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Friday 20 January 2012

Scientists call moratorium on study of deadly bird flu

In a letter published in the journals Nature and Science on Friday, 39 scientists defended the research as crucial to public health efforts, including surveillance programs to detect when the H5N1 influenza virus might mutate and spark a pandemic.


But they are bowing to fear that has become widespread since media reports discussed the studies in December that the engineered viruses "may escape from the laboratories" -- not unlike the frightful scenario in the 1971 science fiction movie "The Andromeda Strain" -- or possibly be used to create a bioterror weapon.


Among the scientists who signed the letter were leaders of the two teams that have spearheaded the research, at Erasmus Medical College in the Netherlands and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, as well as influenza experts at institutions ranging from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the University of Hong Kong.


The findings from Fouchier's lab and another at the University of Wisconsin set off alarms for the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, which made the recommendation in December that details of the experiments be redacted from publications.


The journals and study authors have agreed to do this if a system is put in place for research information to be shared with scientists and public health workers who need it.


Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and a member of the biosecurity advisory board, said that even though the science was useful, the virus could potentially escape lab containment by accident.


"You have to look at the risk-benefit ratio," Osterholm said.


Fouchier and coauthors wrote in the letter that they recognized the need to clearly explain the benefits of their research to a worried public. They called for an international forum where the scientific community could discuss the oversight of such high-security experiments and the potential risks as well as the benefits.


Osterholm said he doubted that two months would be long enough to come to a clear consensus.


"This is a very positive step forward in trying to have a very thoughtful and global discussion on this issue," he said. But, he added, "It's still quite optimistic to think that this all can be resolved in 60 days.

FDA approves test to help screen for risk of rare brain infection

Multiple sclerosis patients using Biogen Idec (NASDAQ:BIIB) drug Tysabri now have access to the first test that can help determine their risk for developing a rare but potentially fatal brain infection that affects some patients using the drug.


The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today cleared the blood test which can help doctors determine whether MS patients as well as Crohn’s disease patients, who are also prescibed the drug, could develop progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML. PML has no cure. The risk for the infection means that Tysabri carries a black box warning.


The FDA also granted Weston, Massachusetts-based Biogen Iden a label change for Tysabri that updates the risk factors of developing PML for MS and Crohn’s disease patients. RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Yee told Bloomberg News that the label change could push Tysabri’s global sales to $2.5 billion to $3 billion by 2016. Without the label change, sales could top out at $2 billion in 2106.
Biogen makes Tysabri at its manufacturing facility in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The drug is marketed with drug partner Elan (NYSE:ELN), who splits revenue with Biogen. Biogen’s share of 2011 Tysabri revenue through the third quarter was $810 million.


The new test measures the presence of antibodies for the John Cunningham virus, or JCV. The FDA said that while the virus is common and generally harmless, people who have weakened immune systems from therapies such as Tysabri have an increased risk of developing PML. Patients at greatest risk of developing PML are those who have been exposed to JCV; have been treated with Tysabri for longer than two years; and are treated with medicines that can weaken their immune systems.


“PML is a fatal infection reported in patients undergoing immunomodulatory therapy,” Alberto Gutierrez, director of the Office of In Vitro Diagnostics in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health said in a statement. “This test gives doctors an additional means to determine if MS or CD patients undergoing Tysabri therapy are at increased risk for developing PML.


The newly approved Stratify JCV test is designed to detect a common virus that increases the likelihood of developing the brain infection. The John Cunningham virus is harmless in most people, but can become dangerous in patients taking immune system-suppressing drugs like Tysabri.


Doctors can use the results of the blood-based test, combined with facts about the patient's medical history, to determine whether they are at risk of developing the brain infection. Other factors that influence a patient's risk include how long they've been taking Tysabri and whether they've previously taken other medications that weaken the immune system.


The test was developed by Quest Diagnostics.


The FDA also updated Tysabri's label to specify that patients who test positive for the virus have a higher risk of developing PML.


"This label change marks an important advance in assisting people with MS and their physicians to make better-informed decisions concerning the challenges of balancing effectiveness with safety," said Dr. Nicholas LaRocca, vice president of the National MS Society.


Tysabri was temporarily pulled from the market shortly after its launch in 2005 after three patients taking the drug developed PML. FDA allowed the drug back on the market the following year but under a restricted distribution program. Only doctors and pharmacies registered with the company's distribution program are permitted to prescribe and dispense the drug.

Pregnant actress Elsa Pataky dashes into the ocean to join husband Chris Hemsworth

The first line of this Mail Online piece on Chris Hemsworth's wife Elsa Pataky seems to answer its own question, since the article goes on to excitedly describe how Pataky "plummeted" down a steep waterslide "just hours after announcing pregnancy."


My god, watersliding during pregnancy. Next thing you know she'll be exercising, taking baths, going outside during a full moon, or raising her hands above her head. OH, THE HUMANITY.


Granted, I don't think I would have chosen to take a trip down that exact sort of slide while I was pregnant (not that I spent a lot of time lounging on luxury yachts in St. Barts), but that's because I'm a giant wuss about water rides. Just looking at it makes me a little woozy, in fact. It's so high there's a freaking helicopter pad next to it! GAH.


Still, I don't think it would be super dangerous to ride that sort of thing when your belly is still small enough to stay out of your way. I'm sure there's a decent impact at the bottom, but it's not like you'd be landing face first. Well, unless you're ME, which is why I avoid any and all activities that combine athleticism and water.


The finger-wagging tone of the article makes me think about how quick we are to judge anything and everything that has the outward appearance of being potentially risky. For instance, lots of people seem to think that physical activity should be avoided during pregnancy, despite guidelines that clearly state otherwise. Activities that are more strenuous than walking are particularly frowned upon—remember the woman who ran the Chicago marathon then immediately went into labor? Man, folks seriously ripped into her for that, saying she was stupid to risk her life and the life of her newborn ... despite the fact that she had a perfectly healthy birth.


Her water indulgence comes after she was pictured taking a wild ride down a waterside the day before.
Her husband Chris seemed to be proud of his wife's daring behaviour, as he snapped photos of her taking the steep plunge.
After climbing out of the water in a black bikini, the Fast Five actress once again put her hands on her stomach in a protective hold..


The actress confirmed the news in the latest issue Hola! magazine, saying, 'Chris and I are ecstatic, very happy and excited.'
Elsa insists they don't care what sex their baby is, as long as its healthy.
'Since it's our first child, we don't care if it's a boy or a girl, our only wish is that it's healthy,' she said.


Chris, 28, who will reprise his role as superhero Thor in Thor 2 May 4, also better say a small prayer that his Spanish rapidly improves.
'I'm only going to speak to the baby in Spanish. I already told my husband, 'Get ready fast with Spanish because, if not, you're not going to be able to understand what we say,' she joked.
Although she most likely has a model's metabolism, the stunner swears her eating habits have gotten progressively worse throughout her pregnancy.


Everything healthy I used to like, I now don't like. All of a sudden, the only things that sound good to me are all the sweets in the world, hamburgers, and french fries,' she revealed.
'I have never eaten popcorn, and with the pregnancy, I eat it all the time.'
She also lovingly admitted that she and Hemsworth have been basking in newlywed bliss since tying the knot in December 2010; the baby could be evidence of their happiness.

State will review pregnancy centers' information

NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota has released a report titled “State-Funded Deception: Minnesota’s Crisis Pregnancy Centers,” a supposed exposé of our state’s pro-life pregnancy care centers (also called crisis pregnancy centers, or CPCs). NARAL hopes to get rid of the Positive Alternatives program, which provides modest state grants to a select number of pregnancy centers in Minnesota, by discrediting these organizations. NARAL also hopes to slap certain legal restrictions on them, but laments that “not all of the harmful practices CPCs engage in can be remedied through legislation.”


What are these horrible places that perpetrate “gross injustice” (as the NARAL report puts it)? Pregnancy care centers help pregnant women and new mothers in need (and their families) without advocating the wrong of abortion as a solution to the difficulties of life. Rather, these pregnancy centers offer the information, counseling, medical referrals, adoption help and various other kinds of assistance (e.g., parenting training programs, baby supplies, housing and employment assistance) necessary to become a prepared parent or to place a child for adoption in a loving home. They are a one-stop location for pregnant women who may lack resources and support, feel desperate, or feel that abortion is their only option. (Such women will not find what they need at the typical abortion clinic.)


More substantively, the report attacks as false certain statements about the effect of abortion on women. First, the report says there is no link between abortion and a higher risk of developing breast cancer. Really? Check out this list of studies pertaining to the relationship between abortion and the development of breast cancer. Learn more about the evidence at www.abortionbreastcancer.com/index and www.bcpinstitute.org/home.htm.


Second, the report denies that there is an increased risk of mental health problems following abortion. A 2011 meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Psychiatry — “the largest quantitative estimate of mental health risks associated with abortion available in the world literature” — strongly suggests otherwise (http://prolifemn.blogspot.com/2011/09/analysis-shows-strong-link-between.html).


Third, the NARAL report downplays any increased risk of future infertility and miscarriage following abortion. Evidence suggests that the risk is real (go to www.deveber.org/text/chapters/Chap5.pdf for the infertility risk and www.deveber.org/text/chapters/Chap4.pdf for miscarriage).

No Safe Level of Alcohol Use in Pregnancy

New research published this week might make you think twice before picking up that glass of wine while you’re pregnant.


According to Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, no amount of alcohol at any point during pregnancy is safe, especially in the first trimester.


“The fact that we didn’t find a safe threshold is important,” said study author Christina Chambers, an associate professor of pediatrics and family and preventive medicine at the University of California, San Diego. “Not every child of women who drink even very heavily has all the features, so there are certain susceptibility factors that we don’t know.


Classic physical features of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) include smooth philtrum, thin vermillion border, short palpebral fissures, microcephaly, and weight and height growth deficiencies. Yet, there is a lack of clear-cut information on the risk of each of these specific features in relation to the amount and timing of alcohol consumption in pregnancy.


Dr. Feldman and colleagues quantified risks for these specific alcohol-related features on the basis of specific patterns and timing of exposure during pregnancy. The analysis focused on 992 women and their infants. The mean age of the women was 31 years.


The study was designed to address two challenges in FAS research, Dr. Feldman explained. The first is obtaining accurate alcohol exposure history from the women, which may involve social stigma and recall bias.


"This study helped to improve the quality of that information by collecting information during pregnancy when women were as yet unaware of the pregnancy outcome. The data were also collected by trained counseling specialists who built rapport with the woman and guaranteed confidentiality while collecting sensitive information," Dr. Feldman said.


The second challenge is getting quality information on physical features of FAS. "These cardinal alcohol-related features are often subtle, and a non-expert examiner may miss or misclassify features, and/or can be biased by subjectivity, especially if he/she suspects or knows about prenatal alcohol exposure," Dr. Feldman noted.


"This study used an exposure-blinded expert dysmorphologist to look for these features. Importantly, potential bias due to subjectivity was reduced because these examinations were conducted in the context of a larger study in which women were enrolled with exposure to one of over 70 agents of interest, only one of which was alcohol," she explained.


Patterns of drinking were evaluated by drinks per day, number of binge episodes, and maximum number of drinks. Timing of exposure was evaluated 0 to 6 weeks postconception, 6 to 12 weeks postconception, first trimester, second trimester, and third trimester.

Many teen moms naive about pregnancy

A new government study suggests a lot of teenage girls are clueless about their chances of getting pregnant.


In a survey of thousands of teenage mothers who had unintended pregnancies, about a third who didn't use birth control said the reason was they didn't believe they could pregnant.


Why they thought that isn't clear. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey didn't ask teens to explain.


But other researchers have talked to teen moms who believed they couldn't get pregnant the first time they had sex, didn't think they could get pregnant at that time of the month or thought they were sterile.


"This report underscores how much misperception, ambivalence and magical thinking put teens at risk for unintended pregnancy," said Bill Albert, a spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.


Other studies have asked teens about their contraception use and beliefs about pregnancy. But the CDC report released Thursday is the first to focus on teens who didn't want to get pregnant but did.


The researchers interviewed nearly 5,000 teenage girls in 19 states who gave birth after unplanned pregnancies in 2004 through 2008. The survey was done through mailed questionnaires with telephone follow-up.


About 50% of the girls surveyed said they were not using any birth control when they got pregnant. That percentage is higher than that of teens in general; studies have note that, overall, less than 20% of sexually active teens reported that the did not use contraception the last time they had sex. Co-author Lorie Gavin noted, “I think what surprised us was the extent to which they were not using contraception.” The teen moms were asked what kind of contraception they were using. Of those that were not using any method of birth control when they got pregnant, nearly one third (31.4%) believed they could not get pregnant at the time; 21.0% used a highly effective contraceptive method (less than 1% used an intrauterine device (IUD), which is not as well tolerated by those that have not delivered a child); 24.2% used condoms; and 5.1% used the least effective methods, such as rhythm and withdrawal. According to the investigators, the reason that teens using contraception became pregnant was not due to a faulty product, rather the girls failed to use it correctly or consistently. Only 13% of the teen moms not using contraception reported that they did not because they had difficulty in obtaining it.
The study also noted that almost 25% of the teen moms who did not use birth control reported that they did not because their partner did not want them to. This finding suggests that sex education must include not only information about anatomy and birth control but also about how to deal with situations in which a girl feels pressured to do engage in unsafe sex.

EU Regulator Reviews Novartis MS Pill

European and U.S. regulators are reviewing Novartis AG's Gilenya pill for multiple sclerosis after reports of 11 deaths among patients who took the drug. The shares fell the most in more than five months.


The reports raise concern that Gilenya, the first oral treatment for the debilitating neurological disease, may harm the heart, the European Medicines Agency said in a statement today. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it's also reviewing data on the medicine.


Gilenya was approved for the treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in 2010. The FDA recommends that before patients start on the drug, they are made aware of potential heart-rate problems. The agency further recommends that patients only take Gilenya at their physician's office , where they are monitored for six hours after they take the first dose.


The Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis says last November it was "notified of the first reported case of a patient death that occurred within 24 hours after receiving the first dose of Gilenya." In a statement to CNN, the company says the cause of death remains unknown. Ten more patients taking the medication have died, due to sudden death, heart attack or disruption of the heart rhythm, according to Novartis. "As noted by EMA, it is currently not clear whether these deaths were caused by Gilenya or not,"


The company points out that in clinical trials, there was not an imbalance in deaths of patients on the drug and incidents in the general population.


The National Multiple Sclerosis Society notes that it unclear what role Gilenya may have played in these deaths and is waiting for the results of the investigation. Dr. Timothy Coetzee, chief research officer for the National MS Society, says "understanding the benefits and risks of therapies is vitally important to everyone in the MS community."


In addition, the organization stresses the importance of the EMA's recommendation for heightened monitoring procedures after the first dose is administered.


The MS Society recommends patients currently taking this drug consult their doctor or contact the Novartis patient support line at 888-NOW-NOVA (888-669-6682) for more information.

Young Breast Cancer Survivors Cured

In too many cases, doctors aren't doing a good job of informing American women with early stage breast cancer about the disease or their options in terms of surgery, a new study suggests.


In the study, researchers at the University of North Carolina surveyed breast cancer survivors on their knowledge of the disease. Respondents typically answered only about half of the questions correctly, and less than half said their surgeons had even asked them about their personal preference for surgery -- a full mastectomy vs. breast-conserving lumpectomy -- prior to treatment.


"We found that breast cancer survivors had fairly major gaps in their knowledge about their surgical options, including about the implications for recurrence and survival," said study lead author Dr. Clara Lee, an associate professor of surgery and director of surgical research at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill.


The paper was published in the January issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.


Breast cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in women, and is the leading cause of death in women younger than 50 in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society.
“By tailoring adjuvant therapy regimens and giving cytotoxic therapy only to those who may benefit, we can mitigate some of these side effects, but the long life expectancy for these younger women also provides a window of opportunity for cancer prevention and health-promotion activities,” the study concluded.
American Cancer Society estimates show that of the 182,460 new cases of breast cancer in females each year, an estimated 10,000 will be women younger than 40 and nearly 23,000 younger than 45, according to the Young Survival Coalition, a national advocacy group based in New York City. Breast cancers account for 26 percent of all cancer in females ages 15 to 39 and 39 percent of women ages 35 to 39.
Younger women find it more difficult to embrace their new body after cancer-related surgery. Whether they are married or single, they also face intimacy issues in dating and relationships, according to the coalition. Treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation can also affect a woman’s plans to have children, sometimes rendering her infertile.
When women are younger, they are more apt to be working and a cancer diagnosis can hit them hard economically as they struggle to keep working. Additionally, many will not have health insurance or their plans might not adequately cover cancer treatments.
“Appearance is a big deal, and not in a vain way,” Vazquez said. “I was in the field working and didn’t want clients to say, ‘Oh, poor pitiful Nicole has cancer.’”
She is in a long-term relationship now and, with an irregular menstrual cycle, is wondering whether she will ever have children. Because her “triple negative” form of cancer was so virulent, Vazquez had no time to freeze her eggs before chemotherapy.
But she remains upbeat and mentors other young cancer survivors through theSusan G. Komen Foundation in Dallas. She knows young women, particularly, need support.
In its own studies, the Komen foundation has found that quality of life issues are widespread, troubling and require attention from health care providers and survivors.

Study hints that statins might fight breast cancer

A daily dose of statins has “been shown to block the growth and spread of tumours,” according to the Daily Express. The newspaper reported that common cholesterol-lowering drugs “could be the key to beating cancer”.
The news is based on laboratory research into the role of a specific genetic mutation in the development of breast cancer. The research was mainly carried out in cell cultures, and did not test drugs on humans.
During their experiment researchers grew cells generated from breast cancer tumours carrying the mutation, which is often found in cancers. The researchers then interfered with the effects of this gene mutation, leading approximately half the cells to revert to a more normal structure.
Exploring this phenomenon further they then identified how this gene affects the cells, and tested drugs to interfere with this mechanism. Treating the breast cancer cells with simvastatin, a commonly used statin drug, reduced cancer cell growth and increased cancer cell death to an even greater extent than interfering with the gene mutation alone.


Commenting on the study, cancer expert Marc Symons said, "This paper unravels a mechanism whereby p53, a frequently mutated cancer gene, promotes the aberrant behavior of cancer cells."
The mutated protein stimulates the mevalonate pathway, explained Symons, an investigator at the Center for Oncology and Cell Biology at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, N.Y.
"Statins, drugs that are widely used to lower cholesterol levels, block a key step in the mevalonate pathway," Symons said. "The new results may well give new momentum to the use of statins as anti-cancer agents."
Dr. Stephanie Bernik, chief of surgical oncology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, is also intrigued by the potential of the new findings.
"This paper addresses a possible new target for therapeutic agents based on a well-known tumor suppressor gene that is common in many cancers," Bernik said. "Identifying novel pathways that lead to tumor formation is the first step to developing new drugs that can specifically target some of the complex mechanisms that contribute to the development of cancer," she pointed out.
"This work and other projects like this raise the hope that we will one day be able to cure cancers on a molecular level," Bernik said.

Sex poses surprisingly low risk for heart patients

Sex is safe for most heart patients. If you’re healthy enough to walk up two flights of stairs without chest pain or gasping for breath, you can have a love life.


That advice from a leading doctors’ group on Thursday addresses one of the most pressing, least discussed issues facing survivors of heart attacks and other heart patients.


In its first science-based recommendations on the subject, the American Heart Association says having sex only slightly raises the chance for a heart attack. And that’s true for people with and without heart disease.


Surprisingly, despite the higher risk for a heart patient to have a second attack, there’s no evidence that they have more sex-related heart attacks than people without cardiac disease.


Many heart patients don’t think twice about climbing stairs, yet many worry that sexual activity will cause another heart attack, or even sudden death, said Dr. Glenn Levine, lead author of a report detailing the recommendations and a professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.


The report says sex is something doctors should bring up with all heart patients. Yet few do because they’re uncomfortable talking about it or they lack information, Levine said. The new guidance is designed to fill that gap.


Who’s most at risk for sudden death related to sex? Married men having affairs, often with younger women in unfamiliar settings. Those circumstances can add to stress that may increase the risks, evidence from a handful of studies suggests.


—Sex may be OK as soon as one week after a relatively mild heart attack, if patients can walk up a few flights of stairs without discomfort.


—Viagra and other drugs for erectile dysfunction are generally safe for men with stable heart disease.


"The risk of having a heart attack during sexual activity is two to three times higher than when not having sexual activity. However, this increased risk of heart attack during sexual activity represents only a very small part of a person’s overall risk of having a heart attack, and sexual activity is the cause of less than 1 percent of all heart attacks," Levine said.


Among heart attack survivors, average risks for another heart attack or sudden death are about 10 in 1 million per hour; having sex increases that to about 20 to 30 in 1 million per hour of sexual activity, the new report says. People without heart disease face lower overall risks for a heart attack, but similar risks for a sex-related attack.


The updated advice was released online Thursday in the heart association journal, Circulation.

Paula Deen didn’t bring to the table

Paula Deen's announcement on the "Today" show this week that has diabetes is that she didn't do it with a fried stick of butter hanging out of her mouth.
But she might as well have.
For more than a decade, Deen has been touting “down home" Southern-style recipes on her various Food Network shows, at her restaurants, and in her cookbooks. Nearly every dish is replete with lard, sugar, bacon, heavy cream, salt, ground beef, or some disgusting combination thereof.
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Barbara Walters has accused her of telling kids it's okay to have cheesecake for breakfast, and meatloaf and chocolate cake for lunch. Deen claims she's not telling kids to eat like that every day. She is the enemy of healthy cooking, and with a bully pulpit to boot.


The messenger matters as much as the message. When Warren Buffett advocates taxing the rich, the idea registers with a different audience than when it comes from a bunch of protesters camping out in tents. Similarly, Magic Johnson’s admission that he had contracted HIV helped society accept that AIDS wasn’t just a “gay disease.” In his stunning news conference on Nov. 7, 1991, Johnson, then 32, said he wanted young people to understand “that safe sex is the way to go,” adding: “Here I am, saying that it can happen to anybody, even me, Magic Johnson.”


It’s easy to see why Deen balked at her opportunity, of course. You don’t build a multimillion-dollar empire glorifying sugar and lard, as she has, and then turn around and tell people to skip the fried chicken and pie. Like many of her Food Network peers, she has lucrative endorsement contracts with big food companies — Smithfield pork and Philadelphia Cream Cheese — that might not appreciate a strident eat-less message.

New Autism Definition Could Exclude Many

A debate among medical professionals over how to define autism has spilled over into the public domain, stirring anger and fear among many parents and advocates of those with the neurological disorder, even as some argue that the diagnosis has been too loosely applied.


A study reported on Thursday found that proposed revisions to the American Psychiatric Association’s definition would exclude about three-quarters of those now diagnosed with milder forms of autism called Asperger syndrome or “pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified,” also known as P.D.D.-N.O.S. These are people who have difficulties with social interaction but do not share the most severe impairments of children with classic autism.


According to a report published Wednesday in the New York Times, proposed changes to the definition for the new DSM edition, slated to be published next year, would exclude Asperger’s and PDDNOS and consolidate autism diagnoses under a narrower category of autism. The person would have to show three deficits in social interaction and communication and two repetitive behaviors, a stricter set of criteria.
Many autism experts support the proposed changes, saying they will make it far easier to diagnose autism.
“Distinctions between the current subtypes are difficult to make, and do not necessary have differential implications for treatment. The line between PDDNOS and autism is often blurry, as is the line between Asperger’s disorder and ‘high functioning’ autism,” Wendy Stone, director of the University of Washington Autism Center, told ABC News. “Even well-trained researchers and clinicians using standardized measures may not agree on which side of these ‘lines’ an individual may fit.”
Experts say the changes will probably also arrest the rate of autism diagnoses, which have been rising sharply in recent years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in 110 children in the U.S. has autism under the old definition.
Dr. Fred Volkmar, director of the Child Study Center at the Yale School of Medicine, led a team of researchers who analyzed data from a 1994 study testing the criteria used in the current edition of DSM. According to a statement from Yale University, the researchers found that half of the people diagnosed with autism in that trial would no longer merit a diagnosis under the new proposed criteria.
In the statement, Dr. Volkmar emphasized that these preliminary findings suggest that “only the most cognitively able” would be excluded from an autism diagnosis.
Lori Warner, director of the Hope Center for Autism at Beaumont Children’s Hospital Center in Royal Oak, Mich., told ABC News that these cognitively able, ‘high-functioning’ autistics still require a number of treatment and support services.
“People tend to think that the more severely impacted children need the most services. But often these high-functioning individuals with enough help could either move out of the spectrum or live more functional lives with dignity,” Warner said. “If the Volkmar group is correct, I’m very worried for that segment of families.”
If patients lose their diagnosis status, they might not be able to get the treatments and services provided for autistic patients and their families, which often require a diagnosis to qualify for insurance coverage, special education and other assistance.

1 in 5 Americans Had Mental Illness in 12-Month Period

One in five adults in the U.S. had a mental illness in 2010, with people ages 18 to 25 having the highest rates, according to a national survey.


The report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Survey on Drug Use and Health, released Thursday, includes information from 68,487 completed surveys about mental illness (as defined by the American Psychiatric Assn.'s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV) and substance abuse among adults and children. Rates have remained fairly stable since 2009, with only a slight uptick in overall numbers.


The unemployed, Medicaid beneficiaries, and those living below the poverty level were more likely to have mental illness in the preceding year, as were younger patients. Women appeared to be at greater risk than men (23% versus 16.8%).


Substance use disorders were more common among those with mental illness than among those reporting no disorders (20% versus 6.1%), and the prevalence was even higher among patients with serious mental illness (25.2%).


The findings emphasize the need for mental health treatment specialists to address substance use disorders, and to more extensively integrate mental health and substance use treatment centers, the researchers wrote.


They also reported that many Americans had seriously contemplated suicide over the preceding year (8.7 million), and 2.5 million had actually made suicide plans. Just over a million patients had attempted it.


Signs of mental illness were also seen in American youth, with 8% of 12-to-17-year-olds reporting a major depressive episode -- being in a depressed mood for at least two weeks -- in the preceding year.


Children and adolescents who reported feeling this way were more likely to use drugs than those who didn't have a depressive episode (37.2% versus 17.8%), they found.


The researchers called for screening kids who've had a major depressive episode for substance use disorders.


The data come from SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health 2010.


In a statement, SAMHSA administrator Pamela Hyde warned that mental illness is often concurrent with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity, and that "treatment of the mental illness can reduce the effects of these disorders.

What are Paula Deen's most infamous dishes

NEW YORK — Celebrity chef Paula Deen on Wednesday pledged a portion of her earnings from a lucrative endorsement deal with a diabetes drugmaker to the nonprofit American Diabetes Association.
The queen of Southern cooking and author of numerous cookbooks disclosed Tuesday that she's had Type 2 diabetes for three years while promoting high-fat, high-sugar recipes as usual on her Food Network TV shows. She also said Tuesday that she'd signed on as the face of a new diabetes health initiative sponsored by Novo Nordisk, the company that makes Victoza, a noninsulin injectable medication she now takes.
In a segment of ABC's food chat show "The Chew" that aired Wednesday, Deen said she and her two grown sons, Bobby and Jamie, are working with the drug company's Diabetes in a New Light campaign "because we, like everybody else, have to work."


Such scorn! It was as if Paula Deen had become the modern Hester Prynne, condemned to wear forever a big scarlet "F" (for fat) rather than the infamous "A" of Hawthorne's Puritan heroine.


Her critics focused on her timing and on her tie-in with a drug company -- all valid points. But it was the ferocious criticism of her cooking -- and by extension, her eating -- that left me wondering if any of these saintly blue-stockings had never secretly munched on a Devil Dog or a Twinkie. Had they never poured too much butter over their popcorn, lavished canned tuna with real mayonnaise or fried up a pound of bacon while the tofu sat forlorn and neglected in the vegetable crisper? Heck, hadn't they ever gotten the munchies back in the '70s?


That, of course, led me to thinking about which of Deen's dishes should proudly and unapologetically be entered into some sort of Infamous Foods Hall of Fame, right there next to the cheese fries, chicken-fried steak and the "50 Fattiest Foods in the United States" as decided by Health.com 

FDA requiring more data, possibly new studies before ruling on Bristol-Astra diabetes drug

TRENTON, N.J. -- In a setback that could spell trouble for several drugmakers developing a new type of diabetes pill, U.S. regulators have told partners Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and AstraZeneca PLC they can't approve its experimental drug without more data.


Shares of both companies fell more than 2 percent.


The Food and Drug Administration decision Thursday comes after expert FDA advisers in July recommended that dapagliflozin not be approved. They cited elevated rates of bladder and breast cancer seen in clinical studies, plus concerns about infections and possible liver damage.


Bristol-Myers has been touting dapagliflozin as an important new drug. BernsteinResearch analyst Dr. Tim Anderson had forecast sales of about $1.2 billion a year by 2020, a modest blockbuster by today's standards.


Dapagliflozin is part of a new class of drugs for Type 2 diabetes called SGLT-2 inhibitors, which reduce blood sugar by increasing how much is excreted in the urine and also help patients lose weight. Type 2 diabetes, which is generally related to obesity and a sedentary lifestyle, accounts for at least 90 percent of diagnosed cases in adults.


Bristol-Myers, based in New York, and London-based AstraZeneca said the FDA wants data from ongoing studies and may require new ones to better evaluate the drug's benefits and risks. If that happens, it likely would delay a chance at approval by a couple of years.


The companies said they'll work with the FDA to determine their next steps and are committed to dapagliflozin, which has been tested in more than 5,000 patients in 19 clinical studies. The companies also are in "ongoing discussions with health authorities in Europe and other countries" where they are seeking approval for the once-a-day pill.


Bristol-Myers, based in New York, and London-based AstraZeneca said the FDA wants data from ongoing studies and may require new ones to better evaluate the drug’s benefits and risks. If that happens, it likely would delay a chance at approval by a couple of years.


The companies said they’ll work with the FDA to determine their next steps and are committed to dapagliflozin, which has been tested in more than 5,000 patients in 19 clinical studies. The companies also are in “ongoing discussions with health authorities in Europe and other countries” where they are seeking approval for the once-a-day pill.


The setback follows failures of other experimental drugs for each company recently and could indicate difficulties ahead for several other competitors developing compounds similar to dapagliflozin, according to Anderson.


“Our best guess is that safety concerns linger over the small cancer signal that surfaced in prior studies,” Anderson wrote.


Bristol and AstraZeneca both need some new big sellers soon because they have blockbusters facing generic competition this year and in future years.


Blood thinner Plavix, which Bristol jointly markets with France’s Sanofi SA, is the world’s second-best-selling drug but loses U.S. patent protection this May. Bristol reported $5.42 billion in Plavix sales in the first nine months of 2011, part of which goes to Sanofi. AstraZeneca loses patent protection in March for its No. 3 drug, Seroquel for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It brought the company $3.2 billion in the first three quarters of 2011.


Anderson noted he expects Bristol-Myers to have flat revenue from 2012 onwards and that AstraZeneca seems “to have a never-ending decline.”


If it’s approved eventually, dapagliflozin would have to fight for space in the increasingly crowded field of diabetes drugs, which now spans about a half-dozen classes of pills and injected drugs, plus multiple types of insulin. Numerous older pills are available as cheap generics, so newer ones must be significantly better and safer to win insurance coverage and market share.


Bristol’s Onglyza, another type of drug for Type 2 diabetes launched 2 1/2 years ago, has been a disappointment, with sales of only $320 million in 2011’s first nine months.


Bristol-Myers, which has one of the industry’s best portfolios of drugs in development, said last month that experimental liver cancer drug brivanib didn’t increase overall survival in a late-stage study. Three other late-stage studies of that drug are continuing.


Late last year, AstraZeneca said it was abandoning plans to develop a new ovarian cancer drug called olaparib, and that a planned antidepressant known as TC-5214, being developing with U.S.-based Targacept Inc., did not perform well in the first of four late-stage studies. Further tests of TC-2514 were continuing, though.


In early afternoon trading, AztraZeneca’s U.S.-listed shares were down 69 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $47.51 and Bristol-Myers shares declined $1.08, or 3.2 percent, to $32.65, while the broader markets were up less than 1 percent.

Kaiser Permanente Moves to Green Medical Supplies by Converting

RESTON, VA, -- Kaiser Permanente took a huge step toward making health care healthier for patients and the environment, a leading public health advocacy organization, Health Care Without Harm, stated today in response to Kaiser Permanente's announcement that it has begun changes in its IV tubing and solution bags to ones made without chemicals suspected of causing illness in humans. Kaiser Permanente is a founding sponsor, along with Health Care Without Harm, of the Healthier Hospitals Initiative, which uses the purchasing power of hospitals, among other catalysts, to speed the development of sustainability and environmental responsibility in the entire health care sector.


"Hospitals and health care providers like Kaiser Permanente are realizing they have a dual role in protecting the nation's health," stated Gary Cohen, president of Health Care Without Harm. "They need to provide the safest possible equipment and environment when treating patients, and they also have a responsibility to help reduce and eliminate environmental exposures that contribute to illness and disease."


Environmental exposures are linked to many of the nation's chronic illnesses such as asthma, heart and lung disease, cancer and diabetes. Currently, the nation spends 75 percent of its entire health care expenditures, or $1.3 trillion, to treat chronic illnesses.


Kaiser Permanente recognizes we can improve health today and for the future by taking a close look at the products we purchase," said Barry Brenner, vice president for medical sourcing at Kaiser Permanente. "With Kaiser Permanente's size and influence, we are able to move the industry to create greener products."


Research suggests that long-term exposure to DEHP, used as a plasticizer in medical devices such as IV bags and tubing, can affect the body's endocrine system, resulting in a variety of hormonal abnormalities, particularly in infants. When PVC plastic is manufactured or incinerated, dioxin pollution is created. Dioxin is a known carcinogen. These substances are currently widely used throughout the health care industry.
"Kaiser Permanente is continually working to highlight the connection between environmental health and public health, through green purchasing, sustainable energy solutions, and informing public policy," said Kathy Gerwig, Kaiser Permanente's vice president for employee safety, health and wellness, and environmental stewardship officer. "With this switch to IV materials that are free of PVC and DEHP, we are making a significant stride in protecting the health and safety of our members and our communities."


Kaiser Permanente spends more than $1 billion each year on medical products. The focus on greener products is just one aspect of Kaiser Permanente's industry-leading work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the use of harmful chemicals and promote sustainable food choices. The organization is dedicated to environmental sustainability because it has direct, positive effects on individual and community health.


Kaiser Permanente has a long history of environmental stewardship. Through its green building efforts, Kaiser Permanente saves more than $10 million per year and has eliminated the purchase and disposal of 40 tons of harmful chemicals in its facilities. For example, the organization has worked with suppliers to virtually eliminate the use of products and equipment that contain mercury, which is a neurotoxin. Last year, the organization announced it had agreed to deploy up to 15 megawatts of solar power in a deal that has placed solar panels at Kaiser Permanente facilities across California. For more information about Kaiser Permanente's environmental efforts, go to kp.org/green.

Metal Puts a Crimp in Deadly Bacterial Toxin

PITTSBURGH, Carnegie Mellon University researchers have discovered that an element commonly found in nature might provide a way to neutralize the potentially lethal effects of a compound known as Shiga toxin. New results published in the Jan. 20 issue of Science by Carnegie Mellon biologists Adam Linstedt and Somshuvra Mukhopadhyay show that manganese completely protects against Shiga toxicosis in animal models.




Produced by certain bacteria, including Shigella and some strains of E. coli, Shiga toxin can cause symptoms ranging from mild intestinal disease to kidney failure. The new findings could pave the way for future research aimed at creating an inexpensive treatment for infections caused by bacteria that produce the lethal Shiga toxin. Currently there is no treatment for these infections that afflict more than 150 million people each year, resulting in more than one million deaths worldwide.


Such infections are common in developing countries where they cause waterborne epidemics. The infections can be particularly deadly, especially in children, causing dysentery and severe hemorrhagic diarrhea, which cannot be adequately treated in areas without access to clean water. In developed countries, Shiga toxicosis is most common during foodborne outbreaks -- like the widespread E. coli outbreak this past summer in Germany and Western Europe, where more than 3,700 people were infected and 45 died.


That's what happened in the test tube, Linstedt and Mukhopadhyay discovered. Shiga toxin made its way to the Golgi apparatus in control cells but not in cells dosed with manganese. Much of the wayward shiga toxin in the manganese-treated cells diverted to the lysosome and was destroyed, the researchers report online today in Science. "I was surprised that shiga toxin was so sensitive to the loss of GPP130," Linstedt says.


For cultured human cells and mice battling the toxin, manganese proved to be a lifesaver. Compared with untreated cells, for example, cells exposed to the metal typically could survive a dose of shiga toxin more than 2000 times higher. And when the researchers gave mice manganese and then injected them with shiga toxin, all of the rodents survived. Control animals, by contrast, died within 3 or 4 days of the toxin's injection, their kidneys severely damaged. "We've found a possible treatment for a toxin that is a major cause of food- and waterborne disease in the world," Linstedt says.


"I find it quite striking and exciting," says cell biologist Ludger Johannes of the Institut Curie in Paris. Microbiologist Vernon Tesh of Texas A&M Health Science Center in Bryan agrees. "I think it's a very important paper in terms of a target for intervention," he says. But both scientists fault the mouse experiments. The researchers "pretreated" the animals with manganese for 5 days before injecting them with shiga toxin. "That is a limitation for the idea of using anything like this as a therapeutic approach," Johannes says. However, Linstedt says that the goal was to demonstrate that manganese works against shiga toxin, not to nail down a particular dosing schedule. "We showed proof of principle."


Manganese's medical usefulness depends on whether patients can receive treatment in time, says pediatric endocrinologist Phillip Tarr of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He notes that the problem that prompts most people to seek medical care, bloody diarrhea, doesn't begin until 3 or 4 days after exposure to the microbes. By this time, damage to the blood vessels has begun, but the kidneys don't usually fail for another 3 or 4 days. So there could be a window of time in which counteracting shiga toxin is beneficial, Tarr says.

Sexual activity is safe for most heart, stroke patients

Most people being treated for heart disease can safely have sex, according to research that also suggests the risk of sudden cardiac death may rise for men when the amorous activity occurs in an extramarital affair.
Having sex is linked with less than 1 percent of all heart attacks and less than 5 percent of incidences of chest pain, the American Heart Association reported today. More than 27 million Americans have heart disease, the nation's top cause of death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The act of intercourse is generally comparable to climbing two flights of stairs, said Glenn Levine, a professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and the paper’s lead author. The scientific statement, published in the Dallas-based heart group’s journal, Circulation, may provide a road map for doctors to counsel patients, he said.
“It is only a modest number of patients with more severe or unstable symptoms who should defer sexual activity until evaluated and treated,” Levine said in a telephone interview. “Our recommendations apply to anyone of any age with heart disease, including younger persons with congenital heart disease and other patients including patients in their 70s and 80s.


After a diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, it is reasonable for patients to be evaluated by their physician or healthcare provider before resuming sexual activity.
Cardiac rehabilitation and regular physical activity can reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications related to sexual activity in people who have had heart failure or a heart attack.
Women with cardiovascular disease should be counseled on the safety and advisability of contraceptive methods and pregnancy based on their patient profile.
Patients with severe heart disease who have symptoms with minimal activity or while at rest should not be sexually active until their cardiovascular disease symptoms are stabilized with appropriate treatment.
Patients should be assessed to see if their sexual dysfunction is related to underlying vascular or cardiac disease, anxiety, depression or other factors.
Drugs that can improve cardiovascular symptoms or survival should not be withheld due to concerns that such drugs may impact sexual function.
Drugs to treat erectile dysfunction are generally safe for men who have stable cardiovascular disease. These drugs should not be used in patients receiving nitrate therapy for chest pains due to coronary artery disease (blockages in the arteries that supply the heart with blood), and nitrates should not be administered to patients within 24-48 hours of using an erectile dysfunction drug (depending on the drug used).
It is reasonable for post-menopausal women with cardiovascular disease to use estrogen that's topically or vaginally inserted for the treatment of painful intercourse.
Decreased sexual activity and function — common in men and women with cardiovascular diseases — is often related to anxiety and depression.

More Americans Practicing Safe Sex

Many heart disease and stroke patients were given good news Thursday by the American Heart Association, which published research that says sexual activity can be safe for cardiac patients with stable conditions.


The research, published in the journal Circulation, said that while medical consultations and assessments would be advised for patients with more serious conditions, those with controlled symptoms should have a green light to have sex.


"Sexual activity is an important component of patient and partner quality of life, and it reasonable for most patients with (cardiovascular disease) to engage in sexual activity," reads the study.


"Those with stable symptoms and good functional capacity generally have a low risk of adverse cardiovascular events with sexual activity."


The report, which was led by Dr. Glenn Levine, issued a number of recommendations for heart and stroke patients who wished to take part in sexual activity.


"Generally, these are behaviors that are studied in higher risk populations, but by looking in the household population we can get a better sense of the level of risk that may exist in the general population that you don't normally think about," said report author Anjani Chandra, a health scientist at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.


Some of the risk factors the researchers looked at were gay and bisexual sex, illicit drug use and having several sexual partners or a partner who injects illegal drugs, she said.


"For women, we don't really see that the decline is due to any variation in sexual risk behaviors, whereas for men we see substantial difference by race," she said.


The reasons for the decline in risk behaviors is not clear, Chandra said. Some of the public health messages might be getting through. It also could be that people are reluctant to disclose that they engage in risky behaviors, she said.


"But, it could be real and reflect actual changes in behavior," she said.


The data in the report was collected on almost 23,000 men and women aged 15 to 44 in households throughout the country and represents 6.5 million men and 4.9 million women.


The decline seems to be due to a drop in risky behaviors such as having unprotected sex and having sex with multiple partners, Chandra said.


There were, however, differences in behaviors in different groups. For example, men who had recently been in prison were more likely to report engaging in one or more HIV risk behaviors, compared with other men, the researchers found.

Sex is safe for most heart patients, doctors say

Most heart and stroke patients whose conditions are stable can safely have sex, according to new U.S. guidelines.


The American Heart Association published the recommendations on sexual activity and cardiovascular disease on Thursday. The review by experts in heart disease, exercise physiology and sexual counselling concluded that people with stable symptoms generally have a low risk of heart problems with sexual activity.


The authors stress, however, that all heart patients should check with their doctor before resuming their sex life. Just as important, the guidelines encourage patients -- and their partners -- to discuss any feelings of sex-related anxiety or depression with a health professional.


The recommendations include:


It's reasonable for people diagnosed with cardiovascular disease to be evaluated by a physician or other health-care provider before resuming sexual activity.
Cardiac rehabilitation and regular physical activity can reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications related to sexual activity in people who have had heart failure or a heart attack.
Women with cardiovascular disease should be counselled on the safety and advisability of contraceptive methods and pregnancy based on their individual profile.
Patients should be assessed to see if their sexual dysfunction is related to underlying heart disease, anxiety, depression or other factors.
Drugs to treat erectile dysfunction are generally safe for men who have stable cardiovascular disease but should not be taken by those receiving nitrate treatment for chest pain due to blocked arteries.
The absolute risk of cardiovascular events is "miniscule" because sexual activity is short in duration and is estimated to cause less than one per cent of all heart attacks, the authors noted.


Last year, an analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that people who exercise regularly have a much smaller risk of having a heart attack immediately after sexual or physical activity.


The guidelines also include recommendations on sexual activity for other heart conditions such as heart failure, arrhythmias and pacemakers and heart conditions present at birth, as well as for estrogen replacement therapy after menopause and herbal medications.

Sex poses surprisingly low risk to heart patients

CHICAGO — Good news: Sex is safe for most heart patients. If you’re healthy enough to walk up two flights of stairs without chest pain or gasping for breath, you can have a love life.


That advice from a leading doctors’ group on Thursday addresses one of the most pressing, least discussed issues facing survivors of heart attacks and other heart patients.


In its first science-based recommendations on the subject, the American Heart Association says having sex only slightly raises the chance for a heart attack. And that’s true for people with and without heart disease.


Surprisingly, despite the higher risk for a heart patient to have a second attack, there’s no evidence that they have more sex-related heart attacks than people without cardiac disease.


Many heart patients don’t think twice about climbing stairs, yet many worry that sexual activity will cause another heart attack, or even sudden death, said Dr. Glenn Levine, lead author of a report detailing the recommendations and a professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.


The risk of having a heart attack during sexual activity is two to three times higher than when not having sexual activity. However, this increased risk of heart attack during sexual activity represents only a very small part of a person's overall risk of having a heart attack, and sexual activity is the cause of less than 1 percent of all heart attacks," Levine said.
Among heart attack survivors, average risks for another heart attack or sudden death are about 10 in 1 million per hour; having sex increases that to about 20 to 30 in 1 million per hour of sexual activity, the new report says. People without heart disease face lower overall risks for a heart attack, but similar risks for a sex-related attack.
The updated advice was released online Thursday in the heart association journal, Circulation.
Dr. Keith Churchwell, chief medical officer of Vanderbilt University's Heart and Vascular Institute, said the guidance is important for patients, and that questions about sex are the most common ones he hears from heart patients.
Ohio State University heart specialist Martha Gulati praised the recommendations for emphasizing that sexual counseling is important not just for patients but also their partners, who she says are often just as nervous about resuming sexual activity.
Day-care operator Tammy Collins of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, one of Gulati's patients, says the advice is reassuring.
She had a heart attack last year on Sept. 11, during a trip to Cincinnati to celebrate her wedding anniversary.
Collins' mother died of a heart attack at the same age, on her 51st birthday. With high blood pressure and high cholesterol, Collins knew she was at risk. She developed symptoms a few hours after having sex. She dismissed it at first, until she felt a sharp pain in her upper back and had trouble breathing. She was rushed to the hospital and doctors used stents to open blocked arteries.
Collins said she wasn't embarrassed to ask Gulati about sex, who told her it was unlikely that her night of romance had caused the heart attack. After several weeks of cardiac rehab, she was cleared to resume sexual activity — advice that surprised her friends. But Collins said the exercise sessions have made her feel fitter than ever.
"A heart attack does not have to be the end of living," Collins said.
Chicago cardiologist Dan Fintel, a professor of medicine at Northwestern University, said he routinely gives heart patients a sex talk on their last day in the hospital, knowing that it's likely on their minds.
"Resuming sexual activity is safe and emotionally part of the healing process, with a few caveats," he tells patients.
Those caveats elicit nervous chuckles when he explains that includes no philandering, given evidence about that causing extra stress.

American Cancer Society Blogger Apologizes for Bald Barbie Flub

We haven't heard much about the flu this year -- but that doesn't mean it's not out there. Flu activity was "minimal" through early January, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But cases could still spike. It's not too late to get vaccinated.
A rare outbreak: Whether you call it "mass hysteria" or the less sensational "mass psychogenic illness," the outbreak of tics and vocal outbursts among a dozen teen girls in a New York town is a rare occurrence, experts say. And there's no need to worry teens nationwide will be affected by the publicity, they add: Such mass cases of "conversion disorder" only occur among closely-knit groups.
Mental health help: Most Americans with mental health problems get no professional help, a new government survey shows. Major reason: costs. About 1 in 5 adults reported mental health conditions in 2010, unchanged from 2009.


Andrew Becker, a director of media relations for the American Cancer Society, drew ire after posting a controversial blog post on the American Cancer Society’s website called ”Bald Barbie Demand Is an Over-Reach.” In the post, Becker said the Bald Barbie movement could “do more harm than good for kids and parents.”
“If they are mass marketed, many of these dolls will end up in the hands of girls who luckily aren’t likely to be touched by cancer in themselves or their mothers. But could they end up being terrorized by the prospect of it in a far outsized proportion to their realistic chances? There is no reason to create this sort of fear,” Becker wrote.
Outraged supporters of the Bald Barbie campaign took to the cancer society’s Facebook page, demanding that Becker be fired. Someone named Chanda called Becker’s blog post “callous talk.”
“There are little girls and little boys out there feeling like they no longer fit in – they no longer have children in their class they can relate to,” she wrote.
Becker took down his offending blog today and replaced it with an apology.
“When I set out to write, I wanted to raise questions about activism and social media around disease. I did not mean to imply that I or the American Cancer Society believes that sick children are not important,” he wrote.

Indonesia reports second bird flu death this year

The H5N1 virus also claimed the lives of a man in Vietnam and of a toddler in Cambodia this week.


The three deaths bring the total number of avian influenza fatalities in the region to five in the last three weeks.


A man diagnosed with China's first case of bird flu in more than a year died in Shenzhen on 31 December. A man died in Jakarta, Indonesia on 7 January.


It is believed that the 23-year-old was a family member of the toddler, and they were both in contact with sick pigeons.


In Vietnam tests confirmed that the 18-year-old man, who died on Monday, had contracted the disease, health officials said. This was the country's first bird flu death since April 2010.


He was working at a duck farm in Can Tho City in the Mekong delta. He came down with a high fever and developed problems.


The latest Indonesian victim lived in the same house with a 24-year-old relative who died of the virus on January 7 but authorities say there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission between the two infected people.
"The child passed away after being treated for a few days at a hospital," Tjandra Yoga Aditama, the head of communicable diseases at Indonesia's health ministry, told AFP.
"We have conducted several tests and the results showed that she contracted the same H5N1 avian influenza virus that was detected before, so the virus has not developed," he said.
The girl had contact with poultry around their neighbourhood, he said, but could not confirm whether she had contracted the virus from chickens or pigeons -- both found in her neighbourhood of Tanjung Priok in north Jakarta.
Indonesia has been the hardest-hit by bird flu, with 150 deaths reported between 2003 and 2011, according to the World Health Organization.
"With this case, the cumulative number of bird flu cases in Indonesia since 2005 has reached 184 cases, 152 of those ended in death," the health ministry said on its website.
Nine Indonesians died from the virus last year, including two children on the resort island of Bali in October.
The virus typically spreads from birds to humans through direct contact, but experts fear it could mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans, with the potential to kill millions in a pandemic.