Veterinary workers were getting ready to cull thousands of backyard poultry to contain an outbreak of bird flu in West Bengal which has struggled to control the virus since January. The communist-ruled state briefly contained the outbreak by culling more than four million birds in 14 of its 19 districts, but the virus has intermittently resurfaced. Poultry sales in the state had fallen by about 70 percent in the January-March period, but traders said they were still struggling to overcome losses.

via in.reuters.com

A new study may shed light on how much weight we place on our sense of fairness when we are faced with an ethical dilemma. Researchers from the California Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana say that their recent work shows that differences in our moral decisions are tied to how much weight our brains place on fairness. "What was really surprising, in terms of the results that came out, was that it showed our sense of fairness is rooted in emotional processing, and there's a great deal of individual differences.

via abcnews.go.com

Forty-six million Americans suffer from some form of arthritis, which is the most common cause of disability in the U.S., limiting the activities of nearly 19 million adults. How can you recognize arthritis? Well if you feel pain and stiffness in your body or have trouble moving around, you might have arthritis. Most kinds of arthritis cause pain and swelling in your joints. Over time, a swollen joint becomes severely damaged, but the negative impact on your body doesn’t end here, as some kinds of arthritis can also cause problems in your organs, such as your eyes or skin.

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The death toll from a viral illness that is striking children across China has risen by four to 34, while the number of reported infections jumped to nearly 25,000, state media reported Friday. Two of the latest deaths occurred in the hardest-hit central province of Anhui, where 22 children have already died of hand, foot and mouth disease, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The other two deaths were reported in the southern province of Guangdong and in neighboring Guangxi, the agency said.

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The work by East Midlands doctors supports preliminary findings from national research published last month.
However, both studies show significant improvements in survival rates for babies born at 24 and 25 weeks. The study is published in the British Medical Journal days after an MP launched a bid to cut the abortion limit from 24 to 20 weeks. Nadine Dorries is tabling an amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, which will be debated in the coming weeks.

via news.bbc.co.uk

Substantial investment in condom promotion, HIV testing and vaccine research has had limited success in Africa, they argue in Science. Instead male circumcision and reducing multiple sexual partners should become the "cornerstone" of prevention. Two-thirds of HIV infections globally occur in Africa. Yet the researchers from the Harvard University School of Public Health said the evidence behind many of the prevention strategies used in African countries with "generalised" heterosexual HIV epidemics was weak.

via news.bbc.co.uk

A collaboration between UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and MIT scientists has resulted in the development of 'nanoworms' that could be the next generation of bio-devices to trace and destroy tumours too small to detect by conventional methods. The team says that the nanoworms can cruise through the bloodstream without significant interference from the body's immune defense system and home in on tumors. Their discovery is reminiscent of the 1966 science fiction movie, the Fantastic Voyage.

via newkerala.com

Researchers at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease (GIND) have identified a potential target for Alzheimer's disease. They have determined in mouse models that modulating the activity of enkephalin peptides in the brain might reduce the cognitive deficits seen in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Enkephalins are part of the endogenous opioid system, which modulates learning and memory and other brain functions. They are produced by several different cell types in the brain, particularly in areas affected by AD.

via newkerala.com

Scientists have discerned how a single key enzyme differentiates and dynamically binds both DNA and RNA as part of HIV's fierce attack on host cells. The new finding results from a study led by Xiaowei Zhuang of Harward University and Stuart Le Grice of the National Cancer Institute. The researchers have revealed that the enzyme they studied, reverse transcriptase (RT), is already the target of two of the three major classes of existing anti-HIV drugs.

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For the first time, a gene linked to the often fatal childhood cancer neuroblastoma has been identified, researchers report. "This is the first paper that helps us understand what causes this childhood cancer," said lead researcher Dr. John M. Maris, director of the Center for Childhood Cancer Research at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "We expected for decades that this cancer was a genetic disease, but we have had a hard time understanding what abnormalities in our genetic makeup lead to this cancer."

via medicinenet.com

People suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder may ultimately benefit from a combination of prescription medication and cutting-edge virtual reality psychotherapy, new research suggests. The study findings are preliminary. But, early results with Iraq war veterans point to a potent way to help PSTD patients through the use of drugs along with exposure to interactive reenactments of the sights, sounds, smells, and movements related to a highly traumatic experience.

via medicinenet.com

New treatments for a type of depression in the elderly related to blood vessels — called vascular depression — are under development, and researchers have discovered why some patients with this condition fail to respond to current medications. Details of the findings were to be presented Wednesday during a news conference by researchers taking part in U.S. National Institute of Mental Health symposiums at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, in Washington, D.C.

via medicinenet.com

That burning, uncomfortable feeling in the chest after a big meal, lying down or eating certain foods is known as heartburn. Heartburn occurs when acid from the stomach backs up into the esophagus. The American Academy of Family Physicians says the following foods can trigger or aggravate heartburn: * Coffee and other products with caffeine, carbonated drinks and alcohol. * Citrus fruits, onions and chocolate.

via medicinenet.com

A new, once-a-month shot shows promise for the treatment of schizophrenia. The new drug is called paliperidone palmitate. It's an injectable form of the second-generation, or "atypical," antipsychotic medication Invega. A study pitting injectable paliperidone palmitate against placebo was halted early because of its clear benefit in preventing relapses, says David Hough, MD. Hough is a psychiatrist who led the study while at Johnson & Johnson, which makes paliperidone palmitate and funded the work.

via medicinenet.com

Activated vitamin D administered to patients with moderate to severe chronic kidney disease (CKD) reduces mortality by a fourth, according to the latest findings. The findings are based on a study of 1,418 patients with moderate to severely impaired kidney function. They also had high parathyroid hormone levels (hyperparathyroidism), which can contribute to weakening of the bones in CKD patients.
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