Environmental Medicine News

The News Review:

- Precise Pictures Of Cell Target For Drugs Made
- Impact | Sundayobserver.lk – Sri Lanka
- What Killed Baby Lucas?: The law said he died of abuse. Medical scienc…
- Kate Schmidt: Time to legalize steroids
- Brain injury fears for troops
- Jamaica Gleaner News – The male backlash – Sunday | October 28, 2007

Precise Pictures Of Cell Target For Drugs Made
Science Daily – Science Daily (press release) – Oct 28, 2007
28, 2007) — More than half of all drugs given to patients work by targeting a particular type of "docking station," or receptor, found on body cells, to steer the cell’s machinery toward healing an illness. Researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine and the Scripps Research Institute have determined what one of those receptors looks like at the molecular level, giving them the keys to greater control of the process. See also: Health & MedicineHuman BiologyGenesCancerPlants & AnimalsMolecular BiologyGeneticsCell Biology Reference.

Impact | Sundayobserver.lk – Sri Lanka
Sunday Observer – Oct 28, 2007
This is of particular importance in an age where clinical medicine is
threatened with extinction. Computerized laboratory investigations and sophisticated procedures
are being widely used to make a diagnosis without a careful clinical
examination. It is much more satisfying to the clinician to make a
diagnosis of a lung abscess or hypothyroidism on clinical history and
examination and confirm this by appropriate investigatory procedures,
rather than through the reverse… This picture painted by the international media
consolidates its effect, because for them not only African countries but
the entire third world is a fertile ground for transmitting stories
about, drought, floods, famine, civil war and political turmoil. True, the country is affected by a civil war even today. But it is
very rarely that media personalities focus their attention on the
struggle of the ordinary African people to lead a morally contended
life, amidst the turbulent situations, as well as their strength of
enormous patience in overcoming the harsh environmental obstacles in
their daily lives. In such a scenario the task of portraying an authentic picture of
experiences of fellow citizens and their struggles have become the
responsibility of the artistes and a handful of public spirited people. The situation in Somalia is no different. Waris Dirie’s "Desert
Flower" is a striking personal odyssey that proves in no uncertain terms
that like ordinary people of many other countries, Somalian women, too
do appreciate and understand the wonders of nature, the animals, the
trees and a drop of water, and are engaged in a bitter struggle to
overcome the hazards of nature as well as the brutality imposed on them
by man himself. As Elton John has described "Waris’s Story is one of remarkable
courage.

What Killed Baby Lucas?: The law said he died of abuse. Medical scienc…
Free with registration – Philadelphia Inquirer – AccessMyLibrary.com – Oct 28, 2007
They didn’t hit it off so well at first. The burly, smiling guide greeted the young teacher warmly — too warmly, she thought. Reserved by nature, the tall, slender woman was unsure of his intentions and gave him a frosty greeting in return. Talking to his bus driver later, Alejandro rolled his eyes. Ten days with the standoffish schoolteacher. “It’s going to be a long one,” he said. But by the end of day two, she started to smile at his jokes.

Kate Schmidt: Time to legalize steroids
Dallas Morning News – Dallas Morning News (subscription) – Oct 28, 2007
It is unhealthy and unreal. Elite athletes are normal in every way except for being born with a singular skill with which they become obsessed, chasing its allure until age and injury stop them. Their natural obsession is exacerbated by $20 million signing bonuses, gold-medal tallies and fan and media insistence that elite athletes are special in every other way. Athletes are not gods. We must take them off the pedestal. Fans, the media and sports governing bodies believe that we can rid sports of steroid use. Athletes always will be a step ahead of the testing labs in concealing substances because of the multibillion-dollar industries that have been built on their sweat and their obsession… The technology exists to test for levels of most of the substances on the "banned drugs" lists. What if we declared that certain levels of them in the body were acceptable, while excessive amounts would result in penalties? Athletes could satisfy their drive to be faster and stronger. Drugs could move from the black market to the legitimate sports-medicine community. Athletes could stop experimenting on themselves. It would be safer to take the substances, and with medical monitoring, there would be fewer negative side effects. And we could stop vilifying athletes and feel some relief because we no longer would have to keep pushing against this inevitable evolution of what sports has become. Tracks gets faster, nutrition gets more specific, and training techniques improve.

Brain injury fears for troops
The Independent – Independent – Oct 28, 2007
In 90 per cent of cases the symptoms last for just three months. An MoD spokesman said it was working closely with the US to find out more about the condition and that all wounded personnel admitted to the military rehabilitation centre in Headley Court were being screened for symptoms of the injury. A statement from the MoD added: “Special investigations are undertaken in order to identify the nature and degree of any structural damage to the brain. “In addition, all personnel who sustain any form of head injury or blast injury whilst on operations will now be carefully monitored. We are gathering an increasing database of head injury patients at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine to inform improvements in diagnosis and management… A statement from the MoD added: “Special investigations are undertaken in order to identify the nature and degree of any structural damage to the brain. “In addition, all personnel who sustain any form of head injury or blast injury whilst on operations will now be carefully monitored. We are gathering an increasing database of head injury patients at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine to inform improvements in diagnosis and management.

Jamaica Gleaner News – The male backlash – Sunday | October 28, 2007
Jamaica Gleaner – Oct 28, 2007
They were quite secure in their own gender identity and could engage in ‘Women’s Studies’ with intellectual vigour. It was, after all, a quite respectable academic enterprise. The name ‘Women’s Studies Working Group’ acknowledged the fact that it was women who first recognised the oppressive nature of institutionalised male dominance and the pernicious effect it has on both women and men. Men were so busy enjoying the power to which they thought they were naturally entitled they didn’t have time to even think about its negative consequences. It was the victims who had to revolt. As a leading member of the Women’s Studies Working Group at Mona, I was the most outspoken advocate of the view that we should establish a clear distinction between scholarship and activism. I proposed that the academic programme be termed ‘Gender Studies’… But her appointment was, from the beginning, temporary. We’re back to business as usual. Every single Academic Dean at Mona is male: Medicine; Pure and Applied Sciences; Social Sciences; Humanities and Education. And I certainly don’t think the University of the West Indies is going to be ready for a female Vice-Chancellor any time soon. At the recent Convocation in honour of the Archbishop of York, the Right Reverend Dr. John Sentamu, I was dismayed to see how few women there were in the Chancellor’s procession: only two out of 12! What’s that gender ratio? A male colleague wondered why I was complaining about the decline in the number of women in the procession since we’ve had a female prime minister! That’s the big backlash. Women should now shut up about gender inequality.