Agreement to Provide Pneumonia Vaccine to Poor Children Expected to Save Millions of Lives

VOA News 23/03/2010

The GAVI Alliance and two leading pharmaceutical companies have signed an agreement to provide low-cost life-saving vaccines to millions of the world's poorest children. Each year, the World Health Organization reports an estimated two million children under age five die of pneumonia. This disease is responsible for about one-quarter of all child deaths.

GAVI Alliance CEO Julian Lob-Levyt says pneumonia kills more than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. "And more than 90 percent of those deaths occur in developing countries. So, today, I am very proud to announce that GAVI is signing a landmark agreement with GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) and Pfizer to provide long-term supplies of a revolutionary new vaccine against this major killer of children," she said.

The Geneva-based public-private alliance, and GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer say supplies of the new vaccine to Africa and other developing countries will start early this year at a fraction of the price charged in industrialized countries.

Lob-Levyt says cost is the major reason why the vaccine has been unavailable to children in the poorest countries.

Potent Jungle Vine Brew Has Potential to Treat Addiction

VOA News 23/03/2010

New research suggests ayahuasca, a jungle vine found in the Peruvian rainforest, can have a powerful effect on the human central nervous system when brewed with other plants. Researchers say one of ayahuasca's most promising uses could be in treating drug and alcohol addiction.

According to the World Health Organization, medicines derived from plants play a major role in the health care of 80 percent of the world's population. Western medicine has synthesized many of these natural drugs, from the painkillers in willow bark to the anti-cancer compounds in the neem tree, and is constantly searching for more pharmaceuticals in the biodiversity of the world's forests.

Ayahuasca is one traditional plant-based medicine that has drawn the attention of investigators. In the South American jungles, it is used in religious ceremonies to induce visions and also as a remedy to cure ills.

At the Onanyan Shobo spiritual retreat center in the rainforest near Iquitos, Peru, shaman Alfredo Kayruna Canayo shows off a section of the twisting, leafy vine. "What ayahuasca means is vine of the dead," he explains through an interpreter. "Some people call it soul vine."

Ayahuasca is known as a master plant, a very powerful remedy that treats the whole person: body, mind, and soul. "The ayahuasca [can] cure anything you have," the shaman says. "Start with simple things. For example, it's very simple to cure or repel the bad energies from your insides. What is the bad energy? One of them could be the fears, then some wound or injury you have."

Whether the plant is being used for religious or medicinal purposes, ayahuasca is taken only in a ceremonial setting under the direction of an experienced shaman. To turn it into a drink, also called ayahuasca, pieces of the vine are pounded into a pulp and combined with several other plants, then brewed down for eight or more hours into a thick orange liquid.

Grenades hit Health Ministry

Bangkok Post 24/03/2010

Grenade blasts at the Public Health Ministry just half an hour after a cabinet meeting adjourned have sparked a war of words between the government and army on one side and the red shirts on the other.

The two grenade explosions yesterday afternoon prompted the army to add another 13,000 troops to the force securing the capital, with another 17,000 more put on standby.

Acting government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said the explosions in the parking lot of the ministry's Emergency Medical Institute were an attempt to expose lapses in the state's security measures.

The parking lot is 700 metres from a building where Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his cabinet were holding talks up until about 30 minutes before the explosions.

The army and police have deployed more than 34,500 officers to maintain law and order in Bangkok since March 12, when the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship launched its rally in support of calls for the government to dissolve the lower house and call new elections.

Sansern Kaewkamnerd, the spokesman for the army and the peace-keeping command, the Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order (CAPO), said the grenade attack was aimed at discrediting the government.

Sexual images now an inescapable part of children's lives, says psychiatrist

News.com.au 17/03/2010

THE professional body for Australia's psychiatrists says the self-regulation of advertising and other media industries has failed to protect children from an onslaught of sexualised content.

Today's generation of kids faced the "widespread use of sexual images to sell anything from margarine to fashion", Professor Newman, the president of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, said.

She said risque images were now an "inescapable" part of a child's environment and pointed to billboard and TV advertising, magazines and music videos and even the posters in department stores.

Prof Newman is calling for a new regime of restrictions to protect children from both targeted and inadvertent exposure to sexualised media content.

She said more Australian research was needed to gauge its effect, though the anecdotal evidence was troubling.

The exposure appeared to push typically teenage and adult concerns about body image, "sexiness" and of being a "worthwhile individual" well into a child's first years of life.

"I've seen four-year-olds and pre-schoolers who want to diet ... going on intermittent food refusal," she said.

Live Kidney Donation Safe For Donor

VOA News 11/03/2010

Most of the studies on kidney donation focus on the recipients and how well they adjust to their new kidneys. A new study documents how well donors fare after the surgery.

Kidneys are the most sought after donor organs around the world, according to the World Health Organization. To address the shortage, some hospitals have created programs that pair prospective donors with recipients.

In 2006, the Johns Hopkins University Hospital held a news conference to announce a successful operation involving 10 people: five donors and five recipients.

Dr. Dorry Segev was one of the surgeons. He outlined the problem in an interview with VOA. "Every year we list more and more people for a kidney transplant and that's because more and more people are developing kidney failure, more people are becoming candidates for a transplant," he stated.

People often become donors because a loved one needs a kidney. Some do it for altruistic reasons. That was Judy Payne's motive. "It didn't seem to be that hard of a decision. I like to give to others. I like to share what I can of my blessings," she said.

Dr. Segev studied more than 80,000 live kidney donors from the time of surgery until three months afterwards. "What we found is that live donation is very safe, the risk of dying from donating a kidney is 3 in 10,000 which is much lower than the risk of almost any other operation that you can undergo."

Fruit Flies Could Unlock Mystery of Alzheimer's

VOA News 16/03/2010

At Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida, scientists are working to find clues about how the human brain processes memories. Their laboratory test animal is not a chimp or a dog or a rat — animals that we know can remember things — it is the common fruit fly.

"They're relatively simple," Ron Davis says, explaining why the fruit fly's brain has some ideal properties for human brain research. "The brain of the fruit fly has about 100,000 neurons. The brain of a human has about 100 billion neurons, and that's an enormous network of interconnected neurons in the human brain, if one thinks about it. We literally can't wrap our brains around the human brain yet."

Fruit fly training regimen

Davis chairs the Department of Neuroscience at Scripps Florida. He's designed an experiment in which fruit flies are trained to remember an odor associated with an unpleasant electrical shock.

Dr. Ron Davis says fruit flies have essentially the same genes as humans do, just fewer of them.

It involves a series of Plexiglas tubes which have an electrifiable copper grid on their surfaces. "One puts the fly in these tubes first, passes an odor through the tube," Davis says. "Odor A shocks the animal, mild electric shock." After fresh air has been blown through the tubes to remove any trace of the first odor, a second scent is pumped in.

"Odor B passes through the tube and the animals are not shocked. That's the training where we're hoping the animals will develop an association. They'll learn that one odor is bad because it's been punished in the presence of that odor. And the other odor is okay."

 Then, the flies are tested to see how well they remember which odor is which. Davis says about 90 percent do, and avoid the electric shock. The ones that don't are isolated, so their genes can be studied.

Suthep: We'll talk, if Thaksin okays it

Bangkok Post 17/03/2010

The government is ready for talks with the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, particularly its core leader Veera Musikhapong, on the condition that he must first get the green light from former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said on Wednesday.

Mr Suthep made the offer as the UDD continued to mount pressure on the government for an early general election. The UDD's latest action was an attack on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's house with what the leaders claimed was blood drawn from red-shirt donors.

"We are ready for talks, but, most important of all, Mr Thaksin must first show a clear stance. If Mr Thaksin orders it, we can talk with his men.

"We want to see peace and order in the country. With Mr Veera, for one, we would not need an interpreter. Whenever he is ready, he can call me on the phone.. or send a signal. I'm easy going," said Mr Suthep.

Mr Abhisit also mentioned earlier that he would be be happy to talk with Mr Veera.

He said Pracharaj Party leader Sanoh Thienthong's suggestion that a national government be set up would be difficult to implement. Thaksin's real objectives in his fight were to take back his assets and be exempted from legal action.

Moreover, a national government could not include UDD core leaders.

The deputy prime minister said one possible way of resolving the ongoing political conflict was for all parties to come to see one another, and joint;y agree on how to amend the constitution.

If the constitution was not acceptable to all concerned, then problems would again emerge when an election was held.

In addition to this, all parties must firmly agree they would no longer organise protests. They should enter a social contract that while an election is being held they must not obstruct or harm one another in any way, Mr Suthep said.

Mr Suthep, who is in charge of security affairs, said the government was concerned about reports of possible sabotage.

He could not say whether the saboteurs would take orders from Thaksin. All he could say was that there were still some people who wanted to stir up unrest and hurt the country.

Mr Suthep said the government would continue to take stringent measures until it was sure that there would not be any violence. The government would definitely not allow the seizure of important installations, including Suvarnabhumi airport, he added.

The deputy prime minister admitted he was unhappy with Thaksin. The former prime minister had continued to phone-in and further widen the division between the Thai people. He said this tactic of Thaksin was used by the communists 20 or 30 years ago and should be no longer used.

He felt pity seeing the red-shirts resort to their blood-spilling tactic, because this would only cause the world to believe that some Thai people were still superstitious and followers of black magic.

The blood ritual the red-shirts performed at the Democrat Party head office had hurt the feelings of the Democrats and Government House officials, Mr Suthep said.

He warned UDD leaders to adhere to peaceful means, because violence was not acceptable to the majority of the people.

On his reported remark during a press interview that intelligence units of foreign countries had warned the government of possible sabotage, after bugging Thaksin's telephone conversations, Mr Suthep said he had not named any countries.

He rejected Thaksin's call that he produce proof of the allegation, saying it would be unethical to reveal the sources.

PM's house splattered with blood

Bangkok Post 17/03/2010

Red-shirts of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship poured blood in front of the gate of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's residence in Sukhumvit Soi 31 and threw bags of blood and other objects over the fence into the grounds on Wednesday.

The protesters managed to get to the house and perform their ritual in steady rain about noon, despite police efforts to keep them at least 5 metres from the fence.

Red-shirts gather around the prime minister's house before pouring blood. (Photo by Kitja Apichornrojarek)

After completing their mission, the red-shirts withdrew and their leaders said they would head for the United States embassy on Witthayu road.

They wanted clarification from the embassy of Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban's remark that the US and some other countries had warned the Thai government of possible sabotage after they tapped the telephone conversations of convicted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The red-shirts started moving from Phan Fa bridge shortly after 9am past Siam Paragon, Central World and Ratchaprasong intersection, causing heavy traffic congestion on the outbound lanes of Sukhumvit road.

On arriving at the mouth of Sukhumvit Soi 31, they were barred from entering the soi, where police lined up in cordons to prevent them from getting close to the fence of the prime minister's house.

Police officers are deployed around the prime minister's house. (Photo by Kitja Apichornrojarek)

Following negotations with Pol Maj-Gen Wichai Sangprapai, the Metropolitan Police Division 1 chief, UDD leaders Jatuporn Prompan and Arisman Pongruangrong and a number of red-shirts were allowed to get closer to the fence with bottles of blood.

They spilled the blood in front of the gate and splashed it into the house grounds. Some red shirts threw bags of blood and other objects across the fence onto the roof of the house, despite being warned not to do so by UDD leader Natthawut Saikua.

While the red-shirts were gathering near his house, Mr Abhisit was in Songkhla's Hat Yai district to attend the funeral of Pol Col Sompien Eksomya, the Bannang Sata district police chief who was killed in an ambush by separatist insurgents last week

VOA News 10/03/2010

 

Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible loss of vision worldwide and now doctors believe the devastating disease begins in the brain and not in the eye as has long been thought.

Dr. David Calkins, director of research at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute in Tennessee, quotes estimates that by the year 2020, there will be 80 million cases of glaucoma worldwide.

Glaucoma is called the 'silent thief of sight,' since most people with the disease don't notice a change in their vision. It happens gradually, as increased fluid pressure inside the eye, known as ocular pressure, damages the optic nerve, which sends visual images to the brain. Damaged nerve cells cannot be replaced or repaired.

There is currently just one treatment for glaucoma, which is to reduce ocular pressure. Doctors test for glaucoma by measuring pressure inside the eye and checking peripheral vision.

But Calkins and his colleagues have discovered that the earliest signs of glaucoma are not in the eye, but in the brain.

A new understanding of the disease progression

"We don't really understand why it is that there is a loss of communication at the brain first," Calkins says, adding that it is now clear the degeneration of vision starts in the brain and works its way back to the retina, rather than the other way around.

The finding suggests that glaucoma may be reversible in the early stages, since the nerve structures between the brain and the optic nerve do not degenerate right away. "The structure that allows the communication remains in place for a very, very long time," Calkins says.

And that, he says, opens up new ways to treat glaucoma and puts it in an entirely new perspective.

"Instead of treating it just as a disease of the eye, we now understand that it is really a neurological disease that involves loss of communication between the optic nerve and the brain." And, by studying glaucoma as a neurological disease, Calkins says researchers may be able to learn more about other age-related neuro-degenerative disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

The study appeared in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."

Australian, Indonesian Leaders Discuss Human Trafficking

VOA News 10/03/2010

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (L) looks on as Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd speaks during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, 10 Mar 2010

The leaders of Indonesia and Australia have discussed plans to fight people smuggling and say the two nations will continue to cooperate in fighting the problem. The discussion came during Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's visit to Australia.

Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday told the Australian federal Parliament that his country will toughen laws against people smuggling.

 Thousands of people, primarily from South Asia, have tried to sneak into Australia over the past several years, many of them paying people smugglers to take them by boat from Indonesia. Both countries have been working to combat the problem.

Mr. Yudhoyono, on a state visit to Australia, stressed the increasing close ties between the two countries in his speech to Parliament. The relationship, which was tense for decades, has improved dramatically in the past eight years as the two have cooperated in fighting violent Islamic militants responsible for a number of bombings in Indonesia that were aimed at Westerners.

The president, who is the first Indonesian leader to address a joint sitting of the Australian Parliament, says that adversity brought the two countries closer together.

"Our intense and fruitful cooperation to bring the Bali bombers to justice and Australia's outpouring of sympathy, and rescue and relief effort in the wake of the tsunami tragedy of 2004 was the emotional turning point of our bilateral relations," he said.

Former British Intelligence Chief Says US Hid Torture Details

VOA News 10/03/2010

The former head of Britain's domestic intelligence service, MI5, has accused the United States of concealing its mistreatment of terror suspects.

Eliza Manningham-Buller said Tuesday that the U.S. deliberately held back details of harsh handling of some detainees, including the waterboarding of alleged September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Manningham-Buller's comments come as the British intelligence service fights charges it collaborated with U.S. agencies in torturing terror suspects.

British appeals court judges ordered the government last month to release documents concerning the treatment of a Guantanamo inmate Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian-born man living in Britain.

U.S. forces arrested him in Pakistan in 2002 on suspicion of terrorism. U.S. documents show that Mohamed was shackled, beaten and subjected to genital mutilation and sleep deprivation while held in Morocco and later at Guantanamo.

The British government had said it wanted to keep the information secret, fearing it could hurt intelligence-sharing with the United States.

UN Human Rights Council Postpones Discussion of 'Secret Detentions' Report

VOA.News 09/03/2010

U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak, is speaking out. He says government officials in the United States and elsewhere who ordered secret detentions of terror suspects should face prosecution

The U.N. Human Rights council has postponed discussion of a highly critical report on the secret detention of terror suspects in dozens of countries. One of the report's authors tells VOA that government officials in the United States and elsewhere who ordered secret detentions of terror suspects should face prosecution and imprisonment.

The 222-page report names dozens of countries involved in the practice of detaining people or taking advantage of their detention by other countries to elicit information from them. The suspects were held in secret, without access to lawyers or the International Red Cross, and were subjected to interrogation techniques that in many cases, the authors say, amount to torture.

The report's strong criticisms have angered many of the countries on the Geneva-based Human Rights Council who said they are untrue. Others, including the Muslim and African members, say the experts had no mandate to write the report and that it should not be considered by the HRC. Some Western countries, including the United States and Britain, disagree with the report's findings, but are willing for the discussion to go forward.

The council was supposed to hear the final report this week, but instead agreed to postpone it until June.

But one of the study's authors, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak, is speaking out. He says government officials in the United States and elsewhere who ordered secret detentions of terror suspects should face prosecution. "Every individual case of an enforced disappearance and torture should be a crime under domestic law, with proper sanctions. And proper sanctions doesn't mean a fine; it means imprisonment for similar to other major crimes like homicide," he said.

Nowak adds that people who have been secretly detained should be entitled to compensation. "For me, providing reparations to the victims is certainly as important as the criminal investigations and bringing the main perpetrators to justice," he said.

The study on the use of secret detention was written by Nowak and Martin Scheinin, who is the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism. They were joined by representatives of the U.N. Working Groups on Arbitrary Detention, and Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

In the study, the United States and the administration of former President George W. Bush received some of the harshest criticism for the use of secret detention after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The main focus [of the report] is on the United States of America, because they have developed a very sophisticated program of extraordinary rendition flights where persons have been kidnapped who were suspected of terrorism and flown around the world to different countries for the purpose of keeping them in secret places, for getting information about future terrorist attacks," Nowak said.

John Bolton was President Bush's Ambassador to the United Nations from August 2005 through 2006. He said the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were an act of war on the United States and, therefore, Washington was entitled to respond in self-defense.

"People say [that] we are torturing these 'poor terrorists' we have picked up. It implies we are putting them on the rack, we are pulling out their fingernails, we are using cattle prods -- none of that is true. None of that has any basis in fact. This is all a question of whether we can out-psyche the terrorists, using techniques that were analyzed by highly-competent lawyers, and which were used in a very limited number of cases and which, by all accounts, did produce useful information," he said.

Shortly after taking office the Obama administration adopted measures intended to treat prisoners more humanely and transparently. The authors of the U.N. report have cautiously welcomed those commitments.

Human rights groups say the report will not lead to prosecutions, but that it will shine a light on illegal practices governments try to keep hidden. They say exposing that can lead to change.