C M G Buttery

From this week’s Lancet several studies have shown that lung function in children is affected by urban, regional air pollution and exposure to traffic can result in adverse respiratory effects, including increased rates of asthma and other respiratory diseases. Some studies have shown that lung-function deficiency is related to residential exposure to traffic. However, whether [...]

Dr. Guy Cardineau, research professor, Arizona State University now has a patent for growing genetically modified plants containing vaccines that fight human disease. The genetically modified crops of fruits and vegetables are freeze dried and converted into a powdered form to control the dosage of the vaccine. In this way, vaccines can be stored and [...]

From the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation today is the latest State of the States 2007, Building Hope, Raising Expectations. The loss of coverage among the middle class is perhaps the most dramatic illustration of the growing problem of uninsurance. According to U.S. Census data, from 2002 to 2005, the number of uninsured Americans rose 7 [...]

SUNY at Buffalo’s dental school is testing “No-Needle” anesthesia and “No-Drilling” cavity care. If the research proves that the initial hypotheses are correct it may reduce anxiety about going to the dentist and enhance secondary prevention. The study builds on side effets of nasal surgery that can benefit work on teeth in the upper jaw. [...]

Genetic research may well lead to the control of chronic diseases, the major single cost to our health care systems. However businesses are patenting genes that may exist in our bodies. Will these same businesses charge us to modify our genes to prevent chronic disease? Isn’t this legal blackmail? Should the patent office be allowed [...]

HEALTHmap is an internet site that shows location of significant disease incidents around the world,

An editorial in the Lancet today reviews the WHO recommendation for indoor spraying of DDT to prevent malarial transmisison [Volume 369, Issue 9558 , 27 January 2007-2 February 2007, Page 248 ]. The concern in countries affected by malaria is for evironmental fears of countries to which they exoprt. Hazard communication is important to analyse [...]

The lead editorial in tomorrow’s Lancet focuses on the value of prevention for stroke. It notes that one third of all strokes occur to people younger than 70 years of age. Tthe editorial states that implementation of interventions that reduce hypertension, poor diet, and tobacco use will save more lives than all the thrombolytics, antiplatelets, [...]

This opinion piece by Arthur Allen in today’s NY Times is worth reading as he describes the pitfalls of trying to vaccinate populations when the media sensationalize rare events. Tha fear of one or less deaths (among 20,000 or more recipients, depending oin the vaccine) may doom many thousands to death and disability from prevetable [...]

A research team from Brown University has indentified a single protein that plays a major role in deadly prion diseases by smashing up clusters of these infectious proteins, creating the “seeds� that allow fatal brain illnesses to quickly spread. The findings are exciting, researchers say, because they might reveal a way to control the spread [...]