St. Louis surgeon transplants ovary

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 00:49:37 GMT
By BETSY TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer
ST. LOUIS - When Joy Lagos learned she had cancer, she was confident she would beat it. What brought the San Francisco resident to tears, however, was knowing that radiation and chemotherapy would lead to early menopause and rob her of the chance to have children.
Last week, that may have changed.

A renowned infertility expert in suburban St. Louis transplanted a whole ovary from Lagos' sister into Lagos, a step that could enable her to have children. Dr. Sherman Silber completed the transplant Feb. 5, after performing the same procedure between twins last month.

The operations are believed to the first whole-ovary transplants ever done in the United States. Surgeons in China reported a successful transplant earlier this decade, but offered scant details.

The surgery could restore normal hormone function for women going through early menopause, whether because of cancer treatments or other, unexplained causes. It also could mean that one day, a woman with cancer could freeze an ovary, undergo chemotherapy and radiation, and have her own ovary returned later to restore her fertility.

Lagos, 30, is now waiting to see whether the transplant takes hold and allows her to ovulate normally, and whether she can get pregnant. The twins are also waiting to learn the outcome of their operation.

When Lagos was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2004, her older sister Maeapple Chaney, now 31, donated bone marrow. Lagos was cured of cancer, but the treatment disabled her ovaries and she went into early menopause.

"I was devastated," Lagos recalled, her voice breaking as she tried to talk about it Monday. Now married, Lagos was not with a partner at the time, and so was not able to freeze any embryos, she said.

After the cancer treatment, she wanted to have children of her own. But also, the menopause also induced osteoporosis, diminished her sex drive, and interfered with the natural "ebb and flow" of her emotions, she said.

"I think it sounds selfish, but I just wanted to feel like a woman again," she said.

Chaney was willing to donate eggs so that Lagos and her new husband, Rodrigo Lagos, could have a baby through in vitro fertilization, but then Rodrigo Lagos saw a TV report about Silber.

In 2004, Silber placed strips of ovarian tissue from a fertile twin into her prematurely menopausal sister. That woman, Stephanie Yarber, has since given birth to two children. The doctor has since done similar surgeries on six other sets of twins, all of them involving transplants of ovarian tissue, not whole ovaries.

All of the twins who have had the ovarian tissue transplants are ovulating and menstruating normally, Silber said. But the women may get only a few years of ovarian function using the strips of tissue, he said.

Silber, who directs the Infertility Center of St. Louis at St. Luke's Hospital in Chesterfield, Mo., hopes that a whole ovary with its own blood supply will last decades.

Last week, Silber removed one of Chaney's ovaries and gave it to Lagos, employing a form of microsurgery that requires sewing the tiny ovarian artery of the donor to the ovarian artery of the recipient.

"It's maybe the size of a tiny piece of white thread you might use to sew on a button," Silber said of the vessel.

Dr. Pasquale Patrizio, director of the fertility center at Yale University, said he is watching Silber's work because he is working on freezing and thawing ovaries to help cancer patients preserve their fertility.

"It'll tell us in the field if the entire organ can be successfully retransplanted," Patrizio said.
Surgeons at China's Zhejiang Medical Science University reported a successful whole-ovary transplant between sisters a few years ago. However, Silber and Patrizio said they have not seen any published medical literature related to that case. Silber said his operations could become the first in the world to be scientifically documented.
Silber said the surgery could also be a help one day for women who do not have cancer. He said about 1 percent of women naturally experience premature ovarian failure, which leads to early menopause.
Because Lagos and her sister are closely matched biologically, Lagos does not need immune-suppressing drugs to prevent organ rejection. In other cases, though, doctors worry what those drugs could do to the mothers-to-be and their babies.
"If they're not a close match, we're not ready to tackle that yet," Silber said.
The Lagoses said the surgery cost about $15,000. Chaney, who lives on Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, Calif., said it is possible she could go into menopause a few years earlier than she otherwise would have because of the ovary donation, but she does not regret the bone marrow and ovary she has given her sister.
"It's a great opportunity, both for my sister and for fertility treatment in general," Chaney said.
___
On the Net:
Infertility Center of St. Louis: http://www.infertile.com
Lagoses' blog: http://www.rodrigoandjoy.com

Food Dudes promote kids health

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 00:35:03 GMT
By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer
LONDON - Like TV cartoon characters pitching sugary children's cereal, the Food Dudes of Ireland pitch food, too. Only it's carrots and broccoli.
The Food Dudes are preteen actors playing superheroes in an educational video series shown in some Irish schools. They battle General Junk, who steals healthy food, robbing the world of its life force.

The superheroes not only win on video — they win in the school cafeteria, too. Kids who watch the videos began eating more fruits and vegetables. Now, Ireland is expanding this 150-school pilot program to the whole country.

"In some respects, we use the same techniques as multinationals selling junk food, but we're on the side of the angels," said Dr. Fergus Lowe, a University of Wales psychologist who was part of the team that devised the effort.

The Food Dudes series uses peer pressure, peer modeling and a reward system to get kids to shun unhealthy foods. Prizes like small toys, pencils and pens are an enticement. And the superheroes are slightly older than their viewers, making them believable role models. Each character gets super powers from one of four healthy foods — broccoli, carrots, tomaotes and raspberries.

In Ireland's pilot program, which began in 2005, children aged 2 to 11, doubled the amount of fruits and vegetables eaten and in some cases boosted consumption of such foods by 10 to 14 times, the organizers say.

In one primary school, the fruit consumption of 5- and 6-year-olds more than doubled. The kids were originally eating 28 percent of the fruit given them; six months later they were eating nearly 60 percent. Vegetable consumption jumped from 8 percent to 32 percent.

In a control school, where the program was not used, no change in fruit or vegetable consumption was noted.

Lowe and his colleagues found the most dramatic results in fussy eaters. Children who were initially the most reluctant to eat fruits and veggies made the biggest gains.

In one study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the children who ate the least amount of fruits and vegetables went from eating just 4 percent and 11 percent of their fruits and vegetables respectively to 68 percent and 48 percent.

The World Health Organization recently honored Food Dudes with a best practices award. The program was funded by the Irish government, the European Union Commission and Unilever, the world's second-largest food and detergent maker.

Scotland has introduced a modified version of it in 210 schools in Glasgow, and England is experimenting with the Food Dudes in schools in London and Plymouth.

"People had assumed that it would be very difficult to make fruits and vegetables appealing to children, but Food Dudes has proven that that's not true," said Dr. Francesco Branca, WHO's European adviser for nutrition and food security, who is not involved in the program.

Inspired by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, Britain has recently been moving aggressively to improve the quality of school food.

In 2005, the government announced it would bar school cafeterias from serving hamburgers and hot dogs loaded low-quality meats and fillers. Beginning in September, soft drinks, chocolate bars and potato chips will be outlawed from school vending machines.

The poor quality of school food first rose to the national consciousness thanks to Oliver's TV series "Jamie's School Dinners," which shocked Britons by showing them exactly what kids were eating at school.

NYC 911 health costs 36393M per year

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 23:27:55 GMT
By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - Respiratory ailments, mental trauma and other problems that arose after the Sept. 11 attacks are costing the U.S. health care system $393 million per year, according to an analysis that city officials released Tuesday.
The estimate was part of a report by a panel that Mayor Michael Bloomberg convened last year to study Sept. 11 health effects and treatment programs, which are said to be running out of funding 5 1/2 years after the attacks.

Some of the people who worked amid the dust, smoke and ash at the site have died. Others have developed conditions including respiratory problems, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and the report noted the troubling prospect of later-emerging diseases including cancer and pulmonary fibrosis.

The panel noted the liability fight as another mounting expense. At least 6,000 federal lawsuits have been filed by emergency workers who aided in the rescue operation and nine-month cleanup, alleging that the city and its contractors were negligent in monitoring the air.

Thousands more lawsuits are expected, and the city already has spent millions fighting the claims. That money has come from the WTC Captive Insurance Co., which Congress funded with $1 billion in 2004 to provide liability coverage against claims.

Instead of using the money in court, the mayor's panel recommended that Congress change the law to let the city put the money into a compensation program for sick workers, an idea that members of New York's delegation have already floated.

"We're not about to abandon the men and women who helped lift our city back onto its feet during our time of greatest need," Bloomberg said. "They deserve first-class care without exception, and we will work to ensure that they get it."

The fund would be similar to the victims compensation fund that awarded $7 billion to the families of those who died in the attacks and to injured survivors. The application deadline for that fund was December 2003, which excluded those whose diagnoses or symptoms came later.

The Bush administration last month announced a proposal to spend at least $25 million more on treatment programs. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., is calling for $1.9 billion over several years.

Several sick workers said Tuesday they were frustrated that it was taking so long to ensure health care.

"When I got called to the World Trade Center, it did not take me five years to get there — it shouldn't have taken five years to talk about compensation," said Marvin Bethea, a paramedic who survived the collapse of the twin towers and suffers from afflictions including post-traumatic stress disorder and asthma. "People don't want to be millionaires. They're in the hole because of all these health problems."

Heart transplant patients celebrate life

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 00:56:36 GMT
By MONICA RHOR, Associated Press Writer
HOUSTON - Eddie Knipp's two heart transplants have given him the wisdom to savor the small wonders of life and the strength to endure one of its largest losses — the death of a child. On Tuesday, Knipp and nine other heart transplant recipients celebrated more than 20 years of survival after surgery at the place that made it possible: the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital.
"It has given me a new perspective on life, a new dimension," said Knipp, 61, an El Paso resident who had transplants in 1987 and 1999.

In 1995, Knipp's 17-year-old son was killed in a car accident. His organs were donated and went to at least 70 other people, Knipp said. Despite the tragedy, Knipp says he is grateful for his second — and third — chance at life.

"Every day I wake up and I thank God for every breath I take," Knipp said. "It's the little things in life that we really take for granted that I now realize are so wonderful, so big."

Besides celebrating the longevity of some of its patients, the renowned cardiac center marked the 25th anniversary of a program dedicated to repairing failing hearts.

The first successful heart transplant in the United States was performed at the hospital in 1968 by founder Dr. Denton Cooley, who is now surgeon-in-chief. Since then, more than 1,000 transplants have been performed there, according to hospital officials.

By the end of the year, the Texas Heart Institute could have 23 patients who have reached the 20-year survival milestone. The average heart transplant patient survives eight to 10 years. According to the American Heart Association, the five-year survival rate is 71 percent for men and 67 percent for women.

The risks were even greater when the field of transplant surgery was still evolving two decades ago.

"The real brave ones were the patients," said Dr. Branislav Radovancevic, director of the Center of Cardiac Support and associate director of Cardiovascular Surgery and Transplant Research.

Charles Washington of Oak Ridge, Tenn., was one of those patients.

In 1982, he suffered a massive heart attack, leaving his heart functioning at less than 30 percent of capacity.

"I was literally gasping for air," Washington said. After seven bypasses, Washington's health continued to deteriorate and his prognosis was bleak. Then, on March 27, 1983, Washington received a new heart, and a new appreciation for life.

Now 70, the longest-surviving Texas Heart Institute transplant recipient at nearly 24 years had the chance to watch his children and grandchildren become adults.

"It makes you really enjoy all of life, not just a special occasion," said Washington, who is four years shy of the longest-surviving heart transplant recipient in the U.S., according to the United Network for Organ Sharing in Richmond, Va.

Shortly after the surgery, Washington was attending the annual Oak Ridge dogwood blossom celebration and was taken aback by the sight of the trees in full bloom.

"I looked up, grabbed a leaf and tears came to my eye," Washington said. "I thought about the beauty and tragedy of nature. It reminded me that there was tragedy about the beauty of life. The trees blooms, they die, they come back the next year in full bloom."

High carb diet not linked to colon cancer

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 01:43:46 GMT

NEW YORK - Eating large amounts of carbohydrates does not appear to increase the risk of colon cancer in women, according to study findings published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
There is experimental evidence to suggest that abnormal sugar and carbohydrate metabolism plays a role in the development of colon cancer, Dr. Susanna C. Larsson, of the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, and colleagues report. However, data to support this effect in humans are lacking.

The researchers examined the amount of dietary carbohydrates, sugar metabolism and the risk of colon cancer in 61,433 women enrolled in the Swedish Mammography Cohort between 1987 and 1990.

The women completed a 67-item food frequency questionnaire at the start of the study and a 96-item follow-up questionnaire in 1997. Data from the national and regional Swedish Cancer registries were used to establish the rates of colon cancer.

The women were followed for an average of 15.7 years. During that time, a total of 870 cases of colon cancer were diagnosed.

The researchers found no relationship between dietary carbohydrates and abnormal sugar metabolism, and the risk of colon cancer.

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, February 2007.

UKOdd Summary

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 20:44:03 GMT

EU legislators disobey own smoking ban
STRASBOURG, France - European legislators have voted to set up sealed smokers' rooms in their Strasbourg and Brussels buildings after a voluntary ban on lighting up failed, officials said on Tuesday. "A complete ban started on January 1. In practice this was not working too well, people were not obeying it," said a press officer for the EU parliament in Strasbourg.
"For sale" ad skirts hotel's chequered past

PARIS - "House for Sale" ads often leave out some important details about the property, but few match the discretion of a full-page advertisement on Tuesday announcing the sale of France's International Conference Centre in Paris. "Exceptional Building" was the headline on the ad in the daily Le Monde for a former hotel that has hosted the Nazis, North Vietnamese, post-Cold Warriors, Serbs and Kosovo Albanians in its chequered career as a political meeting place.

Castro signing cigar humidors for big Habanos fest

HAVANA - Cigar aficionados should not expect to see ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro strut out to greet them at the annual Habanos festival, but they will be able to bid for humidors signed by him. The maker of Cuba's famous hand-rolled cigars said on Tuesday that five elaborate humidors to be signed by Castro will be auctioned for charity at the closing gala dinner on March 2.

Manila vendors sell love -- in a bottle

By Rolando Ng MANILA, Feb 13 - In an alley near a Philippines church, "miracles" of love are being bought and sold.

Bathe in chocolate this Valentine's Day

By Toshi Maeda TOKYO, Feb 13 - A Japanese spa is offering the perfect aphrodisiac for Valentine's Day -- chocolate baths.

Liquor shop churns out beer from milk

TOKYO - Great news for beer and milk lovers: A liquor shop owner in Japan's largest dairy farming region has stopped crying about local spilt milk and started making beer from it instead. "We came up with the idea after hearing about surplus milk," said Chitoshi Nakahara, head of the Nakahara liquor shop on the northernmost island of Hokkaido.

Snow Leopard prowls slopes in Are

ARE, Sweden - The qualifying race for the men's giant slalom at the Alpine ski world championships on Monday attracted entries from some exotic nations but Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong stood out from the crowd. The Snow Leopard, as he calls himself, clocked a time one minute 17 seconds slower than Moldovan winner Urs Imboden, but his race suit, if not his speed, means he will not be forgotten in a hurry.

Director John Waters recalls career of bad taste

BERLIN - Director John Waters, self-confessed king of all things tasteless and tacky, celebrates a life spent shocking audiences and mocking the movie world in a film version of his stand-up act. In "This Filthy World", Waters delivers a rapid-fire monologue about life in film, from his first home-made picture "Hag in a Black Leather Jacket", reportedly costing $30, to international fame for cross-dressing classic "Hairspray".

NZ parachutist releases video of near-death fall

WELLINGTON, Feb 13 - A New Zealand parachutist who survived a fall of 15,000 feet after his chute failed to open has released amazing footage of his near-death plummet filmed by a camera attached to his helmet. "Everyone says your life flashes before you eyes but for me...it didn't really happen," Michael Holmes told ITN in an interview accompanying his video.

Thai teens keen for Valentine's Day sex
By Panarat Thepgumpanat BANGKOK, Feb 13 - A third of Thai teenage girls think Valentine's Day is an excellent time to lose their virginity, and police in Bangkok are out to stop them.

Lawmakers blast FDA drug safety oversight

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 01:39:52 GMT
By Lisa Richwine
WASHINGTON - U.S. lawmakers criticized the Food and Drug Administration's monitoring of the risks of the antibiotic Ketek and some other prescription drugs on Tuesday.
At a hearing on the FDA's drug safety oversight, lawmakers said the agency stifled dissent about the risks of drugs when top managers disagreed. They cited problems with Ketek, Vioxx and antidepressants made by several companies.

"With each of these drugs, it appears that the FDA is not seriously questioning whether the risks outweigh the benefits of the new drug," said Rep. Bart Stupak , a Michigan Democrat who chairs a subcommittee of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce.

"One must ask, if the FDA is not protecting its client, the American people, whose interest is being protected?" Stupak said.

Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley , a vocal FDA critic, told the committee that "scientific dissent is discouraged, quashed and sometimes muzzled" inside the agency and "there's widespread fear of retaliation for speaking up about problems."

Congress is considering legislation to strengthen the FDA's oversight of drug side effects.

The committee was set to hear from current and former FDA reviewers, who worked on the Ketek application.

FDA whistle blower David Graham, who told Congress in 2004 that the agency was unable to protect patients from dangerous drugs such as Vioxx, said the agency had failed to fix its problems.

"I am here to tell you our nation is still at risk," Graham said in remarks prepared for delivery. Graham is an associate director in the FDA office that monitors the side effects of drugs after they reach the market.

Republicans on the committee complained that neither the FDA nor Sanofi had been invited to testify at the hearing. Stupak said they would be asked to speak at a later date.

FDA spokespeople had no immediate comment.

On Monday, the FDA announced it had withdrawn Ketek's approval for sinusitis and bronchitis because officials felt the drug was too risky for treating those relatively mild infections. Sanofi can sell Ketek for treating pneumonia.

Concerns about Ketek arose a year ago after reports of severe liver damage and death in some users. The drug was approved for sale in 2004.

Lawmakers have proposed various measures to improve the FDA's monitoring of drug safety. Some suggest creation of a more independent office to monitor side effects after approval, while others want to give the FDA more power to force drug makers to complete post-approval studies.

Malawi targets 75 percent cut in maternal deaths

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 13:09:59 GMT

BLANTYRE - Malawi, where a pregnant mother dies every hour during childbirth, has launched a two million dollar programme to lower the level of maternal deaths by 75 percent.
&;Malawi's mortality rate is currently at 984 per 100,000 live births. This high rate is a national emergency that requires concerted effort by everybody,&; said Chris Kang'ombe, principal secretary in the country's ministry of health.

He was speaking in the administrative capital Lilongwe where the government launched a partnership with the World Health Organisation and the European Union aimed at slashing back the maternal death rate.

The four-year partnership, costing about two million US dollars , &;aims to reduce maternal and newborn deaths which are preventable,&; Kang'ombe said.

The government said it wanted that the programme should improve health levels to such an extent that the current maternal mortality rate should be reduced by three-quarters by the year 2015.

Health authorities in impoverished but peaceful Malawi say the country has the third highest maternal mortality rate in the world. Only conflict-plagued Sierra Leone and Afghanistan have worse records.

Women comprise 52 percent of the 12 million strong population in the southern African nation, where an estimated 60 percent of the people live on less than a dollar a day.

The high rates are attributed to unsafe abortions, excessive bleeding, lack of emergency facilities and patients not receiving professional treatment due to a brain drain, which officials admit has reached a crisis point.

Up to 120 registered nurses migrate to Britain and the United States every year, and doctors sent abroad for specialist training often decide to stay there given the better salaries.

An instructor at the country's sole medical college said only 34 out of 70 doctors have returned after completing their studies in the past four years.

Dogged by poor facilities and budgetary allocation of only 15 percent of the national cake, Malawi's health sector has 16,000 hospital beds and a doctor ratio of 64,000 to one.

One nurse serves 50 patients in most hospital wards, according to a recent survey by the health ministry.

Former health minister Hetherwick Ntaba once said the government, with 40 percent of its national budget and 80 percent of development budget bankrolled by donors, was &;too poor&; to fund the public health care system.

US lawmaker Charlie Norwood dies at 65

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 03:08:11 GMT

WASHINGTON - US Representative Charlie Norwood of Georgia has died of lung cancer, lawmaker Ileana Ros-Lehtinen announced on the floor of the House of Representatives.
&;He will be sorely missed,&; she said in requesting a moment of silence.

The Georgia Republican died in his home in Augusta, Georgia at 65.

President George W. Bush said in a statement he and his wife, Laura, were &;deeply saddened&; by Norwood's passing.

&;Charlie was a good friend and a strong, spirited legislator who always stuck to his principles. ... I enjoyed working with him and valued our close friendship,&; Bush said.

Norwood will be remembered for his &;patients' bill of rights,&; a set of legislative guarantees for health-care recipients.

&;As a member of Congress, he did his best to serve his constituents, his conscience and his country,&; said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi .

&;Norwood was a plain-spoken and passionate public servant,&; she said.

Norwood was a dentist before going into politics and served as a medic in the Vietnam war, where he was decorated with two Bronze Stars.

He is survived by his wife Gloria and two children.

Georgia officials are to hold a special election within the next 40 days to choose a replacement for Norwood, said state spokeswoman Vicki Gavalas.

Norwood was elected first in 1994, and last in November with 67 percent of the vote.

With his death, the lower house has 201 Republicans and 233 Democrats.

Democratic Senator Tim Johnson , 60, remains in hospital since mid-December after suffering a stroke.

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