Coffee consumption linked to lower risk of rare liver disease

A good cup of coffee really helps one shake off the cobwebs before starting the day. Fortunately, a new study from researchers at the Mayo Clinic reveals that drinking coffee has an added benefit: Regular imbibing of this delicious drink is linked with a lowered risk of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). PSC is an autoimmune liver disease that is very rare.

Study author Craig Lammert, a Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist, says that PSC isn’t kind to the body and can lead to cirrhosis of the liver, liver failure and biliary cancer. According to Dr. Lammert, this discovery suggests that coffee can not only lower the risk of PSC, but that it might help researchers figure out the cause of this disease and other awful autoimmune diseases.

New drug being developed using compound found in red wine ‘could help humans live until they are 150′

Drugs that could combat ageing and help people to live to 150-years-old may be available within five years, following landmark research.

The new drugs are synthetic versions of resveratrol which is found in red wine and is believed to have an anti-ageing effect as it boosts activity of a protein called SIRT1.

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has been testing the medications on patients suffering with medical conditions including cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

The work proves that a single anti-ageing enzyme in the body can be targeted, with the potential to prevent age-related diseases and extend lifespans.

As each of the 117 drugs tested work on the single enzyme through a common mechanism is means that a whole new class of anti-ageing drugs is now viable, which could ultimately prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and type 2 diabetes.

Genetics professor David Sinclair, based at Harvard University, said: ‘Ultimately, these drugs would treat one disease, but unlike drugs of today, they would prevent 20 others.

‘In effect, they would slow ageing.’

The target enzyme, SIRT1, is switched on naturally by calorie restriction and exercise, but it can also be enhanced through activators.

New illness, transmitted by same tick that carries Lyme, is discovered in Northeast

Researchers have discovered a new human disease in the Northeast transmitted by the same common deer tick that can infect people with Lyme disease.

The bacterial illness causes flu-like symptoms, the researchers from Tufts, Yale, and other institutions reported Wednesday, but they also described the case of an 80-year-old woman who became confused and withdrawn, lost weight, and developed hearing difficulty and a wobbly gait. The woman, from New Jersey, recovered after receiving antibiotics.

Researchers estimate that 1 percent of the population in areas where Lyme disease is widespread — such as western Massachusetts and Cape Cod and the Islands — may be infected by the new bacteria, which can be transmitted by the tick when it is as small as a poppy seed. Lyme disease is thought to be 7 to 10 times more prevalent in these areas.

The discovery, disclosed in a paper and letter in the New England Journal of Medicine, marks the fifth human illness spread by deer ticks in the region, highlighting growing concerns about the threat posed by ticks and the burgeoning population of their hosts — deer. The disease is so new it remains unnamed and there is no readily-available test for doctors to screen for it, although some are being developed.

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Girl, 8, to get vaccination shots after court overrules mum

Mosquitos Spread New Infection Similar to HIV

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Polio may be returning as ‘global’ threat

Poliomyelitis, a viral infectious disease, had once paralyzed and crippled hundreds of thousands of children each year. But the development of vaccines and a global effort to eradicate the disease dramatically reduced the number of infections.

However, the World Health Organisation says the success-story is at risk and the UN agency is expected to declare polio a global health emergency on Friday.

The WHO says that a drastic rise in infections in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan, poses a threat to the rest of the world.

Tarek Bazley reports.

Study: 9/11 WTC dust sickened residents years later

Several years after dust from the World Trade Center twin towers found its way into thousands of homes and nearly every crevice in lower Manhattan, area residents still suffered health problems, according to a new study.

People living in homes damaged after 2001′s Trade Center attacks were more likely to report respiratory illness or disease years later, when compared with people whose homes were not damaged, according to a recent analysis of World Trade Center Health Registry data.

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U.S. quarantines two dairies after mad cow case

WASHINGTON – Two California dairy farms are under quarantine and a calf ranch is under investigation following discovery of the latest U.S. case of mad cow disease, but the government on Wednesday said the actions were standard procedure and there was no threat to the food supply.

Also, a calf born to the infected cow was found and tested negative for the disease.

Cattle records at the two dairies are being matched to determine if any at-risk cattle are on the farms, said the Agriculture Department.

USDA said the infected cow was a rare “atypical” case of the disease, meaning it arose spontaneously rather than through the feed supply. However, it is USDA’s standard procedure to search for other cattle, offspring or herd mates, that might be exposed to the fatal disease, even though mad cow disease is not contagious.

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Mad cow reemergence may hamper California’s beef, dairy industries

The reemergence of mad cow disease, discovered in a California dairy cow, could have major implications for the state’s meat industry, even though officials have said that the human food supply is unaffected.

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy hasn’t been found in U.S. since 2006 and was discovered in only three instances before then. But the disease has dealt a crippling blow to the industry in the past, especially when foreign countries refused to import American beef when mad cow was first uncovered in 2003.

The U.S. Department of Agriculturetests about 40,000 cows a year in its effort to catch the disease.

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Flu his UK

AS the swine flu hits the UK causing phrases like ‘pandemic’ to rear their ugly heads, we find that even though a very large portion of the population has now been vaccinated you still see that same percentages of infected population.

What they don’t want you to know is that the vaccinated are getting ill also…so what is the point? We can go from the really benign, MSM explanation to the more ‘radical’ interpretation of conspiracy. I tend to fall somewhere between the conspiracy theory and the just raw capitalism exhibited by these drug companies. The more of these toxic vaccines they get the governments to buy into and sell for them by ‘requiring’ said vaccinations, the better their bottom lines.

There is enough nasty business in these vaccines to cause some long term damage and even death in some cases. You can go from there in drawing more conclusions. This screwy scheme is far deeper than meets the eye, especially if your eyes are drawn to MSM reporting.

The level of influenza – including the swine flu strain – in the population is now higher – and rising more sharply – than they were at this point in 1999, when the country was heading for an epidemic which triggered a major NHS crisis.

With millions of people visiting friends and family over the Christmas period experts believe that the rate could reach epidemic levels within a week.

The number of flu victims in intensive care has more than doubled in one week, with 460 patients now in critical care beds.

Meanwhile, a Government memo is warning of shortages of Tamiflu – the main drug used to treat flu patients – in some parts of the country.

The rate of flu in England and Wales is 87.1 cases per 100,000 of the population, a rate which has tripled in seven days.

In the run-up to Christmas 1999, levels were less than 60 per 100,000 population, yet by early January 2000 the outbreak had reached epidemic proportions, with more than 200 cases per 100,000.

The records, which only represent those who visit their GP, always underestimate the true extent of sickness.

Influenza expert Prof John Oxford said: ‘The numbers now are worse than they were in winter of 1999, and the curve is steeper; when you look at the graph the line for this year it is incredibly unsettling; it looks like scaling Everest,” said the virologist.

“If that trend continues I would not be surprised if we get to epidemic levels within one week.”

In the millennium winter, the resulting crisis meant patients were left to wait on trolleys and thousands of elderly people died, prompting then prime minister Tony Blair to order a tripling in health service spending.

Prof Oxford, from Queen Mary University of London said the “massive movements of populations” across the country as families came together for Christmas were likely to be speeding the spread of disease.

He said it was a “great shame” that the Government had taken the decision to axe its annual publicity campaign urging vulnerable people to have their flu jab.

“We don’t know what will happen next – everything is now hanging in the lap of the Gods – and it wouldn’t have been that way if people had been vaccinated,” said the professor of virology.

While the elderly usually suffer worst from flu, research suggests they may have some immunity to swine flu having encountered a similar strain of the disease in previous decades.

As a result, in the event of an epidemic, overall death numbers were unlikely to be as bad as those in the winter 1999/2000, Prof Oxford said, though overall “years of life” lost might be the same, with more children and young adults being struck down.

Latest figures show 27 deaths from flu, 24 of which were from swine flu. Nine of the cases were children.

Across the country, pharmacists are complaining of shortages of Tamiflu, the main drug used to treat the virus.

Prof Dame Sally Davies, the Government’s chief medical officer, last week changed the official advice to GPs, instructing them to prescribe the drug to anyone who might benefit – not just those in “high risk” groups.

A Government memo seen by The Sunday Telegraph reveals there are already shortages of the drug in some parts of the country, with concerns that stocks will run out elsewhere as demand increases.

The letter, by Dr Keith Ridge, England’s chief pharmaceutical officer, sent to hospitals and pharmacies on Thursday and marked urgent, warns: “Following increased demand for antivirals, there have been reports of localised shortages at both pharmacies and wholesalers”.

The letter, which announces the release of more than 50,000 packs of drugs from national stocks, says increased demand is expected, but that the level is hard to predict.

Pharmacies are told to ensure they have sufficient drugs to give them to patients within 48 hours of them falling ill, but told that stockpiling drugs “will lead to further shortages”.

A separate warning about shortages of treatment for babies was issued by the Royal College of GPs on Christmas Eve.

Doctors have been ordered not to prescribe the liquid version of Tamiflu to anyone over the age of one, to ensure there is enough of the formula left for babies.

GPs have been told that patients aged one or more must be given tablets, with parents of children who cannot take tablets given instructions on how to crush and dilute them.

The same practice is more dangerous when the solution is for babies, because of the greater risk of giving too high a dose.

John Healey, shadow health secretary, attacked the Government’s decision to axe a national advertising campaign, which until this year had encouraged take-up of flu vaccinations.

Vaccine uptake among under 65s in at risk groups, such as those with conditions like asthma, is five per cent lower than last year, while the number of elderly people being vaccinated has dropped slightly.

He said: “The health secretary should authorise an immediate public advertising campaign to encourage those most at risk to get the flu jab. This is the time to act.”

Last weekend Prof Davies criticised ministers for stopping the campaign, after warning hospitals that half of the most severely ill patients treated had previously been in good health.

Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, said the numbers of those now critically ill with flu had been a “significant increase”.

He said the NHS was “responding well” to the demands on it, and said the Government would continue to monitor the situation carefully.

Please don’t allow these animals to convince you get vaccinations. I can’t recommend them nor can many other folks, MDs included. They are not effective and can be dangerous to your health.

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