the viruses, but that did not transmit them to human cells the way normal pigs do. It hopes to further develop the pigs. But even before that hurdle is crossed, cooper pointed out there is the bigger problem of making such transplants work in the first place. "No transplanted pig lung has functioned for even 24 hours," the Group pointed out in its report, published in today’s issue of the journal of heart and lung transplantation. The reason is that pig cells are covered with a sugar that human bodies reject. Scientists are trying to genetically engineer pigs whose cells lack this sugar. Cooper said his group felt there was a lot of discussion about the issue of animal to human transplants, known as xenotransplants, and too few guidelines. "So we decided to come up with our own recommendations," he said. "There is quite a bit of research going on in this field. The society thought it would be better to plan ahead and not wait until somebody came up and said ‘I am ready to do it’." Among their recommendations — that 60 per cent of primates such as a baboon live for at least three months with an organ transplanted from another animal before tests on humans could even be considered. There is a dire need for organs. More than 70,000 americans and hundreds of thousands of people around the world are on waiting lists for new organs, but there are not nearly enough to go around. Cooper said he feared that reports of using pig organs would make people less likely to donate their own or their relative’s organs. "It has got to be made clear to the public that we are not ready for xenotransplants at the present time," he said. (REUTERS) |
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Bid to smuggle 24 Indians to UK foiled BERLIN, Dec 15: German border police have foiled attempts to smuggle 24 Indians to Britain and Germany in two separate incidents and have arrested four persons, including two British truckers, in this connection. Two German youths were picked up by the boarder guards while they were bringing 19 illegal immigrants, including five Indians, in cars into Germany from the Czech Republic last evening, a border police official said here today. In another incident late last night, the border police arrested two British truckers trying to smuggle 21 Indians from Germany to Britain. The truckers’ 40-ton truck was stopped by police at a highway rest stop near Moers in the Western state of North-Rhine Westphalia at the border with Holland. Police said the Indians, all men, were illegally staying in Germany. Some 150 police took part in the action, which was the result of tight cooperation between the National Crime Squad in England and the Border Guard Office in the western city of Cologne, police said. All the 19 illegal immigrants being smuggled into Germany have been sent back to the Czech Republic for further investigations, the official said adding two Germans—aged 23 and 19—have been arrested in this connection. (PTI) |
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Civilian Govt in Pak in offing - report ISLAMABAD, Dec 15: Speaker of the suspended National Assembly Elahi Baksh Soomro has called a meeting of members of Pakistan Muslim League of exiled former Premier Nawaz Sharif amidst speculation that the military regime is working towards restoration of the House and the installation of "sympathetic" civilian Government, media reports said today. The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is working to ensure optimum attendance of the meeting scheduled after Eid-ul-Fitr to seek PML Parliamentary Group backing for a possible restoration of the suspended National and Provinical Assemblies, the nation newspaper said. The members have been told that they have "little option but to attend the meeting," the daily quoted an unidentified political source as saying. The National Assembly and four Provincial Assemblies in Pakistan were suspended after a military coup led by Gen Pervez Musharraf on October 12 last year ousting the Government of Nawaz Sharif. The apparent coordination between the military and the speaker of the suspended National Assembly has arisen speculation that Soomro could be Prime Minister of a PML-led coalition Government, the newspaper said. Political sources said the plan has been conceived by a powerful troika, the members of which are believed to be two senior military officers and a highly-placed civilian bureaucrat. The same troika is widely believed to be behind the deal struck late last week between the military Government and the Sharif family, leading to their exile to Saudi Arabia, the daily said. Pro-establishment elements within the PML are confident that they will be able to form a Government, supported by dissident members of former Premier Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, in Peshawar. However, they are less confident of their ability to take power in the two smaller provinces of Sindh and Balochistan. Political sources said the military is mentally prepared for the possibility of these efforts failing, in the event of which Governor’s rule would remain in force until the general elections are held. The plan detailed above fits in with a scenario floated by ISI in the early months of last summer, according to which the military ruler would ascend to the Aiwan-e-Sadr, after President Rafiq Tarrar proceeds abroad for lengthy medical treatment, the daily said. Sources said the major priority of the military Government is to ensure "continuity", by overseeing the installation of a civilian Government that would command a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. (PTI) |
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