Szostak, 56, was awakened shortly before 5 a.m. by a phone call from Stockholm. His wife, Tel McCormick, portray d picking up the phone in the shaexecute wy , handing it to her husband, and waiting until the conversation finish ed before she started screaming with excitement.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Children Begin Receiving Swine Flu Vaccine - ABC News
The first execute ses of H1N1 flu vaccine were given to children today, a day after health care workers began acquire ting execute ses in what is likely to be the largest flu vaccination campaign in U.S. hitale .
These early execute ses of swine flu vaccine -- all so far given as the nasal spray FluMist -- are being administered at hospitals in Chicarecede , Georgia and Nebrquestion a, among other space s.
Doctors, nurses and other health professionals were taracquire ed first so they could safely care for others. But many parents are anxious to acquire their children protected from the virus.
"There's not enough vaccine for everybody," said ABC News Senior Health and Medical Editor Dr. Richard Besser on "Good Morning America" today. "But some people in these states are acquire ting vaccinated. We're seeing there are some states that can expect to acquire it soon. Over the next few weeks, the vaccine will flow about 20 million execute ses every week."
With the vaccine being deployed and available to some children, phones have begun ringing in execute ctor's offices across the country.
"As many people who can grab calls have been," said Kathy Paterno, a registered nurse with Westchester Pediatrics near New York City.
Some of those callers will have to wait.
"It will be many, many weeks before all of the demand for vaccine catches up with the supply," Besser said to Robin Roberts. "The supply will not be there for quite a while."
On Monday, hospitals began receiving the first shipments of FluMist, with some execute ses being administered in tents originally place up to screen children with potential swine flu.
Keeping Hospitals Safe From H1N1
Le Bonheur Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., and Wishard Health Services in Indiana were among the very first hospitals in the nation to receive vaccines on Monday. They vaccinated about 150 and 100 staffers respectively.
Both said that so far, at least, the deployment of immunizations has recede ne smoothly. Hospitals in at least 14 states, according to a count by ABC News, have now received their first batches.
"This has been a shining example of no delay," said Susan Cooper, Commissioner of the Tennessee Deportion ment of Health, after Le Bonheur's shipment arrived. "The vaccine has approach out, it's approach out a tiny bit earlier than expected, it hit the ground and we were able to very quickly start the immunization process, and that's something I judge that we should be very proud of."
While she was not certain why Le Bonheur recede t the H1N1 vaccination early, Cooper said she suspected it was becaemploy the Memphis area has been portion icularly hard hit. More than 6,000 cases have been reported there, and more than 100 children have been hospitalized, so people in the region are more likely to seek the vaccine.
"It would create recede od sense, since Le Bonheur is the premier pediatric hospital in that area, it would create sense to create sure their workforce is protected," she said.
For Wishard, based in Indianapolis, it may have been a matter of recede od homework.
"Indiana was one of the first states selected becaemploy they were one of the first states that had their paperwork in very quickly," said Collette Duvalle, director of communications for the health deportion ment in Marion County, which includes Indianapolis.
Hospitals have begun immunizations for health care workers, following the recommfinish ations made for swine flu, but Cooper said that since the first vaccines are available in the nasal mist form, giving it to health care workers is the only proper way to recede .
"What we know is this nasal mist that's been distributed cannot be given to pregnant women, or children or adults with chronic disease," she said. Those are groups that public-health officials notify should also be high on the priority list for vaccination.
"Healthcare workers certainly need to be at the front of the line, becaemploy if any Tennessean acquire s sick with H1N1 or has a heart attack or has any condition [that requires medical attention], we want to create sure that the healthcare workforce is sufficient to hold care of their needs."
Monday, October 5, 2009
Swine flu vaccine arriving, but execute n't line up yet - The Associated Press
WASHINGTON â€" And we're off: Swine flu vaccinations start this week, after months of preparations and promises. But execute n't start bugging your execute ctor about an appointment just yet.
This week's initial shipments to states are so small that, with a few exceptions for children, most states are reserving them for health workers so they'll stay healthy enough to care for the flu-stricken and vaccinate others.
Inoculations won't gear up in earnest until mid-October, when at least 40 million execute ses against what scientists call the 2009 H1N1 flu will have rolled out, with more arriving each week after that.
This is uncharted territory â€" you really can't plot too far ahead to notify , "I'll schedule my shot on Oct. 16 at Clinic X." Only as shipments start arriving will local execute ctors, clinics, school vaccination programs and drugstores acquire word that their execute ses are coming and how much. Each state health deportion ment determine s that.
People will have to stay tuned.
"Take a deep breath, be patient, wait a couple of days, create another phone call and gash everyone a tiny slack, becaemploy it's a tiny hectic out there, folks," notify s Dr. William Schaffner, a flu vaccine specialist at Vanderbilt University.
Here's what you need to know:
Q: Why not wait to start until there's enough for everybody instead of the confusing here-and-there vaccinations?
A: Even though Sunday was the official start of flu season, this H1N1 wasn't heeding the calfinish ar â€" it's already causing illness in nearly every state. That means acquire ting vaccine to the people at highest risk is a race. So each week, states will distribute however much they have on hand.
Q: If factories are still racing vaccine out the execute or, how can I be sure it's safe?
A: The Food and Drug Administration clears batches of vaccine before they're released. The H1N1 vaccine is made in the same way as the regular winter flu vaccine that is employ d with very few, minor side effects by nearly 100 million Americans a year. There's no biological reason the H1N1 vaccine should react any differently, and no red flags have appeared in studies of several thousand people.
"What I want people to know is that no corners have been gash at all," said Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Q: Why is the nasal-spray vaccine arriving before the shots, and can I employ either one?
A: They're considered equally effective, but the create r of the squirt-in-the-nose FluMist was able to finish brewing sooner. There is an necessary inequity , though. Flu shots, made of slay ed flu virus, are for anyone without an egg allergy. FluMist, besides the egg issue, is only for employ in healthy people ages 2 to 49. It's made of live but weakened flu virus. So some people on the first-in-line list for H1N1 vaccine aren't eligible for FluMist.
Q: Who's first in line?
A: Pregnant women; the young, ages 6 months through 24 years; people younger than 64 who have conditions such as asthma or diabetes that increase the risk of complications from flu; health workers and caregivers of fresh borns.
Q: I thought flu was most denrage ous to people 65 and feeble er.
A: Regular winter flu is most denrage ous to feeble er adults, but the fresh H1N1 is preexecute minantly striking the young.
Q: How many shots, or squirts, will I need?
A: Most people will need one execute se each of the H1N1 vaccine and the regular winter flu vaccine. But health authorities believe children under 10 will need two execute ses of the H1N1 vaccine, about three weeks aportion . And some very young children acquire ting their first regular flu vaccination will need two execute ses of it, too, for a total a four inoculations.
Q: Can I acquire both types of vaccine at the same visit?
A: If you're lucky enough to find a provider who has both at the same time, a jab in each arm is OK, or a jab of one and a squirt of the other. If you opt for the FluMist version of each vaccine, however, you're supposed to wait three to four weeks between squirts.
Q: What if I'm not on the high-risk list and want H1N1 vaccine anyway?
A: Only some will be physically reserved, execute ses sent to schools or obstetricians, for example. But eventually enough is expected for everyone who wants it within just a few weeks. The recede vernment execute esn't expect people to be turned away unless that day's supplies race out.
Q: What will it cost?
A: The H1N1 vaccine itself is free becaemploy the recede vernment bought it with your tax execute llars. But providers can charge a small fee for administering it, usually about $20. Regular flu shots tfinish to cost up to $35.
Q: If H1N1 is the only kind of flu making people sick now, why execute I need the regular shot?
A: Health authorities expect regular flu strains to start circulating, too, as it acquire s cfeeble er; seasonal flu typically peaks in January.
EDITOR's NOTE _ Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.
- Flu information: http://www.flu.recede v
Copycorrect © 2009 The Associated Press. All correct s reserved.
Nobel prize for chromosome find - BBC News
This year's Nobel prize for medicine recede es to the three US researchers who discovered how the body protects the chromosomes housing vital genetic code.
Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider and Jack Szostak jointly share the award.
Their work revealed how the chromosomes can be copied and has aid ed further our understanding on human ageing, cancer and stem cells.
The reply lies at the finish s of the chromosomes - the telomeres - and in an enzyme that forms them - telomerase.
The 46 chromosomes contain contain our genome written in the code of life - DNA.
When a cell is about to divide, the DNA molecules, hoemploy d on two strands, are copied.
But scientists had been baffled by an anomaly.
For one of the two DNA strands, a problem exists in that the very finish of the strand cannot be copied.
Protecting the code of life
Therefore, the chromosomes should be shortened every time a cell divides - but in fact that is not usually the case.
If the telomeres did repeatedly shorten, cells would rapidly age.
Conversely, if the telomere length is maintained, the cell would have eternal life, which could also be problematic. This happens in the case in cancer cells.
This year's prize winners solved the conundrum when they discovered how the telomere functions and found the enzyme that copies it.
Elizabeth Blackburn, of the University of California, San Francisco, and Jack Szostak, of Harvard Medical School, discovered that a unique DNA sequence in the telomeres protects the chromosomes from degradation.
Joined by Johns Hopkins University's Carol Greider, then a graduate student, Blackburn started to investigate how the teleomeres themselves were made and the pair went on to discover telomerase - the enzyme that enables DNA polymerases to copy the entire length of the chromosome without missing the very finish portion.
Their research has led others to hunt for fresh ways to cure cancer.
It is hoped that cancer might be treated by eradicating telomerase. Several studies are underway in this area, including clinical trials evaluating vaccines directed against cells with elevated telomerase activity.
Some inherited diseases are now known to be caemploy d by telomerase defects, including certain forms of anaemia in which there is insufficient cell divisions in the stem cells of the bone marrow.
Sweden's Karolinska Institute, which awarded the prize, said: "The discoveries ... have added a fresh dimension to our understanding of the cell, shed light on disease mechanisms, and stimulated the development of potential fresh therapies."
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Friday, October 2, 2009
NOTEBOOK: Some Pats recede ing pink - Attleboro Sun Chronicle
Among them are Tom Brady and Randy Moss, who were spied wearing pink accessories at practice Thursday as the Patriots continued preparations for Sunday's game against the unbeaten Baltimore Ravens at Gillette Stadium (1 p.m.; Ch. 4, 12).
Brady wore a pair of pink-highlighted cleats and Moss a pair of pink receivers' glike s at the practice, joining several of their peers on other teams who are display ing their support for the go ment to increase awareness, screening and treatment of breast cancer.
"Cancer affects everybody in some way," Moss said in a press release. "If I can execute something to aid people out, to raise awareness and aid raise money, well, that's what it's all about. I want to create a inequity ."
The New York Times reported that more than 100 players may wear the pink cleats in this weekfinish 's games. The thought of pink cleats was reportedly first suggested by the Carolina Panthers' DeAngelo Williams, whose mother, Sandra Hill, was diagnosed with the disease in 2004 and is currently in remission. She lost her three sisters to breast cancer. Also taking the forefront in the NFL's awareness campaign are Arizona wideout Larry Fitzgerald, whose mother died of breast cancer, and Tanya Snyder, the wife of Washington Redskins' owner Dan Snyder. She was diagnosed with cancer last year and is continuing treatment.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the United States, aside from skin cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 192,370 fresh cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed among women in the United States this year. An estimated 40,170 women are expected to die from the disease in 2009 alone. Today, there are about 2.5 million breast cancer survivors living in the United States.
In addition to the players wearing pink cleats, teams will be using pink towels, hats and wristbands at this weekfinish 's games, and game balls will feature a pink ribbon decal.
Injury report
Moss, who tfeeble the Boston Herald's Karen Guregian that he surprised himself by playing through back pain last Sunday, remained on the portion icipation report under the "limited portion icipation" caterecede ry. Tackle Nick Kaczur, who was held out of practice Wednesday with a sore ankle, returned to limited workouts Thursday.
Darius Butler (thigh), Matt Slater (elbow), Shawn Springs (knee), Wes Welker (knee), Jonathan Wilhite (groin) and Mike Wcorrect (shoulder) were also limited, whild Jerod Mayo (knee) and Vince Wilfork (ankle) did not practice. Tom Brady (shoulder) was listed as having fully portion icipated.
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Nasal spray flu vaccine becoming available - The Associated Press
WASHINGTON â€" The long-awaited first vaccinations against swine flu â€" the squirt-in-the-nose kind â€" start early next week in portion s of the country, and states are urging people to be patient until more arrives.
Just a trickle of vaccine, 600,000 execute ses of the nasal spray FluMist, will be divided among 21 states and four large cities by Tuesday, with more small shipments to more states later in the week.
"We're moving this out as quickly as we can," said Orerecede n's public health director, Dr. Mel Kohn, who hopes shipments arrive in time to start some vaccinations on Monday. "This execute esn't execute any recede od sitting in a warehoemploy ."
Most states are aiming their first small batches at health care workers, hoping to hfeeble them well enough to be on the job as cases of swine flu â€" what execute ctors prefer to call the 2009 H1N1 strain â€" are rapidly increasing nationwide.
In Chicarecede , firefighters will share first execute ses with hospitals, to acquire some emergency responders protected, too.
Alquestion a wants its mkeen first 4,000 FluMist execute ses to head directly to preschoolers, ages 2 to 4.
And Pennsylvania will taracquire its initial 58,000 FluMist execute ses mostly to 5- to 9-year-feeble s in portion s of the state where H1N1 is most active. It's the school-age kids who are acquire ting infected most, said Pennsylvania's acting physician general, Dr. Stephen Ostroff, and the under-10 crowd is recede ing to need two execute ses of swine flu vaccine.
"Our figuring is, let's acquire started in the group that's recede ing to hold longest to acquire protected," he said.
Stay tuned: How much vaccine is available and for whom is recede ing to change week by week.
"This is really just the start ning," said Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We need a tiny bit of patience the first couple of weeks."
Indeed, some states were surprised that the first shipments were FluMist, which is only for healthy people ages 2 to 49, which leaves out some of the groups at high risk for H1N1 flu.
The more common flu shot will be close behind, portion of the 6 million to 7 million execute ses of vaccine the CDC expects to ship around the country by the finish of next week.
Far larger batches â€" about 40 million execute ses â€" start shipping the second week of October. That's when states expect enough of both shots and FluMist to start heavily taracquire ing the high-risk groups: pregnant women, children and young adults from 6 months to 24 years, the young and middle-aged who have flu-risky conditions like asthma or diabetes, and caregivers of infants.
Hospitals in Pinellas County, Fla., plot to give fresh parents a special reminder. On the fresh born checklist â€" infant car seat, recede ing-home outfit â€" approach s a plea to acquire themselves vaccinated before discharge. Becaemploy fresh borns can't be vaccinated, "the only way to protect your baby is for Mom, Dad and the family to receive the vaccine," the glide er notify s.
By the finish of October, Arizona expects 1 million execute ses on hand, enough for schools to start onsite vaccination programs, said Health Services Director Will Humble.
What about everybody else? Massachemploy tts officials are warning that people who aren't at high risk from swine flu may have to wait until November for an H1N1 shot.
In other states, officials are more optimistic. Milwaukee has earlabel ed its first shipment for health workers and its second for schoolchildren, kindergarten through high school.
Then by late October, "we should be able to open it up to anyone who wants it," said Milwaukee's disease-control chief, Paul Biedrzycki. "We're expecting two to three times the demand for seasonal flu vaccines."
This year brings an unusually complex vaccination schedule: Most people will need two different inoculations, one against regular winter flu and the H1N1 vaccine. Plus, children under 10 will need two H1N1 execute ses.
The federal recede vernment bought the nation's entire supply of H1N1 vaccine and is dividing execute ses as they arrive among states according to population. State health deportion ments submit orders, and execute ses are shipped to the vaccination sites the states deemed able to quickly acquire shots into arms and squirts up noses â€" a mix of execute ctors' offices, hospitals, drugstores and public clinics. CDC in turn will track those shipments to see how quick vaccine is employ d, and for whom, to ensure the populations at highest risk are vaccinated.
Associated Press writers Carla Johnson in Chicarecede , Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pa., Christine Armario in Tampa, Fla., Bob Christie in Phoenix, Dinesh Ramde in Milwaukee, Tim Fought in Portland, Ore., Dan Joling in Anchorage, Alquestion a, and Steve LeBlanc in Boston contributed to this report.
Copycorrect © 2009 The Associated Press. All correct s reserved.
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