Blog+Reflections

__**Wall Street Journal**__
 //Targeting Tumors with Bee Venom// As came apon this article I thought to my self why and how would bee venom decrease the size of a tumor? You would never think that a bee's venom might accually cure cancer some day. After reading the article I learned that the venom in bee's are called Melittin, that attacks the tumor. One limitation to this venom is that it also attacks health cells like red blood cells. In the article Dr. Hoskins who specializes in cancer said, "The danger is that if this goes to clinical trials, that human tumors might not respond to this partical in the same way that tumors in mice do". I agree with what Dr. Hoskins said because even though we've been testing on mice for a while now, it doesn't mean that humans would react the same way as the mouse did. Beginning clinical trials on humans might result in a deadly way, the venom may attack all of the healthy cells, which would cause the human body to fail and not recover. I've always thought of a bee's venom as a bad thing because of the storys I heard when a person got stung by a bee and had an allergic reaction. I would never thing that a what could be a harmful sting could accually save someones life. After finishing up this interesting article I now have a different way of looking at simple and what could be harmful things.

//Vaccine-Like shots help fight cocaine addicts// The title of the article cought my eye when I saw "vaccine" and "cocaine" together. This article explains a vaccination given to people who are addicted to cocaine in order to prevent getting high and help them fight the addiction. Researchers say that its not perfect, but as the research progresses there might be a vaccination that will control urges to use cocaine. The vaccination interfers with the actions caused by the cocaine in the brain. The research involved 115 cocaine addicts and heroin users in New Haven, Conn. "Overall, 21 vaccine patients—38%—developed cocaine antibody levels high enough to prevent a cocaine high. In this group, 53% stopped using cocaine more than half the time during the study, versus 23% of those with lower antibody levels." Even though the research results came back in a positive way, it doesn't mean that this vaccination will work 100%. There is still more research and testing to do inorder to put this vaccination on the market. I think that this is a good and exciting improvement becuase a lot of people suffer from being addicted to heroin and or cocaine, this a good way to put them back on track.

//Young Back Health Proposals Amid Potential Costs// As almost a young adult i was interied by this article. From ages 18-34 year olds about half of them support Obama's health care plan. About 43% are opposed the plan. A lot of young voters don't understand what's going on and some don't know whats in the legislation. "The two leading bills require all adults to buy insurance, although the Senate Finance Committee proposal would let people 25 years or younger pay cheaper rates for limited, catastrophic coverage." This plan is good for families because there is so many expences that comes along with growing up and if the coverage price goes up this would bring low income families in to debt. "...his plan would give young adults more time on their parents' coverage." President Obama said. This could be a good thing because many young adults don't have jobs and they can't afford to pay for health insurence. The parents can help support them until they are able to make enough money to pay for health care on their own. Since I am getting closer to becoming 18 I want to know what kind of policys are going to be in my future.

//The Deadly Mumba as a Lifesaver// A lot of the common drugs are produced from raw materials. Asprin is made from the bark of a willow tree and captopril is from the venom of a pit viper. Researchers are trying to produce a drug that involves the cobra's vemon. The cobra is a tree snake that lives in eastern Africa. The drug is suppose to be help treat acute heart failure patients by relieving the heart without harming the kidneys. D-natriuretic peptide is in the snake's venom. This is very important becuase D-natriuretic peptide causes the blood vessels in the heart to expand making it easyer for the blood to move freely through the vessels. D-natriuretic peptide is not produced in humans, but simular natriuretic peptides is used to ease the blood pressure. "The reports weren't conclusive, but some doctors worried that the drug itself might be harming the kidney; others, Dr. Burnett among them, thought any problems were related to a dose that was too high and caused blood pressure to drop too low and too fast." Many tests for this expiramental drug are being tested. The results will be in 2011.

//Coffee Poisoning Struck 6 at Harvard// 6 harvard medical students got sick after drinking coffee from a coffee machine. The school is not sure how the poisoning came to be, but Harvard University police, OSHA, and Boston Public Health Commision is investigating. One employe felt dizzy and passed out after drinking a cup of coffee. The five other vicums were treated and let go at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. One other stayed overnight. "The coffee machine was outside the pathology lab, which does research, using mice, on areas such as the immune system". I think that something got in to the machine from the pathology lab in which made the students sick. Or a student put something in to the machine on purpose to make people sick. Because of the poisoning the school installed sercurity cameras around the lab, tightend acess to the lab, and looked at how the chemicals are managed. I came apon this aricle shocked becuase I used to drink coffee but got sick from it.

//Premature Births Lift U.S. Infant Death Rate// Most of the cases of premature birth deaths in the U.S. are from the lack of care to low income pregnant women. Because of this reason U.S. is higher than European countries. The amount of premature babies in the U.S. is about 1 in 8 and 1 in 18 in Ireland and Finland. The reasoning behind the death rate is that women who are uninsured are not guaranteed prenatal care by the health care system. Also there are alot of women who are obease and who smoke, which is linked to premature births. Another reason is that fertility treatments and other forms of assisted reproduction probably play a role because they often lead to twins, triplets or other multiple births. Those children tend to be delivered early. "So, once the baby is born too early, we do a good job of saving it. What we have trouble with is preventing the preterm birth in the first place,". This article caught my eye because this week I will be doing my rotation in the Maternity/ Neonatal Intencive Care Unit. I also know a few people who were born premature.

//Caffeine, Alcohol Drinks Targeted// The FDA is taking action on manufacturers who sell drinks with caffeine and alcohol in them. The manufacturers advertise that it is safe for the consumer to consume this combination, but when its really not safe. The FDA has provided evidence that these drinks do pose health risks. They did not aprove of the messages that the manufacturers are advertising. "The Food and Drug Administration is taking aim at caffeinated alcoholic drinks, saying it will pull them off the market unless manufacturers can prove the beverages are safe to drink." This action happend becuase they were getting complaints by 18 states. They all complained that the drinks are appealing to young people and that it may lead to drunk driving. Attorneys have come to an agreement to remove caffeine. A drink called Joose has a bigger increase in sales than any other alcoholic beverage. I think what the FDA is doing the right thing because many young people drink too much of caffeine and alcohol in which may make their judgement worse.

//Downward Trend in Smoking Rate Stalls// The fight to get adult smokers to quit has stalled. Last year the data that the health officials have cited showed a slight increase in smoking rate. In 2008 the precentage of adults 18 and older who do smoke were about 20.6% and in 2007 the precentage was 19.8%. "But the government had hoped to lower the rate to 12% or less by 2010. Adult smoking rates are highest among the least well-educated." The prices of ciggarettes have increased, antismoking ad's became more ruffer in apearence, and there are many public places where they have band smoking.The federal ciggarete tax in April was $1.01 but didn't impact the smoking rate. In West Virginia were the adult smoking rate is the highest at 26.6%, has a 55 cent tax on ciggarettes. A help line was made to help people who want to quit smoking. This tax increase will hopfully increase the amount of calls being made to this help line.

//Breast Exam Guidlines Raise Furor// New guidelines for breast exam are threatening the insurence coverage for the procedure. "They do not set federal policy and they don't determine what services are covered by the federal government." As a result of this action the task force would be very surprised that an insurence company chaged it's mammogram coverage. The guidelines said that all women who are over the age of 40 should get annual mammograms. Rather than women who are 50 to 75 years old get tested every year they should get tested everyother year. "The task force said the new guidelines strike a better balance between the benefits of early cancer detection and the unnecessary anxiety and extra costs associated with false positives, which sometimes result from the tests." A lot of people disagree with what the task force because every day there is another women between the ages 40-50 tests positive for an invasive breast cancer. Because of these guidelines fewer women are going to get tested and more are going to die because they couldn't get tested. About one third of U.S. women in their 40's or older arn't geting tested everyother year. I think that it should be the patients choice whether or not to get a mammogram.

//Analysis Finds Vioxx's Heart Attack Riskm in 2001// Before this pain killer was pulled from the market three years ago evidence showed that Vioxx increased the risk of a heart attack and death. The clinical trials that were done to collect this data resulted in the finding that 12,207 patients who took Vioxx rasied the risk of heart related side affects by 35%. Merck & Co., the maker of Vioxx, said that they found no evidence that it increased the risk of heart-related side effects. It was connsdered a safer alternative to older painkillers in 1999, when it first wnt on sale. "To perform their study, the researchers collected results from 30 clinical trials completed before Vioxx's withdrawal and reviewed the pooled data". Regulators and others should conduct similar kinds of meta-analysis to determine earlier whether a drug increases the risk of life-threatening side effects. But waiting for drug makers and doctors to report the side effects to regulars isn't fast enough. Merck has yet to put Vioxx behind it. It faced 10,000 personal-injury lawsuits in a $4.85 billion settlement reached in 2007. The Supreme court is scheduled to hear a Vioxx-realted shareholder lawsuit on november 30th.

//Antipsychotics, Diabetes & Kids// The FDA newly approved two antipsychotics drugs Zyprexa and Seroquel for teenagers. The risk of taking these drugs are weight gain and diabetes. Kids who took the drug gained more weight in an 11 week period than a kid who didn't take the drug. The label on Zyprexa already has a warning that says children are more likely to gain more weight than adults would. But some other drugs don't have a warning label on them that says kids are at a higher risk then adults do.

//Soft-Drink Sales Drop in Schools, Group Says //
Soft drinks like pepsi and coke have drop rapidly in secondary schools since 2004. "Sales volume of beverages shipped to schools from bottlers fell 72% between the first semester of the 2004-05 school year and the first semester of the current academic year". 94% decline of the volume of sales of soft drinks and a 94% drop in juice drinks. "Under the 2006 agreement, the companies pledged to eliminate sales of full-calorie sodas to schools by the current school year, replacing them with lower-calorie options in smaller portion sizes." President Clyde Yancy hops to improve the choice made in schools.  //Baby Slings are Recalled After Three Infant Deaths//

On Wednesday more than one million baby slings made by Infantino are being recalled after three infant deaths. "The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said babies could suffocate in the soft fabric slings." The slings go around the parents chest so that they can carry their baby close to them. The President of Infantino, Jack Vresics said that they would replace all of the baby carriers, activity gym or shopping cart covers free for those who have been affected by this. Though there was no real reason how the three babies died, but there is two possible ways a baby can suffocate in the slings. "A sling's fabric can press against a baby's nose and mouth, blocking the baby's breathing and suffocating a baby within a minute or two.". Another way is from the "C-like" position. That curved position can cause a baby who doesn't have strong neck control to flop its head forward, chin-to-chest, restricting the infant's ability to breathe.