Free Republic

A new drug compound can recharge a class of antibiotics used to fight superbug bacteria, improving the antibiotics’ effectiveness 16-fold. It’s another volley on the part of humans in the ongoing battle between new drugs and bacterial resistance. This new compound doesn’t fight the bacteria itself — it just makes the antibacterial drugs more potent, and better able to fight the bacteria despite the bugs’ resistance. The compound, developed at North Carolina State University, could help researchers fight an emerging problem with a tricky bacterial enzyme. The enzyme is called New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase, or NDM-1, and it has been found...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – With flu season in full swing and the threat of H1N1 looming, demand for vaccines is at an all-time high. Although those vaccines are expected to be effective, University of Missouri researchers have found further evidence that some over-the-counter drugs, such as aspirin and Tylenol, that inhibit certain enzymes could impact the effectiveness of vaccines. “If you’re taking aspirin regularly, which many people do for cardiovascular treatment, or acetaminophen (Tylenol) for pain and fever and get a flu shot, there is a good chance that you won’t have a good antibody response,” said Charles Brown, associate professor...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2007 – As ground forces in the U.S. troop surge in Iraq make more progress against insurgents, Army aviation assets back them up with crucial mobility, medical and combat support, an officer in charge of a deployed aviation brigade said today. The combat aviation brigade of 3rd Infantry Division has been deployed since May in support of Multinational Division Center. The brigade’s 128 helicopters have flown more than 65,000 hours in support of many different missions, Army Col. Daniel Ball, the brigade commander, told military analysts in a conference call from Iraq. The aviation brigade has conducted...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2007 – In recent weeks, Iraqi security forces have been proving their effectiveness and expanded capability in operations that are increasingly yielding results, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman said today. (Video) Army Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner, speaking to reporters in Baghdad, highlighted several recent operations by Iraqi forces, including the discovery of a large weapons cache, the thwarting of several car bombs, and the prevention of a carjacking and kidnapping involving two busloads of Iraqi citizens. Violence has increased in the past few days, but that was expected because, historically, the Islam holy month of Ramadan...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Aid to poor countries has little effect on economic growth, and policies that rely on such claims should be reexamined, two former International Monetary Fund economists wrote in a paper released this month. "We find little evidence of a robust positive correlation between aid and growth," wrote Raghuram Rajan, who stepped down as IMF chief economist at the end of 2006, and Arvind Subramanian, who left the IMF this year, said. "We find little evidence that aid works better in better policy or institutional environments, or that certain kinds of aid work better than others," they added....

Andrew Wakefield, the doctor behind the scare over a potential link between the MMR jab and autism in children, is to face four charges relating to unprofessional conduct at the General Medical Council, it is reported today... Following the publication of a research paper in the Lancet by Mr Wakefield and colleagues in February 1998 - which suggested a tentative link between the immunisation at the age of 18 months, a bowel disorder called Crohn's disease, and autism - many parents became anxious over the safety of the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine.... At the press conference to...

THE reaction of the UN to the nuclear crisis in Iran will be a test for the international body, Prime Minister John Howard says. Mr Howard said those critical of the US, UK and Australian governments for invading Iraq would see for themselves how effective the UN was when it decided what action to take against Iran. Ahead of a visit to Australia next week, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said Iran is the number one challenge for Washington and would be a major threat to US Middle East interests if it acquired atomic weapons. Iran says its...

Each night on local newscasts all across the country, we hear this same old story. Well, maybe not quite like this. Two men broke into the home of Gayle Martin—an elderly Kentucky man who lived alone—on Saturday. The men smashed Martin’s door open and entered the house shortly before 5:00 AM, intent on doing him harm. Like every other violent news story, this one involves guns, a frantic 911 call, serious injuries, and hospitals. Unlike most others, it also has a moral and a happy ending. It seems that 79-year old Gayle Martin had himself a 357 Magnum. Author’s note:...

Historians celebrate his predecessor Truman and his successor JFK as near-great. Yet, Eisenhower is ignored. A positive-passive president, he is called, at best an average president. Yet, what did Ike accomplish? He took office in 1953 and in six months ended the no-win war in Korea. With a million illegal aliens here, he ordered them home in "Operation Wetback." They went. He built up U.S. armed forces to where we were invincible. When the Hungarian Revolution erupted, Ike refused to send troops beyond the bridge at Andau. America stayed out, and the revolution was snuffed out by Soviet tanks. But...

Context Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) administration has been shown to reduce accumulation of abdominal visceral fat and protect against insulin resistance in laboratory animals, but it is not known whether DHEA decreases abdominal obesity in humans. DHEA is widely available as a dietary supplement without a prescription. Objective To determine whether DHEA replacement therapy decreases abdominal fat and improves insulin action in elderly persons. Design and Setting Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted in a US university-based research center from June 2001 to February 2004. Participants Fifty-six elderly persons (28 women and 28 men aged 71 [range, 65-78] years) with age-related decrease in...

Anthrax Vaccine Safe, Effective, Health Chief Says By Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON -- With almost a million shots given, the anthrax immunization is proving to be one of the safest vaccination program on record, said Dr. Sue Bailey, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. “The vaccine that we are administering to our troops for protection against anthrax is effective and entirely safe,” Bailey said during a Pentagon interview. She said service members are experiencing few serious adverse reactions from the shots. The most recent reports show only 14 reactions were serious enough that the service...