Turkkan's interest thread.

Sorry no it's not lesbians!! greekturkish/bluebiggrin.gif

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Demi-Lee Brennan has changed blood types and immune system

By Kate Sikora, Health Reporter January 25, 2008 12:00am

FIFTEEN-year old Demi-Lee Brennan defies belief.

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Dubbed the "one-in-six-billion miracle girl", the South Coast teenager is the first transplant patient ever to change blood types and take on the immune system of her organ donor.

Her body's ability to accept a new liver - and then produce new blood cells on its own - has left doctors mystified.

The rare phenomenon now means Demi no longer has to take a cocktail of anti-rejection drugs for the rest of her life.

It also gives hope to the 1800 gravely ill Australians awaiting a transplant.

Demi, of Kiama, resembles a healthy teenager who displays no signs of her ordeal - other than the scar on her body.

And, in an unexpected medical first, she has experienced a change in blood type from Onegative to Opositive, as a result of her body seeming to perform its own bone marrow transplant.

"It's kind of hard to believe," Demi said yesterday.

"When I look back, it doesn't feel like it happened."

When Demi was nine she became seriously ill and needed a life-saving liver transplant.

Doctors at the Children's Hospital at Westmead believe a yet-to-be-identified virus caused her liver to fail.

A donor was found but after nine months Demi fell ill again - with doctors unable to identify the problem.

During that first nine months, Demi was put on routine anti-rejection drugs after her liver transplant surgery.

Then doctors found that Demi's body had begun to destroy its own blood cells and, at the same time, the donor's blood stem cells took over her immune system.

Doctors then halted the anti-rejection drugs, realising her blood type - and immune system - had taken on the characteristics of her organ donor.

Their discovery is now the subject of medical research being pursued around the world.

Former head of Westmead's liver transplant unit, Dr Stuart Dorney, said there is no explanation for what occurred.

"We now need to go back over everything that happened to Demi and see why, and if, it can be replicated," he said.

"It may not be (replicated). We think because we used a young person's liver and Demi had low white blood cells that could have been a reason."

It has been almost four years since Demi received her liver and is hoping to permanently stay off anti-rejection drugs.

"I am really thankful (to the donor's family) and I hope that so many people can do this too," she said. "I would say to other transplant patients, 'stay strong and determined'.

In Australia, about 100 liver transplant procedures are carried out each year. Of those, paediatric liver transplantations account for 20 per cent.

Recipients have an 85 per cent survival rate one year after successful surgery but the rate reduces to 70 per cent after five years due to possible organ rejection complications.

Australia has one of the lowest organ donor levels in the developed world at 9.8 donors per million people.

How the 'miracle' happened

* Demi-Lee Brennan has liver transplant. Anti-rejection drugs taken

* Nine months later she falls ill. Her blood type changes to that of her donor

* New liver's blood stem cells penetrate her bone marrow

* Her body performs its own bone marrow transplant by donor's blood cells taking over her immune system and no longer treating liver as foreign

* Her body no longer treats the donated liver as foreign

* Demi no longer requires anti-rejection drugs. She is a normal, healthy teenager

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story...5007185,00.html

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Im only interested in war.

QUOTE (turkkan @ January 25, 2008 10:36 pm)

Im only interested in war.

You must be an ideal Turk then. greekturkish/laugh.gif

A vahsi turk. The only type worth being.

QUOTE (turkkan @ January 28, 2008 12:37 am)

A vahsi turk. The only type worth being.

You dont sound vahsi to me! Be a good boy!!

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No cancer link but mobiles can hit your sperm count

Spending hours on a mobile phone each day may affect the quality of a man's sperm, preliminary US research suggests.

In a study of 361 men seen at their infertility clinic, researchers at the Cleveland Clinic found an association between the patients' mobile phone use and their sperm quality.

On average, the more hours the men spent on their mobile phones each day, the lower their sperm count and the greater their percentage of abnormal sperm.

The findings, published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, add to questions about the potential health effects of mobile phones and other wireless devices.

Some studies, for example, have linked long-term mobile phone use to a higher risk of brain tumours, though many other studies have found no such connection.

The concern is that, over time, the electromagnetic energy emitted from mobile phones could theoretically harm body tissue - by damaging DNA, for example.

However, the new findings do not prove that mobile phones somehow damage sperm, according to the researchers.

"Our results show a strong association of cell phone use with decreased semen quality. However, they do not prove a cause-and- effect relationship," lead researcher Dr Ashok Agarwal said.

He and his colleagues based their findings on semen samples from 361 men who came to their infertility clinic over one year.

All of the men were questioned about their mobile phone habits.

In general, the researchers found, sperm count and sperm quality tended to decline as daily mobile phone hours increased.

Men who said they used their phones for more than four hours each day had the lowest average sperm count and the fewest normal, viable sperm.

"We infer from our results that heavy cell phone use ... is associated with a lower semen quality," Agarwal said.

But whether mobile phones somehow directly affect men's fertility is not clear.

Agarwal said he and his colleagues have two studies underway aiming to shed light on the issue.

In one, they are exposing semen samples to electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones to see what, if any, effects occur.

The second is a follow-up to the current study that is assessing a larger group of men.

Agarwal said this study is more rigorously designed and will account for certain other factors like lifestyle habits and occupational exposures that might affect sperm quality.

A recent risk ranking system devised by an Australian cancer specialist, has determined that mobile phones - along with drinking coffee and having breast implants - are unlikely to cause cancer.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/02/...2234006768.html

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Fighting for his life — and the drugs that could extend it

THE drugs that could help Matthew Pusey survive may only buy him three months — but when you have a year to live, that's a quarter of a lifetime.

Mr Pusey, a 32-year-old fitness fanatic who has never smoked, has terminal lung cancer. His diagnosis came as a shock to doctors, who attributed the scarring on his lung to years of recurring pneumonia. They said surgery to remove half of his left lung would stop the infections and make him a "new man". Instead, it revealed a time bomb.

Mr Pusey is among a growing number of healthy non-smokers diagnosed with the fatal disease. Doctors are at a loss to explain the phenomenon, pondering the role that genetics, pollution or passive smoking may be playing. They say the disease contracted by non-smokers may be biologically different to that afflicting smokers.

For Mr Pusey, it will probably come too late. Diagnosed 28 months ago, he was told he had a year to live — two if he was lucky. Surviving against the odds, he is now asking the Federal Government to fund a drug that, in conjunction with chemotherapy, has been shown to prolong lives by three to 24 months.

Avastin, which costs up to $5700 per treatment, is available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme to treat colorectal cancer but does not have approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration for lung cancer. Those who want it have to pay.

Mr Pusey, who is funding the treatment from savings, says it is vital that the drug is made freely available to people like him and friends he met through internet support group Lungevity.com.au, most of whom have never smoked. "I've lost a couple of friends recently. The girl who set up Lungevity, she didn't smoke, got diagnosed at 27 and passed away at 31 last November."

"I've been asked about 4 billion times if I'm a smoker and it really makes me angry, it's such a stigmatised disease."

While cigarettes remain the leading cause of lung cancer, David Ball, chairman of the Lung Service at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, is seeing more non-smoking patients than he was 10 years ago. "We call it lung cancer and it looks like lung cancer on an X-ray, but in terms of its behaviour in its response to these drugs it indicates that biologically it seems to be a different disease that is affecting the healthy, non-smoking population," he said.

"We also see, in particular, people from Asia; younger women who have never smoked and have lung cancer."

Mr Pusey believes Avastin may already have bought him time. Just over a week ago he was clinging to life. His oxygen levels were desperately low and he had lost 10% of his body weight. After his first injection of Avastin, his condition improved and he is now living at home with his partner, Cheryl Low, with whom he hopes to travel overseas.

The drug, which helps block blood supply to the tumours, costs him $2800 every three weeks. "These drugs are not a guarantee or a cure but they can buy you some time and for me to get some quality of life again is crucial," he said.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Ageing said Avastin would not be PBS—listed in the near future because it was not registered as a treatment for lung cancer.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/01/...1024993893.html

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Female G spot 'can be detected'

The mysterious G spot - supposedly a route to female sexual satisfaction - can be located with ultrasound, claim Italian scientists.

Some women say stimulating a certain part of the vagina triggers powerful orgasms, but medics have not been able to pin down the exact location.
Researchers told New Scientist magazine they found an area of thicker tissue among the women reporting orgasms.

But specialists warned there could be other reasons for this difference.
The existence of the G spot has remained controversial since the 1980s, when the term was coined as a way to explain why some women were able to achieve orgasm through vaginal stimulation, while others were not.

Some specialists claim that the term has led to over-anxiety among women who cannot reach satisfaction this way, and their partners.

Love muscle

The la-*test*-('") research, published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, was carried out the Dr Emmanuele Jannini at the University of L'Aquila, and involved just 20 women.
Ultrasound was used to measure the size and shape of the tissue beyond the "front" wall of the vagina, often suggested as the location of the G spot.

In the nine women who reported being able to achieve vaginal orgasm, the tissues between the vagina and the urethra - which carries urine out of the body - were on average thicker than in the 11 women who could not reach orgasm this way.
Dr Jannini said: "For the first time, it is possible to determine by a simple, rapid and inexpensive method if a woman has got a G spot or not."

However, Dr Tim Spector, from St Thomas' Hospital in London, told New Scientist that the thicker tissue might actually be part of the clitoris - another extremely sensitive area.

Another suggestion was that, rather than being the cause of more orgasms, having these frequently might actually lead to better-developed musculature in this area.
Dr Petra Boynton, a sexual psychologist at University College London, said that an entire industry had grown up around the idea of a G spot, and it was unhelpful to label women unable to find theirs as "dysfunctional".

She said: "We're all different. Some women will have certain area within the vagina which will be very sensitive, and some won't - but they won't necessarily be in the area called the G spot.

"If a woman spends all her time worrying about whether she is normal, or has a G spot or not, she will focus on just one area, and ignore everything else.

"It's telling people that there is a single, best way to have sex, which isn't the right thing to do."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7254523.stm

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Drug-resistant TB seen at record levels globally

26 Feb 2008 19:11:00 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Cases of tuberculosis that defy existing drugs are being recorded globally at the highest rates ever seen, with parts of the former Soviet Union especially vulnerable, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

In a report based on data from 81 countries, the WHO estimated nearly half a million people a year worldwide become infected with a form of TB resistant to two or more of the primary drugs used to treat it. That number accounts for about 5 percent of the 9 million new TB cases annually.

Extensively drug-resistant TB, the form that is hardest to treat, was seen in 45 countries and may be present in others because only extremely limited data was available from Africa, the U.N. health agency said.

"This is my frustration here -- the world is not taking this epidemic seriously," Dr. Mario Raviglione, director of the WHO Stop TB Department, said in a telephone interview. "What the report shows is simply that we are in big trouble in many parts of the world."

Parts of the former Soviet Union -- Russia, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Ukraine -- were among the countries hit hardest by drug-resistant TB. Raviglione attributed this to years of socioeconomic deterioration, dismantling of public health systems, poor living conditions and other factors.

Tuberculosis is an infectious bacterial disease typically attacking the lungs. The emergence and spread of drug-resistant germs makes treating it much harder and could make the disease, which has killed people for untold centuries, even more deadly. An estimated 1.6 million people a year die from TB worldwide.

The report tracked multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, called MDR-TB, and XDR-TB. MDR-TB does not respond to the treatment by two or more of the primary drugs used to combat TB. XDR-TB is the most dangerous form of TB. It is resistant to nearly all drugs used to treat TB.

The report said 489,139 MDR-TB cases emerged in 2006. Raviglione estimated that perhaps 40,000 of these are XDR-TB.

The highest rate of MDR-TB was recorded in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, where 22 percent of all new TB cases were reported as multidrug-resistant. That's the highest proportion ever recorded in any population, Raviglione said.

MDR-TB also was unusually common in Moldova (19 percent of new TB cases) as well as parts of Ukraine, Russia and Uzbekistan, the WHO report showed. MDR-TB also may be widespread in China, according to the report.

The study, the first big WHO report on TB since 2004 and the first to track XDR-TB, said progress had been made in Estonia and Latvia, which were identified in the 1990s as hot spots for drug-resistant TB.

The Americas, Central Europe and Africa reported the lowest proportions of MDR-TB, aside from Peru, Rwanda and Guatemala.

Only six countries in Africa, where TB has its highest rates, provided drug resistance data. "It is likely there are outbreaks of drug resistance going unnoticed and undetected," said WHO TB expert Abigail Wright said.

About a third of people worldwide are infected with the bacterium that causes TB. The WHO estimates 5 percent to 10 percent of the infected will become sick with TB or infectious at some time in their life. It can be spread by breathing in air droplets from a cough or sneeze of an infected person.

The WHO estimates that $4.8 billion is needed for TB control efforts in low- and middle-income countries in 2008, but countries, international organizations and others have fallen $2.5 billion short of that total. (Editing by Bill Trott)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N26339284.htm

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Report busts the myths on cancer risks

BREAST implants, deodorant and coffee are extremely unlikely to cause cancer, says a new risk report designed to allay panic that everything can be carcinogenic.

The risk assessment developed by an Australian cancer specialist puts in perspective the chance of getting the disease from a range of agents, including dental fillings, marijuana and cured meats.

Cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking and deliberate exposure to sunlight sit in the highest risk bracket for proven carcinogens, said Professor Bernard Stewart, from the University of NSW and South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Health.

Among "likely" risks were smoking marijuana, solarium use, eating a lot of processed meats and living near a waste dump. Considered less risky were hair-dye use and living near powerlines. There was inadequate evidence for mobile phones, cosmetics and food additives.

Professor Stewart all but ruled out risk for a range of other rumoured carcinogens, including artificial sweeteners, coffee, deodorant, dental fillings, breast implants and fluoridated water.

"No one should seriously lose sleep or change their behaviour in respect of these very, very unlikely things," Professor Stewart said. "Actively involved members of the community must be concerned about the many reports they read often suggesting they should be cautious about various risks," he said.

"We're working to allay many of the fears that everything can cause cancer, because the risks are often insignificant."

The research, published in the journal Mutation Research Reviews, was released to coincide with World Cancer Day today.

It reviews more than 60 possible cancer-causing agents or situations and ranks them in one of five bands corresponding to proven, likely, inferred, unknown or an unlikely risk of cancer.

Professor Stewart said that the sliding scale was more useful to the public than the usual percentage of risk given to possible carcinogens and it also distinguished between different types of exposure.

"For instance, we know that arsenic is carcinogenic," Professor Stewart said, "but smelter workers who are exposed to arsenic emissions are much more likely to develop cancer than children who have played on climbing frames constructed from arsenic-treated timber."

http://www.theage.com.au/news/health/repor...2090284063.html

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Our office chairs are slowly killing us

Sitting down is about to join smoking and junk food on the list of vices that increase your risk of diabetes and heart disease.

New Australian research shows that half-an-hour in the gym will not make up for the waist-expanding damage caused by spending the rest of the day sitting.

But the good news is that pottering about the house or gently walking around the office while on the phone might be enough to keep you fit.

The study, which will appear in the April issue of Diabetes Care, joins the growing body of evidence suggesting too much sitting might undo the benefits of exercise.

The study measured the intensity of physical activity in 168 subjects over seven days. It found that, regardless of how much moderate-to-vigorous exercise they did or their total sedentary time, those who took more breaks from sitting had lower waist circumferences, lower body mass indexes and lower levels of triglycerides and glucose in blood.

Higher levels of triglycerides, or blood lipids, have been linked to a heightened risk of heart disease and stroke. High blood glucose levels are linked to the development of diabetes, which itself is a major risk factor for heart disease.

"What this shows is there are benefits in just getting up regularly and interrupting your sedentary time," principal researcher Genevieve Healy of the University of Queensland said.

Researchers behind the Stand Up Australia project have written to the Rudd Government requesting $3.5million for a two-year study into the impact of prolonged sitting on the health and productivity of workers. The study would also develop and -*test*-('") strategies for reducing sitting time on the job.

The project is a a collaboration between the Baker Heart Research Institute and the International Diabetes Institute, which will merge this year, and the universities of Melbourne and Queensland.

The la-*test*-('") study builds on work that is shifting the health promotion focus from purposeful exercise, such as jogging or cycling, to lower intensity activity throughout the day.

The Australian research has been backed up by US studies, which show the sheer effort of standing up is enough to double the metabolic rate and the amount of calories burnt.

"If you stand up, you are much more likely to end up pacing or pottering around and that seems to make a crucial difference," Professor Marc Hamilton from the University of Missouri told Britain's Daily Mail.

His studies found that the enzymes responsible for breaking down fat are suppressed when a person is sitting instead of standing.

"To hold a body that weighs [77 kilograms] upright takes a fair amount of energy from muscles," he said. "There is a large amount of energy associated with standing every day that can't easily be compensated for by 30 to 60 minutes in the gym."

Studies by associate Professor David Dunstan, of the International Diabetes Institute, linked subjects who spent more time watching television with risk factors for diabetes and heart disease, regardless of their levels of moderate-to-vigorous exercise.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/health/our-o...2760288687.html

I give up...just living is a health risk. greekturkish/paperbag.gif

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Turkish scientists discover gene for Unertan Syndrome

The New Anatolian / Ankara
04 March 2008

The gene for the Unertan Syndrome, a disorder causing humans to walk on all four extremities (hands and feet), was discovered by a group of scientists from Cukurova, Bilkent and Baskent universities, it was reported.

A press release issued by Cukurova University said the discovery created wide reaction in science circles and noted that it was regarded as a discovery that could constitute a proof for the evolution of species.

It said the article regarding the discovery was published in one of the leading science magazines in the U.S. "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA)" .

The Unertan Syndrome was defined by Prof. Dr. Uner Tan a scientist from Cukurova University three years ago, when he identified in southern Turkey a large family with six individuals exhibiting the Unertan syndrome due to intra-familial marriage.

http://www.thenewanatolian.com/tna-31525.html

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Rapist doctor 'panted during examinations'

A doctor who raped or indecently assaulted 14 patients over a six-year period was "looking after his own pernicious needs", a Victorian County Court judge said yesterday.

Dermatologist David Wee Kin Tong, 40, pleaded guilty to seven counts of rape and seven of indecent assault committed at his Clifton Hill, Malvern and Preston practices between October 2001 and March 2007.

Despite two of his victims complaining to the Medical Practitioners Board in 2004 and 2005, he was allowed to continue practising and did not stop offending, prosecutor Claire Quin said.

For many victims it was their first time seeing a skin specialist, and they did not know what to expect, she said.

She told Judge Geoffrey Chettle that Tong requested that the women submit to a full body examination and in most cases asked them to strip and lie on an examination table.

He felt their genitals and in some cases took photos of them naked without consent, using his mobile phone.

On some occasions he asked the victims to pose naked for "body mapping" photographs that could help with their diagnosis and then took pictures of their genitals and naked bodies.

Ms Quin said many of the victims had trusted Tong because he was a doctor.

Some noticed Tong sweating, shaking and panting during examinations.

The offences were discovered when one client told a friend, a police officer, of her concerns.

Police searched Tong's home and found 120 explicit photographs of naked women, including patients.

Tong was stopped by customs officers in May 2007 at Melbourne Airport. A search revealed 27 explicit photos of eight of his clients on his mobile phone, taken without their knowledge during examinations.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, one victim said she was angry that the medical board had not taken her complaint more seriously.

"Trust was put in the hands of a professional and that was abused. All of it could have been avoided had the medical board acted."

Another said she found it hard to trust male doctors following her consultation with Tong.

"I paid $120 for a 15-minute consultation and all Doctor Tong did was abuse me," She said in her victim impact statement. "Doctor Tong knew exactly what he was doing."

Judge Chettle said Tong's behaviour reflected poorly on "the male race as a whole".

Jane Dixon, SC, for Tong, said her client had been under a lot of pressure because his father, who had had terminal cancer for nine years, died in 2006.

She said he had trouble relating to women because of his strict Pentecostal upbringing. He had had only one serious relationship at 21. It had ended badly and had devastated him.

Ms Dixon said Tong had focused solely on study from the time he left high school in 1984 until he became a registered dermatologist in 2001.

"I suppose he could be described as somewhat of a nerd in his approach to life," she told the court.

The plea hearing continues today.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/03/...4402403700.html

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Woman sat on toilet for two years

US authorities are considering charges in the case of a woman who sat on her boyfriend's toilet for two years and was stuck to the seat when the boyfriend finally called police.

Sheriff Bryan Whipple, in Ness City, Texas, said it appeared the 35-year-old woman's skin had grown around the seat.

She initially refused emergency medical services but was finally convinced by police, medical officers and her boyfriend that she needed to be checked out at a hospital.

"We pried the toilet seat off (the toilet) with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital," Sheriff Whipple said. "The hospital removed it."

Whipple said investigators planned to present their report to the county attorney in Ness City, Texas, who will determine whether any charges should be filed against the woman's 36-year-old boyfriend.

"She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body," Sheriff Whipple said.

"It is hard to imagine. ... I still have a hard time imagining it myself."

The boyfriend told investigators he brought his girlfriend food and water, and asked her every day to come out of the bathroom.

"And her reply would be, 'Maybe tomorrow'," Sheriff Whipple said. "According to him, she did not want to leave the bathroom."

The boyfriend called police on February 27 to report that "there was something wrong with his girlfriend", Sheriff Whipple said, adding that he never explained why it took him two years to call.

Police found the clothed woman sitting on the toilet, her sweat pants down to her mid-thigh. She was "somewhat disoriented," and her legs looked like they had atrophied, Sheriff Whipple said.

"She said that she didn't need any help, that she was OK and did not want to leave," he said.

She was reported to be in fair condition at a hospital in Wichita, about 240 kilometres south-east of Ness City.

Sheriff Whipple said she refused to co-operate with medical providers or law enforcement investigators.

Authorities said they did not know if she was mentally or physically disabled.

Police declined to release the couple's names, but the house where authorities say the incident happened is listed in public records as the residence of Kory McFarren. No one answered his home phone number.

The case has been the buzz of Ness City, said James Ellis, a neighbour.

"I don't think anybody can make any sense out of it," he said.

Mr Ellis said he had known the woman since she was a child but that he had not seen her for at least six years.

He said she had a tough childhood after her mother died at a young age and apparently was usually kept inside the house as she grew up.

At one time the woman worked for a long-term care facility, he said, but he did not know what kind of work she did there.

"It really doesn't surprise me," Mr Ellis said.

"What surprises me is somebody wasn't called in a bit earlier."

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/03/...5126058743.html