Russia approves plan to fight disease

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 12:28:15 GMT

MOSCOW - The government Thursday approved a new program to fight diseases that contribute to Russia's plunging population, which President Vladimir Putin has singled out as a serious hindrance to its prosperity, news reports said.
Approval of a five-year financing plan aimed to decrease mortality from diseases including diabetes, tuberculosis, HIV/ AIDS and cancer came as the state statistics agency said Russia's population dropped by more than 560,000 last year to 142.2 million, a new post-Soviet low.

Putin has lamented a persistent population decline that has served as a stark backdrop for the largely oil-fueled economic growth that has rejuvenated Russia during his presidency. He has focused largely on increasing the birthrate, encouraging childbirth by establishing subsidies for parents starting with their second child, but deaths continue to outnumber births and life expectancy remains short, particularly for men.

A Health and Social Development Ministry official said male life expectancy in 2005 was 58.9 years, which it said was 15-20 years shorter than in the United States, France and Japan, while female life expectancy of 72.3 years was 4-7 years shorter than in those countries, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

The official said the suicide rate was rising, with nearly 40,000 each year, and deaths outpace births by at least 50 percent in most parts of Russia, ITAR-Tass reported.

Low living standards and financial worries aggravate stress and lead to unhealthy behavior, domestic violence and psychological problems, the agency ed the unidentified official as saying.

The anti-disease program for 2007-11 is to be financed with $2.9 billion, more than half of it from regional budgets, ITAR-Tass and RIA-Novosti ed Health and Social Development Minister Mikhail Zurabov as saying. He said Russia's provinces had fallen far short of financing targets for the program that expired last year and urged them to do better.

According to ITAR-Tass, allocations for the 2002-06 previous program totaled only $750 million.

Tiny preemie gets OK to leave hospital

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 00:02:28 GMT

MIAMI - Parents of one of the world's smallest premature babies got to take her home Wednesday for the first time since she was delivered last fall.
Amillia Sonja Taylor has known only an incubator for a bed at Baptist Children's Hospital since she was delivered in October after less than 22 weeks in the womb.

"The baby is healthy and thriving and left Baptist Children's Hospital today after four months in our neonatal intensive care unit," hospital spokeswoman Liz Latta said.

Amillia, who was just 9 1/2 inches at birth and weighed less than 10 ounces, will still require oxygen at home and a developmental specialist will follow up with her and her parents to track her neurological development.

The infant now weighs about 4 1/2 pounds and is just over 15 1/2 inches long.

Amillia's parents, Eddie and Sonja Taylor of Homestead declined to speak with reporters Wednesday.

Doctors had hoped to release Amillia from the hospital Tuesday but kept her an extra day to monitor a low white blood cell count that could have indicated a vulnerability to infection.

Full-term births come after 37 to 40 weeks, and few babies born before 22 weeks survive.

Amillia suffered respiratory and digestive problems, as well as a mild brain hemorrhage, but doctors believe those problems will not have major long-term effects.

Amillia was conceived in vitro and was delivered by Caesarean section after an infection caused her mother to go into premature labor, doctors said.

Study Herpes drug may curb AIDS virus

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 00:03:01 GMT
By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer
Treating genital herpes can also help keep the http://www.nejm.org

Lilly to introduce unique insulin pen

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 09:20:27 GMT
By TOM MURPHY, Associated Press Writer
INDIANAPOLIS - Katy Folven never leaves home without her insulin pen, but the busy Boston social worker sometimes forgets to track her daily doses.
When that happens, she must prick one of her already-calloused fingertips to measure blood sugar. That can mean as many as 10 punctures in a day.

Eli Lilly and Co. is introducing a unique insulin pen Thursday that could prevent some punctures. The Indianapolis drug maker's Memoir pen, the first on the market with a memory device, is for use with its top-selling insulin, Humalog.

The battery-operated pen, called the "Lexus" of insulin pens by one doctor, uses a computer chip to remember the last 16 insulin doses delivered.

Lilly says Memoir could reduce hassles for some of the 21 million Americans who live with diabetes, but others question whether it will catch on.

"The concept is beautiful," said Dr. William Hsu of the Joslin Diabetes Center, also in Boston. "Now the issue is, is it practical?"

Some predict U.S. insurers and patients might be hesitant to pay $100 for the pen and a separate fee for the insulin cartridges.

And while insulin pens are popular in Europe and Asia, only about 800,000 of the 4 million U.S. diabetics who need daily insulin injections use a pen. Most use syringes and insulin vials.

Matt Beebe, the company's U.S. brand team leader for Humalog, predicts that will change once Memoir enters the market. He said Lilly is debuting Memoir in the U.S. and may branch into Europe and Asia.

Hsu said the pen's price will keep him from prescribing it.

"I think it's expensive," he said.

Lilly plans to offer coupons that let patients buy one of the new pens for $45.

"Patients helped us develop it and gave us the idea to bring it to market, and we want to make sure they have access to it," Beebe said.

The new pen could boost Lilly's diabetes product portfolio, which took a hit last month when the company announced it was halting the construction of a Virginia insulin plant. Company officials have said they expect worldwide demand for Lilly's insulin products to grow, but not at levels projected when plans for the site were developed in 2003.

Lilly's diabetes portfolio accounted for nearly one-fifth of the company's $15.7 billion revenue in 2006, and analysts have predicted that figure could double in the next four years.

Lilly spent seven years developing the pen in partnership with Battelle Medical Device Solutions of Columbus, Ohio. It is one of three that Lilly plans to introduce this year, part of a strategy to increase Humalog demand, said Lehman Brothers analyst Tony Butler.

Memoir answers a call for more patient-friendly products, said Miller Tabak and Co. analyst Les Funtleyder. But he doubts it will lead to a noticeable revenue increase for the drug maker.

"That could change if everybody says they have to have it, like the next Tickle Me Elmo," he said. But he said the pen was "a step in the right direction for Lilly, and it certainly is where the world is going."
Folven, who was diagnosed with diabetes more than 20 years ago, said she plans to ask her doctor about Memoir.
"Having a backup is nice because it's not always easy when life gets going," she said.

New DVD game battles childhood obesity

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 20:20:13 GMT
By JIM ELLIS, Associated Press Writer
ORLANDO, Fla. - Obesity may be a global epidemic, but it's Obeez City that is spreading out of control in a new DVD game.
The game, called Body Mechanics, teaches youngsters how to avoid being overweight by joining forces with a team of superheroes who battle villains with names like Col Estorol and Betes II.

The fighting takes place inside the body of Jack Decayd. If Obeez City is not contained, "Jack will die soon," says Neuro, the Yoda-like wise one who narrates the game's story line.

"I remember how it started. A few snacks here, a soft drink there," Neuro speaking in an ominous tone says during the opening. "And before we knew it, the Evil Coalition of Harm and Disease was threatening us all. ... Only you can change how this story ends."

Body Mechanics is the latest in a string of video gaming products that promote more exercise and better eating habits, although this one doesn't actually get kids up and active. It's more of a teaching tool packaged with an animated movie and sold as a two-disc set.

It became available in limited release Tuesday in retail outlets including Target, Borders, Walgreens and CVS pharmacies.

Viewed as sedentary pastimes, video games and their cousins, the TV and PC, are typically the object of parental finger-waving.

And children are becoming gamers younger than ever — 2 years old, according to a survey conducted by NPD Group, a market research firm. With sales in the U.S. totaling $12.5 billion in 2006, the gaming industry's foothold is firmly planted in American culture — and so is childhood obesity. Roughly 17 percent of American youngsters are obese, and millions more are overweight, according to the government.

But highly popular active video games like Dance Dance Revolution and gaming consoles such as Nintendo's Wii and now Body Mechanics may help counter the belief that video games enable teens to lie around and gain weight.

Imagine Harry Potter, "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings" all mixed up inside the body and that's Body Mechanics, said Tony Findlay, the game's Australian creator, who is based in Sydney.

While on tour promoting a diet book, Findlay said, "Parents approached me and asked how they can teach their kids to eat better and exercise more."

Video games like Body Mechanics have a difficult task, said Dr. Karen Cullen, an associate professor with the Children's Nutrition Research Center in Houston.

"You can give someone an hour's worth of facts and you'll bore them to death," she said. "The games have to be entertaining to compete in the marketplace."

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