Health Glance
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The human body makes rare antibodies effective against all flu viruses and these might be boosted to design a better universal flu treatment, researchers reported on Monday.
Tests on mice suggest these immune system proteins could help most people survive a normally lethal dose of flu virus, the team at the University of Wisconsin and Seattle-based Theraclone Sciences said.
Study Finds Body's Potential Universal Flu Defence
Genetically Altered Salmon Get Closer to the Table
The Food and Drug Administration is seriously considering whether to approve the first genetically engineered animal that people would eat — salmon that can grow at twice the normal rate. The developer of the salmon has been trying to get approval for a decade.
But the company now seems to have submitted most or all of the data the F.D.A. needs to analyze whether the salmon are safe to eat, nutritionally equivalent to other salmon and safe for the environment, according to government and biotechnology industry officials. A public meeting to discuss the salmon may be held as early as this fall.
Human foetus feels no pain before 24 weeks, study says
The human foetus feels no pain before 24 weeks, according to a major review of scientific evidence published today. The connections in the foetal brain are not fully formed in that time, nor is the foetus conscious, according to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
The findings of two reports commissioned by the Department of Health strike a blow to those seeking to reduce the upper time limit for having an abortion, currently at 24 weeks.
German court legalises euthanasia with patient consent
A top German court has ruled that it is not a criminal offence to cut off the life support of a dying person if that person has given their consent. The Federal Court of Justice acquitted a lawyer who had advised the daughter of a comatose woman to cut off her feeding tube.
Earlier the patient had expressed her wish not to be kept alive artificially.
U.S. scores dead last again in healthcare study
Americans spend twice as much as residents of other developed countries on healthcare, but get lower quality, less efficiency and have the least equitable system, according to a report released on Wednesday.
The report looks at five measures of healthcare -- quality, efficiency, access to care, equity and the ability to lead long, healthy, productive lives.
Indian Children Blinded, Crippled By Fluoride In Water
The controversy over adding sodium fluoride to water supplies in both the U.S. and the UK is intensifying as two separate stories out of India reveal that children are being blinded and crippled partly as a result of the neurotoxin being artificially added to drinking water.
Doctors call for help protecting Gulf oil spill workers
A group of doctors who've tracked 9/11 rescue workers' illnesses urged the Obama administration to "prevent a repetition of costly mistakes" made after the terrorist attacks by protecting Gulf Coast oil spill workers from toxic exposure.
In a letter McClatchy obtained that was sent to health and safety officials earlier this month, 14 doctors said oil spill workers should get the maximum level of protection from exposure in an effort to avoid the problems that arose after the Sept. 11 attacks.
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