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According to the Center for Disease Control, individuals born between 1945 and 1965 should undergo a one-time test for the hepatitis C virus.

For reasons that are not completely understood, baby boomers demonstrate the highest rates of hepatitis C, said Dr. Ari Nowain, a board-certified gastroenterologist and internal medicine doctor at La Peer Health Systems in Beverly Hills. The new CDC guidelines can help save thousands of lives by identifying those individuals who need treatment.

A viral disease causing inflammation of the liver, hepatitis C often leads to liver damage, cirrhosis and even early death. Further, hepatitis C is the primary cause of liver cancer as well as the number one reason for liver transplants. However, the CDC estimates that eighty percent of people with hepatitis C demonstrate no symptoms. Even more frightening, many of these individuals are unaware that they suffer from the disease. The CDC believes it's crucial to identify hepatitis C sufferers so they can be monitored by physicians and treated before the condition progresses.

One of the reasons hep C is so dangerous is that sufferers are often asymptomatic for years, said Dr. Nowain, who possesses special training in the treatment of liver diseases. While we now have a number of very effective therapies for hepatitis C, successful treatment requires identifying patients in the early stages of the virus.

The CDC advises that those individuals born between 1945 and 1965 undergo an initial screening for hepatitis C with an FDA-approved antibody test. Those baby boomers who receive a positive initial result should then schedule an HCV-RNA test to determine whether the infection is active.

There's a reason hep C is called 'the silent killer,' said Dr. Nowain. Hopefully, the new CDC guidelines will help ensure that baby boomers get the treatment they require before the disease progresses.

Dr. Nowain also recommends that those individuals born outside the 1945 to 1965 window seek testing for hepatitis C if they demonstrate any of the following symptoms: abdominal pain, jaundice, dark urine, vomiting, fever. People whose blood work indicates elevated liver enzymes should also be tested. Feel free to contact Dr. Nowain to schedule an appointment by calling 310.657.4444 or by visiting http://www.CenterGIHealth.com.

Read this article:
Beverly Hills Gastroenterologist, Ari Nowain, MD, Discusses the New CDC Guidelines for Hep C Testing

More clues

In 2009, researchers released the findings of a six-year HIV vaccine study carried out in Thailand known as RV144. Conducted among 16,000 HIV-negative men and women, the trial found that HIV infection rates were 31 percent lower among participants who received the vaccine than in those who had not.

It was an encouraging protection rate, but short of the minimum 50 percent prevention rate required to slow the epidemic, which afflicts an estimated 34 million people worldwide, according to researchers at Duke University in the US.

Now, researchers say they have a better understanding of why the vaccine might have worked - and possible new targets for future vaccines.

Released in a recent edition of the journal Immunity, the study found that the vaccine prompted an immune response from four different antibodies. Researchers from Duke University, the US Military HIV Research Programme and the Thailand Ministry of Public Health used data collected from three of the trials participants to determine that these antibodies worked on an important site on the surface of HIV-infected cells. These antibodies essentially marked infected cells for death by natural killer cells, part of the bodys immune response.

The research could change the way future HIV vaccines are designed.

According to study co-author and Duke Human Vaccine Institute director Barton Haynes, the findings show the importance of often ignored variable sites on the surface of infected cells for vaccine research. Traditionally, most researchers have shied away from pinning their hopes on such sites because they differ across strains of HIV, he told IRIN/PlusNews.

He cautions, however, that researchers cannot say for certain this kind of immune response was the reason behind the Thai trials limited success.

This study follows similar results from South African research that may have identified yet another novel vaccine target. The South African research looked at broadly neutralizing antibodies that target and bond with specific sugars, blocking the virus from infecting healthy cells. According to Haynes, an ideal HIV vaccine candidate would be able to induce both types of immune responses.

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Originally posted here:
HIV/AIDS: Groundbreaking vaccine research reveals more clues about HIV

Kumba Mela: Indian Hindu Sadhus or holy men line up as they join a procession that will take them to the waters of the Sangham for a dip during the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad. Photo: AFP/Sanjay Kanojia Source: AFP

MILLIONS of Hindu pilgrims have gathered beside the river Ganges to bathe and celebrate during the gigantic Kumba Mela festival, held every 12 years.

The Maha Kumbh Mela, believed to be the largest religious gathering on Earth, is held every 12 years on the banks of Sangam, the confluence of the holy rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati.

Kumba Mela: Indian Sadhu or holy man shows off his long dreds during the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad. Photo: AFP/Sanjay Kanojia

The Kumbh Mela alternates between the cities of Nasik, Allahabad, Ujjain and Haridwar every three years.

Kumbh Mela: Hindu devotees bathe in the waters of the holy Ganges river during the auspicious royal bathing day of Makar Sankranti, the start of the Maha Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, India. Photo: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

Kumbh Mela: Hindu devotees bathe in the waters of the holy Ganges river during the auspicious royal bathing day of Makar Sankranti, the start of the Maha Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, India. Photo: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

Simon Crerar is News Limited's Visual Story Editor, follow him at twitter.com/simoncrerar

Kumbh Mela: Hindu devotees bathe in the waters of the holy Ganges river during the auspicious royal bathing day of Makar Sankranti, the start of the Maha Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, India. Photo: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

Continued here:
100m devotees at world's largest festival

A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.

For example, in the American state of Massachusetts an article of incorporation approved by the local state legislature distinguishes a city government from a town. In the United Kingdom and parts of the Commonwealth of Nations, a city is usually a settlement with a royal charter. Historically, in Europe, a city was understood to be an urban settlement with a cathedral. This distinction also applies in England (but not to the entire United Kingdom), where the presence of a cathedral church distinguishes a 'city' from a 'town' (which has a parish church).

Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, and transportation. The concentration of development greatly facilitates interaction between people and businesses, benefiting both parties in the process. A big city or metropolis usually has associated suburbs and exurbs. Such cities are usually associated with metropolitan areas and urban areas, creating numerous business commuters traveling to urban centers for employment. Once a city expands far enough to reach another city, this region can be deemed a conurbation or megalopolis.

According to Vere Gordon Childe, for a settlement to qualify as a city, it must have enough surplus of raw materials to support trade and a relatively large population. Bairoch points out that, due to sparse population densities that would have persisted in pre-Neolithic, hunter-gatherer societies, the amount of land that would be required to produce enough food for subsistence and trade for a large population would make it impossible to control the flow of trade. To illustrate this point, Bairoch offers an example: "Western Europe during the pre-Neolithic, [where] the density must have been less than 0.1 person per square kilometer". Using this population density as a base for calculation, and allotting 10% of food towards surplus for trade and assuming that city dwellers do no farming, he calculates that "in order to maintain a city with a population of 1,000, and without taking the cost of transportation into account, an area of 100,000 square kilometers would have been required. When the cost of transportation is taken into account, the figure rises to 200,000 square kilometers...". Bairoch noted that this is roughly the size of Great Britain.

:(1) O = s^2, where O is the output (area protected) and s stands for the length of a side. This equation shows that output is proportional to the square of the length of a side.

The inputs depend on the length of the perimeter:

:(2) I = 4s, where I stands for the quantity of inputs. This equation shows that the perimeter is proportional to the length of a side.

So there are increasing returns to scale:

:(3) O = I^2/16. This equation (solving for s in (1) and substituting in (2)) shows that with twice the inputs, you produce quadruple the output.

Also, economies of scale:

Link:
Pneumonia top killer in Davao

Topics: flu, golden globes, h2n3 virus, health, hugh jackman, illness, usa

HE SAID he was too happy to think about his flu symptoms when he accepted an award at Monday's Golden Globes, but it seems the strain of virus Aussie star Hugh Jackman has been struck down with was nothing to joke about.

Health experts have warned a killer strain of flu, which has swept the US west coast and was reportedly to blame for Jackman being under the weather at the gala ceremony, is headed to Australia.

Already, 20 children have died in the US after contracting the H2N3 virus.

Last year, a killer flu strain claimed the lives of three people in the NSW Hunter region within a week.

Aged homes went into lock-down and hospitals were inundated with cases.

According to News.com, vaccine shortages are to blame for the US crisis.

Free flu vaccines are offered in Australia to the most vulnerable including all people aged 65 years and older, pregnant women, people with chronic illness, and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders aged 15 years and older.

Flu symptoms can include fever and chills, cough, sore throat, clocked nose, muscle aches, joint pains, headache and fatigue.

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Jackman's illness no joke with killer flu en route to Aus