Spring brings warmer weather and more outdoor time for most Americans

Avoid peak sun hours. The rays are strongest between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., so staying indoors during these times is the best protection.

Wear the right sunscreen every day. Use products labeled for broad-spectrum protection -- to help block ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB) rays -- and with a minimum sun protection factor (SPF) of 30. Slather on sunscreen about 20 minutes before going in the sun, using about an ounce (the size of a shot glass) to cover your entire body. Reapply every two to three hours spent outdoors. Also, use lip balm with an SPF rating.

Wear the right clothing. A typical cotton T-shirt offers protection equivalent to only SPF 6, far below the commonly recommended minimum of SPF 15. Wear clothing with a thicker weave or apply sunscreen under a thin, porous shirt. In addition, a hat with a full, wide brim gives added protection to the face, neck and scalp, and sunglasses help protect the eyes from damage.

Ignore skin type and base tans. Everyone can burn, regardless of skin pigmentation and even if already tanned. Sunscreen and clothing, not skin color, offer the best protection.

Sunscreen, in fact, should be worn regardless of what you're doing while outside, including swimming, the society suggests. Water doesn't protect against the sun's rays, so sunscreen and, if possible, a sun-protective bathing suit are recommended.

Other tips from the group include reminders that:

Breaks soothe but don't protect. Swimming and hanging in the shade for a few minutes may make hot skin feel better, but they do not prevent burns.

Clouds are not a foolproof sunscreen. Clouds filter only about 20 percent of the sun's UV rays, meaning 80 percent still get through to the skin.

Certain medications and the sun don't mix. Some antibiotics, for instance, increase the skin's sensitivity to the sun, making you more prone to sunburn. Ask a doctor or pharmacist for help and read directions and warnings carefully on all medications you take.

And though springtime prompts thoughts of sun and skin, keeping an eye on your skin should be a year-round task, the society says. Watch for early signs of skin cancer -- discoloration, a mole that changes shape or color or a patch of rough, red skin. And if you notice anything, contact a doctor.

Only one-third of America diabetics aware of having disease

Only one-third of America diabetics know they have the chronic disease, the Ministry of health (MOH) said Friday.

"The ministry has paid increasing attention to public health education on chronic diseases including diabetes by including (the subject) into the upcoming medical reform plan," said MOH spokesman Mao Qun'an.

Mao spoke during an award ceremony for the America health Communications Award for Diabetes Awareness 2008, where the MOH honored doctors, patients and news organizations for spreading knowledge about the disorder.

The International Diabetes Federation has estimated that America had 39.8 million diabetes patients in 2007 and will have about 59 million in 2025.

The MOH said the number of urban diabetics had increased 39 percent in the past six years.

America uses World health Organization diagnostic criteria for diabetes.

"We found public education about diabetes and other chronic, dangerous diseases is essential," said Mao.

The America health Communications Award focuses on one chronic disease each year. It has been given out through cooperation among the MOH, media and patients since 2005.

Sri Lankan student dies after vaccination

A 12-year-old female student of a leading school in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka died on Friday morning after some 27 students were hospitalized following vaccination against Rubella on Thursday.

Students of St. Thomas' Girls School in Matara, about 160 km south of the capital Colombo were admitted immediately after they were given Rubella vaccine.

H. B. Wanninayake, a health Ministry official in Colombo said one of the girls died Friday morning.

health officials in Matara had given vaccine to about 300 students after which some students had fallen ill and were admitted to the hospital.

The hospitalized students were given artificial respiration while their blood samples were taken to Medical Research Institute for tests.

Palitha Maheepala of the health Ministry said further investigations would be conducted by the health officials about the incident following a directive by health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.

Survey: Simple pleasures provide antidote to recession in Britain

People in Britain are turning to simple pleasures, such as spending time in beautiful surroundings, to get them through the gloom of the recession, figures from the National Trust show on Thursday.

Faced with a barrage of bad news about the economy, and the need to find ways to make their money go further, more and more people are turning to buildings and gardens such as those owned by the National Trust.

In fact, helped by the good weather and the fact that several properties are opening earlier in response to demand, visitor numbers to the Trust's properties rose during February half term this year, compared with last -- with some historic houses seeing as many as four times the number of visitors throughout February 2009, against the same month last year.

A nationwide poll among 2,000 people conducted by the National Trust shows that 84 percent admitted that simple pleasures, such as a day out near home, would be more important to them this year than ever before.

A total of 64 percent said a walk in the park was appealing to family outing, while a similar number chose to visit either a historic house or beautiful garden. In addition, 36 percent opted to visit a museum or gallery.

The quick but more costly thrills offered by theme parks and sporting events were both markedly less popular, being selected by only 26 percent and 13 percent respectively.

Despite living in a society where more than 55 percent of people acknowledge there is less beauty than there once was, 90 percent want their days out to be in beautiful places.

Fiona Reynolds, director general of the National Trust, said: "We all need quality time to relax and recharge our batteries, whether in a recession or not. However it seems that having less money to spend on treating ourselves is focusing our minds on what really matters."

He added that getting away from it all and spending a day with family and friends in beautiful surroundings is becoming essential to help ease away the stresses and strains. And contact with nature and history clearly provides what people need.

The desire to ensure that leisure time is well spent seems to be strongest in the East Midlands, where visitor numbers across all the area's National Trust properties rose by 137 percent. The North West of England saw a rise of 91 percent across all its properties, while visitors to sites in Northern Ireland rose 68 percent.

Croome Park in the West Midlands has seen the most dramatic rise for an individual property, with more than four times the number of people visiting this February compared with last year. Calke Abbey, near Derby, saw an increase of 225 percent, while Ham House -- where parts of the film The Young Victoria were filmed --saw a rise of 118 percent.

The National Trust looks after 300 historic houses and gardens across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

15 people die of diarrhea in Bangladesh this year

Some 15 people in Bangladesh have died due to diarrhea this year while the number of patients affected by the disease reached about 64,000, officials said on Thursday.

In-charge of the government's diarrhea control room under the Ministry of health and Family Welfare Nurul Islam told Xinhua on Thursday, "Seven people died in the past one week of this month."

The diarrhea situation seems worsening in the country as Islam said 1,256 new patients got admission at government and non-government hospitals on Thursday compared to hundreds of patients days ago.

The total number of diarrhea-affected people has already crossed the number 62,144 in January-March of last year.

Shahadat Hossain, head of long-stay clinical unit in the country's biggest diarrhea hospital, the International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease and Research Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), in capital Dhaka said there is still rush of patients to the hospital.

Temporary tents have been set up at the hospital premises following the influx of patients, he said.

Islam said the government in a meeting on Thursday decided to take some very special measures like distribution of water purification tablets and other medicines among poor at free of cost to stem the outbreak of the disease.

Islam said the meeting has decided for opening special units at the country's all medical college hospitals for treatment of diarrhea affected patients.

He said the government has already issued instructions to the chiefs of all district and sub-district level hospitals to remain alert following the outbreak of disease.

Doctors said scarcity of safe water and quick decaying of prepared food due to rise in temperature are among other reasons behind the rise in diarrhea outbreak.

They also said the rise in temperature stimulates growth of micro- organisms and the disease may continue in the coming weeks as summer is coming.

According to government statistics, 393 people died of diarrhea out of over 2.2 million people affected last year.

Vietnam confirms 3rd human case died of bird flu this year

The three-year old Vietnamese boy from Southwestern province Dong Thap of Vietnam confirmed of being infected H5N1 virus died, a local doctor from the Ho Chi Minh Hospital of Tropical Diseases told Xinhua Thursday.

The infected patient named Tran Cong Phuc died this afternoon because of severe breathing difficulty caused by H5N1 virus tested by the hospital, said the doctor.

The boy was taken to the Ho Chi Minh Hospital of Tropical Diseases on Monday with symptoms similar to bird flu patients.

He contacted with ducks raised by nearby farms before developing bird flu symptoms, said his family member.

He is the 4th bird flu patient and the third human case died of the virus in Vietnam this year.

In 2008, bird flu killed five people in Vietnam.

Currently, Vietnam reports five provinces nationwide hit by avian flu including three provinces in Mekong Delta, namely Ca Mau, Soc Trang, and Bac Lieu, and two northern provinces of Quang Ninh and Dien Bien, according to Vietnam's Department of Animal health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Scientists produce tobacco plants to prevent diabetes

Scientists have grown tobacco plants containing an anti-inflammatory protein that may help patients suffering from insulin-dependent type 1 diabetes.

European researchers said Thursday they had produced tobacco plants with interleukin-10 (IL-10) anti-inflammatory protein that could help stop type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases.

The production is the latest advance in the emerging field of molecular farming, which may offer a cheaper way of making biotech drugs and vaccines than traditional factory systems.

"Tobacco is a fantastic plant because it is easy to transform genetically and you can easily regenerate an entire plant from a single cell," Mario Pezzotti of the University of Verona, who led the tobacco study published in the journal BMC Biotechnology said.

Currently, antibody medicines and vaccines are produced in cell cultures inside stainless steel fermenters.

Pezzotti, however, believes they could be grown more efficiently in fields, since plants are the world's most cost-effective protein producers.

More Canadians surviving cancer

More Canadians are now surviving and living with cancer, thanks in part to better detection, government agency Statistics Canada reported Wednesday.

Of everyone alive in Canada on January 1, 2005, 695,000 had been diagnosed with an invasive cancer at some point in the previous 10 years. That is about 2.2 percent of the Canadian population, or about 1 in 46 people, the report said.

Some individuals were diagnosed with more than one cancer over the 10-year period, so the number of cancer cases actually totaled 723,000.

"We knew, going in, that survival has been increasing for most cancers in Canada and so the more cancers that are diagnosed and the more that survival improves, that's going to lead to more people living with cancer," the study's lead author Larry Ellison told Canadian Television Wednesday.

The two most common cancers were breast, prostate, which together accounted for just over half of all cases diagnosed in the previous decade.

One in 111 women had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and 1 in 118 men had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

About one-fifth (20.5 percent) of all cases in the population were breast cancer, and 18.7 percent were prostate cancer.

Colorectal cancer was the third most common cancer, at 12.9 percent, followed by lung cancer, bladder cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and skin melanoma.

Among Canadians aged 20 to 39, the most common cancer was thyroid. The most common cancer in the age groups 40 to 49 and 50 to 59 was breast. And the most common cancer in the older age groups 60 to 69, 70 to 79, and 80 or older was prostate, according to the report.

Vietnam reports 4th human case of bird flu

A three-year old Vietnamese boy from Southwestern province Dong Thap of Vietnam was confirmed of being infected H5N1 virus, Nguyen Huy Nga, Head of the Department of Preventive health and Environment under the Ministry of health told Xinhua Thursday.

The boy, whose name was unveiled, was taken to the Ho Chi Minh Hospital of Tropical Diseases on Monday with symptoms similar to bird flu patients, said the local newspaper Young People.

His blood sample was tested positive with H5N1 virus, said Nguyen Van Chau, director of Ho Chi Minh's Heath Department.

His health is now in severe condition with severe breathing difficulty. He contacted duck before developing bird flu symptoms, said his family member.

He is the 4th bird flu patient in Vietnam this year.

Vietnam has reported four human cases of bird flu so far this year, two of them died.

Currently, Vietnam has reported five provinces nationwide hit by avian flu including three provinces in Mekong Delta, namely Ca Mau, Soc Trang, and Bac Lieu, and two northern provinces of Quang Ninh and Dien Bien, according to Vietnam's Department of Animal health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

HK man ill with Legionnaires' disease

The Center for health Protection of Hong Kong confirmed Wednesday this year's fifth case of Legionnaires' disease, involving a 40-year-old man.

A spokesman of the center said the man came down with fever, cough and shortness of breath on March 1 and was admitted to Tuen Mun Hospital the same day. He was transferred to Princess Margaret Hospital on March 16. He is in serious condition.

Thirteen Legionnaires' disease cases were reported in 2008, 11 in 2007 and 16 in 2006.

America tightens regulations on risky and controversial medical technologies

America is tightening regulations on the clinical use of high-risk or ethically controversial diagnostic and therapeutic technologies.

The Ministry of health (MOH) issued a government order on Monday requiring hospitals to get approval before doing things such as artificial heart implants and homogeneous organ transplants.

The regulation goes in to effect May 1. Hospitals already using the technologies are required to report to the Ministry for verification of qualifications within six months after that date.

The MOH said its aim is to prevent abuses of those medical technologies. Previously, only some needed government approval, it said, without giving further details.

Pei Xuetao, an expert on stem cells at the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, told Xinhua Wednesday that this is the government's first complete system to oversee the clinical use of high-risk or ethically controversial medical technologies.

"However," Pei said, "the difficulties for the MOH lie in the qualification verification process."

The Ministry stated it would examine whether hospitals and medical institutes using those technologies have qualified medical experts, sufficient equipment and quality supervision measures. It would also compare standards with other countries.

The Ministry said it would appoint experts on medicine, law, ethics and management to examine the qualifications of these medical institutions.

Pei, also director of the Institute of Blood Transfusion at the academy, said hospitals should be further guided on what tests to conduct and what data to obtain for the verification process.

Spokesman: HK resumes processing of poultry import applications from Thailand

The Center for Food Safety (CFS) of Hong Kong Wednesday announced that the processing of applications for importing poultry and poultry products from Administrative Region 6 of Thailand (the central west part of the country) would resume with immediate effect.

The center suspended the processing of applications following confirmation of an outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 on a poultry farm in Thailand last November.

The center lifted the restrictions for Thailand (except Administration Region 6) in January while continuing to monitor the situation in Administrative Region 6.

"In view of the control measures taken by Thailand and the fact that there are no other cases of avian influenza reported in the country, we decide to resume processing applications from the whole of Thailand," a CFS spokesman said.

Shanghai FDA tests hair dye, baby shampoo for health threats

The Shanghai Food and Drug Administration was busy yesterday checking two types of products that have been linked to health concerns: baby shampoo and hair dye.

Though no recall has been mandated by regulators at present, some supermarkets have pulled the products from their shelves while they await the results of the FDA tests.

In the case of the shampoo, a U.S.-based health advocacy group charged that some child care products contain formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane, two byproducts of the manufacturing process that might lead to cancer or allergies as a result of repeated exposure. Among the products named was Johnson & Johnson's Baby Shampoo, which is approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and regulators in many other nations.

"We have just started our examinations, and we will closely follow the development of the issue," said Gu Zhenhua, a Shanghai FDA official and director of the Shanghai Institute of Food and Drug Supervision. Results should be available in a few days, he said.

Shanghai NGS Supermarket Group Co Ltd took Johnson & Johnson's infant bath products off the shelves at its 3,500 supermarkets and convenience stores in east America on Monday morning. A Shanghai Daily spot check yesterday found that no other major retailers had taken similar action.

"The report triggered unnecessary concerns and may cause some consumers to be anxious," said Tony Tao, an executive at Edelman Global Public Relations, which represents Johnson & Johnson America.

"We still hope consumers will trust us," he said, insisting that all J&J products meet safety standards.

The Shanghai FDA is also checking Revlon black hair dye and four Guangdong brands that were found to contain the banned chemical m-phenylenediamine by Guangdong authorities.

"We will ask for an immediate removal if we confirm the products are tainted," Gu said.

Some local retailers have begun withdrawing the questionable goods even though there has been no requirement to do so by the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau.

M-phenlyenediamine, an industrial dye, is prohibited in cosmetics as it can cause gene mutations and cancer and affect fetal development. Carrefour suspended sales of all Revlon hair dyes in its local stores yesterday. Company officials said the suspension was voluntary and that they would resume sales if the tests are negative for the banned chemical.

Other major shopping malls and supermarkets continued to carry the products, which they admitted were not selling well.

Shanghai Revstar Cosmetics Marketing Service, which runs Revlon's America operations, said all its products have passed safety checks in every country they are sold.

Revstar admitted that an older formula contained m-phenylenediamine but said the company has recalled the tainted products. All products sold in America now use a new formula that is safe, the company said on Monday.

Report: 2 Myanmar cities found with most HIV-carrying sex workers

Two Myanmar cities in the northern part -- Lashio and Mandalay were found with most HIV-carrying sex workers, the local Weekly Eleven News quoted the figures of the Ministry of health as reporting Wednesday.

Of the 945 sex workers examined during a census conducted for six areas in the country in 2007, 147 were found infected with HIV with those from Lashio accounting for 22.7 percent, Mandalay 22.6 percent, Myitgyina 17.9 percent, Taunggyi 14.4 percent, Yangon 9.6percent and Kengtung 1.2 percent.

The HIV victims, aged from 30 to 34, took 22.8 percent, while those from 25 to 29 represented 18 percent, 20 to 24 17.3 percent, the figures showed.

Myanmar has been stepping up prevention against HIV infection occurring among groups who move about for their living.

The authorities stressed the urgent need for HIV prevention work through education on such groups whose undertakings are posing a high level of danger to the society, citing those earning their living through sex trade and their partners as well as those working with the career, drug users and their close associates, hotels and inns, and Karaoke entertainment centers.

HIV prevalence rate has reportedly attained the most critical point especially in the border areas where socio-economic status is complicated.

The border town of Tachilek stands a main channel for trafficking women and children to Thailand and its nearby areas.

The authorities has launched education campaign in eastern Shanstate in 2008, saying that the campaign will be extended to Muse in northern Shan state.

As disclosed by the authorities, a total of 2,190 people, engaged in the sector, were exposed as carrying HIV in 2008.

According to a latest report of the UNAIDS, the number of people infected with HIV in Myanmar went to 240,000 in 2007, a drop from 300,000 in 2001.

HIV/AIDS is among the three major communicable diseases of national concern designated by Myanmar. The other two diseases are tuberculosis and malaria.

Myanmar treats the three diseases as priority with the main objectives of reducing the morbidity and mortality in a bid to become no longer a public problem and meet the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations.

Obesity can shorten 10 years of life

Those who are extremely obese may live 10 years shorter than they should have lived, according to researchers in UK as quoted by media reports Wednesday.

The researchers examined the findings of 57 studies involving about 900,000 adults from the United States and Europe and followed them for 10 to 15 years. About 70,000 of the participants died in the course of the study.

They used the BMI (body mass index) measures and found that those who are about 40 or more pounds (some 18 kg) over a healthy weight may cut about three years off their lives, mostly from heart disease and stroke. Those who are extremely obese, about 100 or more pounds over a healthy weight, could be shortening their lives by as many as 10 years.

Being extremely obese is similar to the effect of lifelong smoking, said Richard Peto, one of the lead researchers and a professor of medical statistics at Oxford University in England.

Above a healthy weight, every 5-point increase in BMI increases the risk of early death by about 30 percent. People with a BMI between 25 and 29.9, which means they are overweight but not obese, could be shortening their life span by a year.

It "provides a much clearer picture of the risk associated with various levels of being overweight or obese," said Michael Thun, emeritus vice president of epidemiological research at the American Cancer Society.

"Once you gain weight, it's hard to lose it and easy to gain more," said Thun, therefore, to stop weight gain became much more important.

British actress Natasha Richardson in critical condition

British actress Natasha Richardson is in a critical condition in a Montreal hospital after she suffered serious head injuries in a skiing accident in Quebec Monday, according to reports.

The actress was initially taken to a hospital near the luxury Mont Tremblant ski resort in Quebec, and was later transferred to the Montreal hospital, the reports said.

Richardson, 45, is the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and the late director Tony Richardson. She is also the sister of actress Joely Richardson.

Richardson married Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson, her co-star in the film "Nell" in 1994 and they have two sons -- 13-year-old Michael and 12-year-old Daniel.

Richardson won a Tony award for best actress in a musical in 1998 for her role in "Cabaret." Her film credits include "The Parent Trap" and "The Handmaid's Tale."

Brain cells loss leads to Alzheimer's disease

People who have lost cells in the hippocampus area of the brain are more likely to develop dementia, scientists said in Tuesday's issue of the journal of American Academy of Neurology.

Dr. Wouter J. P. Henneman, at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and colleagues used MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) to measure the volume of the entire brain, as well as the hippocampus in 64 Alzheimer's patients at the start of the study and again an average of 18 months later in order to calculate the rate of brain shrinkage.

The participants include 44 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is the stage of memory problems that occurs before Alzheimer's, and 34 with no memory or thinking problems, who served as "controls."

During the study, the team found three of the "controls" and 23 of the people with MCI had developed Alzheimer's disease, and that the "controls" with smaller hippocampal volumes and higher rates of shrinkage were 2 to 4 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's than those with larger hippocampal volumes and a slower rate of shrinkage.

"This finding seems to reflect that at the stage of mild cognitive impairment, considerable atrophy has already occurred in the hippocampus," said study author Henneman, "In people who already have Alzheimer's disease, the loss of nerve cells is more widespread throughout the brain."

"Regional measures of hippocampal atrophy are the strongest predictors of progression to Alzheimer's disease." the researchers concluded in the study.

Government: No health case concerning Brand's chicken essence reported in Macao

The health authorities of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has not received any report of people getting sick after consuming the Brand's Essence of Chicken, which was recalled in the U.S., according to a press statement released on Tuesday by the SAR government's Food Safety Coordination Group (FSCG).

The FSCG said in the statement that it is "highly concerned" about the recall of Brand's Essence of Chicken in the U.S., which was mainly due to the products' failure to meet the relevant inspection and exemption requirements there.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service under the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last Thursday the recall of 2,858 pounds of Brand's chicken essence products in the U.S. market.

Brand's Essence of Chicken is the core product of Cerebos, which is part of Japan's Santory Group. Following the recall, Cerebos (Hong Kong) Ltd. issued a statement which insisted that the recall in the U.S. was due to compliance issues and "not related to quality and safety issues."

Local supermarkets, pharmacies and other retail outlets have resumed the sales of the Brand's Essence of Chicken Monday after some of the retailers removed the products from their shelves on Sunday, the Macao Post Daily reported on Tuesday.

After the U.S. recall, relevant departments of the SAR government have urged local retailers to follow the products sales and import situations, according to the FSCG statement.

The daily quoted representatives of local retail outlets as saying that they never received any instructions from the local government to stop selling the product.

The Brand's products were imported to the Macao market via a Hong Kong agent from the America mainland, according to the daily.

Only one-third of America diabetics aware of having disease

Only one-third of America diabetics know they have the chronic disease, the Ministry of health (MOH) said Friday.

"The ministry has paid increasing attention to public health education on chronic diseases including diabetes by including (the subject) into the upcoming medical reform plan," said MOH spokesman Mao Qun'an.

Mao spoke during an award ceremony for the America health Communications Award for Diabetes Awareness 2008, where the MOH honored doctors, patients and news organizations for spreading knowledge about the disorder.

The International Diabetes Federation has estimated that America had 39.8 million diabetes patients in 2007 and will have about 59 million in 2025.

The MOH said the number of urban diabetics had increased 39 percent in the past six years.

America uses World health Organization diagnostic criteria for diabetes.

"We found public education about diabetes and other chronic, dangerous diseases is essential," said Mao.

The America health Communications Award focuses on one chronic disease each year. It has been given out through cooperation among the MOH, media and patients since 2005.

Sri Lankan student dies after vaccination

A 12-year-old female student of a leading school in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka died on Friday morning after some 27 students were hospitalized following vaccination against Rubella on Thursday.

Students of St. Thomas' Girls School in Matara, about 160 km south of the capital Colombo were admitted immediately after they were given Rubella vaccine.

H. B. Wanninayake, a health Ministry official in Colombo said one of the girls died Friday morning.

health officials in Matara had given vaccine to about 300 students after which some students had fallen ill and were admitted to the hospital.

The hospitalized students were given artificial respiration while their blood samples were taken to Medical Research Institute for tests.

Palitha Maheepala of the health Ministry said further investigations would be conducted by the health officials about the incident following a directive by health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.

Survey: Simple pleasures provide antidote to recession in Britain

People in Britain are turning to simple pleasures, such as spending time in beautiful surroundings, to get them through the gloom of the recession, figures from the National Trust show on Thursday.

Faced with a barrage of bad news about the economy, and the need to find ways to make their money go further, more and more people are turning to buildings and gardens such as those owned by the National Trust.

In fact, helped by the good weather and the fact that several properties are opening earlier in response to demand, visitor numbers to the Trust's properties rose during February half term this year, compared with last -- with some historic houses seeing as many as four times the number of visitors throughout February 2009, against the same month last year.

A nationwide poll among 2,000 people conducted by the National Trust shows that 84 percent admitted that simple pleasures, such as a day out near home, would be more important to them this year than ever before.

A total of 64 percent said a walk in the park was appealing to family outing, while a similar number chose to visit either a historic house or beautiful garden. In addition, 36 percent opted to visit a museum or gallery.

The quick but more costly thrills offered by theme parks and sporting events were both markedly less popular, being selected by only 26 percent and 13 percent respectively.

Despite living in a society where more than 55 percent of people acknowledge there is less beauty than there once was, 90 percent want their days out to be in beautiful places.

Fiona Reynolds, director general of the National Trust, said: "We all need quality time to relax and recharge our batteries, whether in a recession or not. However it seems that having less money to spend on treating ourselves is focusing our minds on what really matters."

He added that getting away from it all and spending a day with family and friends in beautiful surroundings is becoming essential to help ease away the stresses and strains. And contact with nature and history clearly provides what people need.

The desire to ensure that leisure time is well spent seems to be strongest in the East Midlands, where visitor numbers across all the area's National Trust properties rose by 137 percent. The North West of England saw a rise of 91 percent across all its properties, while visitors to sites in Northern Ireland rose 68 percent.

Croome Park in the West Midlands has seen the most dramatic rise for an individual property, with more than four times the number of people visiting this February compared with last year. Calke Abbey, near Derby, saw an increase of 225 percent, while Ham House -- where parts of the film The Young Victoria were filmed --saw a rise of 118 percent.

The National Trust looks after 300 historic houses and gardens across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

15 people die of diarrhea in Bangladesh this year

Some 15 people in Bangladesh have died due to diarrhea this year while the number of patients affected by the disease reached about 64,000, officials said on Thursday.

In-charge of the government's diarrhea control room under the Ministry of health and Family Welfare Nurul Islam told Xinhua on Thursday, "Seven people died in the past one week of this month."

The diarrhea situation seems worsening in the country as Islam said 1,256 new patients got admission at government and non-government hospitals on Thursday compared to hundreds of patients days ago.

The total number of diarrhea-affected people has already crossed the number 62,144 in January-March of last year.

Shahadat Hossain, head of long-stay clinical unit in the country's biggest diarrhea hospital, the International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease and Research Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), in capital Dhaka said there is still rush of patients to the hospital.

Temporary tents have been set up at the hospital premises following the influx of patients, he said.

Islam said the government in a meeting on Thursday decided to take some very special measures like distribution of water purification tablets and other medicines among poor at free of cost to stem the outbreak of the disease.

Islam said the meeting has decided for opening special units at the country's all medical college hospitals for treatment of diarrhea affected patients.

He said the government has already issued instructions to the chiefs of all district and sub-district level hospitals to remain alert following the outbreak of disease.

Doctors said scarcity of safe water and quick decaying of prepared food due to rise in temperature are among other reasons behind the rise in diarrhea outbreak.

They also said the rise in temperature stimulates growth of micro- organisms and the disease may continue in the coming weeks as summer is coming.

According to government statistics, 393 people died of diarrhea out of over 2.2 million people affected last year.

Vietnam confirms 3rd human case died of bird flu this year

The three-year old Vietnamese boy from Southwestern province Dong Thap of Vietnam confirmed of being infected H5N1 virus died, a local doctor from the Ho Chi Minh Hospital of Tropical Diseases told Xinhua Thursday.

The infected patient named Tran Cong Phuc died this afternoon because of severe breathing difficulty caused by H5N1 virus tested by the hospital, said the doctor.

The boy was taken to the Ho Chi Minh Hospital of Tropical Diseases on Monday with symptoms similar to bird flu patients.

He contacted with ducks raised by nearby farms before developing bird flu symptoms, said his family member.

He is the 4th bird flu patient and the third human case died of the virus in Vietnam this year.

In 2008, bird flu killed five people in Vietnam.

Currently, Vietnam reports five provinces nationwide hit by avian flu including three provinces in Mekong Delta, namely Ca Mau, Soc Trang, and Bac Lieu, and two northern provinces of Quang Ninh and Dien Bien, according to Vietnam's Department of Animal health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Scientists produce tobacco plants to prevent diabetes

Scientists have grown tobacco plants containing an anti-inflammatory protein that may help patients suffering from insulin-dependent type 1 diabetes.

European researchers said Thursday they had produced tobacco plants with interleukin-10 (IL-10) anti-inflammatory protein that could help stop type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases.

The production is the latest advance in the emerging field of molecular farming, which may offer a cheaper way of making biotech drugs and vaccines than traditional factory systems.

"Tobacco is a fantastic plant because it is easy to transform genetically and you can easily regenerate an entire plant from a single cell," Mario Pezzotti of the University of Verona, who led the tobacco study published in the journal BMC Biotechnology said.

Currently, antibody medicines and vaccines are produced in cell cultures inside stainless steel fermenters.

Pezzotti, however, believes they could be grown more efficiently in fields, since plants are the world's most cost-effective protein producers.

More Canadians surviving cancer

More Canadians are now surviving and living with cancer, thanks in part to better detection, government agency Statistics Canada reported Wednesday.

Of everyone alive in Canada on January 1, 2005, 695,000 had been diagnosed with an invasive cancer at some point in the previous 10 years. That is about 2.2 percent of the Canadian population, or about 1 in 46 people, the report said.

Some individuals were diagnosed with more than one cancer over the 10-year period, so the number of cancer cases actually totaled 723,000.

"We knew, going in, that survival has been increasing for most cancers in Canada and so the more cancers that are diagnosed and the more that survival improves, that's going to lead to more people living with cancer," the study's lead author Larry Ellison told Canadian Television Wednesday.

The two most common cancers were breast, prostate, which together accounted for just over half of all cases diagnosed in the previous decade.

One in 111 women had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and 1 in 118 men had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

About one-fifth (20.5 percent) of all cases in the population were breast cancer, and 18.7 percent were prostate cancer.

Colorectal cancer was the third most common cancer, at 12.9 percent, followed by lung cancer, bladder cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and skin melanoma.

Among Canadians aged 20 to 39, the most common cancer was thyroid. The most common cancer in the age groups 40 to 49 and 50 to 59 was breast. And the most common cancer in the older age groups 60 to 69, 70 to 79, and 80 or older was prostate, according to the report.

Vietnam reports 4th human case of bird flu

A three-year old Vietnamese boy from Southwestern province Dong Thap of Vietnam was confirmed of being infected H5N1 virus, Nguyen Huy Nga, Head of the Department of Preventive health and Environment under the Ministry of health told Xinhua Thursday.

The boy, whose name was unveiled, was taken to the Ho Chi Minh Hospital of Tropical Diseases on Monday with symptoms similar to bird flu patients, said the local newspaper Young People.

His blood sample was tested positive with H5N1 virus, said Nguyen Van Chau, director of Ho Chi Minh's Heath Department.

His health is now in severe condition with severe breathing difficulty. He contacted duck before developing bird flu symptoms, said his family member.

He is the 4th bird flu patient in Vietnam this year.

Vietnam has reported four human cases of bird flu so far this year, two of them died.

Currently, Vietnam has reported five provinces nationwide hit by avian flu including three provinces in Mekong Delta, namely Ca Mau, Soc Trang, and Bac Lieu, and two northern provinces of Quang Ninh and Dien Bien, according to Vietnam's Department of Animal health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

HK man ill with Legionnaires' disease

The Center for health Protection of Hong Kong confirmed Wednesday this year's fifth case of Legionnaires' disease, involving a 40-year-old man.

A spokesman of the center said the man came down with fever, cough and shortness of breath on March 1 and was admitted to Tuen Mun Hospital the same day. He was transferred to Princess Margaret Hospital on March 16. He is in serious condition.

Thirteen Legionnaires' disease cases were reported in 2008, 11 in 2007 and 16 in 2006.

America tightens regulations on risky and controversial medical technologies

America is tightening regulations on the clinical use of high-risk or ethically controversial diagnostic and therapeutic technologies.

The Ministry of health (MOH) issued a government order on Monday requiring hospitals to get approval before doing things such as artificial heart implants and homogeneous organ transplants.

The regulation goes in to effect May 1. Hospitals already using the technologies are required to report to the Ministry for verification of qualifications within six months after that date.

The MOH said its aim is to prevent abuses of those medical technologies. Previously, only some needed government approval, it said, without giving further details.

Pei Xuetao, an expert on stem cells at the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, told Xinhua Wednesday that this is the government's first complete system to oversee the clinical use of high-risk or ethically controversial medical technologies.

"However," Pei said, "the difficulties for the MOH lie in the qualification verification process."

The Ministry stated it would examine whether hospitals and medical institutes using those technologies have qualified medical experts, sufficient equipment and quality supervision measures. It would also compare standards with other countries.

The Ministry said it would appoint experts on medicine, law, ethics and management to examine the qualifications of these medical institutions.

Pei, also director of the Institute of Blood Transfusion at the academy, said hospitals should be further guided on what tests to conduct and what data to obtain for the verification process.

Spokesman: HK resumes processing of poultry import applications from Thailand

The Center for Food Safety (CFS) of Hong Kong Wednesday announced that the processing of applications for importing poultry and poultry products from Administrative Region 6 of Thailand (the central west part of the country) would resume with immediate effect.

The center suspended the processing of applications following confirmation of an outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 on a poultry farm in Thailand last November.

The center lifted the restrictions for Thailand (except Administration Region 6) in January while continuing to monitor the situation in Administrative Region 6.

"In view of the control measures taken by Thailand and the fact that there are no other cases of avian influenza reported in the country, we decide to resume processing applications from the whole of Thailand," a CFS spokesman said.

Shanghai FDA tests hair dye, baby shampoo for health threats

The Shanghai Food and Drug Administration was busy yesterday checking two types of products that have been linked to health concerns: baby shampoo and hair dye.

Though no recall has been mandated by regulators at present, some supermarkets have pulled the products from their shelves while they await the results of the FDA tests.

In the case of the shampoo, a U.S.-based health advocacy group charged that some child care products contain formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane, two byproducts of the manufacturing process that might lead to cancer or allergies as a result of repeated exposure. Among the products named was Johnson & Johnson's Baby Shampoo, which is approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and regulators in many other nations.

"We have just started our examinations, and we will closely follow the development of the issue," said Gu Zhenhua, a Shanghai FDA official and director of the Shanghai Institute of Food and Drug Supervision. Results should be available in a few days, he said.

Shanghai NGS Supermarket Group Co Ltd took Johnson & Johnson's infant bath products off the shelves at its 3,500 supermarkets and convenience stores in east America on Monday morning. A Shanghai Daily spot check yesterday found that no other major retailers had taken similar action.

"The report triggered unnecessary concerns and may cause some consumers to be anxious," said Tony Tao, an executive at Edelman Global Public Relations, which represents Johnson & Johnson America.

"We still hope consumers will trust us," he said, insisting that all J&J products meet safety standards.

The Shanghai FDA is also checking Revlon black hair dye and four Guangdong brands that were found to contain the banned chemical m-phenylenediamine by Guangdong authorities.

"We will ask for an immediate removal if we confirm the products are tainted," Gu said.

Some local retailers have begun withdrawing the questionable goods even though there has been no requirement to do so by the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau.

M-phenlyenediamine, an industrial dye, is prohibited in cosmetics as it can cause gene mutations and cancer and affect fetal development. Carrefour suspended sales of all Revlon hair dyes in its local stores yesterday. Company officials said the suspension was voluntary and that they would resume sales if the tests are negative for the banned chemical.

Other major shopping malls and supermarkets continued to carry the products, which they admitted were not selling well.

Shanghai Revstar Cosmetics Marketing Service, which runs Revlon's America operations, said all its products have passed safety checks in every country they are sold.

Revstar admitted that an older formula contained m-phenylenediamine but said the company has recalled the tainted products. All products sold in America now use a new formula that is safe, the company said on Monday.

Report: 2 Myanmar cities found with most HIV-carrying sex workers

Two Myanmar cities in the northern part -- Lashio and Mandalay were found with most HIV-carrying sex workers, the local Weekly Eleven News quoted the figures of the Ministry of health as reporting Wednesday.

Of the 945 sex workers examined during a census conducted for six areas in the country in 2007, 147 were found infected with HIV with those from Lashio accounting for 22.7 percent, Mandalay 22.6 percent, Myitgyina 17.9 percent, Taunggyi 14.4 percent, Yangon 9.6percent and Kengtung 1.2 percent.

The HIV victims, aged from 30 to 34, took 22.8 percent, while those from 25 to 29 represented 18 percent, 20 to 24 17.3 percent, the figures showed.

Myanmar has been stepping up prevention against HIV infection occurring among groups who move about for their living.

The authorities stressed the urgent need for HIV prevention work through education on such groups whose undertakings are posing a high level of danger to the society, citing those earning their living through sex trade and their partners as well as those working with the career, drug users and their close associates, hotels and inns, and Karaoke entertainment centers.

HIV prevalence rate has reportedly attained the most critical point especially in the border areas where socio-economic status is complicated.

The border town of Tachilek stands a main channel for trafficking women and children to Thailand and its nearby areas.

The authorities has launched education campaign in eastern Shanstate in 2008, saying that the campaign will be extended to Muse in northern Shan state.

As disclosed by the authorities, a total of 2,190 people, engaged in the sector, were exposed as carrying HIV in 2008.

According to a latest report of the UNAIDS, the number of people infected with HIV in Myanmar went to 240,000 in 2007, a drop from 300,000 in 2001.

HIV/AIDS is among the three major communicable diseases of national concern designated by Myanmar. The other two diseases are tuberculosis and malaria.

Myanmar treats the three diseases as priority with the main objectives of reducing the morbidity and mortality in a bid to become no longer a public problem and meet the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations.

Obesity can shorten 10 years of life

Those who are extremely obese may live 10 years shorter than they should have lived, according to researchers in UK as quoted by media reports Wednesday.

The researchers examined the findings of 57 studies involving about 900,000 adults from the United States and Europe and followed them for 10 to 15 years. About 70,000 of the participants died in the course of the study.

They used the BMI (body mass index) measures and found that those who are about 40 or more pounds (some 18 kg) over a healthy weight may cut about three years off their lives, mostly from heart disease and stroke. Those who are extremely obese, about 100 or more pounds over a healthy weight, could be shortening their lives by as many as 10 years.

Being extremely obese is similar to the effect of lifelong smoking, said Richard Peto, one of the lead researchers and a professor of medical statistics at Oxford University in England.

Above a healthy weight, every 5-point increase in BMI increases the risk of early death by about 30 percent. People with a BMI between 25 and 29.9, which means they are overweight but not obese, could be shortening their life span by a year.

It "provides a much clearer picture of the risk associated with various levels of being overweight or obese," said Michael Thun, emeritus vice president of epidemiological research at the American Cancer Society.

"Once you gain weight, it's hard to lose it and easy to gain more," said Thun, therefore, to stop weight gain became much more important.

British actress Natasha Richardson in critical condition

British actress Natasha Richardson is in a critical condition in a Montreal hospital after she suffered serious head injuries in a skiing accident in Quebec Monday, according to reports.

The actress was initially taken to a hospital near the luxury Mont Tremblant ski resort in Quebec, and was later transferred to the Montreal hospital, the reports said.

Richardson, 45, is the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and the late director Tony Richardson. She is also the sister of actress Joely Richardson.

Richardson married Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson, her co-star in the film "Nell" in 1994 and they have two sons -- 13-year-old Michael and 12-year-old Daniel.

Richardson won a Tony award for best actress in a musical in 1998 for her role in "Cabaret." Her film credits include "The Parent Trap" and "The Handmaid's Tale."

Brain cells loss leads to Alzheimer's disease

People who have lost cells in the hippocampus area of the brain are more likely to develop dementia, scientists said in Tuesday's issue of the journal of American Academy of Neurology.

Dr. Wouter J. P. Henneman, at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and colleagues used MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) to measure the volume of the entire brain, as well as the hippocampus in 64 Alzheimer's patients at the start of the study and again an average of 18 months later in order to calculate the rate of brain shrinkage.

The participants include 44 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is the stage of memory problems that occurs before Alzheimer's, and 34 with no memory or thinking problems, who served as "controls."

During the study, the team found three of the "controls" and 23 of the people with MCI had developed Alzheimer's disease, and that the "controls" with smaller hippocampal volumes and higher rates of shrinkage were 2 to 4 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's than those with larger hippocampal volumes and a slower rate of shrinkage.

"This finding seems to reflect that at the stage of mild cognitive impairment, considerable atrophy has already occurred in the hippocampus," said study author Henneman, "In people who already have Alzheimer's disease, the loss of nerve cells is more widespread throughout the brain."

"Regional measures of hippocampal atrophy are the strongest predictors of progression to Alzheimer's disease." the researchers concluded in the study.

Government: No health case concerning Brand's chicken essence reported in Macao

The health authorities of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has not received any report of people getting sick after consuming the Brand's Essence of Chicken, which was recalled in the U.S., according to a press statement released on Tuesday by the SAR government's Food Safety Coordination Group (FSCG).

The FSCG said in the statement that it is "highly concerned" about the recall of Brand's Essence of Chicken in the U.S., which was mainly due to the products' failure to meet the relevant inspection and exemption requirements there.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service under the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last Thursday the recall of 2,858 pounds of Brand's chicken essence products in the U.S. market.

Brand's Essence of Chicken is the core product of Cerebos, which is part of Japan's Santory Group. Following the recall, Cerebos (Hong Kong) Ltd. issued a statement which insisted that the recall in the U.S. was due to compliance issues and "not related to quality and safety issues."

Local supermarkets, pharmacies and other retail outlets have resumed the sales of the Brand's Essence of Chicken Monday after some of the retailers removed the products from their shelves on Sunday, the Macao Post Daily reported on Tuesday.

After the U.S. recall, relevant departments of the SAR government have urged local retailers to follow the products sales and import situations, according to the FSCG statement.

The daily quoted representatives of local retail outlets as saying that they never received any instructions from the local government to stop selling the product.

The Brand's products were imported to the Macao market via a Hong Kong agent from the America mainland, according to the daily.

Only one-third of America diabetics aware of having disease

Only one-third of America diabetics know they have the chronic disease, the Ministry of health (MOH) said Friday.

"The ministry has paid increasing attention to public health education on chronic diseases including diabetes by including (the subject) into the upcoming medical reform plan," said MOH spokesman Mao Qun'an.

Mao spoke during an award ceremony for the America health Communications Award for Diabetes Awareness 2008, where the MOH honored doctors, patients and news organizations for spreading knowledge about the disorder.

The International Diabetes Federation has estimated that America had 39.8 million diabetes patients in 2007 and will have about 59 million in 2025.

The MOH said the number of urban diabetics had increased 39 percent in the past six years.

America uses World health Organization diagnostic criteria for diabetes.

"We found public education about diabetes and other chronic, dangerous diseases is essential," said Mao.

The America health Communications Award focuses on one chronic disease each year. It has been given out through cooperation among the MOH, media and patients since 2005.

Sri Lankan student dies after vaccination

A 12-year-old female student of a leading school in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka died on Friday morning after some 27 students were hospitalized following vaccination against Rubella on Thursday.

Students of St. Thomas' Girls School in Matara, about 160 km south of the capital Colombo were admitted immediately after they were given Rubella vaccine.

H. B. Wanninayake, a health Ministry official in Colombo said one of the girls died Friday morning.

health officials in Matara had given vaccine to about 300 students after which some students had fallen ill and were admitted to the hospital.

The hospitalized students were given artificial respiration while their blood samples were taken to Medical Research Institute for tests.

Palitha Maheepala of the health Ministry said further investigations would be conducted by the health officials about the incident following a directive by health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.

Survey: Simple pleasures provide antidote to recession in Britain

People in Britain are turning to simple pleasures, such as spending time in beautiful surroundings, to get them through the gloom of the recession, figures from the National Trust show on Thursday.

Faced with a barrage of bad news about the economy, and the need to find ways to make their money go further, more and more people are turning to buildings and gardens such as those owned by the National Trust.

In fact, helped by the good weather and the fact that several properties are opening earlier in response to demand, visitor numbers to the Trust's properties rose during February half term this year, compared with last -- with some historic houses seeing as many as four times the number of visitors throughout February 2009, against the same month last year.

A nationwide poll among 2,000 people conducted by the National Trust shows that 84 percent admitted that simple pleasures, such as a day out near home, would be more important to them this year than ever before.

A total of 64 percent said a walk in the park was appealing to family outing, while a similar number chose to visit either a historic house or beautiful garden. In addition, 36 percent opted to visit a museum or gallery.

The quick but more costly thrills offered by theme parks and sporting events were both markedly less popular, being selected by only 26 percent and 13 percent respectively.

Despite living in a society where more than 55 percent of people acknowledge there is less beauty than there once was, 90 percent want their days out to be in beautiful places.

Fiona Reynolds, director general of the National Trust, said: "We all need quality time to relax and recharge our batteries, whether in a recession or not. However it seems that having less money to spend on treating ourselves is focusing our minds on what really matters."

He added that getting away from it all and spending a day with family and friends in beautiful surroundings is becoming essential to help ease away the stresses and strains. And contact with nature and history clearly provides what people need.

The desire to ensure that leisure time is well spent seems to be strongest in the East Midlands, where visitor numbers across all the area's National Trust properties rose by 137 percent. The North West of England saw a rise of 91 percent across all its properties, while visitors to sites in Northern Ireland rose 68 percent.

Croome Park in the West Midlands has seen the most dramatic rise for an individual property, with more than four times the number of people visiting this February compared with last year. Calke Abbey, near Derby, saw an increase of 225 percent, while Ham House -- where parts of the film The Young Victoria were filmed --saw a rise of 118 percent.

The National Trust looks after 300 historic houses and gardens across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

15 people die of diarrhea in Bangladesh this year

Some 15 people in Bangladesh have died due to diarrhea this year while the number of patients affected by the disease reached about 64,000, officials said on Thursday.

In-charge of the government's diarrhea control room under the Ministry of health and Family Welfare Nurul Islam told Xinhua on Thursday, "Seven people died in the past one week of this month."

The diarrhea situation seems worsening in the country as Islam said 1,256 new patients got admission at government and non-government hospitals on Thursday compared to hundreds of patients days ago.

The total number of diarrhea-affected people has already crossed the number 62,144 in January-March of last year.

Shahadat Hossain, head of long-stay clinical unit in the country's biggest diarrhea hospital, the International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease and Research Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), in capital Dhaka said there is still rush of patients to the hospital.

Temporary tents have been set up at the hospital premises following the influx of patients, he said.

Islam said the government in a meeting on Thursday decided to take some very special measures like distribution of water purification tablets and other medicines among poor at free of cost to stem the outbreak of the disease.

Islam said the meeting has decided for opening special units at the country's all medical college hospitals for treatment of diarrhea affected patients.

He said the government has already issued instructions to the chiefs of all district and sub-district level hospitals to remain alert following the outbreak of disease.

Doctors said scarcity of safe water and quick decaying of prepared food due to rise in temperature are among other reasons behind the rise in diarrhea outbreak.

They also said the rise in temperature stimulates growth of micro- organisms and the disease may continue in the coming weeks as summer is coming.

According to government statistics, 393 people died of diarrhea out of over 2.2 million people affected last year.

Vietnam confirms 3rd human case died of bird flu this year

The three-year old Vietnamese boy from Southwestern province Dong Thap of Vietnam confirmed of being infected H5N1 virus died, a local doctor from the Ho Chi Minh Hospital of Tropical Diseases told Xinhua Thursday.

The infected patient named Tran Cong Phuc died this afternoon because of severe breathing difficulty caused by H5N1 virus tested by the hospital, said the doctor.

The boy was taken to the Ho Chi Minh Hospital of Tropical Diseases on Monday with symptoms similar to bird flu patients.

He contacted with ducks raised by nearby farms before developing bird flu symptoms, said his family member.

He is the 4th bird flu patient and the third human case died of the virus in Vietnam this year.

In 2008, bird flu killed five people in Vietnam.

Currently, Vietnam reports five provinces nationwide hit by avian flu including three provinces in Mekong Delta, namely Ca Mau, Soc Trang, and Bac Lieu, and two northern provinces of Quang Ninh and Dien Bien, according to Vietnam's Department of Animal health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Scientists produce tobacco plants to prevent diabetes

Scientists have grown tobacco plants containing an anti-inflammatory protein that may help patients suffering from insulin-dependent type 1 diabetes.

European researchers said Thursday they had produced tobacco plants with interleukin-10 (IL-10) anti-inflammatory protein that could help stop type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases.

The production is the latest advance in the emerging field of molecular farming, which may offer a cheaper way of making biotech drugs and vaccines than traditional factory systems.

"Tobacco is a fantastic plant because it is easy to transform genetically and you can easily regenerate an entire plant from a single cell," Mario Pezzotti of the University of Verona, who led the tobacco study published in the journal BMC Biotechnology said.

Currently, antibody medicines and vaccines are produced in cell cultures inside stainless steel fermenters.

Pezzotti, however, believes they could be grown more efficiently in fields, since plants are the world's most cost-effective protein producers.

More Canadians surviving cancer

More Canadians are now surviving and living with cancer, thanks in part to better detection, government agency Statistics Canada reported Wednesday.

Of everyone alive in Canada on January 1, 2005, 695,000 had been diagnosed with an invasive cancer at some point in the previous 10 years. That is about 2.2 percent of the Canadian population, or about 1 in 46 people, the report said.

Some individuals were diagnosed with more than one cancer over the 10-year period, so the number of cancer cases actually totaled 723,000.

"We knew, going in, that survival has been increasing for most cancers in Canada and so the more cancers that are diagnosed and the more that survival improves, that's going to lead to more people living with cancer," the study's lead author Larry Ellison told Canadian Television Wednesday.

The two most common cancers were breast, prostate, which together accounted for just over half of all cases diagnosed in the previous decade.

One in 111 women had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and 1 in 118 men had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

About one-fifth (20.5 percent) of all cases in the population were breast cancer, and 18.7 percent were prostate cancer.

Colorectal cancer was the third most common cancer, at 12.9 percent, followed by lung cancer, bladder cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and skin melanoma.

Among Canadians aged 20 to 39, the most common cancer was thyroid. The most common cancer in the age groups 40 to 49 and 50 to 59 was breast. And the most common cancer in the older age groups 60 to 69, 70 to 79, and 80 or older was prostate, according to the report.

Vietnam reports 4th human case of bird flu

A three-year old Vietnamese boy from Southwestern province Dong Thap of Vietnam was confirmed of being infected H5N1 virus, Nguyen Huy Nga, Head of the Department of Preventive health and Environment under the Ministry of health told Xinhua Thursday.

The boy, whose name was unveiled, was taken to the Ho Chi Minh Hospital of Tropical Diseases on Monday with symptoms similar to bird flu patients, said the local newspaper Young People.

His blood sample was tested positive with H5N1 virus, said Nguyen Van Chau, director of Ho Chi Minh's Heath Department.

His health is now in severe condition with severe breathing difficulty. He contacted duck before developing bird flu symptoms, said his family member.

He is the 4th bird flu patient in Vietnam this year.

Vietnam has reported four human cases of bird flu so far this year, two of them died.

Currently, Vietnam has reported five provinces nationwide hit by avian flu including three provinces in Mekong Delta, namely Ca Mau, Soc Trang, and Bac Lieu, and two northern provinces of Quang Ninh and Dien Bien, according to Vietnam's Department of Animal health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

HK man ill with Legionnaires' disease

The Center for health Protection of Hong Kong confirmed Wednesday this year's fifth case of Legionnaires' disease, involving a 40-year-old man.

A spokesman of the center said the man came down with fever, cough and shortness of breath on March 1 and was admitted to Tuen Mun Hospital the same day. He was transferred to Princess Margaret Hospital on March 16. He is in serious condition.

Thirteen Legionnaires' disease cases were reported in 2008, 11 in 2007 and 16 in 2006.

America tightens regulations on risky and controversial medical technologies

America is tightening regulations on the clinical use of high-risk or ethically controversial diagnostic and therapeutic technologies.

The Ministry of health (MOH) issued a government order on Monday requiring hospitals to get approval before doing things such as artificial heart implants and homogeneous organ transplants.

The regulation goes in to effect May 1. Hospitals already using the technologies are required to report to the Ministry for verification of qualifications within six months after that date.

The MOH said its aim is to prevent abuses of those medical technologies. Previously, only some needed government approval, it said, without giving further details.

Pei Xuetao, an expert on stem cells at the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, told Xinhua Wednesday that this is the government's first complete system to oversee the clinical use of high-risk or ethically controversial medical technologies.

"However," Pei said, "the difficulties for the MOH lie in the qualification verification process."

The Ministry stated it would examine whether hospitals and medical institutes using those technologies have qualified medical experts, sufficient equipment and quality supervision measures. It would also compare standards with other countries.

The Ministry said it would appoint experts on medicine, law, ethics and management to examine the qualifications of these medical institutions.

Pei, also director of the Institute of Blood Transfusion at the academy, said hospitals should be further guided on what tests to conduct and what data to obtain for the verification process.

Spokesman: HK resumes processing of poultry import applications from Thailand

The Center for Food Safety (CFS) of Hong Kong Wednesday announced that the processing of applications for importing poultry and poultry products from Administrative Region 6 of Thailand (the central west part of the country) would resume with immediate effect.

The center suspended the processing of applications following confirmation of an outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 on a poultry farm in Thailand last November.

The center lifted the restrictions for Thailand (except Administration Region 6) in January while continuing to monitor the situation in Administrative Region 6.

"In view of the control measures taken by Thailand and the fact that there are no other cases of avian influenza reported in the country, we decide to resume processing applications from the whole of Thailand," a CFS spokesman said.

Shanghai FDA tests hair dye, baby shampoo for health threats

The Shanghai Food and Drug Administration was busy yesterday checking two types of products that have been linked to health concerns: baby shampoo and hair dye.

Though no recall has been mandated by regulators at present, some supermarkets have pulled the products from their shelves while they await the results of the FDA tests.

In the case of the shampoo, a U.S.-based health advocacy group charged that some child care products contain formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane, two byproducts of the manufacturing process that might lead to cancer or allergies as a result of repeated exposure. Among the products named was Johnson & Johnson's Baby Shampoo, which is approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and regulators in many other nations.

"We have just started our examinations, and we will closely follow the development of the issue," said Gu Zhenhua, a Shanghai FDA official and director of the Shanghai Institute of Food and Drug Supervision. Results should be available in a few days, he said.

Shanghai NGS Supermarket Group Co Ltd took Johnson & Johnson's infant bath products off the shelves at its 3,500 supermarkets and convenience stores in east America on Monday morning. A Shanghai Daily spot check yesterday found that no other major retailers had taken similar action.

"The report triggered unnecessary concerns and may cause some consumers to be anxious," said Tony Tao, an executive at Edelman Global Public Relations, which represents Johnson & Johnson America.

"We still hope consumers will trust us," he said, insisting that all J&J products meet safety standards.

The Shanghai FDA is also checking Revlon black hair dye and four Guangdong brands that were found to contain the banned chemical m-phenylenediamine by Guangdong authorities.

"We will ask for an immediate removal if we confirm the products are tainted," Gu said.

Some local retailers have begun withdrawing the questionable goods even though there has been no requirement to do so by the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau.

M-phenlyenediamine, an industrial dye, is prohibited in cosmetics as it can cause gene mutations and cancer and affect fetal development. Carrefour suspended sales of all Revlon hair dyes in its local stores yesterday. Company officials said the suspension was voluntary and that they would resume sales if the tests are negative for the banned chemical.

Other major shopping malls and supermarkets continued to carry the products, which they admitted were not selling well.

Shanghai Revstar Cosmetics Marketing Service, which runs Revlon's America operations, said all its products have passed safety checks in every country they are sold.

Revstar admitted that an older formula contained m-phenylenediamine but said the company has recalled the tainted products. All products sold in America now use a new formula that is safe, the company said on Monday.

Report: 2 Myanmar cities found with most HIV-carrying sex workers

Two Myanmar cities in the northern part -- Lashio and Mandalay were found with most HIV-carrying sex workers, the local Weekly Eleven News quoted the figures of the Ministry of health as reporting Wednesday.

Of the 945 sex workers examined during a census conducted for six areas in the country in 2007, 147 were found infected with HIV with those from Lashio accounting for 22.7 percent, Mandalay 22.6 percent, Myitgyina 17.9 percent, Taunggyi 14.4 percent, Yangon 9.6percent and Kengtung 1.2 percent.

The HIV victims, aged from 30 to 34, took 22.8 percent, while those from 25 to 29 represented 18 percent, 20 to 24 17.3 percent, the figures showed.

Myanmar has been stepping up prevention against HIV infection occurring among groups who move about for their living.

The authorities stressed the urgent need for HIV prevention work through education on such groups whose undertakings are posing a high level of danger to the society, citing those earning their living through sex trade and their partners as well as those working with the career, drug users and their close associates, hotels and inns, and Karaoke entertainment centers.

HIV prevalence rate has reportedly attained the most critical point especially in the border areas where socio-economic status is complicated.

The border town of Tachilek stands a main channel for trafficking women and children to Thailand and its nearby areas.

The authorities has launched education campaign in eastern Shanstate in 2008, saying that the campaign will be extended to Muse in northern Shan state.

As disclosed by the authorities, a total of 2,190 people, engaged in the sector, were exposed as carrying HIV in 2008.

According to a latest report of the UNAIDS, the number of people infected with HIV in Myanmar went to 240,000 in 2007, a drop from 300,000 in 2001.

HIV/AIDS is among the three major communicable diseases of national concern designated by Myanmar. The other two diseases are tuberculosis and malaria.

Myanmar treats the three diseases as priority with the main objectives of reducing the morbidity and mortality in a bid to become no longer a public problem and meet the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations.

Obesity can shorten 10 years of life

Those who are extremely obese may live 10 years shorter than they should have lived, according to researchers in UK as quoted by media reports Wednesday.

The researchers examined the findings of 57 studies involving about 900,000 adults from the United States and Europe and followed them for 10 to 15 years. About 70,000 of the participants died in the course of the study.

They used the BMI (body mass index) measures and found that those who are about 40 or more pounds (some 18 kg) over a healthy weight may cut about three years off their lives, mostly from heart disease and stroke. Those who are extremely obese, about 100 or more pounds over a healthy weight, could be shortening their lives by as many as 10 years.

Being extremely obese is similar to the effect of lifelong smoking, said Richard Peto, one of the lead researchers and a professor of medical statistics at Oxford University in England.

Above a healthy weight, every 5-point increase in BMI increases the risk of early death by about 30 percent. People with a BMI between 25 and 29.9, which means they are overweight but not obese, could be shortening their life span by a year.

It "provides a much clearer picture of the risk associated with various levels of being overweight or obese," said Michael Thun, emeritus vice president of epidemiological research at the American Cancer Society.

"Once you gain weight, it's hard to lose it and easy to gain more," said Thun, therefore, to stop weight gain became much more important.

British actress Natasha Richardson in critical condition

British actress Natasha Richardson is in a critical condition in a Montreal hospital after she suffered serious head injuries in a skiing accident in Quebec Monday, according to reports.

The actress was initially taken to a hospital near the luxury Mont Tremblant ski resort in Quebec, and was later transferred to the Montreal hospital, the reports said.

Richardson, 45, is the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and the late director Tony Richardson. She is also the sister of actress Joely Richardson.

Richardson married Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson, her co-star in the film "Nell" in 1994 and they have two sons -- 13-year-old Michael and 12-year-old Daniel.

Richardson won a Tony award for best actress in a musical in 1998 for her role in "Cabaret." Her film credits include "The Parent Trap" and "The Handmaid's Tale."

Brain cells loss leads to Alzheimer's disease

People who have lost cells in the hippocampus area of the brain are more likely to develop dementia, scientists said in Tuesday's issue of the journal of American Academy of Neurology.

Dr. Wouter J. P. Henneman, at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and colleagues used MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) to measure the volume of the entire brain, as well as the hippocampus in 64 Alzheimer's patients at the start of the study and again an average of 18 months later in order to calculate the rate of brain shrinkage.

The participants include 44 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is the stage of memory problems that occurs before Alzheimer's, and 34 with no memory or thinking problems, who served as "controls."

During the study, the team found three of the "controls" and 23 of the people with MCI had developed Alzheimer's disease, and that the "controls" with smaller hippocampal volumes and higher rates of shrinkage were 2 to 4 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's than those with larger hippocampal volumes and a slower rate of shrinkage.

"This finding seems to reflect that at the stage of mild cognitive impairment, considerable atrophy has already occurred in the hippocampus," said study author Henneman, "In people who already have Alzheimer's disease, the loss of nerve cells is more widespread throughout the brain."

"Regional measures of hippocampal atrophy are the strongest predictors of progression to Alzheimer's disease." the researchers concluded in the study.

Government: No health case concerning Brand's chicken essence reported in Macao

The health authorities of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has not received any report of people getting sick after consuming the Brand's Essence of Chicken, which was recalled in the U.S., according to a press statement released on Tuesday by the SAR government's Food Safety Coordination Group (FSCG).

The FSCG said in the statement that it is "highly concerned" about the recall of Brand's Essence of Chicken in the U.S., which was mainly due to the products' failure to meet the relevant inspection and exemption requirements there.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service under the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last Thursday the recall of 2,858 pounds of Brand's chicken essence products in the U.S. market.

Brand's Essence of Chicken is the core product of Cerebos, which is part of Japan's Santory Group. Following the recall, Cerebos (Hong Kong) Ltd. issued a statement which insisted that the recall in the U.S. was due to compliance issues and "not related to quality and safety issues."

Local supermarkets, pharmacies and other retail outlets have resumed the sales of the Brand's Essence of Chicken Monday after some of the retailers removed the products from their shelves on Sunday, the Macao Post Daily reported on Tuesday.

After the U.S. recall, relevant departments of the SAR government have urged local retailers to follow the products sales and import situations, according to the FSCG statement.

The daily quoted representatives of local retail outlets as saying that they never received any instructions from the local government to stop selling the product.

The Brand's products were imported to the Macao market via a Hong Kong agent from the America mainland, according to the daily.

Workouts "a must" after heart attack

If you have suffered a heart attack, do exercise to speed recovery and further prevent yourself from another cardiac arrest, says a study.

According to Swiss researchers Monday, blood vessel function improved after four weeks of exercise among people who exercised. "The long-term and continuing physical activity is key to preventing another heart attack," the findings suggest.

The Swiss team looked at 209 people who had survived a heart attack to gauge the effects of different types of exercise and what happened when people stopped regular physical activity.

Volunteers were assigned to receive training in aerobic exercise, resistance workouts to build strength, a combination of the two, or no exercise at all.

After four weeks, blood vessel function in the three exercise groups improved regardless of the type of exercise, the researchers said. There were no improvements among the men and women who did not work out.

The researchers also asked some people in the exercise groups to stop physical activity. They found that after one month all the positive benefits of working out had vanished.

Cambodia launches $11 mln project to fight bird flu

The Cambodia government here on Tuesday launched an emergency project of 11 million U.S. dollars for avian and human influenza control and preparedness.

"We have to prevent bird flu and educate our people about it regularly before it break out and kill people and poultry," said Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is also the chairman of the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM).

We should not say we were successful in preventing bird flu after we only culled large amounts of sick poultry, he said.

Fortunately, we have good cooperation with the neighboring countries, who exchange information with us to prevent avian influenza outbreak, he told the launching ceremony.

"We have to join together to prevent deadly diseases which could ruin the social order and affect the economic development," he said, adding that effective prevention will help reduce poverty and promote sustainable development.

According to NCDM, the project will be funded by the International Development Association (IDA) with 6 million U.S. dollars, the Japanese government with 3 million U.S. dollars and the European Union with 2 million U.S. dollars.

Details of the project have not been publicized yet.

Since 2003, 28,428 poultry were culled during the anti-bird flu campaign in Cambodia and seven people died of the disease so far.

Indian firm makes clinical trials of stem drug for heart disease

An Indian firm is starting clinical trials for an off-the-shelf stem cell treatment for heart attacks and arteries in the limb, the first of its kind in the country, local tabloid Mail Today said Tuesday.

The treatment, started by Bangalore-based firm Stempeutics Research, involves injecting cells developed from adult bone marrow into the patient so that they move to the heart and heal its muscles, helping it beat better, said the report.

The cells can be administered through an injection, on demand from doctors through a hotline. Stem cells are immature, unprogrammed cells that can grow into different kinds of tissues, according to the report.

The report said the cells will be supplied to distributors across India and abroad.

In similar trials, a U.S. biotech company Osiris Therapeutics has two major products, one associated with Crohn's disease and another associated with bone marrow transplant.

Last month, the company published results for trial evaluating Prochymal, a treatment for continued heart damage in patients who have experienced first heart attack. Also, an Australian company is expected to come up with two similar products.

For the Indian product, after large-scale trials are complete, the product is expected to hit shelves by 2011, according to the report.

"We have already done pilot studies and two clinical trials will start soon," the paper quoted Stempeutics president B.N. Manohar as saying.

The Indian Council of Medical Research and the Drug Controller General of India have already approved protocols from the company.

Fish good for 15-yr-old boys

Fish may indeed be brain food for teenage boys if they eat it more than once per week, according to a new study.

The study in which nearly 5,000 15-year-old boys were surveyed, Swedish researchers found that those who ate fish more than once per week tended to score higher on intelligence tests three years later.

Researchers believe that the omega-3 fats found in fish -- particularly oily fish like salmon, mackerel and, to a lesser extent, albacore tuna -- are important to early brain development and to maintaining healthy brain function throughout life.

The new study appears to be the first large-scale one to look at the effects of fish on teenagers' intelligence, said lead researcher Dr. Maria Aberg, of Goteborg University.

This is important, she explained, because the late-teens are a critical period for the brain "plasticity" that underlies intelligence and emotional and social behavior. Plasticity refers to the brain's ability to reorganize the connections among cells in response to normal experience, like learning a new skill, or to injury.

The findings are based on data from 4,792 male adolescents who completed detailed questionnaires on diet and lifestyle when they were 15 years old, then underwent standard intelligence tests when they were 18.

On average, Aberg's team found, those who ate fish more than once per week scored higher than those who ate fish less than weekly.

America imposes temporary ban on clinical use of therapeutic cloning

America's Ministry of health has issued temporary ban on clinical use of therapeutic cloning, effective from May 1,its official Web site said Tuesday.

In the latest guideline regulating clinical technologies, the ministry imposed the temporary ban on therapeutic cloning of heterogeneous stem cells, heterogeneous genes and human body cells in clinical use, the Web site said.

J&J confident in safety of its baby care line

Johnson & Johnson said yesterday it has no plans to withdraw its baby care products in America after a U.S. health advocacy group said they contain chemicals that might cause cancer with prolonged use.

The company said its products have passed all safety checks in every country where they are sold.

Meanwhile, a local health expert said there is no proven link between the products and any adverse health consequences.

But while Shanghai stores continued to sell the baby care goods, a recent public opinion survey showed parents are becoming increasingly concerned.

The controversy arose when the non-profit Campaign for Safe Cosmetics reported that traces of the chemicals formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane were present in dozens of top-selling children's bath products, including Johnson & Johnson's Baby Shampoo and Procter & Gamble's Kandoo hand wash.

The U.S. Environment Protection Agency views both chemicals as probable carcinogens. The substances are byproducts of the manufacturing process and are not listed on the ingredients label.

The consumers organization, whose goal is to encourage companies to replace potentially dangerous materials with safer alternatives, believes the trace chemicals are harmful to children's health with repeated exposure.

J&J is not considering any recall or refund as a result of the concerns raised, Tony Tao of Edelman Global Public Relations, which represents Johnson & Johnson America, told Shanghai Daily.

J&J argued that several government and industrial watchdogs including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have long been aware of the potential presence of the chemicals in personal care products and found them to be safe if kept at low levels.

J&J said the consumers organization was distorting the facts and that its "false suspicions" had triggered unnecessary concern among parents.

P&G said its products on the group's list are not sold on America's mainland, but they are safe nonetheless.

In America, formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane are not included in the routine testing procedures for imported products.

Johnson & Johnson said it would cooperate with local food and drag administration if it decides tests are needed, Tao said.

Parents, already on high alert after melamine-tainted milk was blamed for the deaths of six infants and illnesses affecting nearly 300,000 others, may be taking action on their own. In an online survey by Sina.com, nearly 60 percent of respondents said they won't buy the products.

A local medical expert said there is no clinical evidence connecting children's skin diseases or other problems with products containing trace amounts of formaldehyde or 1,4-dioxane. But he did add a cautionary note.

"The skin of infants and children is sensitive and prone to allergies," Dr Wu Jian of the Shanghai Children's Medical Center's department of dermatology said yesterday.

"Parents should use quality products and not put too much shampoo on children and not use shampoo every day while bathing infants," Wu said.

Likely treatment for peanuts allergy in kids found in U.S.

It is possible to treat the peanut allergy in kids by feeding them with tiny amounts of peanuts protein daily, according to U.S. media reports Tuesday.

Teams at Duke University Medical Center and Arkansas Children's Hospital, collaborating on the research with the Arkansas Children's Hospital, carried out an experimental treatment on 29 severely peanuts-allergic children, giving them nearly microscopic pieces of peanut daily for 2 years.

The researchers claimed over time the immune system tests helped desensitize their allergic reaction to peanuts, particularly, five of them showed no sign of remaining allergy.

"We're optimistic that they have lost their peanut allergy," said lead researcher Dr. Wesley Burks, chief of pediatric allergy at Duke University. "We've not seen this before medically. We'll have to see what happens to them."

Other studies have shown that "as long as you keep something in your diet, your tolerance stays," Burks said.

The pilot study was released at a meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, but the doctors stressed the treatment remains experimental, and it shouldn't be tried outside a research study in which subjects are closely monitored.

"Anything that would enable kids to eat peanuts would be a major advance," said Dr. Marshall Plaut of the National Institutes of health, but cautioning that more study is needed.

"We have to wait and see if the children continue to tolerate peanuts over the long term," Burks added.

More than 3 million Americans are allergic to peanuts or tree nuts, such as walnuts, and, for reasons that aren't clear, the number seems to be rising.