SanLuisObispo.com: Health

Hackers leak e-mails, stoke climate debate

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:41 PST

By By DAVID STRINGER -- Computer hackers have broken into a server at a well-respected climate change research center in Britain and posted hundreds of private e-mails and documents online - stoking debate over whether some scientists have overstated the case for man-made climate change.

The University of East Anglia, in eastern England, said in a statement Saturday that the hackers had entered the server and stolen data at its Climatic Research Unit, a leading global research center on climate change. The university said police are investigating the theft of the information, but could not confirm if all the materials posted online are genuine.

More than a decade of correspondence between leading British and U.S. scientists is included in about 1,000 e-mails and 3,000 documents posted on Web sites following the security breach last week.

Ukraine's `hot air' bedevils global climate deal

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:46 PST

By By ARTHUR MAX -- Vladimir Gapor is a plumber by trade, but now he's a scavenger, prying bits of scrap steel from the ruins of his old factory and selling them for a pittance.

For others beyond this manufacturing graveyard, however, Ukraine's economic collapse has produced a potential multibillion-dollar bonanza. In an era of climate change regulation and carbon trading, Ukraine, ironically, is profiting from the smokeless smokestacks of its industrial shutdown.

How well and how long it will profit is an under-the-radar issue complicating negotiations for a worldwide climate accord being sought at a 192-nation conference in Copenhagen next month.

Bangladeshi mom wants twins to stay in Australia

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:11 PST

By By JULHAS ALAM -- The mother who gave up conjoined Bangladeshi newborn twins for adoption said Saturday she is overjoyed the toddlers have been successfully separated and wants them to grow up in Australia.

"My babies are alive and doing well. It's the best news I've ever got in my life," a tearful Lovely Mollick told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from her home in Khulna district, 85 miles (137 kilometers) southwest of Dhaka.

The twins, who turn 3 next month, had been joined at the top of their heads and shared brain tissue and blood vessels. They were separated Tuesday after 25 hours of delicate surgery in a hospital in Melbourne, Australia's second largest city, and then underwent an additional six hours of reconstructive work.

Astronauts finish another spacewalk, still no baby

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:41 PST

By By MARCIA DUNN -- A spacewalking astronaut put aside the impending birth of his daughter and blazed through his first-ever venture outside the International Space Station on Saturday.

Expectant father Randolph Bresnik and Michael Foreman were so far ahead despite their late start and interrupted sleep the night before - false fire and decompression alarms jolted them awake - that their commander handed them extra work.

"Way to kick butt," said commander Charles Hobaugh, a Marine.

Restored machine to explore mysteries of Big Bang

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:11 PST

By By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS -- Scientists are preparing the world's largest atom smasher to explore the depths of matter after successfully restarting the $10 billion machine following more than a year of repairs.

When the machine is fully operational, its magnets will control the beams of protons and send them in opposite directions through two parallel tubes the size of fire hoses.

In rooms as large as cathedrals 300 feet (100 meters) under the Swiss-French border, the magnets will force them into huge detectors to record the reactions.

Asian carp may have breached electronic barrier

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:21 PST

By By JOHN FLESHER -- Asian carp may have breached an electronic barrier designed to prevent the giant invaders from upsetting the ecosystem in the Great Lakes and jeopardizing a $7 billion sport fishery, officials said Friday.

Scientists recently collected 32 DNA samples of Asian carp between the barrier and Lake Michigan in waterways south of Chicago, although the fish have yet to be spotted in the area, said Maj. Gen. John Peabody of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

If the feared bighead and silver carp have got through the $9 million barrier, the only remaining obstacle between the carp and Lake Michigan is a navigational lock on the Calumet River. Some DNA was found as close as 1 mile south of the lock and 8 miles south of the lake.

Guidelines for cancer screening differ by group

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:31 PST

Several doctors groups and advocacy groups set guidelines for cancer screening, and they update that advice periodically as new information emerges. Sometimes they agree, sometimes they don't. Last year, a number of groups got together and issued consensus guidelines for colon cancer.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government-appointed, independent panel of doctors and scientists, also makes recommendations looked to by doctors groups, insurers and policy makers.

The latest advice from the major medical groups for routine screening - primarily for people who don't have a family history of a particular cancer or other risk factors:

Tamiflu-resistant swine flu cluster reported in NC

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:26 PST

By By MIKE STOBBE -- Four North Carolina patients at a single hospital tested positive for a type of swine flu that is resistant to Tamiflu, health officials said Friday.

The cases reported at Duke University Medical Center over six weeks make up the biggest cluster seen so far in the U.S.

Tamiflu - made by Switzerland's Roche Group - is one of two flu medicines that help against swine flu, and health officials have been closely watching for signs that the virus is mutating, making the drugs ineffective.

Measure to change U. of Neb. stem-cell rule fails

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:21 PST

By By MARGERY A. BECK -- The University of Nebraska's governing board on Friday voted not to place tighter restrictions on embryonic stem cell research than those outlined under federal guidelines, which were expanded after President Barack Obama took office.

The Board of Regents, which is elected, voted 4-4 on a proposition to limit the stem cell research at the university to types allowed under President George W. Bush. The board needed a majority of its eight members to approve the measure, and many backers thought they had the necessary votes.

But board member Jim McClurg, who was endorsed for his post by an anti-abortion group that opposes embryonic stem cell research, Nebraska Right to Life, voted against the resolution.

Moderate Dems pivotal in Saturday health care vote

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:21 PST

By By DAVID ESPO -- Suitably opaque, Section 2006 takes up only a few dozen lines in a sweeping health care bill that runs to 2,074 pages and mentions neither Sen. Mary Landrieu nor her state of Louisiana.

But the section's purpose is indisputable: to deliver $100 million or more in federal funds to the state. And in the process clear the way for one of three moderate Democratic fence-sitters - Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas are the others - to help propel the legislation past its initial hurdle in a crucial Saturday vote.

Nelson, Landrieu and Lincoln emerged several days ago as the last public holdouts among 58 Democrats and two independents whose votes Majority Leader Harry Reid and the White House must have to overcome the Republicans' attempt to strangle the bill before serious debate can begin.

Correction: Plavix story

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:41 PST

In a Nov. 17 story about drug interactions between heartburn medications and the blood thinner Plavix, The Associated Press misidentified Johnson & Johnson's Mylanta as part of the H-2 blocker drug family. Mylanta is an antacid.

White House at odds with bishops over abortion

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:36 PST

By By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR -- The White House is on a collision course with Catholic bishops in an intractable dispute over abortion that could blow up the fragile political coalition behind President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

A top Obama administration official is praising the new Senate health bill's attempt to find a compromise on abortion coverage - even as an official of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says Sen. Harry Reid's bill is the worst he's seen so far on the divisive issue.

The bishops were instrumental in getting tough anti-abortion language adopted by the House, forcing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to accept restrictions that outraged liberals as the price for passing the Democratic health care bill.

Ask AP: Shuttle complexity, credit union agency

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:51 PST

A space shuttle is no tinker toy. But is it the most complex machine ever built?

Curiosity about the complexity of the reusable spacecraft inspired one of the questions in this edition of "Ask AP," a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers' questions about the news. And that particular question led NASA to rethink the way it describes the shuttle program.

If you have your own news-related question that you'd like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with "Ask AP" in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

Cost of child vaccines fall, more kids saved

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:31 PST

Babies squirmed and wailed as needles plunged into their chubby thighs at a public health clinic on the outskirts of Hanoi on Friday. Like little ones everywhere, the reaction to the sting was never pretty.

Starting next year an extra 6.3 million children worldwide will have the chance to feel that pinch and get vaccinated against some of the world's deadliest illnesses, according to the GAVI Alliance, a global vaccine partnership that helped organize the Hanoi event.

The funding will come from a drop in the price of the one-shot vaccine that safeguards against five infectious diseases to below $3 a dose, nearly 50 cents cheaper than this year, the alliance said.

Report: 20-somethings can go 2 years between Paps

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:41 PST

By By LAURAN NEERGAARD -- First mammograms. Now - in an apparent coincidence - Pap smears.

New guidelines by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists say most women in their 20s can have a Pap smear every two years instead of annually to catch slow-growing cervical cancer.

The change comes amid a separate debate over when regular mammograms to detect breast cancer should begin, in the 40s or the 50s. The timing of the Pap guidelines is coincidence, said ACOG, which began reviewing its recommendations in late 2007 and published the update Friday in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

China to punish those concealing swine flu info

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:51 PST

China's health ministry said it will punish officials who underreport cases of swine flu after a doctor famous for exposing the extent of the 2003 SARS epidemic said he believes the true number of swine flu deaths is being covered up.

China's official count of swine flu cases is nearly 70,000 reported illnesses and 53 deaths, although even Beijing acknowledges the outbreak is much larger than the numbers show.

Health Ministry spokesman Deng Haihua said in a statement posted Thursday on the ministry's Web site that nine teams have been sent to 12 provinces to inspect local efforts to contain and treat the pandemic. Deng's statement warned officials not to hide or underreport cases or delay the reporting of swine flu details.