Environmental Medicine News

The News Review:

- 5-Year $7.5 Million Grant Funds Only Center To Focus On Cognitive…
- Kicking the kickback habit
- FDA scrutiny threatens China’s huge seafood industry.
- Case of tunnel vision during a visit to Lava Beds monument
- A place to share the burden of MS
- Benoit’s shocking death raises question of fans’ complicity
- Advancements In The Early Diagnosis Of Ovarian Cancer May ‘Lay'…

5-Year $7.5 Million Grant Funds Only Center To Focus On Cognitive…
Medical News Today - Jun 30, 2007
Lee PhD, and Benoit Giasson, PhD, will study the nature of these impairments in mouse models. Sharon Xie, PhD will oversee data management and biostatistics for the initiative. The Udall Centers of Excellence were developed in honor of former Congressman Morris K. Udall, who died in 1998 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. The first center was named in 1997.

Kicking the kickback habit
The Age - Jun 30, 2007
Chalmers protests that the industry’s code ofconduct is already strong, and claims members of the public lackthe ability to “assess the appropriateness” of hospitalityinformation. Last November in the court, counsel for MedicinesAustralia, Stephen Gageler, argued that once hospitality detailswere published they would be “fodder for sensational reporting inthe media”, and provide information to drug company competitorsthat would lead to “tacit collusion”. However, Justice French and colleagues this week determined thepublic interest far outweighed such concerns, warning of a “realrisk” that without public disclosure and regular reporting of thenature, frequency and scale of hospitality to medicalprofessionals, some drug companies “will test the boundaries andoffer inappropriate benefits”. Perhaps there will be a sense of relief among drug companiesfollowing Justice French’s decision — a new level playingfield has been created — but it is doctors who will have causeto panic. The Age understands some groups of doctors havebecome so emboldened by a culture of lavish pharmaceuticalhospitality that they threaten to refuse to prescribe certain drugsif the manufacturer does not provide cash sponsorship for theirsymposiums. “That’s arisen because at its heart they’ve been brought up onthe teat of the pharmaceutical industry, and they’ve becomedependent on it,” Henry says. “The (drug company) income supportstheir recreational activities, whether it’s skiing, golf days orwhatever… “The (drug company) income supportstheir recreational activities, whether it’s skiing, golf days orwhatever. A study of 52 Australian medical specialists, co-written byHenry and published in the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry,found that Australian specialists each received a mean of 42 giftsand “educational items” over eight weeks. A 2005 survey co-written by Henry in the Archives of InternalMedicine found that 23 per cent of Australian medicalspecialists were on drug company advisory boards, with drugcompanies often paying their travel and expenses for meetings atupmarket hotels locally and internationally. The fee for sitting onsuch boards was less than $5000 in 80 per cent of cases. WHILE most members were primarily motivated by peerrecognition of their expertise rather than financial reward, this”close and collegial” relationship with drug companies may “blurthe doctors’ sense of their primary responsibilities”. Another study published by Henry and colleagues in 2005 in theMedical Journal of Australia found that 338 out of 823specialists participated in industry-funded research. But 21 percent of those with a drug company research relationship reported”possibly serious research misconduct” by the company, includingdelayed publication or refusal to allow publication of findings.

FDA scrutiny threatens China’s huge seafood industry.
Free with registration - Chicago Tribune - AccessMyLibrary.com - Jun 30, 2007
–> COPYRIGHT 2007 Chicago Tribune Byline: Evan Osnos and David Greising TAOYU, China _ This tiny village near the Great Wall is crowded with 20 household trout farms, which have cropped up in less then a decade to join China’s booming seafood trade. Yet, in a tale mirrored across the industry, the local water supply could not keep pace and fish began dying from contamination, said fish-farmer Liu Yanyan. She turned to traditional Chinese medicine to save her trout, she said, while some neighbors resorted to antibiotics and other chemicals. In trying to protect their business, China’s fish farmers may have fueled a far larger problem: China’s seafood industry, the world’s largest source of farmed fish, is the latest casualty in a wave of scrutiny that threatens to undermine the nation’s reputation as the superstore to the world. The case highlights a vulnerability in China’s economy: the government’s challenge to keep pace with growth to ensure exporters meet health and safety standards in markets around the globe.

Case of tunnel vision during a visit to Lava Beds monument
San Francisco Chronicle - Jun 30, 2007
So far, the rangers have identified more than 500 caves in Lava Beds, and they are finding new ones every year. Most of the park’s caves remain unmapped and are explored on your own — and at your own risk. Why so many caves? Thirty thousand years ago, give or take a few thousand years, Medicine Lake Volcano coughed up great gooey gobs of super-hot, sticky (think taffy) lava. You’ve seen pictures of red-hot Hawaiian lava flowing like syrup to the sea. The stuff that burst from Medicine Lake Volcano may have been hotter and runnier. Runny, hot lava cools first on the surface, where it comes in contact with the ground or air, but continues to flow its merry way through the flow’s interior, leaving behind giant tunnels inside the flow called lava tubes. The largest cave at Lava Beds is 85 feet high; the smallest is get down on your hands and knees and crawl, baby, crawl… So forget the macho. If you venture into these caves, wear a sweater. Freelance writer “Digger” Jerry George sends his journal “letters” home to the Bay Area from Yellowstone National Park — or wherever he happens to be observing nature. This article appeared on page F - 5 of the San Francisco Chronicle.

A place to share the burden of MS
Providence Journal - Providence Journal (subscription) - Jun 30, 2007
“My friends all know,” Bonevich said about her condition, “but they don’t understand. ”Few people understand, she said. That’s partly because of the nature of the disease, which affects about 400,000 people in the United States, about twice as many women as men, with most diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50. MS causes a person’s immune system to attack the fatty coating of nerve fibers in the brain, disrupting the signals sent throughout the body. The cause of the disease is unknown. The resulting symptoms — some invisible, such as extreme fatigue or pain; some visible, such as loss of mobility — can vary from person to person and, for the same person, from day to day. And for the estimated 10,000 American children and teenagers diagnosed with MS who are dealing with teachers, classmates and friends, the pressure can be intense… But on Sundays, her father was giving her shots to treat the MS. The weekly doses made her so sick, she said, that she skipped school on Mondays for years. Hinson switched to a medicine that she tolerated better, but had to take every day. The bruises, clearly visible to her teammates, were embarrassing, she said; not all her teammates knew about her disease. “I didn’t like having to make excuses. ”Three years ago, she found Teen Adventure, and for a few days, excuses didn’t seem necessary. The experience has built confidence, she said, and now she advocates for other children and teenagers with MS.

Benoit’s shocking death raises question of fans’ complicity
Baltimore Sun - Jun 30, 2007
Benoit’s employer,. The deliberate nature of his actions suggested anything but a rage, the company said in a news release. Chairman Vince McMahon reiterated that position on NBC’s Today show, noting that Benoit tested negative for drug use in April. The company’s points may be true as far as they go (though McMahon failed to acknowledge loopholes in the testing policy that allow steroid use with a prescription). But depression is much more common among steroid users than “‘roid rage,” said Dr. William Howard, founder of Union Memorial Sports Medicine… Chairman Vince McMahon reiterated that position on NBC’s Today show, noting that Benoit tested negative for drug use in April. The company’s points may be true as far as they go (though McMahon failed to acknowledge loopholes in the testing policy that allow steroid use with a prescription). But depression is much more common among steroid users than “‘roid rage,” said Dr. William Howard, founder of Union Memorial Sports Medicine. “That’s by far the most common psychological side effect of steroid use,” he said. “You’ll find an amazing number of these users having domestic problems related to depression. Former wrestler Chris Nowinski, a spokesman on the dangers of concussions, has suggested that Benoit might have suffered brain trauma.

Advancements In The Early Diagnosis Of Ovarian Cancer May ‘Lay'…
Medical News Today - Jun 30, 2007
The study by researchers at Rush University Medical Center and the University of Illinois in Chicago and Urbana, Champaign, found that ultrasound examination can be used to detect signs of ovarian cancer in laying hens. Study authors say research with chickens could be applied to developing tools for early detection in humans. Ovarian cancer remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related death among women due to the asymptomatic nature of the disease in early stages and a lack of early detection methods. The lack of a valid ovarian cancer animal model has been a major obstacle to ovarian cancer prevention research. Development of such a model would represent a significant breakthrough. “Chickens are extremely useful because laying hens are the only animals to develop spontaneous ovarian cancer like a human,” said Dr.