IH CONNECT

• January is cervical health awareness month in Iowa. The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) joins the National Cervical Cancer Coalition (NCCC) in recognizing January as Cervical Health Awareness Month (Source: http://www.idph.state.ia.us/IdphNews/Reader.aspx?id=56BC8126-F0B0-4A97-9096-D34F6CFF85B9 ).

Politics and Policies:

• Florida and 25 other states have officially requested the Supreme Court of United States to stop Medicaid expansion (Source: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/01/30/gvsb0130.htm ).
• National Alzheimer’s proposal outlines strategy to improve diagnosis and treatment of this disease. The Health and Human Services released a proposal on January 9^th which had set a goal of 2025 for developing effective means of preventing and treating this disease (Source: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/01/30/hlsa0130.htm ).
• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted a new drug application for standard review for patients with previously treated Philadelphia chromosome for positive chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) (Source: http://regulatoryaffairs.pharmaceutical-business-review.com/news/fda-accepts-nda-for-pfizer-cml-drug-300112 )
• Pakistan has asked the World Health Organization (The WHO) to help it to find the epidemic dengue in the country (Source: http://news.in.msn.com/international/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5792252 ).

Programs

• The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has appealed for $1.28 billion from the governments to provide humanitarian assistance to children around the world in 2012 (Source: http://channel6newsonline.com/2012/01/unicef-appeals-for-1-28-billion-for-2012-humanitarian-aid/ ).
• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $750 million to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/health/gates-donates-750-million-to-global-fund.html ).
• Japan is lending $63mn to Bangladesh for a maternal and child health project (Source: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=483291&version=1&template_id=44&parent_id=24 ).

Research

• The scientists in China said that they have identified ten susceptibility genes for leprosy. Tis will help to identify high-risk individuals and help in preventing this infectious disease. This discovery is based on a long-term study of more than 20,000 cases at the Shandong Provincial Institute of Dermatology and Venereology in east China (Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-01/29/c_131381550.htm ).
• The scientists at Edinburgh’s Center for Regenerative Medicine, who created Dolly, the sheep via cloning have made brain cells from a scrap of skin. They have created brain tissue from patients suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar depression and other mental illness (Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jan/29/brain-cloning-breakthrough-mental-illness ).
• Researchers in Western Australia say drinking at least eight cups of black leaf tea significantly cuts blood pressure (Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9046030/Drinking-eight-teas-a-day-cuts-blood-pressure-and-heart-disease.html ).
• In a systematic review of forty nine studies covering sixteen medicines it was said that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) frequently failed to make an impact on prescribing and clinical monitoring (Source: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/01/30/prsb0130.htm ).
• In a recent research study, it was seen that more than fifty percent of the devotees coming to a temple in Sri Lanka were having infections with cutaneous larva migrans. The scientists claim that this increased prevalence may be due to the result of flooding subsequent to high rainfalls which brought with it dog feces infected with hook worms. During the temple rituals the devotees go barefoot to the temple and perform side roll, which increase their chances of getting this infection (Source: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0030516  ).
• Using the data on three groups of several thousand people born in Southern Brazil in 1982, 1993 or 2004, the scientists in their study found that there is no link between the children born by Cesarean section and their chances of becoming obese (Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/29/us-c-section-idUSTRE80S0PC20120129 ).
• One of the two trial for a drug, Varisolve, for the treatment of Varicose veins have been completed by the British  pharmaceutical firm (Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/30/btg-idUSL5E8CU0LT20120130 )
• Researchers have identified thirty one regions of the human genome which are associated with the circulating metabolites. Many of them are the biomarkers for the cardiovascular disease or related disorders. This discovery might help the scientists to uncover or give valuable insight into the biological processes leading to these diseases (Source: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-genetic-metabolomic-biomarkers-paths.html ).
• In a study, the researchers found how bacteria are successful in deceiving the effects of vaccine. They swap the region of their genome responsible for making the polysaccharide coating with the same region from a different serotype, which is not a target for vaccine. Thus the bacteria gets effectively disguised. This process is known as recombination (Source: http://truthdive.com/2012/01/30/How-bacteria-behind-serious-childhood-disease-evolve-to-evade-vaccines.html ).

Diseases & Disasters

• A study conducted by Columbia and Yale universities to rank 132 countries on an Environmental Performance Index, India was ranked in having most toxic air in the world (Source: http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/global-observer/indias-air-is-the-most-toxic-finds-yale-columbia-study/3470 ).
• Peru drug rehabilitation center caught fire ion Saturday. At least 26 people are said to be killed (Source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/world/01/29/12/least-26-killed-peru-drug-rehab-center-fire-officials ).
• Bird Flu discovered in duck farm in Australia (Source: http://www.news.com.au/national/bird-flu-discovered-at-victorian-duck-farm/story-e6frfkvr-1226255590059 ).
• In a study reported in the Journal of Urology, Arsenic concentrations are quite high in Antofagasta, Chile (Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/24/us-chile-cancer-idUSTRE80N1YJ20120124 ).
• Bird flu detected in some regions of Tripura, India (Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/others/bird-flu-tripura-culling-begins-583 ).
• The United States have detained three shipments of Brazilian orange juice and six from Canada. They were tested positive for the fungicide carbendazim. This chemical is illegal in the US (Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/27/us-fda-juice-idUSTRE80Q1MJ20120127 ).