March 25, 2006
Tomcat Swan Song
The end of an illustrious era.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7069648842128183770
Why bird flu is harder to catch than a cold
23/03/2006- The reason the deadly H5N1 bird influenza virus is hard for people to catch and spread has been found.
Although more than 100 people have been killed by the avian influenza virus, the fact that it does not spread easily to other humans has been a biomedical puzzle. Now, a study of cells in the human respiratory tract reveals a simple anatomical difference in the cells of the system that makes it difficult for the virus to jump from human to human.
The finding, reported today in the journal Nature, is important because it demonstrates a requisite characteristic for the virus to equip itself to easily infect humans, the key development for the virus to become a pandemic.
A group led by University of Wisconsin-Madison virologist Prof Yoshihiro Kawaoka, showed that only cells deep within the respiratory system, rather than the nose or throat, have the surface molecule or receptor that is the key that permits the avian flu virus to enter a cell.
"Our findings provide a rational explanation for why H5N1 viruses rarely infect and spread from human to human," the authors report… http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml%3Bjsessionid%3DAI5AKXMYXEZZ1QFIQMGCFF4AVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2006/03/23/nflu23.xml
Study: Changing Medicines May Aid Depressed
Wed Mar 22- Many depressed patients who didn't get better on one medicine were able to overcome their crushing dark spells with another, according to the largest study ever of treatments for America's top mental health problem.
Up to one-third of those who added or changed medicines recovered. When viewed with earlier results, the new findings mean that roughly half the people who suffer from serious, long-term depression can get over it — not just improve their symptoms — with adequate medication.
"The goal here was to find treatments that help people to get well, not just better," said Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health. "We have safe and effective treatments."
...The study found little difference among the five drugs tested — Celexa, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, Effexor and Buspar — and wasn't designed to compare them. All proved similarly effective and relatively safe. The clear message, doctors said, was that antidepressants should be given a 6-to-12-week chance to work and that if one doesn't help, another should be tried.
"It's important not to give up if the first treatment doesn't work fully," or causes side effects, said one study leader, Dr. John Rush of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Almost as many people were helped the second time around as the first, he said.
Two reports from the study were published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060322/ap_on_he_me/treating_depression
Report: Cosmetics firm using remains of executed Chinese
March 23, 2006 - A Chinese cosmetics company has been using skin taken from the bodies of executed convicts to develop beauty products for sale in Europe, a London newspaper reported.
An agent for the company informed customers it is developing collagen for lip and wrinkle treatments from skin taken from prisoners after they had been shot.
The agent said some of the company‘s products have been exported to Britain, and that the use of skin from condemned convicts was “traditional" and nothing to “make such a big fuss about,“ the Guardian reported.
In addition to ethical concerns, there is the potential risk of infection from the harvested skin products.
The company was not identified by name for legal reasons and it is unclear whether collagen made from the skin of prisoners was in the research stage or in actual production...
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/06/front2453818.0847222223.html
Afghan prosecutors: Christian may be 'mad'
Nation said to be desperately searching for way to drop controversial case
March 22, 2006- In what appears to be the Afghan government's desperate attempt to find a face-saving way to free Abdul Rahman – who faces a death penalty for converting 16 years ago from Islam to Christianity – Afghan prosecutors are now saying Rahman is insane, and therefore not prosecutable.
The 42-year-old Rahman is charged with rejecting Islam, a crime under Afghanistan's Shariah-based laws. International outrage over the threat of execution in "liberated" Afghanistan has brought growing pressure on the Afghan government.
"We think he could be mad. He is not a normal person. He doesn't talk like a normal person," prosecutor Sarinwal Zamari told the Associated Press.
According to Moayuddin Baluch, a religious adviser to President Hamid Karzai, Rahman will have to undergo a psychological examination.
"Doctors must examine him," he told the AP. "If he is mentally unfit, definitely Islam has no claim to punish him. He must be forgiven. The case must be dropped."
Western observers in Afghanistan say the government is looking for a face-saving way to drop the case in light of the international firestorm it has caused.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49396
Kabul may drop case, citing convert's depression
Sources say Christian has suffered mentally but is 'strong' believer in Jesus
March 23, 2006- ...Rahman [returned] to Afghanistan from Germany in 2002 to recover two teenaged daughters who were living with his parents in Kabul... his father resisted, denouncing his son as a convert and reporting him to police. Rahman immediately was arrested and a Bible was found in his possession.
An Afghan Christian in the U.S. who has regular contact with Christians in his home country through his ministry, posted a video clip of...
Rahman says in the clip, according to Andaryas: "The punishment by hanging? I will accept it gladly, but I am not an infidel. I am not a traitor. I am a follower of Jesus."
...The former aide worker in Pakistan who knew Rahman affirmed he has been an encouragement to many Afghan Christians.
"We need strong people like him as an example for others," she said.
Andaryas, who says he has the names of 6,000 Christians in Afghanistan, is receiving e-mails throughout the day from his home country, and most in recent days are about Rahman.
Yesterday, one of his correspondents in the country reported he interviewed Afghans on the street and many, who are Muslims, have sympathy for Rahman, believing he should be allowed to practice his beliefs.
Afghanistan's new constitution declares "followers of other religions (other than Islam) are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of law."
But it also says "the religion of the state is the sacred religion of Islam" and that Shariah, or Islamic, Law is the controlling legal authority. Under Shariah, in many Muslim countries, anyone who abandons Islam is subject to the death penalty...
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49405
Some things ABC, NBC, CNN, the NYT and others won’t report:
The economy: the good news keeps getting worse
A tale of two very different ways to report the same good news…
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/larryelder/2006/03/23/190914.html
Covering Saddam’s Shenanigans, Not His Crimes http://www.mediaresearch.org/realitycheck/2006/fax20060320.asp
The humanitarian case for war in Iraq
http://townhall.com/opinion/columns/jeffjacoby/2006/03/23/190908.html
TV pundits vs. history
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/brentbozell/2006/03/22/190782.html
Mother who gave birth after failed abortion 'has no grounds' to sue NHS
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=439532006
David<><
http://freewill-predestination.com
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove
The end of an illustrious era.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7069648842128183770
Why bird flu is harder to catch than a cold
23/03/2006- The reason the deadly H5N1 bird influenza virus is hard for people to catch and spread has been found.
Although more than 100 people have been killed by the avian influenza virus, the fact that it does not spread easily to other humans has been a biomedical puzzle. Now, a study of cells in the human respiratory tract reveals a simple anatomical difference in the cells of the system that makes it difficult for the virus to jump from human to human.
The finding, reported today in the journal Nature, is important because it demonstrates a requisite characteristic for the virus to equip itself to easily infect humans, the key development for the virus to become a pandemic.
A group led by University of Wisconsin-Madison virologist Prof Yoshihiro Kawaoka, showed that only cells deep within the respiratory system, rather than the nose or throat, have the surface molecule or receptor that is the key that permits the avian flu virus to enter a cell.
"Our findings provide a rational explanation for why H5N1 viruses rarely infect and spread from human to human," the authors report… http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml%3Bjsessionid%3DAI5AKXMYXEZZ1QFIQMGCFF4AVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2006/03/23/nflu23.xml
Study: Changing Medicines May Aid Depressed
Wed Mar 22- Many depressed patients who didn't get better on one medicine were able to overcome their crushing dark spells with another, according to the largest study ever of treatments for America's top mental health problem.
Up to one-third of those who added or changed medicines recovered. When viewed with earlier results, the new findings mean that roughly half the people who suffer from serious, long-term depression can get over it — not just improve their symptoms — with adequate medication.
"The goal here was to find treatments that help people to get well, not just better," said Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health. "We have safe and effective treatments."
...The study found little difference among the five drugs tested — Celexa, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, Effexor and Buspar — and wasn't designed to compare them. All proved similarly effective and relatively safe. The clear message, doctors said, was that antidepressants should be given a 6-to-12-week chance to work and that if one doesn't help, another should be tried.
"It's important not to give up if the first treatment doesn't work fully," or causes side effects, said one study leader, Dr. John Rush of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Almost as many people were helped the second time around as the first, he said.
Two reports from the study were published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060322/ap_on_he_me/treating_depression
Report: Cosmetics firm using remains of executed Chinese
March 23, 2006 - A Chinese cosmetics company has been using skin taken from the bodies of executed convicts to develop beauty products for sale in Europe, a London newspaper reported.
An agent for the company informed customers it is developing collagen for lip and wrinkle treatments from skin taken from prisoners after they had been shot.
The agent said some of the company‘s products have been exported to Britain, and that the use of skin from condemned convicts was “traditional" and nothing to “make such a big fuss about,“ the Guardian reported.
In addition to ethical concerns, there is the potential risk of infection from the harvested skin products.
The company was not identified by name for legal reasons and it is unclear whether collagen made from the skin of prisoners was in the research stage or in actual production...
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/06/front2453818.0847222223.html
Afghan prosecutors: Christian may be 'mad'
Nation said to be desperately searching for way to drop controversial case
March 22, 2006- In what appears to be the Afghan government's desperate attempt to find a face-saving way to free Abdul Rahman – who faces a death penalty for converting 16 years ago from Islam to Christianity – Afghan prosecutors are now saying Rahman is insane, and therefore not prosecutable.
The 42-year-old Rahman is charged with rejecting Islam, a crime under Afghanistan's Shariah-based laws. International outrage over the threat of execution in "liberated" Afghanistan has brought growing pressure on the Afghan government.
"We think he could be mad. He is not a normal person. He doesn't talk like a normal person," prosecutor Sarinwal Zamari told the Associated Press.
According to Moayuddin Baluch, a religious adviser to President Hamid Karzai, Rahman will have to undergo a psychological examination.
"Doctors must examine him," he told the AP. "If he is mentally unfit, definitely Islam has no claim to punish him. He must be forgiven. The case must be dropped."
Western observers in Afghanistan say the government is looking for a face-saving way to drop the case in light of the international firestorm it has caused.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49396
Kabul may drop case, citing convert's depression
Sources say Christian has suffered mentally but is 'strong' believer in Jesus
March 23, 2006- ...Rahman [returned] to Afghanistan from Germany in 2002 to recover two teenaged daughters who were living with his parents in Kabul... his father resisted, denouncing his son as a convert and reporting him to police. Rahman immediately was arrested and a Bible was found in his possession.
An Afghan Christian in the U.S. who has regular contact with Christians in his home country through his ministry, posted a video clip of...
Rahman says in the clip, according to Andaryas: "The punishment by hanging? I will accept it gladly, but I am not an infidel. I am not a traitor. I am a follower of Jesus."
...The former aide worker in Pakistan who knew Rahman affirmed he has been an encouragement to many Afghan Christians.
"We need strong people like him as an example for others," she said.
Andaryas, who says he has the names of 6,000 Christians in Afghanistan, is receiving e-mails throughout the day from his home country, and most in recent days are about Rahman.
Yesterday, one of his correspondents in the country reported he interviewed Afghans on the street and many, who are Muslims, have sympathy for Rahman, believing he should be allowed to practice his beliefs.
Afghanistan's new constitution declares "followers of other religions (other than Islam) are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of law."
But it also says "the religion of the state is the sacred religion of Islam" and that Shariah, or Islamic, Law is the controlling legal authority. Under Shariah, in many Muslim countries, anyone who abandons Islam is subject to the death penalty...
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49405
Some things ABC, NBC, CNN, the NYT and others won’t report:
The economy: the good news keeps getting worse
A tale of two very different ways to report the same good news…
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/larryelder/2006/03/23/190914.html
Covering Saddam’s Shenanigans, Not His Crimes http://www.mediaresearch.org/realitycheck/2006/fax20060320.asp
The humanitarian case for war in Iraq
http://townhall.com/opinion/columns/jeffjacoby/2006/03/23/190908.html
TV pundits vs. history
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/brentbozell/2006/03/22/190782.html
Mother who gave birth after failed abortion 'has no grounds' to sue NHS
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=439532006
David<><
http://freewill-predestination.com
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove
posted by David Bennett | 3:40 AM
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