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Nine million free condoms given away in New York

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene over the past six months has distributed more than nine million condoms at no cost via a Web site as part of an initiative to curb the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, the New York Post reports.

30 Aug 2006

Prosecutor calls for death penalty for Bulgarian nurses in Libya

A Libyan prosecutor on Tuesday issued another call for the execution of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor on trial for allegedly infecting Libyan children with HIV, the New York Times reports (Smith, New York Times, 8/30).

30 Aug 2006

Severe mental illness in Gulf Coast doubled after Katrina

The rate of severe mental illness in the Gulf Coast region about doubled in the six months after Hurricane Katrina, according to a report surveying a sample of the storm's survivors published on Monday in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, USA Today reports (Sternberg, USA Today, 8/29).

30 Aug 2006

Schering-Plough to pay $435M and plead guilty to conspiracy

Schering-Plough on Tuesday agreed to pay $435 million and plead guilty to criminal conspiracy charges to settle a federal investigation into the company's marketing practices and Medicaid charges, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports (AP/Houston Chronicle, 8/30).

30 Aug 2006

Excessive exercise and eating disorders go hand in hand

A study in the United States has found that one of the warning signs of an eating disorder is excessive exercise.

30 Aug 2006

Obese women in the UK should be refused IVF treatment

The British Fertility Society (BFS) is recommending that women who are severely overweight women should not be given access to free fertility treatment.

30 Aug 2006

FluChip can spot bird flu in under 12 hours

Scientists in the United States have developed a new technology that reduces the time it takes to achieve a detailed diagnosis of avian flu, from one week or more down to less than 12 hours.

30 Aug 2006

FDA forms task force on human tissue safety

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced the formation of a multidisciplinary FDA task force on human cell and tissue safety.

30 Aug 2006

Researchers say cut bird flu deaths by transfusions

Scientists in the U.S. say that research suggests that transfusions of blood products might help to cut deaths in the event of a bird flu pandemic.

30 Aug 2006

Elderly in British hospitals malnourished

If you are elderly and sick in Britain, hospital may not be the best place for you.

30 Aug 2006

British tourist in Hong Kong has mad cow disease

A British tourist in Hong Kong has been struck down with what appears to be mad cow disease.

30 Aug 2006

Study aims to lower diabetes risk in youth

As schools across the country reopen their doors this fall, hundreds of sixth graders in 42 middle schools will begin taking part in a study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

30 Aug 2006

New microchip enables quick diagnosis of flu strains

Scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed a microchip-based test that may allow more labs to diagnose influenza infections and learn more about the viruses causing illness.

30 Aug 2006

Case definitions for human infections with influenza A (H5N1) virus

Prompt and accurate reporting of H5N1 influenza cases to WHO is the cornerstone for monitoring both the global evolution of this disease and the corresponding risk that a pandemic virus might emerge.

30 Aug 2006

13,000 plus wild birds in Alaska tested, no bird flu found

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has announced that their departments and the State of Alaska have tested more than 13,000 wild migratory birds for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in Alaska.

30 Aug 2006

New initiative to provide nutritional assistance to people in Ethiopia living with HIV/AIDS

About 54,000 people in Ethiopia living with or affected by HIV/AIDS will receive nutritional assistance from the U.N. World Food Programme under a new agreement announced Tuesday, the Daily Monitor/AllAfrica.com reports.

30 Aug 2006

Portuguese government approves community sites where injection drug users can inject themselves under supervision

The Portuguese government has approved the establishment of community sites where injection drug users can inject themselves under supervision, and new measures call for needle-exchange programs to be installed in prisons by 2008, AFP/Today Online reports.

30 Aug 2006

Ortho-McNeil to lower the price of contraceptive pills and patches

Ortho-McNeil - which supplies contraceptives to the majority of family planning clinics nationwide - on Thursday announced it will lower the price of its contraceptive pills and patches, according to officials, the Chicago Tribune reports.

30 Aug 2006

Nature changes wording of news release for work that reports method of creating stem cells without destroying embryos

The journal Nature last Friday corrected wording in a news release it had distributed in advance of a study published in the Aug. 24 edition of the journal that describes a technique that could derive human embryonic stem cells without destroying the embryo.

30 Aug 2006

Antiretroviral drug Lopinavir selectively kills HPV-infected cells in lab tests

The protease inhibitor lopinavir - the primary component of Abbott Laboratories' antiretroviral drug Kaletra - selectively killed the human papillomavirus in laboratory tests, according to a study scheduled to be published next month in the journal Anti-Viral Therapy.

From The University of Manchester 30 Aug 2006