Once-a-day pill offers relief from ragweed allergy symptoms

May 7, 2013 ? An international team of researchers, led by physician-scientists at Johns Hopkins, reports that a once-daily tablet containing a high dose of a key ragweed pollen protein effectively blocks the runny noses, sneezes, nasal congestion and itchy eyes experienced by ragweed allergy sufferers.

Tests showed that treatment with the pill, which contains the protein Ambrosia artemisiifolia major allergen 1, and is placed under the tongue to be absorbed, also reduced the need for anti-allergy drugs to get relief. More than 80 million Americans are allergic to ragweed.

The study is believed to be the first and largest, multicenter, double-blind, randomized controlled trial of its kind to investigate the use of sublingual immunotherapy against ragweed allergy. Begun in April 2010, it was funded by the drug's manufacturer, Merck of Whitehouse Station, N.J.

Results of the trial, published today in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, showed that overall symptoms and need for such allergy medications as antihistamines and nasal steroids fell by 27 percent in people who took a pill containing 12 units of the allergen. During peak ragweed season, the roughly two-week period between August and October when pollen counts are highest, symptoms and medication use dropped 24 percent.

Researchers say that if the pill wins approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, it could serve as a more convenient, less painful option than weekly or monthly allergy shots. The pill also presents fewer potential side effects than allergen injections.

"Our results show this oral tablet for ragweed allergy is highly effective and well-tolerated, and offers considerable relief from what many allergy sufferers consider the most agonizing part of the year," says allergist and lead study investigator Peter Creticos, M.D.

Some 784 men and women from the United States, Canada, Hungary, Russia and the Ukraine volunteered to take part in the year-long study, in which participants were randomly assigned to take either a high-, medium-, or low-dose tablet, or placebo. Neither researchers nor study participants were aware of which dose of the pill or placebo they were taking. Patients kept track of their symptoms and medication use through detailed and daily diaries, which were later scored by researchers for analysis.

"Physicians treating ragweed allergy sufferers may soon have an alternative to the current approach to managing ragweed allergy, which usually involves weekly or monthly visits to the doctor's office for allergy shots and carries the risk of swelling and pain at the injection site, plus risk of anaphylactic shock," says Creticos, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Creticos says that no adverse events occurred during the study. The only side effects observed were mild throat irritation, itchy tongue and swollen lips.

Creticos says his team has also begun studies of other non-injectible forms of immunotherapy, including ragweed allergy drops, and treatment applications where the allergen is lightly pricked or inserted into the middle layers of the skin.

Other researchers involved in the study are Jennifer Maloney, M.D., Amarjot Kaur, Ph.D., Nancy Lui, Ph.D., and Hendrik Nolte, M.D., Ph.D., at Merck; David Bernstein, M.D., at the Bernstein Clinical Research Center and University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, in Ohio; Thomas Casale, M.D., at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb.; Robert Fisher, M.D., at Allergy Research and Care in Milwaukee, Wis.; Kevin Murphy at Boys Town National Research Hospital in Omaha, Neb.; and Kristof Nekam, M.D., at Hospital of the Hospitaller, Brothers of St. John of God, in Budapest, Hungary. During the conduct of the study, Creticos was a paid member of a Merck scientific advisory board.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/90LhucyrXuY/130507115513.htm

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South Carolina Special Election Won?t Tell Us Much About 2014

Here?s a prediction: If not on Tuesday night, then certainly by Wednesday and maybe even through Thursday or beyond, one party will be crowing that its victory in the special election for now-Sen. Tim Scott?s former seat in South Carolina?s 1st Congressional District is a sign that it is doing great and will have a successful 2014 midterm election. The other party will be downplaying the national significance of the special election, declaring that the results have nothing whatsoever to do with what happens next year.

Mark me down as agreeing with the latter. The voting in South Carolina means nothing other than which side can lay claim to that seat for the rest of this year and next.

Special elections are almost always fairly unique and unconnected to the direction of American politics. Occasionally, there is one in a swing district that might be worth paying attention to: one side losing a seat that it probably should have won, for example, or a race where the party?s candidate was not unusually weak, or the opponent not unusually strong, or where voters were just sending a statement.

If former Gov. Mark Sanford wins, all that outside observers should conclude is that the district?which gave Mitt Romney an 18-point victory over President Obama (58 to 40 percent) and where Sen. John McCain beat Obama in 2008 by 13 points (56 to 43 percent)?voted for a Republican yet again, even one as politically disfigured as Sanford. South Carolina?s 1st District has a Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index score of R+11, meaning that in the most recent two presidential elections the district voted 11 points more Republican than the country as a whole. It?s the 118th most Republican district in the country. Only three Democrats in the House have a district more Republican than this one: Jim Matheson in Utah?s 4th District (with a PVI of +16), Nick Rahall in West Virginia?s 3rd (PVI +14), and Mike McIntyre in North Carolina?s 7th (PVI +12).

Conversely, if Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch prevails, all it tells us is that Sanford was so badly damaged that a Democrat could beat him.

Simply put, no two congressional special elections are exactly alike, but this is unlike any ever held before. It doesn?t say anything about anything other than the degree of Sanford?s damage and the degree of Republican voting in the district.

Private polling is consistently within the margin of error. Generally we are seeing the polls side with Colbert Busch, who is running ever so slightly ahead of Sanford. But given the relatively low turnout in most special elections, it?s pretty much an even-money race. If Sanford wins by any kind of margin, it means that Republican voters simply held their noses and voted for him anyway. If Colbert Busch wins, it most likely means that a lot of Republicans chose to stay home rather than vote for either a candidate whom they thoroughly disapprove of or one with whom they thoroughly disagree.

If Sanford wins, he should immediately begin preparing for a 2014 primary. If Colbert Busch wins, I would advise her to either sleep in her office and shower in the House gym or rent an apartment with a lease that only goes through December 2013; the chances of her surviving aren?t very good. If she wins, she should also talk immediately with Messrs. Matheson, McIntyre, and Rahall about how they manage to hang onto districts so thoroughly Republican.

Next year?s midterm election is more likely to be determined by which of these two story lines prevail: Republicans continue to be unable to fix their problems with minority, women, young, and moderate voters?and with nominating the wrong or weak candidates. Or, as the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) is more fully implemented, voters who had been supportive or ambivalent about the ACA before will start changing their minds, and the issue becomes a bigger drag on Democrats than previously predicted. Democrats who dismiss this as an old and already-litigated issue should ask around?maybe among their friends and family members or among the human-resources folks where they work?to get a sense of quotes people have received for next year?s health insurance premiums before being so sure that this is a settled issue. Many of the increases are eye-popping. Legitimate questions could be raised as to whether this can be fairly blamed on the ACA; whether health insurance companies have no choice but to raise rates in anticipation of full implementation; or whether the companies are engaging in nefarious behavior. It?s a better bet that if these price hikes truly become widespread, the ACA will be blamed. Democrats ought to batten down the hatches once again.

All of this is entirely speculative; it won?t be until this fall or winter that we can even start to be more certain of what the contours of 2014 will look like. Just don?t draw a conclusion based on South Carolina?s 1st District results.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-carolina-special-election-won-t-tell-us-175722238.html

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The After Math: The (homemade) hammer of Thor, Virgin space flights and an atomic movie

Welcome to The After Math, where we attempt to summarize this week's tech news through numbers, decimal places and percentages.

This week's After Math appears to have taken on a comic book theme. Want to make your own Thor hammer? How about your very own Atomic Watch -- rather than those radio-wave-based excuses of a timepiece? We've also got the very real prospect of civilian flights to outer space and, er, Kobe Bryant advertising Lenovo smartphones. Stranger things have happened, right? Join us after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation, Alt

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/05/the-after-math/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Israel says Google's 'Palestine' page harms peace hopes

By Dan Williams

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A senior Israeli official accused Google on Monday of setting back Middle East peace hopes by putting the name "Palestine" under the banner of its search page for the Palestinian territories. (www.google.ps)

Palestinians hailed Google's move as a virtual victory on the long path to the state they seek in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, which Israel seized in the 1967 war.

With bilateral negotiations stalled for 2-1/2 years over Jewish settlement building, the Palestinians have campaigned for foreign recognition of statehood, and were upgraded to "non-member state" at the United Nations in November.

Following the U.N. lead, Google's Palestinian homepage and other products previously labelled "Palestinian Territories" were changed on May 1 to read "Palestine".

"I think that the Google decision from the last few days is very, very problematic," said Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"When a company like Google comes along and supports this line, it actually pushes peace further away, pushes away negotiations, and creates among the Palestinian leadership the illusion that in this manner they can achieve the result," he told Israel's Army Radio.

"Without direct negotiation with us, nothing will happen."

A Google spokesman in Israel referred Reuters to a statement from last week in which it said: "We are following the lead of the U.N. ... and other international organizations."

Israel was furious at the U.N. upgrade last November, which was opposed by the United States but passed by an overwhelming majority, and reacted by withholding Palestinian government funds and announcing more settlement building.

An adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described the move as a "victory for Palestine and a step toward its liberation".

Google had "put Palestine on the Internet map, making it a geographical reality", the adviser, Sabri Saidam, told the official news agency WAFA, adding that the Palestinians had invited Google's cartographers to come and gather more data for their online maps.

Google Maps currently shows little or no detail for major Palestinian towns such as Nablus and Ramallah, while many Jewish West Bank settlements have streets and parks clearly labelled.

Saidam said Israeli opposition to Google's new rubric was rooted in fear that "the recognition will destroy Israel's concept of 'Judea and Samaria'" - the biblical names that the Jewish state uses for the West Bank.

(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-says-googles-palestine-page-harms-peace-hopes-110627574.html

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High school athletes say concussions won't sideline them

May 6, 2013 ? Many high school football players say it's OK to play with a concussion even though they know they are at risk of serious injury, according to a study to be presented Monday, May 6, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC.

The study of 120 high school football players in the Cincinnati area also found that one-quarter had suffered a concussion, and more than half acknowledged they would continue to play with symptoms of a concussion.

"These attitudes could leave young athletes vulnerable to injury from sports-related concussions," said study co-author Brit Anderson, MD, pediatric emergency medicine fellow at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

Dr. Anderson and her colleagues administered two surveys to the athletes to measure their knowledge of concussions and symptoms as well as their attitudes about playing after a head injury.

Survey results showed that 70 percent of the players had been educated about concussions, and most could identify common signs and symptoms. Headache was identified as a symptom by 93 percent, dizziness by 89 percent, difficulty remembering and sensitivity to light/sound by 78 percent, difficulty concentrating by 76 percent and feeling in a fog by 53 percent.

While 91 percent recognized a risk of serious injury if they returned to play too quickly, only half would always or sometimes report their concussion symptoms to their coach.

"Despite their knowledge, many athletes in our sample reported that they would not tell their coach about symptoms and would continue to play," Dr. Anderson said. "A small percentage even responded that athletes have a responsibility to play in important games with a concussion."

The researchers found no association between a student's knowledge score and attitude score on the surveys. "In other words, athletes who had more knowledge about concussions were not more likely to report symptoms," Dr. Anderson said.

"Although further study needs to be done," she concluded, "it is possible that concussion education alone may not be enough to promote safe concussion behaviors in high school football players."

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/9aqaaf-09r8/130506095407.htm

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Fungus in Capri Sun? Yes, but so what?

Yes, scientists found five types of fungus in Capri Sun beverages after consumers reported finding mats of mold in the popular kids' drinks. But they're mostly harmless.

By Rachael Rettner,?MyHealthNewsDaily.com / May 2, 2013

Five types of fungus have been identified in the popular kids' juice drink Capri Sun, researchers say.

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The study was spurred by reports of consumers finding mold ? mats of fungus consisting of millions of cells ? in the drink.

While the findings have an "ick" factor, the fungi probably aren't harmful to most people, said study researcher Kathleen Dannelly, associate professor microbiology at Indiana State University. Fungi are all around us ? in the soil, air, and even on our skin and inside our digestive tract ? but they are generally kept in check by our immune systems.

"Probably, those of us with healthy immune systems, we could even eat that, and that wouldn?t be a problem," Dannelly said, referring to the fungal mats in Capri Sun.

However, for people with compromised immune systems, such as those with AIDS, leukemia or cystic fibrosis, fungus exposure may be a health concern, Dannelly said.

For instance, the fungus Aspergillus is found in air, and most people breathe it in without problems.

Kraft, which manufactures Capri Sun, acknowledges that mold can grow in the drink, but says such reports are not common.

"Since there are no preservatives in our drinks, mold can grow, especially in a leaking pouch," Kraft says on its Capri Sun frequently asked questions website.

During the manufacturing process, the drinks are heated to temperatures that exceed those used for pasteurization. But punctures in the products' package ? even microscopic ones ? can allow air inside the package, and mold to grow, Kraft says. Fungi need oxygen to grow, Dannelly said.

Capri Sun packages have a shelf life of about a year. The company urges consumers to discard leaking or damaged packages.

In the new study, the researchers filtered Capri Sun through filter paper, and then checked whether any microorganisms were left behind on the paper. The juice contained just a few fungal cells, which grew in laboratory dishes.

Dannelly said if this experiment was done on any juice after it was opened and left in the refrigerator, she would expect both fungus and bacteria to grow.

In a second experiment, the researchers, including Leah Horn, an undergraduate biology major, punctured Capri Sun packages with a sterile needle to mimic damage to the product. When left in a sterile environment for three weeks, fungal mats grew in the juice.

A problem with Capri Sun is that the packages are not see-through, so unlike mold on bread or cheese, consumers can't tell when Capri Sun goes bad.

Kraft said it tried creating clear packages for Capri Sun, but stopped making the packages after it created manufacturing problems.

The company said it will not add preservatives to the product because their customers don't want this. Preservatives give food a longer shelf life, but some, such as the preservative nitrite, have been linked to an increased risk of certain cancers.

Dannelly said there are some natural preservatives, such as citric acid, which are not harmful and could be added to the product (although it would make the product more acidic).

"If you're going to have a package you can't see through, I think you need to do something," Dannelly said.

The study has not yet been published in a peer reviewed journal, but the researchers plan to submit the work for publication.

Pass it on: Five types of fungus have been found in Capri Sun, but they are likely not harmful.

Follow Rachael Rettner @RachaelRettner. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily @MyHealth_MHND, Facebook & Google+. Originally published on MyHealthNewsDaily.

Copyright 2013 MyHealthNewsDaily, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/1U09avC1XZY/Fungus-in-Capri-Sun-Yes-but-so-what

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Regina Turner Brain Surgery: Lawsuit Alleges Missouri Doctor Performed Wrong-Sided Craniotomy

A lawsuit filed on behalf of a Missouri woman accuses a doctor of performing surgery on the wrong side of the patient's brain in April.

Regina Turner, a 53-year old former paralegal, went to the SSM St. Clare Health Center near St. Louis, to get a "left-sided craniotomy bypass" operation, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports.

Turner had begun to suffer strokes about five years ago, and the operation was intended to prevent future strokes, the Dispatch says. Instead, Turner received a craniotomy surgery on the other side of her brain, the suit states.

Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to learn what Turner's lawyer said.

"Before the incorrect surgery, [Turner] was mobile, cognizant, and able to care for herself," according to court documents provided to The Huffington Post by Turner's lawyer, Alvin Wolff. "After the incorrect surgery, [Turner] requires around the clock care for her basic needs."

The lawsuit, which also names SSM Heath Care St. Louis, only names the surgeon as "A.L." However, the Dispatch reports, according to Wolff, the offending surgeon is 46-year-old neurosurgeon Dr. Armond Levy.

"I think everybody in the operating room screwed up. I think somehow her head was marked for the correct side," Wolff told NBC affiliate KSDK. "The incorrect side was prepped for surgery. A whole surgery was performed, and nobody noticed that the side was wrong."

The hospital's CEO and president, Chris Howard, apologized for the mistake, The Associated Press reports.

?This was a breakdown in our procedures, and it absolutely should not have happened. We apologized to the patient and continue to work with the patient and family to resolve this issue with fairness and compassion,? Howard said, according to the AP.

Howard also said an internal investigation is underway, and that the hospital is implementing measures to ensure against a similar error occurring in the future.

The lawsuit alleges that Levy and his medical team acted with "complete indifference to or conscious disregard for the safety of Regina Turner."

The suit asks for at least $25,000 to be awarded to Turner, in addition to her medical costs, which are still unknown. Turner will continue to suffer emotional distress, anxiety, disfigurement and depression, the claim states.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/03/regina-turner-brain-surgery-st-louis-wrong-side_n_3210434.html

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How NASA's Fermi Telescope Sidestepped a Gigantic Space Crash

There's are kinds of asteroids and other debris cruising through space, but a lot of the really dangerous stuff is stuff we put there ourselves. NASA's cosmic bubble-spotting Fermi telescope almost had an intergalactic fender bender, but not with some epoch-old rock floating through the cosmos. No, it almost got crushed by some Cold War-era trash.

On March 29th, NASA scientists were alerted that their precious telescope was going to get a close visit from Cosmos 1805, an outdated spy satellite which has been careening around the globe since its death decades ago. While a collision wasn't certain, the potential for one was disastrous; a 27,000 mph crash with the 3,100 pound hunk-of-junk would have been like the detonation of two and half tons of high explosives. And Fermi cost to build and deploy $200 million dollars, so NASA decided it was better to be safe than sorry.

In a maneuver that really just involved firing Fermi's previously unused thrusters for a mere second, NASA altered the satellite's orbit ever-so-slightly to avoid the potential disaster. Though it was a risk that Fermi's thrusters might be useless afterwards, the trick paid off, leaving the telescope safe and sound.

As our little corner of space gets increasingly crowded, issues like this are only going to become more and more common, especially as more and more countries blast satellites into space and lose control of them (looking at you, North Korea). The ISS has had to pull of stunts like this too. There are preliminary plans to blast space debris back into the atmosphere so it can burn up on its way down, but for the moment, the most effective strategy is just to keep dipping and diving. It's a high-stakes zero-g ballet up there. Hopefully no one screws up anytime soon. [NASA via Gizmag]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/how-nasas-fermi-telescope-sidestepped-a-gigantic-space-487150739

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