News Analysis: Will Israel launch "Cast Lead II" on Gaza?

Special Report: Palestine-IsraelConflicts

by Saud Abu Ramadan

GAZA, March 7 (Chinese media) -- Since the end of the "Cast Lead" operation, a 22-day Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip, violence between Israel and minor Gaza militant groups, mainly radical Islamic Jihad (Holy War), has escalated.

With the increase of violence, in which dozens of rockets have been fired from Gaza at southern Israeli, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had threatened to carry out another quick large-scale operation against Gaza rockets fire.

Gaza observers and ordinary residents expressed deep concerns and fear. They began to ask the question "Under such crucial circumstances, will Israel this time carry out another large-scale operation against the Gaza Strip and what will be the goals of this war?"

Ahmed Odwan, a political observer based in Gaza, said he does not believe that Israel would take the risk again, unless "Hamas movement, which hasn't fired rockets at Israel since Jan. 18, gets involved and more intensive rockets attacks are carried out against Israel."

The recent offensive with the claimed aim of stopping Gaza rocket fire against southern Israel killed over 1,300 Palestinians and 11 Israelis. Israeli warplanes, naval vessels and tanks destroyed thousands of houses, governmental and security buildings as well as infrastructure in the Hamas-controlled Gaza.

"Most of those killed were not militants. They were civilians. Israel's image was badly damaged before the international community after it waged the war against Gaza, and I don't think Israel would do it again," said Odwan.

Hamas spokesman in Gaza Fawzi Barhoum has described the Israeli offensive in Gaza as "a great failure," adding that his movement warned Israel of carrying out another war against the Palestinians saying "this time Israeli would be faced by tougher resistance."

The offensive was put to an end on Jan. 18 as both Israel and Hamas declared unilateral ceasefires. Hamas' move to declare a ceasefire was aimed to pave the way for the Egyptian efforts to reach a long-term truce with Israel.

However, Israel warned if rocket attacks continued, it would hit back toughly.

The Israeli security cabinet, headed by Olmert, has officially decided that there will be no truce with Hamas, until the radical movement frees Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured in the summer of 2006 by Hamas-led Palestinian groups.

Since the end of the Israeli military onslaught, a minor group called the Brigades of Hezbollah in Palestine continued firing rockets at Israel. The group has been affiliated to pro-Iran Islamic Jihad, but it decided to act independently in the wake of the offensive.

After the large-scale offensive, the Israeli army carried out a series of airstrikes targeting militants. Israel has not only targeted the members of this small group, but also senior Islamic Jihad militants and killed four of them.

Saraya al-Quds, Islamic Jihad's armed wing, fired around 20 rockets in revenge for the killing of five of its militants.

A senior Israeli army official also revealed that Israel would carry out a quick military operation against rockets firing from Gaza.

The Israeli threat came as there are only 10 days left for right-wing Likud chairman, Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu to form a government.

"The aim of carrying out another war if it happens soon will be like throwing a ball of fire by the current government of Olmert at the new government of Netanyahu," said Khader Abu Ghalioun, a Palestinian academic from Gaza.

He expected that the Israeli army would carry out a military operation in Gaza a day or two before Netanyahu takes office and hand over a boiling situation to the government of Netanyahu.

"There is another reason for carrying out another war on Gaza. That is to thwart any success of the internal Palestinian reconciliation talks that will resume in Cairo on March 10," said Abu Ghalioun.

He said "the best thing is to wait and see what will happen during the coming crucial three weeks," adding "all depends on what the Israeli cabinet decides in its meeting on Sunday."

Chicken carcass confirmed positive for H5N1 virus in Hong Kong

HONG KONG, March 12 (Chinese media) -- A chicken carcass found in Hong Kong's Tung

Ping Chau was confirmed to be H5N1 positive after a series of laboratory tests,

the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department of Hong Kong (AFCD) said

Thursday.

A spokesman of AFCD said that the carcass was found floating in the sea off

Kang Lau Shek, Tung Ping Chau, on March 2. It was highly decomposed when found

and required a series of confirmatory tests for avian influenza. Test results

available on Thursday confirmed that the dead bird was H5N1 positive.

AFCD announced on March 6 that a chicken carcass found at the same location

was confirmed to be H5N1 positive. No more poultry carcass was discovered there

since March 2.

The spokesman said there were no poultry farms within three kilometers of

where the dead bird was found. No unauthorized keeping of poultry has been

observed during inspections.

Low-salt intake reduces heart-related deaths

BEIJING, March 13 (Chinese medianet) -- A very modest reductionin salt intake by one gram a day could bring downthe number of heart-related deaths by 200,000 over a decade,according to a new study.

The study by the American Heart Association also saidthere would be 250,000 fewer new cases of heart disease if Americans used reduced daily salt intake in the next ten years.

Study researcher Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of California, San Franciscosaid, "A very modest decrease in the amount of salt -- hardly detectable in the taste of food -- can have dramatic health benefits for the U.S.”

“We found that everyone in the U.S. would benefit, but the benefits would be particularly great for African-Americans, who are more likely to have high blood pressure and whose blood pressure is more likely to be sensitive to salt," she said.

"In the last three decades salt consumption has jumped by 50 percent in the last three decades. Currently Americans consume 9 grams to 12 grams of salt a day, or 3,600 to 4,800 milligrams of sodium, with a majority coming from processed foods. Many health organizations recommend only 5 grams to 6 grams a day, which is 2,000 to 2,400 milligrams of sodium, which puts current consumption way over that limit," according to Bibbins-Domingo.

The researchers used a computer simulation called the Coronary Heart Disease Policy Model to estimate the impact of reducing salt by 0 grams to 6 grams on heart disease and deaths from heart disease for the study.

(Agencies)

Test finds carcinogens in U.S. baby bath products

BEIJING, March 13 (Chinese medianet) -- A lot of children's

bath products in U.S. contain chemicals that may belinked to cancer and

skin allergies, said a report releasedby Analytical Sciences Thursday.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics said that 23 of 28

products tested contained formaldehyde, which is considered a probable

carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to Analytical

Sciences, who performed the tests.

Thirty-two of 48 products containing 1,4-dioxane, a

probable human carcinogen considered by the EPA, was a byproduct of a chemical

processing techniques used to make petroleum-based ingredients gentler to the

skin, and nearly two-thirds of products tested contained both

chemicalsreleased bythe campaign.

However, spokeswoman for Johnson Johnson, Iris

Grossman, said the company's products are safe, meeting or exceeding all

regulations.

Also,spokesman for the Personal Care Products

Council, said the study's results are old news.John Bailey,the council's chief

scientist said"Cosmetic and personal care product companies take their

commitment to safety and their responsibilities under the law very seriously and

work hard to earn and keep the trust of consumers and their

families.""Parents should be given complete and accurate information about

their products based on sound science rather than on incomplete and alarmist

reports."

Other scientists say the report raises important

safety concerns.

(Agencies)

Drugs not so effective for overeating heart patients

BEIJING, March 13 (Chinese medianet) -- Overeating and smoking among European heart patients reduce the effect of drugseven as theytake more medication than ever before to lower their blood pressure and cholesterol levels, says a new study.

Theyinterviewed more than 8,500 patients in eight countries. Patients were on average about 60 years old, and had a history of heart problems.

The experts found that more young patients are smoking, and more patients are fatter and diabetic compared with similar groups12 years ago.

"In terms of the lifestyles of patients with coronary disease, everything is moving in the wrong direction," said Dr. David Wood, one of the paper's authors and a professor of cardiovascular medicine at Imperial College in London.

Researchers also found that the numbers of patients taking drugs to lower their cholesterol was seven times higher in 2006-2007 than in 1995-1996. About 43 percent of patients still had high cholesterol.

And while more people now take medications to lower their blood pressure, Wood said that hadn't made any difference. "The response of physicians is just to give more and more drugs, but what we need is a comprehensive lifestyle program."

Experts said trends were similar in the United States.

(Agencies)

Spanish hospital successfully removes a kidney through umbilicus

MADRID, March 12 (Chinese media) -- A medical team from the

Spanish Hospital Clinico of Barcelona successfully removed a kidney through the

umbilicus of a 85-year-old patient with renal cancer, local press said Thursday

in the framework of the World Kidney Day.

The patient had the surgery on Feb. 17, and three

days later she was sent home with no symptoms, local media said.

The medical team headed by doctor Antonio Alcaraz,

chief of urology service, said this new technique has many advantages 每 it does

not leave scars, while recovering time will also be halved.

He said "the small cut made uses the natural folds of

the umbilicus scars to hide it".

There is no risk of hemorrhages in this procedure,

since not so many vascular parts lie in this area, and the pain is minimized,

Alcaraz added.

The operation is an important advance in laparoscopy

surgery --it discovers that the umbilicus orifice is a unique access to remove

affected organs such as prostate, uterus, ovaries and cysts.

Family meals good for teens

BEIJING, March 13 -- Parents wanting to instill good

eating habits in their children, particularly teenagers, should make sure they

eat meals together.

In one of the first long-term studies to look at the

benefits of family meals, researchers at the School of Public Health at the

University of Minnesota found that family meals have a big impact on adolescents

because they encourage healthy eating habits and good nutritional choices.

"These findings suggest that having regular family

meals during the transition from early to middle adolescence positively impacts

the development of healthful behaviors for youth," said Teri L.

Burgess-Champoux, who worked on the study.

"The importance of incorporating shared mealtime

experiences on a consistent basis during this key developmental period should be

emphasized to parents, healthcare providers and educators."

The researchers examined data from Project EAT, a

study that looked at which socioeconomic, personal and behavioral factors affect

the eating habits of nearly 400 children.

The students completed questionnaires when they were

12 to 13 years old and another about five years later.

During the early teen years, 60 percent of the

children had regular meals with their family, compared to 30 percent during

later adolescence.

Children who ate five or more meals a week together

as a family in both early and middle adolescence ate healthier meals with plenty

of vegetables and foods rich in calcium, fiber and minerals five years later.

Although eating regular family meals was linked with

better eating, overall an adequate diet was not achieved for the entire study

sample, the researchers said. The findings were published in the Journal of

Nutrition Education and Behavior.

(Source: China Daily/Agencies)

Israeli sues Herbalife for destroying liver health

JERUSALEM, March 12 (Chinese media) -- An Israeli woman

charged against Herbalife International and its Israeli affiliate, Herbalife

Israel, for its products causing her chronic liver disease, local media reported

Thursday.

The 54-year-old Mali Nir claimed that products

marketed by the California-based nutritional-supplements and weight-control

company and its Israel affiliate destroyed her health and caused the risk of

future liver failure necessitating a transplant, local daily Ha' aretz said on

its website.

Nir submitted the lawsuit to district court and

demanded a compensation of 2.5 million shekels (approximately 590,000 U.S.

dollars) from Herbalife.

Nir told Ha'aretz that she began taking Herbalife

supplements in 1998 and even signed on as a Herbalife distributor. In 2001, she

discovered a serious liver damage after she began to experience fatigue and

weakness.

Her liver function reportedly returned to normal when

she stopped taking the supplements, but with indications of cirrhosis of the

liver, along with problems that included pain, chronic fatigue, weakness and

insomnia.

A medical opinion from Israeli Hadassah Hospital

internist Dr. Mayer Brezis was attached to the lawsuit, stating that research

literature from the 1990s reported the risk of liver damage from herbal

products, and that there was a high probability that the Herbalife products

caused Nir's liver problems.

Israeli researchers documented 12 cases of severe

liver damage similar to Nir's in patients who used Herbalife products like the

ones she took, according to the suit.

Herbalife Israel said in a response that the company

had not yet received the lawsuit.

HK investigating new case of renal stone found in child

HONG KONG, March 13 (Chinese media) -- The Center for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health of Hong Kong is investigating a case of renal stone suspected of being related to the consumption of melamine tainted milk products, the CHP said Friday.

The case was reported by the Hospital Authority of Hong Kong. It is the 15th case of its kind reported to the CHP.

A CHP spokesman said that the case involved a six-year-old girl living in Kwun Tong.

It was reported that the girl had a history of consuming milk adulterated with melamine. She was said to have on and off difficulty and pain on urination.

Her parents took her to United Christian Hospital for assessment on Feb. 9. She was admitted to Princess Margaret Hospital on Feb. 23 and was discharged on March 3 in stable condition. A renal stone was found in her left kidney.

MOH launches nationwide investigation into new kidney ailments
BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Chinese media) -- China's Ministry of Health (MOH) is conducting a nationwide investigation into a new case in which dozens of infants have reportedly fallen ill after taking Dumex milk food, China Daily reported Thursday.

The country's health experts are trying to find out the epidemiological reason behind the increasing number of kidney stone cases among the children. Full story

Hong Kong urges public to prevent HFMD following an outbreak

HONG KONG, March 12 (Chinese media) -- The Center for Health Protection (CHP) of the Hong Kong's Department of Health Thursday called on people to maintain strict personal and environmental hygiene to prevent Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) following an outbreak of the disease involving 20 students.

The affected children of the kindergarten in Tai Po, Hong Kong, aged between 2 and 5 years, came from four different classes. They developed fever, oral ulcers and rash over hands or feet starting from Feb. 22.

The children sought medical consultation and no hospitalization was required. All children are in stable condition.

A CHP spokesman said CHP staff had paid site visits to the school and provided health advice to the management.

UNICEF: China faces regional gaps in maternal and child health

BEIJING, March 12 (Chinese media) -- United Nations

Children's Fund (UNICEF) issued the State of the World's Children 2009 Report

(Chinese edition) in Beijing Thursday that showed a large disparity between

coastal and urban areas and remote rural areas in the category of maternal and

infant health.

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) issued the State of the World's Children 2009 Report (Chinese edition) in Beijing Thursday that showed a large disparity between coastal and urban areas and remote rural areas in the category of maternal and infant health. (Chinese media/Li Mingfang)
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According to statistics in the report, almost 1.6

times as many mothers die during childbirth in rural areas as in urban centers.

Infant and child mortality is almost 2.7 times higher in the western than

eastern regions, 2.4 times higher in rural than urban areas, and even 5 times

higher in the poorest rural counties than in large cities.

"While China has made great progress in maternal and

child health in recent years, further gains can be made in reducing maternal and

newborn mortality in China," said Dr. Yin Yin Nwe, UNICEF Representative to

China.

Maternal and child death rates in China are at an

intermediate level by global standards, still far higher than the rates in

developed countries and also higher than some countries less economically

developed than China, such as Vietnam. According to the report, around 7,000

women die in childbirth each year in China, down 59 percent from 1990 levels,

but still representing 1.3 percent of the world's maternal deaths. An estimated

number of children dying before their fifth birthday in 2007 is 382,000, 60

percent of whom died in the first four weeks of life mainly because of asphyxia

(due to lack of oxygen before delivery), low birth weight and infection.

"Interventions for avoiding death of many mothers and

infants are actually very simple," said Dr. Hans Anders Troedsson, World Health

Organization China Representative, "such as periodical health checks, skillful

delivery, and the very effective one, breast feeding."

"Last year's milk powder scandal in China told us the

importance of breast feeding and the risk of feeding infants with formula milk,"

said Troedsson.

Since the 1990s, medical insurance reform, big input

in public health facilities, and a series of maternal and infant healthcare laws

have largely improved the health of Chinese mothers and children, said Zhang

Deying, inspector with the Department of Maternal and Child Health Care and

Community Health, Ministry of Health.

"The rate of childbirth in hospitals increased from

51 percent to 91.7 percent in 2007 over the past 20 years," said Zhang.

Zhang noted that the detailed plans for China's

upcoming medical reform will specify the methods of providing equal service to

women and children across China. The methods include giving children under three

systematic health examinations, enhancing the control of HIV from mother to

children, and providing pregnant women with free folic acid, a nutrition that

can prevent neurological defects.

Chinese mainland reports 838 infectious disease fatalities in February

BEIJING, March 11 (Chinese media) -- China had 838 deaths from infectious diseases in the mainland in February, the Ministry of Health said Tuesday.

It said there were 326,145 cases of Class B infectious diseases, with 827 deaths. Tuberculosis, hepatitis B, syphilis, hepatitis C and diarrhea were the top five killers, accounting for more than 90 percent of the reported cases, according to the ministry.

No cases of SARS, polio, bird flu or diphtheria were reported.

Of the 58,211 cases of Class C infectious diseases, 11 were fatal.

Plague and cholera are categorized as Class A infectious diseases, the most serious category, under China's Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases.

Class B diseases include 25 ailments such as viral hepatitis and Class C includes 10 diseases, such as influenza.

Chinese pharmaceutical firm punished for making flawed rabies vaccine

BEIJING, March 11 (Chinese media) -- China's drug watchdog has revoked the production license of a pharmaceutical company that produced flawed rabies vaccines and banned the firm's principals from any involvement in the industry for 10 years.

The State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) also annul the approval certificate for the vaccine produced for human use by the Dalian Jingang-Andi Bio-products Co. Ltd.

An SFDA official told Chinese media Wednesday that general manager Wang Quanfeng and deputy general manager Luo Huosheng had been found responsible for the faulty vaccines, according to an investigation by the government of Liaoning Province, where the company is based.

However, officials were still investigating how many others could be culpable.

Police detained Wang Quanfeng, Luo Huosheng and Yu Jingqing, a purchasing agent, on Feb. 7 after the company was found to have deliberately added nucleic acid in the production of the vaccine from February to June last year.

Nucleic acid acts as an adjuvant, or a substance used to enhance the effectiveness of anti-viral drugs. However, China has yet to approve it for use in rabies vaccine as it has to undergo clinical trials before it could be used on humans.

The company is said to have added the acid to lower production costs.

According to the SFDA, of the 360,200 doses produced and sold by the company last year, 326,400 had been recalled as of Feb. 22,and most of the rest might already be used.

No problems related to the company's vaccines had been reported so far.

The SFDA said in a statement on its website that the administration was closely monitoring any vaccine-related illness and cooperating with the health authorities to reduce the harm.

China blacklists 25 websites for selling fake pharmaceuticals

BEIJING, March 11 (Chinese media) -- China's drug safety watchdog on Wednesday blacklisted 25 websites for selling fake medicines.

Consumers were warned against buying drugs from organizations including the International Cardiovascular Disease Research Academy (www.bayer120.com.cn) and the Diabetes Center of the China International Biological Medicine Institute (www.ydjht.com).

Drugs sold on those sites claimed to be able to cure high blood pressure, skin diseases, diabetes and other chronic diseases.

SFDA spokeswoman Yan Jiangying said the counterfeit drugs jeopardized public safety, and vowed to continue the crackdown after the Wednesday announcement, which was this year's first warning.

Yan said the sites had been reported to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which said it was investigating. They could be shut down.

Yan said fake drug websites were rampant, and urged consumers to buy drugs only from websites licensed by the administration for online pharmaceutical business.

The sites were still accessible on Wednesday morning.

A man who identified himself by the surname Yang, and who claimed to be a doctor, answered a call on the telephone number stated on www.bayer120.com.cn, and said he had received no notice of the website's closure.

A full list of the 25 blacklisted websites is available on the administration's website (www.sfda.gov.cn), which also has a list of the 11 websites in China licensed to sell over-the-counter (OTC) drugs online.

No growth of rhizopus found in Europharm drugs, says HK Health Department

HONG KONG, March 10 (Chinese media) -- Initial laboratory analysis of samples of

pharmaceutical products by Europharm had indicated no growth of rhizpous, said a

spokesman for the Hong Kong Department of Health on Tuesday.

The spokesman said that initial laboratory analysis of samples of all 41

pharmaceutical products (not including the recalled allopurinol) which were

supplied to the Hospital Authority by Europharm had indicated no growth of

rhizpous so far in the products.

Laboratory tests were on going and the results were expected to be

available later this week, said the spokesman.

Allopurinol is used primarily to treat hyperuricemia, an excess of uric

acid in blood plasma, known commonly as gout. A recent University of Hong Kong

study found the drugs produced by Europharm Laboratories has been contaminated.

U.S. health system to be burdened by aging baby boomers

LOS ANGELES, March 13 (Chinese media) -- More aging boomers are suffering from health problems, putting a heavy burden on the U.S. health system, a new study available here on Friday showed.

Aging baby boomers, who are being hospitalized for heart attacks now than people their age were a generation ago, may swamp cardiac care wards across the nation, according to the study by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC).

Baby boomers are not in good shape, even when compared with their counterparts 10 or 20 years ago, warned the study that was presented Thursday to the ongoing American Heart Association conference in Palm Harbor, Florida.

"The first baby boomers will begin turning 65 in a year-and-a-half, making the aging of this group an important public health issue," said Hylan Shoob, lead author of the study.

The 80 million baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 now constitute a third of the U.S. population, raising the specter of more disease and more costs for the health-care system.

Born into relative affluence and peace after World War II, "this baby boomer population represents a huge volume of the population," said Dr. Carl J. Lavie, medical director of cardiac rehabilitation at the Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute in New Orleans.

"In addition, unlike their parents, this population has largely enjoyed the 'good life,' with a lot of surpluses that have allowed them to avoid high amounts of physical work in their workplaces and large quantities of good-tasting, high-caloric, high-fat, high-processed, sugary foods."

The combination, Lavie said, has led to more "diabesity" -- or obesity plus diabetes, both strong risk factors for heart disease.

"There is no question that the medical costs that will be required to treat these man-made diseases will place a major burden on our already troubled health-care systems."

"I can confidently predict that the risk (for heart disease and related conditions) is increasing," Lavie said. "There was a study in the past year that showed that younger people are now having heart attacks and this is directly related with premature obesity."

Malaria immunity trigger found for multiple mosquito species

WASHINGTON, March 13 (Chinese media) -- Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have for the first time identified a molecular pathway that triggers an immune response inmultiple mosquito species capable of stopping the development of Plasmodium falciparum -- the parasite that causes malaria in humans.

By silencing the gene, caspar, the researchers were able to block the development of the malaria-causing parasite in Anophelesgambiae, A. stephensi and A. albimanus mosquitoes -- three mosquito species that spread malaria in Africa, Asia and the Americas. Their findings were published Friday in PLoS Pathogens.

According to the study, the transcription factor Rel 2 is a keymolecule involved in regulating several potent anti-Plasmodium defense genes that attack the parasite in the mosquito gut. Rel 2 is activated by the immune deficiency pathway which, in turn, is negatively regulated by the caspar gene; when caspar is silenced the Rel 2 is activated. The researchers found that silencing of the caspar gene through the manipulation of gene expression resulted in mosquitoes that successfully blocked the development of Plasmodium falciparum in the gut tissue. Silencing the gene known as cactus, which is part of another pathway called Toll, was shown to have similar effect in controlling the development of Plasmodium berghei, which causes malaria in rodents.

"When a mosquito is feeding on malaria-infected blood, the parasite will be recognized by the mosquito's immune system through receptors that then start the immune response. In the wild,this response is believed to occur too late to mount an efficient immune defense that would kill all parasites. At least a few Plasmodia will successfully develop inside the mosquito and enable transmission of malaria," explained George Dimopoulos, senior author of the study and associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute. "In the lab we activated this immune response in advance of infection, giving the mosquito a head start in defeating the invading parasite."

Dimopoulos and his colleagues also found that Rel 2 activation did not affect the survival and egg laying fitness of the modified mosquitoes.

"This came as a pleasant surprise since it essentially means that we one day could spread this trait in natural mosquito populations using genetic modification. Furthermore, by activating Rel 2, the genetically modified mosquitoes will attack the malariaparasite with several independent immune factors, and this will make it very difficult for Plasmodium to develop resistance," said Dimopoulos.

Malaria kills over 880,000 people worldwide each year, according to the World Health Organization. Malaria is especially a serious problem in Africa, where one in every five childhood deaths is due to the effects of the disease.

Philippines puts more hog farms under surveillance for Ebola-Reston virus

MANILA, March 13 (Chinese media) -- A Philippine animal industry official said on Friday that thousands of backyard hog farms were under surveillance in an attempt to protect the livestock sector from the Ebola-Reston virus, which was found to linger in the country's swine population.

Philippine Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) Director Davinio Catbagan said the surveillance work and testing will involve some 30,000 pigs in backyard piggeries in parts of the major Luzon island, home to at least three million pigs.

Last week, Philippine agriculture authorities culled 6,000 hogs in a farm in Bulacan province north of the national capital Metro Manila.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said that they decided to cull these pigs as test results done by various local and international agencies reveal that viral transmission continues to exist in this farm. Blood samples collected from humans and pigs in this farm tested positive for Ebola-Reston virus, the strain that has yet to cause serious diseases to the human.

The World Health Organization classified the incident as "posing low public health risk" in its assessment earlier this year.

Catbagan said Secretary Yap will ask the U.S. government to ensure the supply of the test kits for the sampling of the 30,000 pigs covered by the surveillance work.

A joint mission comprised of Food and Agricultural Organization, the World Animal Health Organization, the World Health Organization and their local counterparts came to the Philippines after the world's first case of Ebola-Reston on hogs was detected last October here.

Over 3,000 dengue fever cases reported in New Caledonia

WELLINGTON, March 13 (Chinese media) -- There have been over 3,000 dengue fever

cases reported in French territory of New Caledonia, including two fatalities,

since the beginning of this year, according to latest official figures released

on Friday.

New Caledonia's health and social department, in its latest bulletin,

confirmed 3,172 cases since Jan. 1, the Oceania Flash reported.

The figures also showed a spiraling trend, month by month, with482 new

cases for January, 1,557 cases in February and 1,133 new cases less than two

weeks into March.

Earlier this week, the French government announced special funds to step up

the fight against the intense epidemic.

Medical authorities at the main Gaston Bourret territorial hospital in

Noumea have also expressed concern that their outpatients and emergency services

were now overstretched due to patients seeking medical advice for dengue-like

symptoms.

Medical authorities were now calling on the local government to act swiftly

and set up a special dengue monitoring and outpatient unit, so as to relieve the

burden on the general services.

Bangladesh to establish 18,000 community clinics for extreme poor

DHAKA, March 11 (Chinese media) -- Bangladesh will establish nearly 18,000

Community Health Clinics across the country to offer free medical services to

extreme poor, Bangladesh's health secretary said.

Secretary of Bangladesh's Health and Family Welfare Ministry Shaikh Altaf

Ali told Chinese media on Wednesday, "We'll establish the community clinics under the

government hospitals located at the country's all 481 sub-districts."

"Some 9,000 health clinics will start operation by next couple of days at

the ready-made government structures across the country while the rest of the

clinics will be established gradually," he said.

Ali said the Ministry of Health decided to establish the clinics at rural

Bangladesh in line with instruction of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

He said there are government hospitals at all sub-districts but many people

even cannot afford to come to that medical centers due to poverty that's why we

are taking health clinics to near to their homes.

Ali said the government established the community clinics also to create

awareness among village people about health care as their ignorance is seemed as

cause of many diseases.

"We can reduce the risks of many diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, dengue

fever, tuberculosis and leprosy by educating people through the community

clinics," he said.

Ali said the country is going to formulate a time worthy health policy by

next three months which will help government to take short, medium and long term

projects to improve the country's health services for all particularly extreme

poor.

According to the United Nations Development Program's Millennium

Development Goals: Bangladesh Progress report in 2007, around 40 percent of the

country's 147 million people live below poverty line (1 U.S. dollar per capita

per day).

Peru registers 5,000 cases of dengue fever in past two months

LIMA, March 9 (Chinese media) -- Peru registered 5,000 cases of dengue fever

during January and February, which has become a public health problem, Health

Minister Oscar Ugarte said on Monday.

Ugarte told the press that 13,500 people were infected last year.

He announced the launching of a campaign against dengue designed to raise

public awareness of the importance of clearing stagnant water or hidden water

deposits where the Aedes egypti mosquito, a dengue carrier, breeds.

"We have an enormous responsibility to combat dengue because it is lethal

... a high social cost on human lives," Ugarte said.

He said combating dengue was easy. Daily actions were needed to avoid water

stagnating in topless containers, and replacing water in flowerpots with humid

sand both at home and at public places.

Ugarte also called on Peruvians to clear roofs or yards of tires, empty

bottles or boxes where rainwater can accumulate.

"It is a national campaign. If we do not take measures now, we will have an

epidemic," he said.

Popcorn, soda, two tickets and a marriage proposal

BEIJING, March 12 -- A man asked his girlfriend to marry him by putting his proposal on the silver screen inside a movie theater in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province.

Xie invited his girlfriend Tu to the cinema when he surprised her by proclaiming his love for her on the screen before the movie began.

Xie then stood up in front of her with a bunch of flowers in his hands, and asked her to marry him. He also gave her a diamond ring.

The girl was excited and she consented immediately as the audience applauded.

(Source: China Daily)

Man survives tumbling over Niagara Falls in Canada

OTTAWA, March 11 (Chinese media) -- A man survived on Wednesday after plunging over the world famous Niagara Falls and floating downstream in frigid waters for 45 minutes, Canadian Police said.

Police believe this is only the third time a person has survived an unaided and intentional plunge over the massive cataract, Chief of the Niagara Parks Police Douglas Kane told Canadian Television. Fatalities are much more common, he said.

The drama began at 2:11 p.m. local time (1811 GMT) when a witness saw a man, believed to be in his mid-30s, crawl over a wall and enter the rapids of the Niagara River. He went over the world-famous Horseshoe Falls, about a 56-meter drop, and ended up in the river below.

Rescue teams involving several Niagara emergency agencies attempted to extract the man, but he swam away further into the river and grabbed onto a log.

A private helicopter used the air washing down from its main rotor to push the man closer to shore. A firefighter went into the river and extracted the man, Kane said.

The man was semi-conscious under the effects of hypothermia and a head injury.

Police noted he willingly jumped in, and refused rescue attempts. He is now being treated in a Niagara Falls, Ontario hospital, and police said an investigation was under way.

At least 17 people, not including suicide attempts, are known to have gone over the falls.

Death toll of hepatitis B outbreak in India reaches 60

NEW DELHI, March 13 (Chinese media) -- The toll of what is one of India's worst liver disease outbreaks has attained 60 in the mainly man-caused hapatitis-B outbreak in the western Indian state of Gujarat, said a senior health official Friday.

"With the death of one person on Wednesday, the total death toll in the hepatitis-hit Sabarkantha district of north Gujarat reached 60 while the total number of persons affected by the liver disease has reached 241," said the health official in New Delhi.

Meanwhile, at least 20 doctors have been arrested for using or buying reused syringes since the liver disease outbreak broke out last month. Two doctors, a father and son believed to have been responsible for transmitting at least a dozen cases of hepatitis using the same syringe on multiple patients, have been charged with culpable homicide, according to police.

Hepatitis B can lead to liver damage and cancer. It is spread through infected blood, semen and from using contaminated needles. It can be prevented through vaccination.

While the scale of the racket has caused a stir, the problem is a well known one in the country.

A recent survey by the private Indian Clinical Epidemiology Network estimated that more than 30 percent of needles used in India were reused and recycling needles has become a lucrative business.

Action plan adopted in Vienna to require further reduction of drug production, abuse

VIENNA, March 12 (Chinese media) -- The 52nd Session of Commission on Narcotic

Drugs adopted a Plan of Action at the conclusion of its two-day high-level

segment on Thursday, requiring significant reduction of drug production and

abuse in the next decade.

The 34-page Plan of Action appeals also that the social and public

sanitation institutions should be strengthened so as to more effectively combat

drug and related crimes.

In view of the development of the current world drug problem and the

efforts achieved worldwide in drug control in the past decade, intense debate

between different countries on issues including whether another Plan of Action

on drug control should be adopted and how to plan future goals of drug control

had already begun before the meeting.

At this high-level segment, the delegates widely believed that since the

Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on drugs adopted the

Political Declaration in 1998, the international community has made great

efforts, but the worldwide drug problem is still spreading. While the growth of

traditional drug production and abuse of has been arrested, new types of drugs

are quickly flooding.

In addition, as admitted by Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, although the drug situation has been

improved in the United States, the European Union and Oceania countries in the

past decade, it is sharply deteriorating in some countries and regions in South

Asia, Southeast Asia and West Africa.

A report released by the European Commission before the meeting in Vienna

showed that in the past decade, the international community has only made "minor

achievements" in combating drug abuse and trade, and the overall drug control

situation worldwide has made almost no improvement.

Many countries believe that the drug problem is still posing great threat

to the international community, and the international drug control tasks are

lasting and tough, requiring the international community to strengthen

cooperation and coordination.

Smoggy cities increase risk in respiratory deaths

BEIJING, March 12 (Chinese medianet) -- A new researchfound that people living in cities exposed tounhealthy levels of ground-level ozone -- the major component of smog -- are 30 percent more likely to die from respiratory diseases than those living in least smoggy areas.

The nationwide study of 450,000 adults published in the New England Journal of Medicine is the first to document the long-term impact of ozone on human health.

It's estimated that 100 million Americans-- or 1 in 3-- live in cities with unhealthy levels of ground-level ozone. Ground-level ozone forms when tailpipe emissions combine with sun and hot air. Smog season runs from April through October in Southern California, and is slightly shorter in cooler regions of the country, such as the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states.

The new study provides the first evidence that long-term, chronic exposure to elevated levels of ozone significantly increases the risk of death from respiratory diseases.

"The study points to the fact that there may be a three-fold increased risk of dying from respiratory disease in the smoggiest areas of the country," says Dr. John Balmes of the University of California, San Francisco.

The adults in the study, originally recruited by the American Cancer Society, were tracked for 18 years. During this time, about 118,000 people died. Michael Jerrett, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley and his colleagues then teased out the causes of death. They documented that people living in the smoggiest cities were more likely to have died from lung diseases such as chronic bronchitis, emphysema and pneumonia.

Jerrett and his team controlled for 44 individual factors that may have influenced the results, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, occupational exposures, unemployment status and income. But even after that, he says, "We still see a very strong and clear signal that people in high-ozone areas are at higher risk of death."

(Agencies)

A good sleep may keep diabetes away: Study

BEIJING, March 12 (Chinese medianet) --People who don't get a good night's sleep ofupto or over six hoursare morelikely to develop diabetes, according to U. S. researchers.

They said Wednesday people in a study who slept less than six hours were 4.5 times more likely to develop abnormal blood sugar readings in six years as againstthose who slept longer.

"This study supports growing evidence of the association of inadequate sleep with adverse health issues," said Lisa Rafalson of the University at Buffalo in New York, who presented her findings at the Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention in Palm Harbor, Florida.

Several studies have shown negative health consequences related to getting too little sleep. In children, studies showed it raises the risk of obesity, depression and high blood pressure. In older adults, it increases the risk of falls. And in the middle aged, it raises the risk of infections, heart disease, stroke and cancer.

Adults typically need between seven and nine hours of nightly sleep, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Rafalson and colleagues wanted to see if lack of sleep might be raising the risk for type 2 diabetes, the kind that is being driven by rising rates of obesity and sedentary lifestyles. It develops when the body makes too much insulin and does not efficiently use the insulin it makes, a condition known as insulin resistance.

The study, in which 1,455 people reported on their sleep habits, compared fasting glucose levels on people over a six-year period. The results were based on adjustments made for age, body mass index, glucose and insulin concentrations, heart rate, high blood pressure, family history of diabetes and symptoms of depression.

They identified 91 people whose blood sugar rose during the study period and compared them to 273 people whose glucose levels remained in the normal range.

They found the short sleepers were far more likely to develop impaired fasting glucose -- a condition that can lead to type 2 diabetes -- during the study period than those who slept six to eight hours.

(Agencies)

Sri Lanka records more Dengue Fever cases

COLOMBO, March 12 (Chinese media) -- More than 2,000 Sri Lankans have been caught

by Dengue Fever this year, representing a 15 percent increase comparing to the

same period of 2008, health experts said Thursday.

Officials from the Epidemic Unit of the Health Ministry told Chinese media that

2,229 people acquired Dengue from the beginning of this year to March 9 while 17

people died of the disease.

They said the death cases increased sharply this year as only 25 people

were killed by Dengue in the island in 2008.

The capital Colombo is a badly affected area with five people having died

of the epidemic so far this year.

According to medical officials, there are two peak seasons for the

spreading of the epidemic in Sri Lanka each year: one is from October to

December; another is form May to July.

The government has asked the public to clean the environment and destroy

all possible hatchery sites of mosquitoes which are the carriers of the Dengue

viruses.

Dengue (meaning "break bone") Fever is characterized by a sudden onset of

high fever, and may be accompanied by severe headache, pain behind the eyes,

severe joint pain, skin rash, nausea or vomiting, experts said.

Dengue viruses are mosquito-borne viruses that each year infect millions of

persons living in tropical and subtropical regions of the world.

Some infections, especially in children, progress to a life-threatening

disease known as Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever which can lead to death.

Int'l organization helps Vietnam in biosphere protection

HANOI, March 11 (Chinese media) -- Two international organizations from Australia and Germany have decided to provide 1.6 million euros (about 2 million U.S. dollars) to help Vietnam conserve a key biosphere spot in southern Kien Giang province, Vietnam News Agency reported on Wednesday.

AusAID, the Australian government's overseas aid program, and Germany Technical Cooperation Organization (GTZ) will provide financial as well as technical assistance to the project, said the agency.

The Kien Giang biosphere reserve was officially recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2006.

The reserve, covering 1.1 million hectares, includes the U Minh Thuong National Park, which is one of Vietnam's few remaining wetland forests.

The project, running until 2011, aims to enrich local forest resource, increase local residents' income, and improve the management capacity of rangers in this area.

Depression increases risk for heart diseases

BEIJING, March. 11 (Chinese medianet)-- A relatively

healthy woman with severe depression is at increased risk of heart

diseasethan already sickwoman, say U.S.

researchers.

Columbia University researchers Monday

reportedthat depression may lead to heart disease in the first place.The

scientists tracked 63,000 women from the long-running Nurses' Health Study

between 1992 and 2004. None had signs of heart disease when the study began, but

nearly 8 percent had evidence of serious depression.

The depressed women were more than twice as likely to

experience sudden cardiac death - death typically caused by an irregular

heartbeat, concluded the 12-year study, published Monday in the Journal of the

American College of Cardiology. They also had a smaller increased risk of death

from other forms of heart disease.

Sudden cardiac death seemed more closely linked with

antidepressant use than with the depression symptoms the women reported.

That might simply mean that women who used

antidepressants were, appropriately, the most seriously depressed, cautioned

lead researcher Dr. William Whang. But he said the finding merited more

research.

(Agencies)

Diarrhoea causes higher deaths among children: WHO

BEIJING, March 11 (Chinese medianet) -- Diarrhoea

among children accounts for20 percent of all child deaths, killing nearly two

million children each year even though treating the ailment is relatively simple

and "almost miraculous", the World Health Organization saidTuesday.

Research into childhood diarrhoea has declined since

the 1980s, keeping pace with dwindling funds for a disease that causes

relatively higher child deaths,the WHO said in a statement.

"Funds available for research into diarrhoea are much

lower than those devoted to other diseases that cause comparatively few deaths,"

it said.

The most immediate challenge is to ensure all

children suffering from diarrhoea can access a simple, 25-year-old treatment

consisting of zinc tablets and a mixture known as Oral Rehydration Salts or ORS,

said Dr. Olivier Fontaine, a WHO medical officer specializing in child health.

The WHO estimates some 50

million children have been saved thanks to the mixture, which costs only 30 US centsper

child.

"ORS is essentially a pinch of salt and a handful of

sugar mixed with clean water," Fontaine said.

"Having seen, first hand, the devastation that

childhood diarrhoea can cause and also the almost miraculous, life-saving power

of ORS and zinc, I certainly hope that we'll receive the support we need to come

up with answers to some of the key questions that remain," he said.

The international Red Cross also warned Tuesday that

diarrhoeal diseases, such as cholera, are on the rise and increasingly a major

cause of diseases and deaths throughout the world.

(Agencies)

Credit crunch causes more stress to employees

BEIJING, March 11 (Chinese medianet) -- Employees who are under constant threat of losing their jobs suffer a greater decline in mental health as compared with those who are laid off, according to a Britian researcher.

Brendan Burchell, a Cambridge sociologist, at a conference at the University of Cambridge presented his analysis based on various surveys conducted across Europe. The data suggest that employed people who feel insecure in their job display similar levels of anxiety and depression as those who are unemployed. But whereas a newly jobless person's mental health may "bottom out" after about six months, and then even begin to improve, the mental state of people who are perpetually worried about losing their job "just continues to deteriorate, getting worse and worse."

Burchell argues that policymakers and employers should prepare for the fallout from the stress and anxiety that the existing workforce is currently suffering. "From a societal perspective, we can expect worse things to come," he says. "Presently we are going through a 'shock' period." But in a year, Burchell says, the people who have had to endure the ongoing threat of being fired -- and deal with the frustration of not being able to plan for their future or feel in control of their life -- may begin to suffer severe symptoms of anxiety and depression, such as insomnia, substance abuse and lethargy.

Burchell's conclusions, which he presented at the conference "Credit Crunch: Gender Equality in Hard Times," have been drawn from his study of about 300 British workers as well as various European workforce studies and the British Household Survey of approximately 5,000 people, which has charted the effects of social and economic change on mental health since 1991. Both Burchell's study and the British Household Survey used a 12-item questionnaire -- called the GHQ 12 -- that is designed to measure symptoms of stress and anxiety with questions like "Have you recently been thinking of yourself as a worthless person?" and "Have you recently been able to concentrate on whatever you are doing?"

(Agencies)

Recession takes a greater toll on men's health

BEIJING, March 11 (Chinese medianet) -- The global economic

downturn is more likely to damage mental health of men than women, according to

British researchers.

In spite of more women than men losing their jobs in

Britain following recession, men who think they may be fired or made redundant

are more prone to become more stressed and depressed than women, a study by

Cambridge University showed.

As the economic slowdown wears on, the effects of job

insecurity will hit men harder than women as job insecurity threatens an

inherent sense of masculinity, damaging mental health, the study found.

"In part there is a macho issue about men being the

breadwinner," said Dr Brendan Burchell from the University of Cambridge's

sociology department, who compiled the study.

"Men, unlike women, have few positive ways of

defining themselves outside of the workplace between when they leave school and

when they retire."

He said that despite several decades of more equal

employment opportunities for men and women, men retain traditional beliefs that

their masculinity is threatened if their employment is threatened."

Analyzing data from 300 current British employees,

combined with a survey of thousands of people by the Economic and Social

Research Council charting the effects of social and economic change since 1991,

it found that when unemployed men move into insecure jobs, they showed no

improvement in psychological health.

For unemployed women, even finding an insecure job

helped to restore psychological health.

(Agencies)

Screening, blood test can spot early ovarian cancer

BEIJING, March 11 (Chinese medianet) -- British researchers found that using a blood test and an ultrasound scan together may detect ovarian cancer in its early and more curable stages, according to a study published in Tuesday's online edition of The Lancet Oncology.

The two-step detection method could become a new standard in the fight against this deadly and hard to spot malignancy, experts said.

"We have now demonstrated we can pick up the vast majority of women with ovarian cancer earlier than they would have otherwise been detected and before they have symptoms," said Dr. Ian Jacobs, director of the Institute for Women's Health at University College London, "and that a good proportion of those women have earlier stage disease than we would normally expect them to have."

Jacobs, who is also the director of the trial, Dr. Usha Menon, head of the Gynaecological Cancer Research Unit at the university, and their colleagues, enrolled more than 202,638 British post-menopausal women ages 50 to 74 who got one of three screening approaches from 2001 to 2005: both ultrasound and the CA 125 blood test annually, ultrasound alone or no screening.

The researchers found 90 percent of ovarian cancer cases using both steps and 75 percent cases using ultrasound alone each year. Most of these cases were in early stages (either stage I or stage II phases), which meant the cancer has not spread far and can sometimes be cured.

"The initial findings of this long-term study are encouraging, particularly because almost half of the ovarian cancers detected were at an early stage (stage I), when survival rates can be as high as 90 percent," Peter Reynolds of British Ovarian Cancer Action said.

According to the reports, ovarian cancer, which is usually asymptomatic in its early stages, strikes 21,650 women annually in the U.S., killing 15,520 a year; in Britain it affects about 7,000 women a year and kills more than 4,000.

(Agencies)

Pregnant women with migraines at higher vascular diseases

BEIJING, March 11 (Chinese medianet) -- Women who suffer

migraines during pregnancy are at a heightened risk of getting various stroke

and vascular diseases, said a U.S. population based case-control study on

Wednesday.

The findings, which were published in this week's

issue of BMJ, an international general medical journal, found that pregnant

women with migraines are 15 times more likely than other women to suffer a

stroke, twice as likely to have heart disease and three times more likely to

have blood clots and other vascular problems during pregnancy.

"Good prenatal care is essential. Women with

persistent and severe migraine during pregnancy should be aware of their risk

factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, history of

blood clots, heart disease and prior stroke," the study's lead investigator, Dr.

Cheryl Bushnell, a neurologist at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, said.

"There also seems to be a relationship between

migraines and preeclampsia, one of the most common and dangerous complications

of pregnancy," added Bushnell,

Bushnell and her colleagues analyzed data from 33,956

pregnant women diagnosed with migraine.

According to the study, migraine headache occurs in

up to 26 percent of women of childbearing age. The women 35 years and older are

more likely to have migraines during pregnancy. Women age 40 and older are 2.4

times more likely to have migraines than women younger than 20, and white women

are more likely to have them than women of any other race or ethnicity.

"Migraines, particularly those associated with an

aura or visual changes around the time of the headache, have been previously

linked to stroke and heart disease in women," Bushnell said. "This study further

validates the association between the two."

"Regardless of the cause," Bushnell added, "active

migraine during pregnancy should be viewed as a potential marker of vascular

disease."

(Agencies)

H5N1 bird flu virus found in wild duck in Germany

BRUSSELS, March 10 (Chinese media) -- The European Commission said on Tuesday that it has been informed of a confirmed case of highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu string in a wild duck shot during a hunt near Starnberg, in Bavaria, Germany.

Germany is not taking restrictive measures given the fact that the hunt took place in January, said the Commission, the executive body of the European Union (EU).

During the duck hunt at the lake of Starnberg, samples were taken from 35 ducks and 4 Canada geese in the frame of routine surveillance for bird flu and one of these ducks has produced a positive result.

This is the first wild bird case of this type of disease in the EU in 2009. The last bird flu case with wild bird was reported in February 2008 in a Canada goose by Britain, where 11 birds were found positive. The last outbreak in poultry of highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu in the EU was detected in October 2008 in Landkreis Gorlitz, Saxony, Germany.

Study: Eating fish makes kids more intelligent

STOCKHOLM, March 9 (Chinese media) -- Eating fish makes your

children smarter, according to a Swedish study published on Monday.

It found that 15-year-old boys who ate fish at least

once a week scored high in intelligence tests when they turned 18 than those who

it ate it less frequently.

"We found a clear link between frequent fish

consumption and higher scores when the teenagers ate fish at least once a week,"

said one of the researchers, Professor Kjell Toren from the Sahlgrenska Academy

at the University of Gothenburg.

On average, eating fish once a week can increase

combined, verbal and visuospatial intelligence scores by six percent, while

eating fish more than once a week increased them by 11 percent, the researchers

said.

The study, based on responses from nearly 4,000

Swedish teenagers and published in the March issue of Acta Paediatrica, thought

that omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in fish could be the key to improved

cognitive performance.

The researchers also planned to examine if the kind

of fish consumed makes any difference to the results.

Hand, foot, mouth disease cases expected to rise in Brunei

KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 (Chinese media) -- Cases of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) were expected to rise in the upcoming weeks in Brunei, according to a recent statement by the Brunei Health Ministry.

About 17 HFMD cases had been reported in the first week of this month, already exceeding the total 11 cases recorded in the country in January this year, the ministry said in the statement released last Saturday.

Since the beginning of this year, the total number of HFMD case reports has been gradually increasing in the country, it said.

The ministry reminded the public to observe self-hygiene, including washing hands properly with soap and water, especially before preparing food.

Grandparents are positive force for distressed kids

BEIJING, March. 9 (Chinese medianet) -- Grandparents play a

very crucial role in helping their grandchildren improve their social skills and

behavior at the time they face difficulties from single-parent,

divorced/separated or stepfamily households, according to a new study.

"Grandparents are a positive force for all families;

they play a significant role in families undergoing difficulties," according to

the study's lead author, Shalhevet Attar-Schwartz, of The Hebrew University of

Jerusalem.

She said in an American Psychological Association

news release, "they (grandparents) can reduce the negative influence of parents

separating and be a resource for children who are going through these family

changes."

In interviewing 11- to 16-year olds from England and Wales, Attar-Schwartz and her team found that the more conversations the youths had with a grandparent, including asking for advice or even money, the better they got along with their peers and the fewer problems they had, such as hyperactivity and disruptive behavior.

"This was found across all three family

structures," she said. "But adolescents in single-parent households and

stepfamilies benefited the most. The effect of their grandparents' involvement

was stronger compared to children from two biological parent families."

(Agencies)

U.S. scientists identify key protein in immune cells division

WASHINGTON, March 8 (Chinese media) -- U.S. researchers said

on Sunday that they had identified a key protein that is required for immune

cells called B lymphocytes to divide and replicate themselves.

The discovery of the role of the CD98hc protein may

help find new therapy targets for diseases such as multiple myeloma that are

caused by unchecked B cells growth.

Scientists have known for nearly 25 years that

CD98hc, common to all vertebrates, probably played a role in their adaptive

immune system, but it wasn't known how this protein functioned.

"This protein was used as a marker of activation

because it was found in low levels on resting lymphocytes," said first author

Joseph Cantor from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

"But when B or T lymphocytes were stimulated by

antigens - for instance, to protect the body against bacteria - levels of CD98hc

went up 20 fold."

The researchers generated a mouse model lacking the

CD98hc protein in B-lymphocytes. When vaccinated, these mice were unable to

mount a normal antibody response to the pathogen. This was the first clue to the

researchers of the protein's importance, Cantor said.

"In purifying B lymphocytes without the CD98hc

protein, we discovered that the lymphocytes couldn't divide rapidly," he said,

adding that this proved the protein was essential to expanding the number of

immune cells, a necessary step in the immune response.

The researchers speculated that by blocking the

CD98hc protein they could stop the unchecked growth of B lymphocyte cells that

can result in cancer or block misdirected B cell attacks that can cause certain

autoimmune diseases.

The CD98hc protein functions in cells by helping to

transmit integrin signals, as well as transporting amino acids - the building

blocks of proteins - into the cell. But the researchers didn't know which, if

either, of these functions was related to the protein's role in the rapid

division of immune cells.

By replacing normal CD98hc in B cells with a version

that lacked one or the other of these two functions, they discovered that the

integrin-binding domain of this protein is required, but the amino acid

transport function is dispensable for B cell proliferation.

"CD98hc interacts with certain integrin subunits to

prompt signaling events that control cell migration, survival and proliferation.

Our study shows that the rapid proliferation of B cells, necessary for the body

to fight infection, is aided by the CD98hc protein's support of integrin

signaling," Cantor said.

The study is published online on Sunday in advance of

print in the journal Nature Immunology.

Costa Rica registers 4,000 pregnancies of under 14-year-old in 10 years

SAN JOSE, March 8 (Chinese media) -- Costa Rica registered in the last 10 years

4,085 cases of pregnant women between 10 and 14 years old, according to

information given on Sunday by the Costa Rican National Institute of Statistics

and Census (INEC).

The statistics show a permanent increase in the number of pregnancies in

this age group of women which went from 454 cases in 2005 to 469 in 2006 and by

2007 there were 500 cases.

However the records on the number of minor pregnant show a clear difference

regarding the amount of men between 10 and 14 years who became father in the

last 10 years.

According to the INEC, between 1997 and 2007 there were only 22cases of

males between 10 and 14 years old who became fathers, in 2008 not one case was

registered.

Due to this situation, coordinator from the Costa Rican Social Sector Maria

Luisa Avila recognized that the sexual education offered in the country is not

enough.

Macao's school collective flu outbreak confirmed to be H1N1

MACAO, March 10 (Chinese media) -- The collective flu outbreak which took place at

three local schools were caused by the H1N1 Influenza Virus, according to the

information released on Tuesday by the Disease Prevention and Control Centre

(CDC) of Macao's Health Bureau.

The CDC said that there were no new flu cases reported in the three local

schools, including two middle schools and a primary school, and all of the sick

students have recovered and resumed having classes, which demonstrated that the

epidemic has ceased to spread.

But to take better precautions against the flu outbreak, the CDC has

required the above-mentioned schools to step up the cleaning and disinfecting of

the classrooms and strictly implement the regulations that students suffering

from illness take sick leave.

According to the CDC information, updated on a daily basis, there were no

new collective flu cases reported in all local schools by Tuesday.

Donation made to help AIDS orphans in China go back to school

BEIJING, March 9 (Chinese media) -- A Chinese charity organization Monday pledged a donation of some 3.57 million yuan (522,000 U.S. dollars) to help about 180 AIDS orphans go back to school.

The Beijing-based China Red Ribbon Foundation said the money would be used to help a primary school in Longchuan County in southwestern province of Yunnan to build a three-story building with 15 classrooms.

It would be able to accommodate at least 180 students who were forced to discontinue their education due to lack of support after they were orphaned by the AIDS virus, the foundation said in a statement on its Web site.

The organization, launched by private entrepreneurs, signed an agreement on the donation with Longchuan county government here on Monday.

The border county neighboring Myanmar has been identified as one of most seriously affected areas by HIV/AIDS in China, largely due to drug abuse.

It is estimated that 845 children of school age have been orphaned by AIDS in Longchuan, where there are 31,300 students in total. Although many orphans have been enrolled to study, many remain as drop-outs, said the foundation.

The organization could not be reached immediately to provide more information about HIV/AIDS epidemic in Longchuan.

A report released by the Ministry of Health last month said AIDS had become the country's top killer among infectious diseases, claiming 6,897 lives from January to September in 2008.

The MOH confirmed 264,302 accumulated cases of HIV/AIDS by September last year, since the country's first AIDS-related death was reported in 1985. Of those infected, 34,864 have died.

This has aroused concerns about the fate of children whose parents die from AIDS. According to an estimation made in 2005 by the China Work Committee on Care for Children, the number of AIDS orphans in China could reach to 260,000 by 2010, from some 76,000 in 2005.

No growth of rhizopus found in Europharm drugs

HONG KONG, March 10 (Chinese media) -- Initial laboratory

analysis of samples of pharmaceutical products by Europharm had indicated no

growth of rhizpous, said a spokesman for the Hong Kong Department of Health on

Tuesday.

The spokesman said that initial laboratory analysis

of samples of all 41 pharmaceutical products (not including the recalled

allopurinol) which were supplied to the Hospital Authority by Europharm had

indicated no growth of rhizpous so far in the products.

Laboratory tests were on going and the results were

expected to be available later this week, said the spokesman.

Allopurinol is used primarily to treat hyperuricemia,

an excess of uric acid in blood plasma, known commonly as gout. A recent

University of Hong Kong study found the drugs produced by Europharm Laboratories

has been contaminated.

Ministry: China to seek return of looted relics through "all necessary means"

Liu Yuzhu, director of the Cultural

Industry Department under Chinese Ministry of Culture, answers questions

during a group interview on "Cultural Market and Development of Cultural

Industry" held by the Second Session of the 11th National People's

Congress (NPC) in Beijing, capital of China, March 12, 2009. Some leading

officials from Chinese Ministry of Culture attended the interview on

Thursday. (Chinese media/Yang Zongyou)
Photo

Gallery

BEIJING, March 12 (Chinese media) -- China's Ministry of

Culture said Thursday the country would resort to "all necessary means" to seek

the return of two looted Chinese relics auctioned at Christie's in Paris.

"China will never consent to illegal possession of

stolen cultural relics," Ouyang Jian, Deputy Culture Minister, said on the

sidelines of the country's legislative session.

It is the latest comment from Chinese officials in

protest against Christie's auction of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) bronze rabbit

and rat heads sculptures, which were looted from Yuanmingyuan, the Old Summer

Palace, by Anglo-French allied forces during the Second Opium War in 1860.

Ou'yang Jian, China's vice minister of

Culture, answers questions during a group interview on "Cultural Market

and Development of Cultural Industry" held by the Second Session of the

11th National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, capital of China, March

12, 2009. Some leading officials from Chinese Ministry of Culture attended

the interview on Thursday. (Chinese media/Yang Zongyou)
Photo Gallery

"The auction has violated international conventions,

and has hurt the cultural rights and interests and the national sentiment of the

Chinese people," Ouyang said.

Such act could also have a strong impact on the

development of Christie's in China, he added.

China had tried repeatedly to dissuade Christie's

from auctioning, but the efforts failed.

The two bronze heads were auctioned for 14 million

euros (17.92million U.S. dollars) each two weeks ago. Cai Mingchao, a Chinese

antiques collector, identified himself later as the winning bidder, but said at

a press conference that he would not pay the money.

Some leading officials of Chinese

Ministry of Culture attend a group interview on "Cultural Market and

Development of Cultural Industry" held by the Second Session of the 11th

National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, capital of China, March 12,

2009. (Chinese media/Yang Zongyou)
Photo Gallery

The auction triggered wide protest in China. But

Christie's argued that the Pierre Berge-Yves Saint Laurent Foundation held legal

ownership of the fountainheads.

"We will never stop questioning the legitimacy of

such possession, and will seek the return of the sculptures by all necessary

means in accord with related international conventions and Chinese laws," said

Ouyang.

He again denied government involvement in the bidding

for the two Yuanmingyuan relics, saying Cai had acted on his own.

So far, five of the 12 bronze animal fountain heads

in Yuanmingyuan have returned home, but the whereabouts of five others are

unknown.

Astronauts return to Int'l Space Station as threat passed

WASHINGTON, March 12 (Chinese media) --

Astronauts returned to the International Space Station on Thursday after taking

refuge in Soyuz capsule in case of a collision with a flying debris cloud, NASA

said.

International Space Station (ISS)

Commander Mike Fincke (L) and Flight Engineer Yury Lonchakov work outside

the Russian segment of the station during their spacewalk from the

orbiting laboratory in this March 10, 2009 image from NASA TV. Dressed in

Russian spacesuits, Fincke and Lonchakov floated outside the orbiting

outpost for six hours of work, including setting up a European materials

science experiment, before the shuttle Discovery's scheduled arrival on

Friday. (Chinese media/Reuters, FilePhoto)
Photo Gallery

"The debris threat to the International Space Station

has passed," NASA said in a statement posted on its website.

The International Space Station Expedition 18 crew

members returned the station to normal operations after being notified of the

all clear at 12:45 p.m. EDT (1645 GMT). They took refuge for 11 minutes in the

Soyuz escape capsule.

The crew took precautionary measures due to space

debris that has been determined to be within the range where a collision is

possible. News of the close approach came too late for flight controllers to

coordinate an avoidance maneuver.

Crew members entered their Soyuz TMA-13 capsule and

soft-locking the hatches, in case the debris should affect the space station and

they are required to undock. The closure of the hatches ensures the safety of

the crew and the ability to quickly depart the station in the unlikely event the

debris collided with the station causing a depressurization.

The time of closest approach of the debris to the

station is 12:39 p.m. EDT (1639 GMT). The debris was about one-third of an inch

in width.

ISS crew take shelter in spacecraft to

dodge debris cloud

MOSCOW, March 12 (Chinese media) -- The crew of the

International Space Station (ISS) evacuated to a Russian spacecraft on Thursday

when a piece of space debris passed by, the Mission Control Center outside

Moscow said.

"The cosmonauts entered the spacecraft at 7:35 p.m.

Moscow time (1635 GMT) and stayed there for 10 minutes while the station was in

dangerous proximity to a piece of space debris," Valery Lyndin, spokesman for

the flight control center, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

NASA: Space shuttle Discovery's launch

no earlier than March 15

The space shuttle Discovery sits on

launch pad 39A as it is fueled for launch at the Kennedy Space Center in

Cape Canaveral, Florida, in this May 31, 2008 file photo.(Chinese media/Reuters

Photo)
Photo

Gallery

WASHINGTON, March 11 (Chinese media) -- U.S. space shuttle

Discovery’s launch to the International Space Station is now targeted for no

earlier than March 15, NASA said in a statement on Wednesday.

Liftoff on March 15 would be at 7:43 p.m. EDT (2343

GMT). The exact launch date is dependent on the work necessary to fix the

hydrogen leak problem, according to the statement. Managers will meet on

Thursday at 4 p.m. (2000 GMT) to further assess the troubleshooting plan. Full story

NASA postpones space shuttle

Discovery's launch due to gas leak

WASHINGTON, March 11 (Chinese media) -- The launch of U.S. space

shuttle Discovery was postponed again on Wednesday due to a hydrogen gas leak

found several hours before its scheduled liftoff, NASA said. Full story

Skills training key to future for China's jobless migrants

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

NANNING, March 13 (Chinese media) -- Beginning as a teenager, Wei Meili spent

seven years working in factories in far-flung cities, teaching herself English

along the way. Now she's back home in southwest China, where her initiative is

proving valuable.

Wei, a high school dropout, is now a manager in a Swiss restaurant in her

hometown of Nanning, the capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Her

language skills got her the job, which pays 4,000 yuan (585 U.S. dollars) a

month, on par with white-collar pay and about four times what she earned in

factories.

"The job market was getting weak in Dongguan where I worked for seven

years," said the 23-year-old. When she came home in January for Lunar New Year,

she decided to stay and seek new work.

"It wasn't luck that got her the job, it was her hard work and drive to

improve herself," said the Swiss owner of the restaurant, who would only give

his name as Hanser.

He said that despite widespread unemployment in the city, it was very

difficult to find a local resident who could speak good English. Most of the

restaurant's customers are foreigners seeing the sights of Guangxi. Although she

has little education, Wei can communicate fluently with them.

"The electric appliance plant where I worked in Dongguan did business with

foreign customers. I did a lot of self-study to improve my English, which I saw

would be useful in work," said Wei.

Her initiative, however, makes her an exception among unskilled migrants,

most of whom can only do hard labor for low pay. Local and national governments

are grappling with the problem of how to help the newly unemployed, many of whom

have few assets beyond a strong back or nimble hands, get back to work

In the labor export region of Guangxi, 1.5 million out of about11.7 million

rural laborers have lost their jobs as a result of the economic slowdown this

year, said Jiang Minghong, head of Guangxi's labor bureau.

"The best way to help them get reemployed is to provide training," he said.

He said the government had allocated 240 million yuan to provide free training

for jobless migrant workers this year.

"Training for migrant workers is crucial, especially for the younger

generations," said Chen Shida, head of the Research Institute of Labor and

Social Welfare in east China's Zhejiang Province.

He said younger migrant workers, who were born after 1980, are both choosy

about what they do in the cities and unwilling to return to the farms.

"Most are not as hard-working and contented as their parents. Training can

help them adjust," said Chen.

According to a survey by China's State Council, or cabinet, in November

last year, only 20 percent of migrant workers had received even minimal training

before going to work in cities, and 76.4 percent of them had no training at all.

Ministry of Construction figures showed only 10 percent of 32 million

farmers who became construction workers had basic training in their new

industry, compared with more than 70 percent in developed countries.

Skill training: A way to bail out migrant

workers

BEIJING, March 3 (Chinese media) -- Almost 40, Li Zhengwen is

having maybe the toughest time of his life.

After being jobless for four months, Li is considering

vocational training to make himself more employable. Full story

China Focus: Economic woes entrench China's migrant workers in

hard times
SHENYANG, March 2 (Chinese media)

-- Unemployed Qin Zhongli stands in front of a vacancy billboard at a job market

in northeast China's Shenyang City.

An experienced chef, Qin, 35, earned 2,000 yuan (290 U.S.

dollars) a month last year -- a decent living for his wife, daughter and son

back in his village in the eastern province of Shandong, 1,000 km away. Full story

China unveils massive stimulus plan

amid global crisis; Premier calls for confidence


BEIJING, March 5 (Chinese media) -- Chinese

Premier Wen Jiabao Thursday called on the nation to strengthen "conviction for

victory" as he unveiled an unprecedented stimulus package to shore up economic

growth amid global downturn.

In a work report to the National People's

Congress (NPC), the country's parliament, Wen said China is facing

"unprecedented difficulties and challenges" as economic growth slows, employment

pressure mounts and social uncertainties increase in 2009, the most difficult

year since the new millennium. Full story

Tit for tat, Tibet official refutes Dalai Lama's anniversary speech

Special Report:

Serfs Emancipation

Day

Special Report:

Focus on Tibet

by Chinese media writers Lin Jianyang and Chang Ailing

BEIJING, March 13 (Chinese media) -- "Hell on earth" suits

perfectly the old Tibet, a Tibet official said here Friday, refuting the Dalai

Lama's speech made 50 years after he went into exile.

Over the past 50 years, the Dalai Lama has made it a

routine to deliver a speech on the so-called "uprising" day, or, as described by

the Chinese government, the day marking his failed armed rebellion.

Qiangba Puncog (C), deputy to the Second

Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) from southwest

China's Tibet Autonomous Region, receives interview prior to the third

plenary meeting of the Second Session of the 11th NPC held at the Great

Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 10, 2009.

(Chinese media Photo)
Photo

Gallery

On March 10 this year, the "simple Buddhist monk",

who has never been to Tibet since 1959, said the Chinese government have carried

out a series of "repressive and violent" campaigns over the years and Tibetans

were "literally experienced hell on earth."

"If 'hell on earth' was used to describe the old

Tibet, it would be most appropriate," Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet

regional government, told Chinese media.

"The Dalai Lama is trying to turn black into white in

an attempt to mislead the public," he said.

Qiangba, who was born to an impoverished Tibetan

family 62 years ago, said "the old Tibet, which was under the control of the

Dalai Lama, was a feudal serfdom darker and more undeveloped than the middle

ages in Europe."

The official said Tibet has enjoyed significant

development over the past 5 decades and "those who are unbiased or have been to

Tibet would be well aware of that."

Although some people claimed before 1959, ordinary

Tibetan people could enjoy milk tea as they wished and a great deal of meat and

vegetables, American Tibetologist A. Tom Grunfeld said after a 1940 survey

conducted in eastern Tibet that "there is no evidence to support the picture of

Tibet as a Utopian Shangrila."

The survey found that 38 percent of Tibetan families

never had tea to drink, 51 percent could not afford butter and 75 percent

sometimes had to eat weeds boiled with ox bones and oat or bean flour.

In his speech, the Dalai Lama defended his armed

rebellion, saying that it was because of the Communist Party of China's trial of

democratic reform that forced Tibetans to launch a "peaceful uprising."

Qiangba refuted the Dalai Lama's claim, saying that

the essential cause of the rebellion was because the upper ruling class of the

Dalai Lama group realized that the democratic reform, which was imperative under

the situation, would lead to the end of feudal serfdom and the emancipation of

serfs.

"The democratic reform, which was carried out in

places outside Tibet then, put an end to the rule and privileges of the three

major feudal lords (government officials, monasteries and nobles) there,"

Qiangba said.

"The reform put the feudal lords in Tibet in panic.

Under that situation, they chose to launch an armed rebellion," said he.

Feudal serfdom was overthrown in most countries in

the 19th centuries but the system remained in Tibet till the mid 20th century.

"The democratic reform carried out by the Communist

Party of China aimed to free the serfs and slaves in Tibet," said Qiangba, also

a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC).

Since the democratic reform, Tibet has undergone

significant changes. Its GDP grew from 174 million yuan (25.6 million U.S.

dollars) in 1959 to 39.591 billion yuan last year.

Looking back into history, Qiangba said Tibet did

experience twists in its development after 1959, such as the cultural revolution

(1966-1976) and communes.

But Qiangba said those problems happened at a special

stage in the Chinese history and affected the whole country. "They were not

problems only with Tibet," he said.

Dalai Lama's utter distortion of Tibet

history

BEIJING, March 10

(Chinese media) -- On March 10, 1959, the Dalai Lama and his supporters started an

armed rebellion in a desperate attempt to preserve Tibet's feudal serfdom and

split the region from China.

On Tuesday, exactly 50 years later, the Dalai Lama claimed

that Tibetans have been living in "hell on earth," as if the Tibet under the

former feudal serfdom ruled by him were a heaven.

Playing with outside forces,

"religious figure" stakes heavy on de facto

secession

BEIJING, March 9

(Chinese media) -- As the anniversary of his exile approaches, more evidence has

surfaced that the Dalai Lama and his followers have pursued a long road of

splitting up the homeland despite allegations of the "nonviolent" middle way.

Explicitly acknowledging his "middle way" of nonviolence a

failure, the 73-year-old Tibetan Buddhist warned the Chinese government of

possible future confrontations in the Himalayan region. Full story

Dalai by no means a religious figure,

but a political one

BEIJING, March 7 (Chinese media) -- The Dalai Lama is "by no

means a religious figure, but a political figure," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang

Jiechi said here Saturday.

The Dalai Lama and his followers insist to establish the

so-called "Greater Tibet" on one quarter of the Chinese territory. They want to

drive away the Chinese armed forces deployed on its own territory, and all the

Chinese people of other ethnic groups who have been living in Tibet for

generations, Yang told a press conference on the sidelines of the annual

parliamentary session.

Dalai Lama is not qualified for

talking about human rights

BEIJING, March 6 (Chinese media) -- As the most unstable element

for Tibet and representative of serf owners, the Dalai Lama is not qualified for

talking about human rights, said a senior official here Friday afternoon.

"There is no historical evidence or present ground for the

so called 'Greater Tibet' and 'high degree of autonomy', which are also against

the will of the Tibetan people," Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet

Autonomous Region, told a press conference on sideline with the annual session

of the National People's Congress (NPC).

Dalai Lama group's sabotage biggest

obstacle to Tibet's development

BEIJING, March 6 (Chinese media) -- Sabotage from the Dalai Lama

group remains the biggest obstacle in the way of Tibet's development, Lhasa

Mayor Doje Cezhug said Friday.

Doje made the remarks at a panel discussion of lawmakers

from Tibet.

A POLITICIAN lN MONK'S ROBE

In the March 10 speech, the Dalai Lama said he has

three commitments as a human being, "the promotion of human values," "the

promotion of inter-religious harmony" and "the issue of Tibet."

"No one opposes the promotion of human values and

inter-religious harmony. The Communist Party of China is also working for it,"

Qiangba said.

Promoting religious harmony is the policy of the

Party and the country, Qiangba said.

Most of the people of the Tibetan, Moinba, Lhoba and

Naxi ethnic groups believe in Tibetan Buddhism, while others believe in Islam

and Catholicism.

"There have been no religious conflicts in Tibet and

those religions coexisted harmoniously," he said.

The official said it was the Dalai Lama who harmed

the harmony between different religious sects by telling Buddhists to worship

one and not to worship another.

Meanwhile, the official said the Dalai Lama is least

qualified to talk about human rights.

"The darkest period in Tibet in terms of human rights

was the time when he was in power," he said.

As for Dalai Lama's third commitment, Qingba said the

so-called "issue of Tibet" was coined by the Dalai Lama group and some countries

out of the concern of their own interests.

"They are playing up the 'issue of Tibet' to make

their separatist activity an international issue and draw criticism to China

from those who are unaware of the truth," he said.

Qiangba said the Dalai Lama has been trying to split

China and instigate violence under the aureole of "human rights" and

"democracy."

"The Dalai Lama is a politician in monk's robe. He is

a key obstacle of Tibet's development," he said.

As for Dalai Lama's claim of "middle way", "the

greater Tibet" and "high degree of autonomy," Qiangba said those are meant for

"gradual or covert Tibet independence."

"Since the title of the Dalai Lama was confirmed, the

Dalai Lama had never effectively ruled other Tibetan populated areas (outside

Tibet)," he said.

He said Dalai Lama's claim to set up a so-called

"greater Tibet" on one fourth of China's territory did not exist in history, nor

does it have an actual ground.