News - Aid worker reflects on Peru quake

Posted on October 31, 2007
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When the earthquake struck, I was in my house on the outskirts of Ica, in a shanty town called Senor de Luren. It’s a shanty town made up of people who were displaced during the time of violence when the Shining Path guerrillas were fighting government forces.

They came down here and made their homes on a mountain of sand. Their houses were made of mud bricks, and of course they have nearly all fallen down.

So these people are on the streets. You can’t sleep in the houses, everyone is sleeping outside. The ones that have not completely fallen down are too dangerous to go in. There have been more than 500 aftershocks - some have been quite long and quite strong.

People lost everything

After the earthquake, I went out very early the next day to see what was going on. Everyone was talking, starting to move the mud bricks to recover their things from the rubble.

They uncovered their beds, everything that was under the bricks. And of course they recovered the bodies. Until Sunday, they were still finding bodies under the rubble.

See map of the affected area

Everyone was walking around like zombies - you could see the panic on their faces, in people’s eyes. Everybody felt so impotent.

An injured boy drinks milk as he sits among other injured at a hospital in Ica

Countries across Latin America have been sending relief supplies to Peru

People had lost everything. Absolutely everything. Not long ago they built their houses, and now they find themselves right back in the street with nothing. Having to start all over again.

Everyone is criticising the government. Certainly their ability to act when faced with this emergency was not ideal. But also we realised that it is a whole region we’re talking about that has been affected.

I’m not one to criticise in these kinds of circumstances. The means of communication was cut, the electricity was out, the telephones were down. Everything was down.

They made an airstrip for Pisco and they were able to be there in Pisco, helping straight away.

Struggle with adversity

People here have an amazing ability to cope. The life of people here is difficult - a hard life with lots of adversity, all the time struggling and fighting against things that the rest of us are not used to.

They also have a terrific capacity to organise themselves. The morning after the earthquake the community leaders were there at 6am with lists in their hands of what needed to be done.

Volunteers serve food to a group of earthquake survivors in San Clemente, Peru

Aid agencies say many people may not have access to clean water

They have a tradition of the communal pot. Almost all of them have had the experience at one time or another of sharing food within the community. They all help their neighbours who are in trouble.

They found a little 10-year-old girl covering another smaller child, and she was injured. She covered her sister so she would not get hurt.

At these times you see the heroic, beautiful things people are capable of. But you also see the worst of people, people taking advantage of the disaster.

The earthquake was certainly a traumatic experience. After the first shock I went out to see the neighbours and everyone was scared and crying. I was just getting home when it started. I arrived at my door and it started to move a lot.

So I went out to the inside patio, and it just didn’t stop. Normally we have tremors and they come and go - sometimes they are strong, but short. This not only went on a long time, but got stronger too.

I could hear things falling. The television fell. Everything, the furniture, everything fell and I realised this was really bad.

You start wondering if the wall is about to fall on top of you. You look up to see if the ceiling is falling in, or if a lamp post or a tree is about to crash down on you. Or if the earth is going to open up in front of you.

These are incredibly tense moments. You think of a lot of things all at once - of family and friends.

What do we do now, a week after the earthquake? What capacity do those who have lost their houses have to rebuild?

The homes must not be rebuilt with mud bricks, but with real materials. Are they going to do it? Do they have the will to prevent all of this happening again? It’s a culture of prevention that we’re lacking.

In the future, there should be no unsafe mud brick houses. Most of the people who died died in their homes. Old people who couldn’t get out - lots of people died this way. Children as well.

It’s not that it can’t be done. It can. We can ensure that people have safe houses. It might be a simple house, it might be a cheap house, but it can be done. And that’s what we’re going to try and do. Let’s see if we can manage it.

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New Measure Of Sexual Arousal Found For Both Men And Women

Science Daily — According to a new study published in the latest issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine and conducted in the Department of Psychology of McGill University, thermography shows great promise as a diagnostic method of measuring sexual arousal. It is less intrusive than currently utilized methods, and is the only available test that requires no physical contact with participants.

Thermography is currently the only method that can be used to diagnose sexual health problems in both women and men. In fact, women and men demonstrated similar patterns of temperature change during sexual arousal with no significant differences between genders in the time needed to reach peak temperature.

“Using thermography, we also found that women’s subjective experience of sexual arousal corresponded with their physiological genital response; this challenges the common notion that women don’t know their bodies,” says Tuuli Kukkonen, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology at McGill University and lead author of the study.

“I predict that the major physiological measure of sexual arousal for most future clinical trials of female sexual arousal disorder will be genital temperature as measured by thermography,” according to Dr. Yitzchak Binik, senior author of the research and Professor of Psychology at McGill and Director of the Sex and Couple Therapy Service of the McGill University Health Center (http://www.sexandcoupletherapy.com).

“This is a huge breakthrough in the assessment of genital blood flow research in women’s sexual health,” observed Irwin Goldstein, Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Sexual Medicine. “Previous testing was invasive and involved placement of measuring instruments in various locations in the genital region and this interfered with the arousal itself. Thermography does not have any such requirements and is very user-friendly. This may be the first test to diagnose blood vessel blockage as a cause of sexual dysfunction in women, and may help identify those patients who may be helped by vasoactive drugs similar to those prescribed for men with erectile dysfunction from narrowed blood vessels.”

Note: This story has been adapted from material provided by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. Read more

China, US bust fake Viagra ring

Chinese and US Customs officials say they have broken a major pharmaceuticals smuggling ring.

Eleven Chinese citizens and an American man have been arrested in a counterfeit medicine scheme that spanned 11 countries.

It involved around $4m-worth of fake drugs, officials of both countries have said.

But it is a rare success in China's attempts to safeguard intellectual property rights.

The arrested men are accused of manufacturing fake versions of well-known drugs including Viagra and the cholesterol-reducing Lipitor.

The drugs were made in China, sold on the internet and delivered by mail to customers in Britain, America and Israel.

It was a tip-off from the pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, that led to the investigation.

China has promised to put the counterfeiters out of business and respect intellectual property rights in advance of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

But still the country is awash with counterfeit goods. DVDs, designer handbags and even well-known food brands are pirated here in enormous quantities.

Feds Close Viagra Loophole

Read more about .
(AP)�A federal agency has begun notifying all 50 states that they don’t have to offer Medicaid-funded Viagra to sex offenders, a step taken after it was discovered that more than 400 convicted sex offenders in New York and Florida were reimbursed for the erectile dysfunction drug.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services acted swiftly Monday, one day after the New York comptroller’s office said audits from 2000 through March found that 198 rapists and other high-risk sex offenders in the state received Medicaid-reimbursed Viagra after their convictions.
Read more

Buying Drugs Online: It’s Convenient and Private, but Beware of ‘Rogue Sites’

The scene is becoming
increasingly common in the United States: Consumers are replacing a trip to the
corner drugstore with a click onto the internet, where they find hundreds of
websites selling prescription drugs and other health products.

Many of these are lawful enterprises that
genuinely offer convenience, privacy, and the safeguards of traditional
procedures for prescribing drugs. For the most part, consumers can use these
services with the same confidence they have in their neighborhood druggist. In
fact, while some are familiar large drugstore chains, many of these legitimate
businesses are local “mom and pop” pharmacies, set up to serve their
customers electronically.

But consumers must be wary of others who are
using the internet as an outlet for products or practices that are already
illegal in the offline world. These so-called “rogue sites” either sell
unapproved products, or if they deal in approved ones, they often sidestep
established procedures meant to protect consumers. For example, some sites
require customers only to fill out a questionnaire before ordering prescription
drugs, bypassing any face-to-face interaction with a health
professional.

“This practice undermines safeguards of a
direct medical supervision and physical evaluation performed by a licensed
health professional,” says Jeffrey Shuren, M.D., Medical Officer in the
Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Policy, Planning and Legislation.
“The internet makes it easy to bypass this safety net.”

Skirting the system this way sets the stage
for problems that include dangerous drug interactions and harm from
contaminated, counterfeit or outdated drugs. “websites that prescribe based
on a questionnaire raise additional health concerns,” says Shuren.
“Patients risk obtaining an inappropriate medication and may sacrifice the
opportunity for a correct diagnosis or the identification of a contraindication
to the drug.”

To date, FDA has received only a few reports
of adverse events related to internet drug sales, but some of these cases point
out the potential danger of buying prescription drugs on the basis of just a
questionnaire. For example, a 52-year-old Illinois man with episodes of chest
pain and a family history of heart disease died of a heart attack last March
after buying the impotence drug Viagra (sildenafil citrate) from an online
source that required only answers to a questionnaire to qualify for the
prescription. Though there is no proof linking the man’s death to the drug, FDA
officials say that a traditional doctor-patient relationship, along with a
physical examination, may have uncovered any health problems such as heart
disease and could have ensured that proper treatments were
prescribed.

FDA is investigating numerous pharmaceutical
websites suspected of breaking the law and plans to take legal action if
appropriate. The agency has made internet surveillance an enforcement priority,
targeting unapproved new drugs, health fraud, and prescription drugs sold
without a valid prescription.
Read more

Viagra May Help Crohn’s Disease

Feb. 23, 2006 — Researchers in the U.K. have a new theory to explain the cause of Crohn’s disease, and they say medications like the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra may prove useful for treating the bowel disorder if they are right.

In Crohn’s disease, chronic inflammation causes ulcers within the digestive tract that can lead to severe gastrointestinal symptoms, including abdominal pain, persistent diarrhea, and rectal bleeding.

The most widely accepted theory is that an overactive immune system causes the damaging inflammation. But researchers from the University College London say the opposite appears to be true.

They believe a weaker-than-normal immune response triggers the bowel inflammation that leads to Crohn’s disease. Their research appears in the Feb. 25 issue of The Lancet.

1 Disease, 2 Theories

The prevailing theory of Crohn’s disease is that the body’s immune system reacts abnormally in people with the disorder, producing chronic inflammation that leads to bowel injury.

Tony Segal, professor of medicine at University College London, explains the weak immune system theory like this: “The wall of the bowel is normally an effective barrier against the bowel contents, but sometimes the barrier is broken by an infection or injury and the bowel contents, which include large numbers of bacteria, penetrate into the bowel wall.

“Normally, an acute inflammatory response would kick in to remove the bacteria and return the condition of the bowel to normal. But in Crohn’s disease, we think that the acute inflammation fails to kick-start, leaving bacteria to fester in the bowel wall which, in turn, triggers chronic, secondary inflammations.”

Segal and colleagues conducted a series of small experiments that measured white blood cell production in response to intestinal and skin trauma in both Crohn’s patients and healthy patients. With inflammation, white blood cell numbers are expected to rise. In one experiment, researchers injected a killed gut bacteria into the forearms of patients and healthy participants to study blood flow and immune response.

They found that the Crohn’s patients produced unexpectedly lower levels of white blood cells and proteins involved in inflammation, compared with people without the disorder.

Segal tells WebMD that people who carry a gene that has been linked to Crohn’s disease may be especially vulnerable to getting the disease if they have weak immune systems.

He added that drugs like Viagra, which open the blood vessels and increase blood flow, may help.

The Viagra Response

The researchers tested this theory by treating 10 Crohn’s patients with 50 milligrams of Viagra after injecting them with the killed gut bacteria. They found that blood flow to the infected area improved.

“Increasing blood flow is an important part of the inflammatory response, and that is why this drug may work,” Segal says. “But we don’t yet know if this will give rise to successful treatment. We need to study this further to find out.”

Segal and colleagues are among a growing number of researchers suggesting that a weak immune system, rather than an overactive one, is largely responsible for Crohn’s disease, says University of Chicago associate professor of medicine Sunanda Kane, MD.

She adds that the new research adds credibility to the theory but does not prove it.

“This is a little more evidence that maybe we have been barking up the wrong tree,” she tells WebMD. “The idea that we should be strengthening the immune system — rather than suppressing it — sounded a little crazy at first, but the evidence continues to come in. But we still have a long way to go to really understand what causes Crohn’s.”

Biologic agents that stimulate a specific part of the immune system are now being tested in Crohn’s patients. If such treatments prove effective, Kane says doctors would have an effective alternative to steroids, which work well for many patients but have many side effects.

“For decades now suppressing the immune system [with steroids] has worked, and we will continue to do so until we find alternatives that work for everybody and are risk-free,” she says. Read more

Spammers find new ways to slip through

SAN FRANCISCO - Just when it appeared tech firms had the upper hand against spam, spammers have unleashed new forms of the meddlesome e-mail to trick filters.

Spam in the form of popular PDF e-mail attachments and electronic greeting cards is confounding e-mail security systems and annoying consumers. The recent Storm e-mail virus and several pump-and-dump stock scams are clogging inboxes and snookering consumers into downloading malicious software. And it could get worse as the holidays approach, anti-spam experts say.

The trend illustrates the shifting nature of spam&39;s a cat-and-mouse game, and PDFs are the latest twist,” says Adam Swidler, senior marketing manager at Postini.

As spam evolves, from text in the body of e-mail to images embedded in attachments, it has become more difficult for filters to identify, says Tom Gillis, co-founder of IronPort Systems, a security firm acquired by Cisco Systems (CSCO). “There is a social engineering element to this. People are more likely to open a PDF file or Excel document, which are more trusted.”

Spammers now are also leveraging popular online applications to tout ads for everything from stock scams to Viagra. Subscribers to Google&39;s (SYMC) senior director of engineering.

New strains have largely supplanted image spam, which accounted for half of all spam in January. Image spam varies the content of individual messages - through colors, backgrounds, picture sizes or font types - and was harder to detect than text-based spam. Since software makers came up with a solution, image spam has dropped to 8% of all spam, Symantec says.

Erection Problems (Erectile Dysfunction) - Medications

Source:
erection problems (erectile dysfunction) that are
caused by blood vessel (vascular), hormonal, nervous system, or psychological
problems. They also may be used along with counseling to treat erection
problems that have psychological causes.

If erection problems could be caused by a
prescribed medication, it may be possible to change
the dose or try another medication. Do not change or stop taking any medication
without first talking with your health professional.

Medication Choices

News - Tributes to Arafat led by Blair

Prime Minister Tony Blair has led UK tributes to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died in the early hours of Thursday in a French hospital.

Giving his condolences to Mr Arafat’s family, the prime minister renewed his commitment to peace in the Middle East.

“President Arafat came to symbolise the Palestinian national movement,” he said in a statement.

Conservative leader Michael Howard said: “There will be a deep sense of loss among the Palestinian people.”

Mr Arafat, 75, had been in a coma since 3 November and on Tuesday suffered a brain haemorrhage. In his final hours, he had brain damage and kidney and liver failure.

It has not been made clear what illness the Palestinian leader was suffering from, although doctors ruled out cancer and poisoning.

Jack Straw said it would be “hard to imagine the Middle East without” Mr Arafat.

He said: “I want to express my deep sympathy and condolences to the Palestinian people on the death of Yasser Arafat.”

He said the Palestinian president had “created an international awareness” of the plight of his people and was a “towering figure” in the Arab world.

And he made clear the British Government would work with Mr Arafat’s successor.

The foreign secretary said he would be attending Mr Arafat’s funeral on behalf of the British Government.

Mr Blair said: “President Arafat… won the Nobel peace prize in 1994 jointly with Yitzhak Rabin in recognition of their efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East.

“He led his people to an historic acceptance of the need for a two-state solution.

“That goal of a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel is one that we must continue to work tirelessly to achieve. Peace in the Middle East must be the international community’s highest priority.

“We will do whatever we can, working with the US and the EU to help the parties reach a fair and durable settlement.”

Mr Howard said that Mr Arafat had “sought to stand up for [Palestinians’] interests”.

“But will be for history to judge whether the failure to achieve a Palestinian state existing alongside Israel… was the failure of circumstance or of will,” Mr Howard added.

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said Mr Arafat had been “a remarkable figure on the international stage for decades and helped achieve great strides for the Palestinian cause”.

But he added: “History will judge it as tragic that he was unable or unwilling to go the extra mile at a crucial time.

“It is to be hoped that a new generation of
leaders can now seriously advance the Middle East peace process.”

Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the “opportunity has got to be taken” by the international community “to press ahead to try and reach some settlement”.

He added: “For the last two years both Israel and the US have refused to deal with Arafat.

“To a large extent he has suffered political impotence, and that has inevitably had consequences for the extent to which the Palestinian cause has been seen to be of importance.”

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News - Celebrity Health - Sir Stirling Moss

In a series on celebrities and their health, the BBC News website talks to racing driver Sir Stirling Moss about his erectile dysfunction.

Sir Stirling, a spokesman for SortED in 10, the education campaign sponsored by drug’s manaufacturers Bayer, (makers of Levitra) was given an OBE in 1959 and knighted in 2000.

I have had this problem twice. The first time was after I had a crash in 1962 and was in a coma for four weeks.

I had a very attractive nurse and I turned to her and said, ‘I would love to do something about this but I can’t’.

The second time was when my prostate was taken out when I had cancer at 70. They cut it out and said I might have a problem with an erection.

I was diagnosed in a clinic in America, the Mayo Clinic, when I went for a complete check-up.

I said I wanted the cancer out. They gave me three options, but I said I just wanted an operation and I wanted it straight away.

As for the erectile dysfunction when I got that far ahead, because I did not realise straight away that there was a problem, I said to the doctor that I had a problem and he told me the options.

The impotence drug Viagra did not help me and I found an alternative called Cialis did not have very quick results, but a drug called Levitra suited my lifestyle. I took it and within 15 minutes I could be ‘in action’.

When I was in hospital getting treated for the prostate cancer I felt knocked out - it took quite a lot out of me.

This might have had something to do with the fact I had just turned 70 when I found I had cancer.

With the erectile dysfunction I felt frustrated when the treatment did not work and then elated when it did.

When you are with a person you know so well and are close to you can really feel the urge (for sex) and if you have erectile dysfunction you can not do anything about it.

You can feel really amorous and really horny but if you don’t get an erection your partner will not know anything about how you are feeling.

It is amazing how many people suffer from it. I think the government should give more funding to addressing this problem.

The biggest problem is that men will not come forward. Men worry that admitting they have the problem will reflect on their masculinity, but it has nothing to do with masculinity.

One in three men suffer from this and if they have got this problem they should go to their doctor and if they have got a partner they should go with them to see the doctor. It should be a shared problem.

Now I just feel that is a bit annoying that I have to take a pill to ‘get it up’.

You can’t think it will just get better. There are a lot of things that could be the cause - things like diabetes you should get it checked out.

News - Aid worker reflects on Peru quake

New Measure Of Sexual Arousal Found For Both Men And Women

China, US bust fake Viagra ring

Feds Close Viagra Loophole

Buying Drugs Online: It’s Convenient and Private, but Beware of ‘Rogue Sites’

Viagra May Help Crohn’s Disease

1 Disease, 2 Theories

The Viagra Response

Spammers find new ways to slip through

Erection Problems (Erectile Dysfunction) - Medications

Medication Choices

News - Tributes to Arafat led by Blair

News - Celebrity Health - Sir Stirling Moss

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