Kouroumplis: Deregulation of over-the-counter drugs "is inexplicable” (VIDEO)

Minister of Health Panagiotis Kouroumplis on Wednesday criticized our lenders for insisting on deregulating the sale of non-prescription drugs, calling it an “inexplicable obsession” because this would pave the way for their sale via super-markets.

In an interview to ANT1 tv, Kouroumplis said that he believes the sale of over-the-counter (OTC), or non-prescription, drugs in regular shops is unacceptable and said they should be only sold via pharmacies. He said that the creditors believe that they possess the one truth and that they have answers for all matters and stressed that even in the case where policies did not perform as expected the creditors refuse to admit that they were wrong.

In 2014, the previous Greek government, headed by former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, enacted a new law removing most of the restrictions regulating pharmacies in the country, in a bid to reduce the cost of medicines. Prior to the reform, Greek residents needed to obtain or inherit a costly license to open a pharmacy and were guaranteed an income amounting to around 35 percent of the sales price of all the medicines they sold. On its part, the Panhellenic Pharmaceutical Association (which represents Greek pharmacists), maintains that this move would make OTC drugs more expensive.

Greek doctors & medical staff announce strike for May 20th

The federation of public hospital employees (POEDIN) has called a 24-hour strike in response to the many problems in Greece’s health care system, which are attributed to what they claim are staff shortages and the significant budget cuts that have been implemented in recent years.

According to press reports, the country's medical staff have united and are planning a nationwide 24-hour strike on May 20th.

The union of hospital doctors (EINAP) noted in one announcement that it fully supports the mobilization and actions of doctors in response to unpaid overtime and the deterioration of working conditions in the national health care system (ESY). Parallel to this it called on the government to support public hospitals by increasing funding and recruiting permanent staff members.

As expected Greece's largest public sector trade union ADEDY is supporting the strike and has called for support of the demonstration outside the Health Ministry.

39 succumb to Seasonal Flu Outbreak Across Greece

The Center of Disease Control and Prevention (KEELPNO) said on Tuesday that 39 people have died as a result of a seasonal outbreak of the flu all across Greece, while 34 patients patients are in serious condition (or that are being treated in intensive care units).

A total of 102 patients have already received ICU treatment.

According to KEELPNO, the most sensitive group at risk is the elderly, and as such should seek antiviral inoculation and protection against the flu.

New decree introduces nurse prescriptions, but prompts reactions

The decision of Health Minister Makis Voridis to allow nurses to prescribe medication and medical supplies to patients has raised a lot of fierce reactions in the health care sector.

The Greek nursing staff federation PASONOP denounced the initiative, which it claims was taken without any consultation and at the same time accuses the Ministry of “monumental populism”.

Meanwhile, the federation of clinical experts questioned and demanded the withdrawal of the ministerial decision and said in a statement that “non doctors” are now allowed to prescribed medication, when at the same time clinical and laboratory doctors are banned from prescribing medication that is outside of their specialization (such as cardiologists prescribing antidiarrheal medicine).

Flu virus in Greece claims six – 17 receiving ICU treatment

The flu virus has apparently claimed quite a few lives in Greece and this winter season alone it has taken its toll on six people, while a further eight patients have been hospitalized and are receiving treatment in ICUs.

According to press reports, there are currently 17 patients who are receiving treatment in ICUs across Greece, with the figure expected to rise, as the reported cases increase.

The hospitals in Attica alone have reportedly treated 85 patients with such symptoms and doctors are hopeful that antiviral and preventative treatment will help curb a potential outbreak.

The Hellenic Center of Disease Control and Prevention (KEELPNO) has insisted that people at risk must seek out antiviral inoculation and protection against both the H1N1 and H3N2 strands of the flu virus.

The outbreak is very concerning to scientists because it has claimed the life of a 24-year-old man with no prior medical history. Typically, the flu virus is a threat to the elderly as well as to people with a weak immune system.

(HellasFrappe Words to live by: The juice of a lemon a day mixed with warm water -before eating anything else in the early morning- will keep your immune system high, and definitely help keep the flu and the doctor away!)

How to tell when bubbly goes bad before popping the cork at New Year's

In the rare case that New Year's revelers have a bottle of leftover bubbly, they have no way to tell if it'll stay good until they pop the cork and taste it at the next celebration. But now scientists are reporting a precise new way for wineries - and their customers - to predict how long their sparkling wines will last. The study first appeared in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Montserrat Riu-Aumatell and colleagues explain that the shelf life of various sparkling wines, from champagne to prosecco, depends on environmental factors such as temperature.

Currently, wineries detect the so-called browning of bubbly by measuring its "absorbance," or its absorption of light at a particular wavelength. It's a fast and easy technique but not very sensitive.

Researchers exploring the chemistry of sparkling wine are turning to the food industry for alternatives. Food manufacturers can measure a compound called 5-HMF, which builds up in food as it goes bad, to tell when to toss a product out. Riu-Aumatell's team decided to see if they could use the compound, which is also found in bubbly, to predict the shelf life of sparkling wines.

They tested levels of this browning compound in several bottles stored over two years at different temperatures: room, cellar (61 degrees Fahrenheit) and refrigerator (39 degrees Fahrenheit). Their study found that 5-HMF is a good indicator of freshness, and also that refrigerating sparkling wines almost completely prevented browning.

To make their results more practical for wineries, the researchers came up with a mathematical model that predicts how long products will stay drinkable at varying storage temperatures.

The authors of this report acknowledge funding from the Spanish Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología, the ACC1Ó EVALXARTA2010 and the Generalitat de Catalunya.

New Study Claims That You Can Shed Post-Christmas Kilos Just By Breathing

BMJ-British Medical Journal - Widespread misconceptions about losing weight led Ruben Meerman and Andrew Brown at the University of New South Wales to calculate how we "lose weight."

Human fat cells store triglyceride, which consists of just three kinds of atoms; carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Shedding unwanted fat requires unlocking the atoms in triglyceride molecules by a process known as oxidation.

By tracing every atom's pathway out of the body, the authors discovered that when 10 kg of fat are fully oxidised, 8.4 kg departs via the lungs as carbon dioxide (CO2). The remaining 1.6 kg becomes water (H2O).

Their analysis shows that the inhaled oxygen required for this metabolic process weighs nearly three times more than the fat being 'lost'. To completely oxidise 10 kg of human fat, 29 kg of oxygen must be inhaled producing a total of 28 kg of carbon dioxide and 11 kg of water.

     "None of this biochemistry is new, but for unknown reasons it seems nobody has thought of performing these calculations before," say the authors. "The quantities make perfect sense but we were surprised by the numbers that popped out."
     "These results show that the lungs are the primary excretory organ for weight loss," they add. "The water formed may be excreted in the urine, faeces, sweat, breath, tears, or other bodily fluids and is readily replenished."
     "The exhaled carbon can only be replaced by eating food or consuming beverages such as milk, fruit juices or sugar-sweetened drinks," the authors say.

At rest, an average 70 kg person exhales around 200 ml of CO2 in 12 breaths per minute. Each of those breaths therefore excretes 33 mg of CO2, of which 8.9 mg is carbon. By simply exhaling 17,280 times, an average person therefore loses at least 200 grams of carbon every day and roughly a third of that weight loss is achieved during eight hours of sleep.

"Keeping the weight off simply requires that you put less back in by eating than you've exhaled by breathing," explain the authors.

Replacing one hour of rest with exercise that raises the metabolic rate to seven times that of resting by, for example, jogging, removes an additional 40 g of carbon from the body, raising the total by about 20% to 240 g.

But the authors point out that, for comparison, a single 100 g muffin represents about 20% of an average person's total daily energy requirement. "Physical activity as a weight loss strategy is, therefore, easily foiled by relatively small quantities of excess food," they say.

     "Our calculations show that the lungs are the primary excretory organ for fat," they conclude.
     "Losing weight requires unlocking the carbon stored in fat cells, thus reinforcing that often heard refrain of 'eat less, move more.'

The authors recommend these concepts be included in secondary school science curriculums and university biochemistry courses "to correct widespread misconceptions about weight loss.

Not Just for Christmas - Mistletoe Can Fight Liver Disease!

American Chemical Society - Mistletoe hanging in doorways announces that the holidays are just around the corner. For some people, however, the symbolic plant might one day represent more than a kiss at Christmas time: It may mean better liver health. Researchers have found that a compound produced by a particular variety of the plant can help fight obesity-related liver disease in mice. Their study appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Jungkee Kwon and colleagues note that, according to recent research, Korean mistletoe produces a number of biologically active compounds. These include familiar ones such as steroids and flavonoids. Also, extracts from the plant have shown anti-obesity effects, but no one had confirmed which specific molecules were involved. Kwon's team wanted to investigate the matter and see if the key ingredient could also help fight fatty liver disease, which is associated with obesity and can progress to liver failure in some cases.

The researchers identified viscothionin as the compound in Korean mistletoe that affects fat metabolism in the liver. When they treated obese mice with it, their body and liver weights dropped. The scientists conclude that viscothionin could be explored as a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

The authors acknowledge funding from the National Research Foundation of Korea and the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation.

Oh, Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree - A nano end for tree needles

As Twelfth Night approaches and the Christmas decorations start to look increasingly congruous as the last crumbs of cake are swept away and the remnants of the turkey have finally been consumed, there is the perennial question as to what to do with the tree. Research published in the International Journal of Biomedical Nanoscience and Nanotechnology suggests that the needles of the plant Pseudotsuga menziesii, commonly known as the Douglas fir could be used to sterilize nano devices destined for medical applications.

Chemist Poushpi Dwivedi of MNNIT in Allahabad, India, and colleagues explain that one of the most troubling problems in biomedicine is bacterial infection at the site of implanted medical devices, prosthetics and sensors. They explain that despite advances in sterilization procedures and aseptic measures pathogenic microbes can still invade biomaterials and tissues. The researchers are developing an antimicrobial, self-sterilizing composite material derived from Douglas fir needles that is essentially a silver/chitosan bionanocomposite that can be used to safely coat medical implants and surgical devices to preclude microbial growth.

The team points out that silver nanoparticles have been tested widely for their potential as antimicrobial agents given that silver is well known to have bactericidal properties. They point out that using biological agents has come to the fore as an efficient and effective way to make novel types of silver nanoparticles with uniform size and shape and biocompatible surfaces for use in medicine. The team has now used an extract from Pseudotsuga menzietii together with silver nitrate solution to generate nanoparticles. These particles can then be readily dispersed in chitosan polymer to make a material that can coat metals and other materials. The plant extract acts as a natural chemical reducing agent to convert the silver ions in the nitrate solution to nanoscopic silver metal particles.

     "The size and the percentage of the particles produced can be easily controlled, according to the requirement, by the initial concentration of the metal precursor and volume of the plant biomass," the team explains.

So, as you are sweeping up the last fallen needles from your Christmas tree come Twelfth Night, think on, those needles could underpin the next medical shot in the arm.

Life Expectancy in Greece Rises Against Other EU Countries, Says New OECD Report

Life expectancy at birth has risen in Greece to reach 80.7 years, as opposed to an average of average of 79.2 years in the EU28, the OECD said in a new report.

The report, titled "Health at a Glance: Europe 2014," ranks Greece in 13th place among its European Union peers, behind nations such as top-ranked Spain (82.5 years), Italy and France but ahead of more recent members such Romania, Bulgaria and Lithuania, the latter at the bottom of the table at 74.1 years.

The rise of life expectancy in Greece reflects a similar trend across the EU, where life expectancy has also risen by more than five years on average since 1990, the report noted. Nonetheless, the gap between those states with the highest and lowest life expectancies remains around eight years.

Check out OECD charts - http://data.oecd.org/healthstat/life-expectancy.htm

CONFIRMED - Patient From Freighter Ship Tests Negative for Ebola

The patient case reported on board Greek-owned freighter "Magda P" was confirmed negative for Ebola. The test results by the special laboratory of the University of Athens released after 2a.m. essentially confirmed the initial estimate that the incident was not considered a suspicious Ebola case.

The ship, which originated from Guinea, West Africa, and destined for Ukraine, came to Piraeus port late on Monday.

The patient informed the Hellenic Center for Disease Control & Prevention (KEELPNO) doctors that he showed fever on November 13. According to the captain and the shipping company, there was no contact between the crew and people in the Conakry port, who may have become ill due to the spread of Ebola in the region, as no one had disembarked the ship. Moreover, the few local dock workers who had boarded the freighter had been double-checked by the ship's insurance company doctor and the Guinea port authorities. (AMNA)

Ebola: Is there a way out?

Not everyone who contracts the Ebola virus dies, the survival rate is around 30% suggesting that some kind of immunity to the disease is possible. Experimental treatments and vaccines against Ebola exist but have not yet been tested in large groups for safety and efficacy (phase 2 trials).

The International Union of Immunology Societies (IUIS) published a statement recently in its official journal, Frontiers in Immunology calling for urgent and adequate funding of vaccine candidates in clinical trials and speedy implementation of immunisation in African countries.

     "The current Ebola outbreak, is an unprecedented disaster for humans. This virus cunningly hijacks the human immune system with devastating effects. Without blocking transmission, Ebola may become endemic," says Prof Clive Gray, author of the paper and member of the Clinical Immunology Committee of the IUIS, from the Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, South Africa. "Efforts are being made on health communication in order to prevent the spread of this virus from person to person. This is essential but not enough. Stakeholders need to work together to accelerate the roll out of vaccines and therapies," Gray stated.

According to the IUIS paper, vaccination will be a vital additional strategy. Authors explain that although no licensed vaccines exist on the market, "significant progress" has been made in recent years and especially in the last few months. Among the promising vaccines being tried today, the paper mentions the Cad3 Ebola vaccine developed using chimpanzee adenovirus. This vaccine was found to protect animals with a single dose and is currently undergoing phase 1 trials (where researchers test the vaccine candidate in a small group of people to evaluate safety, determine safe dosage and identify side effects). Another promising vaccine candidate is rVSV-ΔG-ZEBOV that has proven safe and efficient in non-human primates with no major toxicities. Phase 1 trials for this vaccine started in October.

Commenting on the need for a vaccination strategy, Prof Marylyn Addo, Department of Medicine, Division of Emerging Infections and Tropical Medicine, University Medical Centre, Hamburg, Germany explained: "the fact that the current outbreak of Ebola is through a single strain with low mutability, suggests that vaccine strategies could be easily achievable. Understanding how immunity works in survivors of Ebola may further contribute to strategic vaccine design and optimisation. » Addo concluded that: « we need to speed up the development process in order to advance clinical testing and, ultimately, the deployment of effective vaccines. However, despite the urgency of the situation, the safety of the vaccines for recipients needs to be ensured and cannot be compromised."

Alongside vaccination (to prevent infection), the IUIS paper says that experimental therapies are also available to treat people who are already infected with the virus. ZMapp, for example, combines antibodies that cling to the virus and allow the immune system to clear it. The drug has been tried on animals and humans with different outcomes. Currently the drug is not available, so it cannot be tested further.

Other therapeutic approaches are siRNA (also known as TKM-Ebola) and Favipiravir (T705). "These drugs need to be tried for efficacy and safety, but currently we do not have time to conduct traditional studies," explained Prof Reinhold Schmidt, Director of the Centre of Internal Medicine, Division of Immunology and Rheumatology, University of Hannover, Germany.

The IUIS paper calls for a speedy roll-out of a human vaccine to Ebola. Prof Schmidt continues, "Of course we do not overrule the need for trials to ensure safety, but IUIS is calling on authorities to speed up the process by a) performing parallel animal safety and immunogenicity studies alongside human phase 1 clinical trials with small sets of volunteers to assess safety and optimal dosage and b) rapidly designing and implementing phase 2 clinical trials." Prof Schmidt concluded:

     "Time is not on our side. Funding is urgently needed, as well as a more flexible and speedy process to make vaccines available to populations at greatest risk, in order to halt this devastating Ebola outbreak." 

Mediterranean diet, olive oil & nuts help reverse metabolic syndrome

For people with metabolic syndrome, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts may help reverse the condition, indicate findings from a clinical trial published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).  About 25% of adults around the world have metabolic syndrome. The syndrome exists in the presence of three or more factors such as large waist circumference, high blood pressure, low HDL-cholesterol, high levels of triglycerides and high blood sugar concentrations that can increase the risk of diabetes, heart disease and death.

Spanish researchers analyzed data from the PREDIMED randomized controlled trial, which included men and women aged 55–80 years old at high risk of heart disease. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three diets: a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with nuts or a low-fat diet as the control. In this secondary analysis, the research team looked at the long-term effects of the Mediterranean diet on metabolic syndrome in 5801 people. Almost 64% (3707) of the participants had metabolic syndrome at the start of the study.

After a median follow up period of 4.8 years, the researchers found that people in the two Mediterranean diet groups decreased their central obesity and blood glucose levels and 958 participants (28.2%) no longer met the criteria of metabolic syndrome.

     "In this large, multicentre, randomized clinical trial involving people with high cardiovascular risk, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil was associated with a smaller increase in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome compared with advice on following a low-fat diet," writes Dr. Jordi Salas-Salvadó, Human Nutrition Unit, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universitat Rovira i Virgili and Hospital Universitari de Sant Joan de Reus, IISPV, Reus, Spain, with coauthors.
     "Because there were no between-group differences in weight loss or energy expenditure, the change is likely attributable to the difference in dietary patterns."

However, the Mediterranean diets did not appear to have an effect on the number of new cases of metabolic syndrome, a finding inconsistent with some previous studies.

     "Mediterranean diets supplemented with olive oil or nuts were not associated with a reduced incidence of metabolic syndrome compared with a low-fat diet; however, both diets were associated with a significant rate of reversion of metabolic syndrome," state the authors. 

Pireaus Adopts Emergency Ebola Precautions at Port

The Piraeus Regional Section said on on Tuesday that emergency measures have been adopted in the framework of preventing the possible transmission of the Ebola virus.

According to the Piraeus authority, every cargo vessel that arrives at the Container Terminal, Car Terminal, Shipyard Repair Zone and/or anchors is going to be obligate the captain of this vessal to fill out a form, before anyone is allowed on or off. The captain must give a detailed list of the ship's latest trips, naming not just the port from which the ship set sail but also any intermediate ports of call, even those for refuelling, and the duration of the journey.

Authorities believe that once they have this information they will be in a better position to know if a ship approached a port in a high-risk country for Ebola, how long they were there, how long ago was that before they docked in Greece, etc., etc, beause the virus incubation period is up to 21 days and this is an important factor.

Also, if any crew members on these boats has any suspicious symptoms or has been infected by Ebola, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention is going to immediately be called to action to implement a national prevention plan.

Conspiracy or Truth - West Refuses To Release Data On US Military Ebola Vaccine

CLICK ON BOLD LINKS TO CROSS REFERENCE ARTICLE WITH THE MAINSTREAM NEWS

A new report prepared by the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being (Rospotrebnadzor) states that Russian disease experts were shocked this past week after the Obama regime refused to turn over to them test results on a successful ebola virus vaccine developed by the US military in 2004.

Rospotrebnadzor disease experts, this report notes, have been at the forefront in the battle against the ebola virus, where their work in the West African nation of Guinea has provided funding for the purchase and supply of medical modules, medicines and disposables for 60,000 people in countries most affected by this outbreak.

According to this report, the Defense Ministry’s Microbiology Research Institute in Sergiyev Posad and at the Vektor Center for Virology and Biotechnologies in Novosibirsk (both of whom are working on three ebola virus vaccines, one of which is expected to be deployed to West Africa in the next two months) contacted their American counterparts at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) this past week in a bid to gain access to the 2004 test results of a proven ebola virus vaccine.

The specific ebola vaccine information being requested by these disease experts, this report continues, was developed by the USAMRIID and their private sector partner Crucell, which is the global biopharmaceutical company specializing in vaccines and antibodies and is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson headquartered in Leiden, Netherlands.

To how successful the USAMRIID-Crucell ebola vaccine actually is this report documents from Crucell’s reports exactly:

     “In 2002, we entered into a Collaborative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the VRC of the NIH to develop jointly, test and manufacture an adenovirus-based Ebola vaccine. Under the terms of the agreement, we have an option for exclusive worldwide commercialization rights to the Ebola vaccine resulting from this collaboration. In August 2002, the CRADA was extended to cover vaccines against Marburg and Lassa infections.
     In experiments conducted in 2004 by the VRC together with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), our vaccine candidate confirmed single-dose protection of monkeys against Ebola. Our results are distinct from the earlier trials in that our vaccine is based on PER.C6® cells, making it suitable for large-scale manufacturing.
     In 2005, we extended the CRADA with the VRC of the NIH to develop and produce vaccines against Ebola, Marburg and Lassa infections. Crucell was also granted an exclusive license to patents owned by the NIH to develop and commercialize vaccines against Ebola. Furthermore, Crucell signed a contract of up to €21.4 million with the NIH to produce Ebola vaccines.
     Crucell’s Ebola vaccine entered Phase I studies in Q3 2006. For this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, two groups of 16 healthy volunteers were enrolled and vaccinated. The study showed safety and immunogegicity at the doses evaluated.
     Based on these results, a second Phase I study is anticipated. This will use alternative multivalent adenovirus vectors that are able to bypass pre-existing immunity against the more commonly used adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5).”
     In October 2008, Crucell announced that it had secured a NIAID/NIH award to advance the development of Ebola and Marburg vaccines, with the ultimate aim of developing a multivalent filovirus vaccine. The award provides funding of up to $30 million, with additional options worth a further $40 million. Under this award, the use of alternative multivalent adenovirus vectors that are able to bypass pre-existing immunity against Ad5 will be evaluated.

The Obama regimes response to Russia’s request for data relating to this successful ebola vaccine, this report continues, was to simply state that they were unable to comply due to this vaccine being protected under US patent, national security and privacy laws.

Rospotrebnadzor disease experts in this report further describe the Obama regimes refusal to release the information on this ebola vaccine as “shocking” due to the World Health Organization (WHO) now warning that as many as 10,000 new cases a week of Ebola could develop in the three hardest-hit West African countries by early December.

Even worse, this report says, as the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has warned since August of the estimated 3,000 Islamic “Ebola Martyrs” preparing to decimate the United States, and new evidence showing some of them reached South America last month, the Obama regimes refusal to release their data on this proven vaccine is “beyond perplexing”.

Joining their SVR counterparts in warning of these “Ebola Martyrs” ready to strike America, this report continues, Professor-Captain Al Shimkus of the US Naval War College and Professor Anthony Glees, director at Buckingham University’s Center for Security and Intelligence Studies, have likewise warned their governments to prepare for them too.

All of these warnings, this report states, continue to fall on deaf ears as US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson stated this week that even though the Islamic State (IS) is seeking to attack the US homeland, there is “no specific credible intelligence” they are planning on using the ebola virus…a statement that stunned Russian intelligence experts, especially when viewed in the light of the news of the IS laptop seized from one of their operatives that was filled with bio-terror weapons plans.

Most chilling about this IS laptop, as reported by the Foreign Policy News Service, were the documents contained on it suggesting that its owner was teaching himself about the use of biological weaponry in preparation for “a potential attack that would shock the world.”

Other US media articles trying to discount the existence of these “Ebola Martyrs”, this report continues, further state that “the Ebola outbreak is in West Africa, far from ISIS territory”, a statement which stands in sharp contrast to the fact that the West African terror group Boko Haram has now joined forces with the Islamic State (ISIS/IS) to form what they call a “Super Caliphate”.

And most perplexing of all, this report concludes, is why the Obama regime, in having a proven ebola vaccine since 2008, has not yet allowed its citizens to know this fact, let alone use it to protect them…or at the very least its healthcare workers who are beginning to die.

WhatDoesItMean.Com

British Tourist Dies of Ebola Virus in FYROM

A Briton with symptoms of Ebola apparently died in FYROM, a report from RT said. The hotel in Skopje where he was staying has been sealed off, while another Briton and hotel staff are being kept inside to prevent possible spreading of infection.

According to the report, the man went to Skopje from London on October 2nd and was taken to hospital on Thursday where he died several hours later.

The man reportedly suffered from fever, vomiting and internal bleeding. His condition deteriorated rapidly.

One doctor told RT that the patient had symptoms of mild fever, 37.4 C, which does not correspond to Ebola, taking into account that the characteristic temperature for people with Ebola is above 38.5 C. However, rapid and severe clinical picture, vomiting, internal bleeding, and sudden and rapid death, symptoms of Ebola, raised suspicions.

The tests have been carried out to see if he had Ebola and have been sent to Germany's Frankfurt to confirm the disease.

A spokesman for FYROM told the BBC that a companion of the late Briton told the local authorities that they had travelled straight from the UK and had not visited countries affected by Ebola.

The ambulance crew and the hotel staff were isolated to prevent spreading of infection, and the hotel building was also sealed off.

Read more RT

OPINION - ISIL & EBOLA HYPE: There is very little to fear - Don’t be conned!

In a clever editorial, John Ward at the Slog comments on the rising security hype and mad Ebola rumours. Mr. Ward tries to put things back into perspective and claims that our chances of being an ISIL or Ebola victim in the West are almost homoaeopathic.

By John Ward (The Slog) - The words that matter in this Torygraph extract are in red: "The first alleged Isil-linked terror plot on UK soil has been foiled by police and MI5 amid fears jihadists are returning from Syria to carry out beheadings on British streets.

Four men were arrested in dramatic armed raids in London during which one suspect had to be Tasered by police.

The men are feared to have been in the “early stages” of planning a “significant” attack and it is understood one line of inquiry is whether they wanted to emulate the sort of brutal execution that has become Isil’s hallmark on a British street.

Police and intelligence agencies have become increasingly concerned that the terror group, which has already beheaded four Western hostages, is encouraging similar attacks overseas.’

Und no threading mit die Komments vill be allowt.

So, it is alleged that four blokes may or may not have been thinking about doing something unpleasant (perhaps) – and as a result of this completely unsubstantiated  rumour, the cops and Intelligence chaps have fears. And as a result of that, Britain’s top cop thinks the amount of surveillance in the UK is waaaay too small: we’re in a serious situation people…but don’t worry, because it’s all being done for your own good.

Of course, had we an elite able to conserve our oil supplies (as opposed to blowing the entire shebang in forty years flat) or able to say no to Obama Joe Biden, or willing to invest in cleaner coal (and provide new UK jobs) or able to monitor terrorists arriving here rather than welcoming them with open arms, these bonkers folk wouldn’t be “a threat”. Would they?

If indeed they are.

Discuss.

Ebola is I am sure, somewhere in government, being described as a lucky bounce – providing as it does the excuse to hype up the fear factor still further.

David Cameron will be attending Cobra we’re told, and even before being briefed Dave is calling it an ‘emergency’. The WHO says that further cases in Europe are now “quite unavoidable” (an odd use of grammar, that one) which is piffle in a UK context.

Britain is an island, and it would take very little real effort to simply place all incoming African flight passengers in holding centres until they’re cleared. If Defra can do it for dogs, they can do it for people. However, it just happens that since last Friday I’ve been trying to bone up on Ebola. And the bottom line is, if the authorities know what they’re doing, it is an easy disease to contain.

Black Africa lacks the money, will and infrastructure to contain it, but Western governments don’t.

(Thanks to the Troika, mind you, it has a much better chance of spreading in Italy, Greece and Spain than elsewhere in the West.)

First up, misinformation about the disease is rife… and for this I’m afraid we have to hand a large dollop of blame to the internet and its half-cocked rumour mongering. Twisted and exaggerated accounts will inevitably lead to unwarranted fear. But on the other hand, as fear is what the corporate dictators feed on, it’s hardly surprising that they too are laying on the “ghastly symptoms and rapid spread” mortar with a very large trowel.

So herewith some reality – with the calming words once again in red:

1. The only likely way you can catch ebola from someone else is by sharing bodily fluids and/or handling the blood, urine and excretia involved in the disease’s progress.

2. In theory, somebody sneezing or spitting in an effort to control the symptoms could pass on the virus, but its airborne death is almost instantaneous. The chances of such transmission are one in several billion.

3. The disease does not and cannot spread by drinking water.

4. The same applies to food.

It is not enough to say that Ebola is easy to contain in a modern State: ebola is a disease that can only spread through ignorance and incompetence. Its epidemiology is seriously Fourth Division compared to the Common Cold or Flu.

The key word there is incompetence.

This can mean careless nursing practices, poor administrative planning, or putting profits before manning levels. Or specifically, Jeremy Hunt, undermining the NHS and moving your mates at BUPA in to ‘take over’ …via your 5th cousin twice removed and donor of your Parliamentary seat, Baroness Virginia Fruntbottom.

I do hope one doesn’t have to revisit such possibilities in the future. As that would be tragic.

Wouldn’t it, neolibbers? Hmm?

Greek gov't prepared to face possible cases of the Ebola virus

Greece's Minister of Health told ANT1 TV on Thursday that our country is ready to confront a possible Ebola virus case.

     "We have complied with the World Health Organisation's directives," Voridis said.

On the precautionary reasons taken, the minister noted they were "travel directives existing in all exit and entrance points of the country and special directives exist for people coming from countries of high risk."

When asked how the government will react to an Ebola case Voridis pointed out that if a suspicious incident occurs, a reference hospital has already been chosen, with a skillful staff, the equipment and the laboratory. All these measures, he added will allow officials to make the analysis needed in order to identify whether it is Ebola virus.

Nonetheless, the Minister did not reveal the name of the hospital, but rather said that it would be announced in the following days.

New initiative promotes exchange of ideas & supports women with cancer in Greece

A growing number of oncologists in Greece are female, but women continue to be under-represented in leadership positions, according to a survey reported at the ESMO 2014 Congress.

     "In Greece, and across Europe, women oncologists still find it hard to access leadership or academic positions," said Dr Helena Linardou, Associate Director of the 1st Department of Oncology at the Metropolitan Hospital, Athens, Greece, who presented the survey results at the congress.
     "Women are indeed increasingly choosing oncology specialties in Greece, however, most decision-making posts are still dominated by men across the profession, in private practice, academia and national health environments. This needs to change," she said.

The survey of 80 female members of the Hellenic Societies of Medical, Radiation and Surgical Oncology showed that while women were widely represented in workplaces, team leaders were men in 82% of cases.

     "The survey also showed that women oncologists are hugely under-represented in international scientific meetings and scientific society boards, and still have difficulties travelling abroad and accessing education opportunities at international level," Linardou said.

The study was conducted as part of a European initiative of and for female oncology professionals, known as "Women for Oncology" (W4O)[1], launched by the European Society for Medical Oncology in 2013.

The Greek national equivalent, called 'W4O-Hellas', aims to create a support network for female oncologists, but also to provide a platform of direct communication and essential contribution from women doctors to women cancer patients, Linardou explains.

     "This forum of women will promote the interaction and exchange of ideas among women oncologists in Greece and across Europe and will embrace and assist them throughout their career in oncology. The novelty, however, is that at the same time, this forum will offer advice, awareness and support directly from women oncologists to women suffering from cancer and their families in Greece."

The group has fund-raising events and public education meetings planned for the immediate future and an inaugural event is scheduled for Sunday, 12 October 2014, in the Athens Concert Hall (Megaron Mousikis).

     "We hope to give the opportunity to women professionals from Greece and across Europe to exchange ideas and find common ground, and to discuss openly some issues faced by women with cancer," Linardou said.
     "In Europe we are still suffering considerable discrepancies in terms of career opportunities between men and women," said Dr Solange Peters, ESMO Executive Board member, active in the first ESMO W4O Forum in 2013. "Women still have difficulties to access leadership positions, and for them the compatibility between professional career and daily life is still more difficult as compared to male counterparts."

The Greek oncology community should be congratulated to have taken this initiative so seriously, taking into consideration not only women doctors but also creating a link between female practicing oncologists and female cancer patients, Peters added.

Beating blindness with Omega-3 and olive oil

New research shows Omega-3 rich oils improve membrane fluidity in retina cells and can help fight age-related eye diseases

Scientists working at the Research Center on Aging at the Health and Social Services Centre — University Institute of Geriatrics of Sherbrooke (CSSS-IUGS) (Canada) have been studying strategies for protecting retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells. Dysfunction of the RPE is found in retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration, which is the leading cause of blindness of elderly people in developed countries.

Findings published in the Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology suggest that incubating retinal cells with vegetable oils induces biochemical and biophysical changes in the cell membrane, which may have a beneficial effect in preventing or slowing the development of retinopathy.

     "Membrane fluidity, which refers to the viscosity of the lipid bi-layer of a cell membrane, is a marker of the cell function," explained Prof. A. Khalil, professor at the Université de Sherbrooke and principal investigator of the study.
     "A decrease of membrane fluidity can affect the rotation and diffusion of proteins and other bio-molecules within the membrane, thereby affecting the functions of these molecules. Whereas, an increase in membrane fluidity makes for a more flexible membrane and facilitates the transmission of light through the eye."

The researchers discovered that vegetable oil fatty acids incorporate in retina cells and increase the plasma membrane fluidity. They concluded that a diet low in trans-unsaturated fats and rich in omega-3 fatty acids and olive oil may reduce the risk of retinopathy.

In addition, the research suggests that replacing the neutral oil used in eye drops with oil that possesses valuable biological properties for the eye could also contribute to the prevention of retina diseases.