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Obama Defends Reform To Seniors Worried About Medicare Cuts
On Tuesday, President Obama pitched Democrats" health reform plans to senior citizens and assured them that Medicare benefits would not be cut to pay for covering the uninsured, the New York Times reports. Meanwhile, members of Congress said they were "deluged" with constituent calls expressing concern over the future of their Medicare coverage.
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Stanford Studies Show That Leukemia Cells Evade Immune System By Mimicking Normal Cells
Human leukemia stem cells escape detection by co-opting a protective molecular badge used by normal blood stem cells to migrate safely within the body, according to a pair of studies by researchers at Stanford University Medical School.
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Two New Reports Highlight Stalled Progress Against Diarrheal Disease: Nearly 1.6m Children Die Each Year From These Preventable And Treatable Diseases
PATH and WaterAid America released two new reports that show that the international aid community and developing-country governments are not responding to clear evidence on child mortality by targeting res where the disease burden is greatest. Diarrheal disease, a leading killer of children under age five worldwide, is responsible for the deaths of nearly 1.6 million children annually, yet it receives very little attention from both policymakers and the public. During the 1980s and 1990s, diarrheal disease mortality rates were cut by nearly 50 percent, made possible by wide availability and implementation of lifesaving prevention and treatment interventions.
Cardiovascular

Deet, The Popular Insect Repellent, Found To Be Neurotoxic

The active ingredient in many insect repellents, deet, has been found to be toxic to the central nervous system. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Biology say that more investigations are urgently needed to confirm or dismiss any potential neurotoxicity to humans, especially when deet-based repellents are used in combination with other neurotoxic insecticides. Vincent Corbel from the Institut de Recherche pour le Dē©veloppement in Montpellier, and Bruno Lapied from the University of Angers, France, led a team of researchers who investigated the mode of action and toxicity of deet (N,N-Diethyl-3-methylbenzamide). Corbel said, "We"ve found that deet is not simply a behavior-modifying chemical but also inhibits the activity of a key central nervous system enzyme, acetycholinesterase, in both insects and mammals". Discovered in 1953, deet is still the most common ingredient in insect repellent preparations. It is effective against a broad spectrum of medically important pests, including mosquitoes. Despite its widespread use, controversies remain concerning both the identification of its target sites at the molecular level and its mechanism of action in insects. In a series of experiments, Corbel and his colleagues found that deet inhibits the acetylcholinesterase enzyme - the same mode of action used by organophosphate and carbamate insecticides. These insecticides are often used in combination with deet, and the researchers also found that deet interacts with carbamate insecticides to increase their toxicity. Corbel concludes, "These findings question the safety of deet, particularly in combination with other chemicals, and they highlight the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to the development of safer insect repellents for use in public health". Notes: Evidence for inhibition of cholinesterases in insect and mammalian nervous systems by the insect repellent deet Vincent Corbel, Maria Stankiewicz, Cedric Pennetier, Didier Fournier, Jure Stojan, Emmanuelle Girard, Mitko Dimitrov, Jordi Molgo, Jean Marc Hougard and Bruno Lapied BMC Biology (in press) Article available at journal website: http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcbiol/ Graeme Baldwin BioMed Central


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