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American Psychiatric Association Endorses Commitment To Closing The Medicare "Doughnut Hole"
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) commended
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Swine Flu Cases In The USA, Breakdown By State, 17th May, 2009
According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and WHO (World Health Organization), the total number of swine flu A(H1N1) cases stood at 4,714, plus four deaths, on 17th May, 2009. Non-essential travel to Mexico has been downgraded from a "Warning" to a "Precaution"; meaning authorities consider travel to Mexico as not being dangerous for people who are not at high risk of normal flu complications.
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Health Chair's Stance On Pet-Free Flights Very Disappointing: Lung Association, Canada
The Canadian Lung Association expressed disappointment in federal Health Committee Chair Joy Smith"s stance on the issue of Air Canada and WestJet"s policy to allow pets to travel in the passenger cabin of airplanes. The Lung Association launched an online campaign for pet-free flights in July following the decision by Air Canada to join WestJet in offering pet-free flights, despite the serious risks it presents to passengers and crew with asthma, COPD and severe animal allergies.
Public Health

Yale Researchers Find New Trigger For Seasonal Allergies

In research that could open new avenues of treatment for seasonal allergies, a team of Yale University scientists has discovered how a poorly understood component of the human immune system triggers - and sometimes worsens - allergic reactions. The research appears in the May 24 Advance Online Publication of Nature Immunology. Scientists wanted to better understand how the immune system recognizes and responds to allergens. Lead researcher Ruslan Medzhitov of the Yale School of Medicine and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute said, "The current paradigms of how the immune response is activated did not seem to apply to allergic reactions." The Yale team focused on basophils, immune cells whose true function was obscure. Their research showed the first examples of how basophils can trigger an allergic immune response. Medzhitov explained, "Common allergens act on basophils, which in turn activate T cells (white blood cells that orchestrate the immune process) to trigger an allergic response." Medzhitov"s team was surprised to find the extent of the basophils" role. Until now, the scientific community believed that different immune cells (dendritic cells) that fight off other foreign invaders were also responsible for allergic reactions. The Yale team found the opposite: Basophils are the cells that leap into action at the earliest stages of exposure to allergens, signaling the body"s defense system to repel the invader. They also may exaggerate the allergic reaction to the point where symptoms become difficult to control and extremely bothersome to the allergy sufferer. The team"s research on basophils could provide a new target for pharmaceutical therapies aimed at interfering with, or stopping the allergic response. Others who contributed to the paper are Caroline L. Sokol, Ngoc-Quynh Chu, Shuang Yu and Simone A. Nish of the Yale School of Medicine and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Terri M. Laufer of the University of Pennsylvania. Their research was supported by the National Institutes of Health Medical Scientist Training Program, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the Sandler Program in Asthma Research. Yale University


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