Crime blamed for doctor shortage in Iraq
Thu, 06 Sep 2007 20:49:01 GMTBy PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Iraq only has a third of the doctors it needs because killings and kidnappings of the medical professionals prompted many to leave the country, its military surgeon general said Thursday.
A recent decline in violence is tempting some to return, said Brig. Gen. Samir Abdullah Hassan, surgeon general for the country's soldiers, sailors, airmen and special forces.
Speaking to Pentagon reporters, Samir said he didn't have figures for the number of doctors practicing in Iraq now compared to the number before the war. But the military alone has only about a fourth of the physicians its needs — there are 148 and the need is for 600 to 700, he said.
For the country overall, the Ministry of Health only has 35 percent of the physicians it needs to staff its civilian hospitals, he said.
Samir, who was trained as an orthopedic surgeon, was in Washington the past week for meetings with U.S. military and civilian medical facilities.
He said colleagues who had fled to Jordan, Egypt and other nations have been in touch with him recently, saying they would like to come home.
"There is kidnapping, there is assassination, but it's decreased," he said.
"I can assure you if the security improved more and more, the majority of them would return back to the country," said Samir. To attract and keep more in the profession, the government also needs to increase salaries from the roughly $300 a month now paid to newly trained doctors, Samir said in a briefing with Dr. Ward S. Casscells, assistant secretary of defense for health.
Casscells said more attention was paid by the U.S. to Iraqi health care before violence spiraled in early 2006. He indicated that he's taking another look at the possibilities now that security seems to be improving in some areas.
Like everything else in Iraq, rebuilding the health sector has been greatly slowed by violence and problems within the Iraqi government.
For instance, of some 70 health care centers scheduled for construction by last July, only 44 were completed. Of those, 20 had been turned over to the Ministry of Health to administer and only eight were open at the end of July, according to the most recent report by Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.
Couple charged with illegal surgeries
Thu, 06 Sep 2007 20:55:40 GMTSAN JOSE, Calif. - A couple were arrested after authorities said they performed illegal and disfiguring cosmetic surgeries in their filthy home, filled with drugs and syringes.
Ha Nguyen, 48, and Zbigniew Makowski, 62, were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of practicing medicine without a license and child endangerment. Four children were removed from their home by child-welfare officials, authorities said.
One woman who received a facelift and tummy tuck from Nguyen now has thick three-inch scars next to each ear, scars above each eyebrow and under her lower lip, and a 15-inch scar across her stomach, said California Medical Board spokeswoman Candis Cohen.
Authorities were alerted to the couple's activities by a former client of Nguyen's, according to a search warrant affidavit. The client said Nguyen was performing cosmetic surgery in her home and earning at least $500 a day, while also receiving welfare, the affidavit said.
Makowski is suspected of being Nguyen's accomplice. Authorities said he transported patients to the house and helped clean wounds, authorities said.
Nguyen has never been licensed in California as a physician, according to the medical board. In 2003, the board investigated her for performing a botched genital surgery, but the woman who made the complaint moved away and the case was not pursued, according to the affidavit.
Nguyen and Makowski were to be arraigned Friday; it was unclear whether they had retained lawyers. Both were in jail Thursday — Nguyen in lieu of $150,000 bail, Makowski in lieu of $50,000 bail, according to a jail spokesman.
Popcorn lung patient inhaled fumes daily
Thu, 06 Sep 2007 08:07:16 GMTBy P. SOLOMON BANDA, Associated Press Writer
CENTENNIAL, Colo. - Wayne Watson loved microwave popcorn so much he would eat at least two bags each night, breathing in the steam from the just-opened package, until doctors told him it may have made him sick.
Watson, whose case of "popcorn lung" is the sole reported case of the disease in a non-factory worker, said he is convinced his heavy consumption of popcorn caused his health problems.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, the 53-year-old furniture salesman had a message to convey: "America: Read the labels, and just be careful about what we put into our bodies and always practice moderation," Watson said. "Don't go crazy."
Popcorn flavoring contains the chemical diacetyl, which has been linked to lung damage in factory workers testing hundreds of bags of microwave popcorn per day and inhaling its fumes. The chemical is a naturally occurring compound that gives butter its flavor and is also found in cheese and even wine, according to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
It's been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a flavor ingredient, but hundreds of workers have sued flavoring makers in recent years for lung damage.
There are no warnings from federal regulators, nor is there medical advice on how consumers should treat news of the rare, life-threatening disease, bronchiolitis obliterans, also known as popcorn lung.
Dr. Cecile Rose, a lung specialist at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver who diagnosed Watson's case in February, told the AP that no definite link has been established between Watson's heavy popcorn consumption and his lung disease, but that "the possibility raises public health concerns."
Doctors tested Watson's home for levels of diacetyl fumes and found that while popcorn was microwaved in the kitchen, peak levels of the fumes were similar to those measured in factories, Rose said.
While she still lets her kids microwave popcorn at home, Rose said she is concerned that the high levels of fumes measured at Watson's home could be present anytime consumers microwave popcorn, and that these high levels — and not just the cumulative effect of exposures in the factory — could be a factor in causing the disease.
"We don't know yet. We think it's a possibility," said Rose, who recommended the popcorn bags be tested further.
On Wednesday, the nation's largest microwave popcorn maker, ConAgra, said it would stop using diacetyl within a year out of concern for its workers — not because of risks to consumers. ConAgra makes Act II and Orville Redenbacher brands.
The Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association said that Rose's finding does not suggest a risk from eating microwave popcorn.
Watson said he still craves popcorn but has taken his doctors' advice and snacks now on fruits and vegetables. He said his breathing has improved and he's lost 35 pounds. He no longer uses an inhaler or takes steroids.
Uterus lining involved in obese women39s infertility
Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:30:19 GMTNEW YORK - The lining of the uterus or &;endometrium&; appears to play a small but significant role in reducing fertility among women who are overweight, Spanish researchers report.
The findings, they say, show that overweight and obese women undergoing infertility treatment with donor eggs should try to lose weight before becoming pregnant, which will give them the best chance of a good outcome.
Obese women are known to have more difficulty becoming pregnant and also are more likely to miscarry. Excess weight could exert its effects either by acting on the ovaries, which produce eggs, or on the endometrium, where the fertilized egg implants.
To investigate the role of the endometrium, Dr. Jose Bellver and colleagues from the University of Valencia looked at 2,656 women undergoing infertility treatment with donor eggs, all provided by non-obese women.
As body mass index increased, the researchers found, pregnancy success rates declined. Among women with BMIs below 25, meaning they were of normal weight or underweight, the percentage of pregnancies that lasted beyond 20 weeks per cycle of treatment was 45.5 percent, compared to 38.3 percent for women with BMIs of 25 or greater.
Rates of miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy, meaning the fertilized egg had implanted outside the uterus, also rose in tandem with BMI.
In a report of the study in the journal Fertility and Sterility, Bellver and colleagues conclude that excess weight exerts an &;extraovarian detrimental effect, and that its correction could improve the reproductive outcome in overweight and obese patients.&;
&;The role of the endometrium or its environment seems to be small, but should be taken into account,&; they add.
SOURCE: Fertility and Sterility, August 2007.
