The French state will reimburse 100 percent of the cost of abortions beginning 1 April, while girls aged between 15 and 18 will be offered access to free and anonymous birth control.
The change comes as a law approved in late 2012 comes into force.
Until now, French women over 18 could only receive up to 80 percent of the cost of the procedure, which can run up to 450 euros.
There are around 12,000 such procedures a year in France — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Around 17 million people in Germany suffer from impaired hearing. For many of them, their hearing is so damaged that a standard hearing aid is no longer enough. A new device will improve patients’ hearing and can be implanted during outpatient surgery — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A large new government study should reassure parents who are afraid that kids are getting autism because they receive too many vaccines too early in life.
The study, by researchers at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, found no connection between the number of vaccines a child received and his or her risk of autism spectrum disorder. It also found that even though kids are getting more vaccines these days, those vaccines contain many fewer of the substances that provoke an immune response.
The study offers a response to vaccine skeptics who have suggested that getting too many vaccines on one day or in the first two years of life may lead to autism, says Frank DeStefano, director of the Immunization Safety Office of the CDC.
To find out if that was happening, DeStefano led a team that compared the vaccine histories of about 250 children who had autism spectrum disorder with those of 750 typical kids. Specifically, the researchers looked at what scientists call antigens. An antigen is a substance in a vaccine that causes the body to produce antibodies, proteins that help fight off infections.
The team looked at medical records to see how many antigens each child received and whether that affected the risk of autism. The results, published in The Journal of Pediatrics, were unequivocal — via redwolf.newsvine.com
All-purpose healing gels familiar to fans of futuristic video games and movies could be about to make the transition from sci-fi fantasy to real-world medical tool thanks to a New York University student who has invented a gel that can instantly halt bleeding in even the most serious of wounds.
Veti-Gel, the name chosen by NYU student Joe Landolina uses plant polymers to rapidly solidify when applied to open wounds, and by a bizarre coincidence was initially being developed under the name Medi-Gel, the name of a fictional healing gel from the Mass Effect video game series with almost identical properties.
Humans Invent spoke to Joe Landolina about the development of Veti-Gel, and how in just a few years he went from high-school science geek to possibly securing a deal with the US military — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Body modification enthusiasts may know better than most people what it’s like to be judged on sight for their piercings, tattoos, scars, and other forms of body art.
For Shannon Larratt, the founder of BMEzine, this societal judgment may have cost him the final years of his life.
The 39-year-old writer and publisher, perhaps best known outside his community for ModCon: the Secret World of Extreme Body Modification, died on 15 March of an apparent suicide. On his blog, a letter that he spent months carefully composing was made public after his death. In it, he discusses his deteriorating quality of life due to calcification, a process in which the body replaces soft tissue with calcium deposits, caused by a genetic disease known as tubular aggregate myopathy — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Dentists may one day be able to replace missing teeth with ones newly grown from gum cells, say UK researchers.
The team from King’s College London took cells from adult human gum tissue and combined them with another type of cell from mice to grow a tooth.
They say using a readily available source of cells pushes the technology a step nearer to being available to patients.
But it is still likely to be many years before dentists can use the method — via redwolf.newsvine.com
People may in future be able to have missing or diseased teeth replaced with ones grown from cells taken from their own mouth, scientists have predicted.
Hybrid teeth created by combining human gum cells and stem cells from mouse teeth have been grown in laboratory mice by researchers who hope the work could lead to dentures being superseded by new teeth grown on a patient’s jaw.
The mixture of mouse and human cells was transplanted into adult mouse kidneys and grew into recognisable tooth structures coated in enamel with viable developing roots, according to a study published in the Journal Of Dental Research — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Doctors in the US have made medical history by effectively curing a child born with HIV, the first time such a case has been documented.
The infant, who is now two and a half, needs no medication for HIV, has a normal life expectancy and is highly unlikely to be infectious to others, doctors believe.
Though medical staff and scientists are unclear why the treatment was effective, the surprise success has raised hopes that the therapy might ultimately help doctors eradicate the virus among newborns.
Doctors did not release the name or sex of the child to protect the patient’s identity, but said the infant was born, and lived, in Mississippi state. Details of the case were unveiled on Sunday at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Atlanta — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A deadly form of skin cancer is able to fend off the body’s immune system, UK researchers have found.
Analysis of tumour and blood samples shows that melanoma knocks out the body’s best immune defence.
A potential test could work out which patients are likely to respond to treatment, the Journal of Clinical Investigation reports.
Cancer Research UK said the body’s response was a complex puzzle
— via redwolf.newsvine.com
Military leg amputees are to be given the most up-to-date prosthetic limbs available after the government announced a £6.5m funding boost.
The latest technology micro processor limbs, known as bionic legs
, will be available to service personnel who have been wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The move is expected to benefit about 160 members of the armed forces.
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said it was a top priority to give troops the best possible care and support.
And Chancellor George Osborne, who is making the money available from the Treasury’s Special Reserve, said: Our troops are heroes who have and continue to give absolutely everything for their country and it is only right that we do everything possible to help them, especially when they suffer injury
— via redwolf.newsvine.com
New Zealand says it will put all tobacco products into plain packaging, following the landmark move by Australia last year.
A review had shown it would help reduce the appeal of smoking and better publicise health risks, Associate Minister of Health Tariana Turia said.
The government acknowledged possible challenges from tobacco companies.
It will introduce laws later this year but wait for the outcome of legal cases in Australia before enforcing them.
As in Australia, packaging would carry large, graphic health warnings and be stripped of branding.
Currently the packaging does everything it can to attract consumers and increase the perceived appeal and acceptability of smoking,
Ms Turia said in a statement — via redwolf.newsvine.com
An MP has called for an investigation into the death of an elderly woman from hunger and dehydration after bureaucratic confusion between the UK Border Agency and Surrey county council.
Gloria Foster, who was in her 80s, was alone for nine days after the company that she paid to take care of her was closed by the UKBA for employing illegal immigrants. The council was given the company records but apparently failed to go to Foster’s aid. Foster’s MP, Crispin Blunt, described her ordeal as horrific
.
He said: Clearly there are questions to answer and I would expect a comprehensive investigation between all of the agencies involved. I said last week that I would certainly not like to pre-judge any more of the narrative before it is formally established. Yesterday’s desperately sad developments can only increase the salience of that need
— via redwolf.newsvine.com
A tiny genetic patch
can be used to prevent a form of deafness which runs in families, according to animal tests.
Patients with Usher syndrome have defective sections of their genetic code which cause problems with hearing, sight and balance.
A study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, showed the same defects could be corrected in mice to restore some hearing.
Experts said it was an encouraging
start — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A major trial of a new booster vaccine has ended in failure, marking a major setback in the fight against tuberculosis (TB).
It was the first big study in infants since the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine was introduced in 1921.
BCG is only partially effective against the bacterium that causes TB, which is why several international teams are working on new vaccines.
The latest, known as MVA85A, failed to protect babies who had already had BCG — via redwolf.newsvine.com
People who regularly take aspirin for many years, such as those with heart problems, are more likely to develop a form of blindness, researchers say.
A study on 2,389 people, in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, showed aspirin takers had twice the risk of wet
age-related macular degeneration.
The disease damages the sweet spot
in the retina, obscuring details in the centre of a patient’s field of vision.
The researchers said there was not yet enough evidence to change aspirin use — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Scientists from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research say they have made a breakthrough that could lead to a potential cure for AIDS.
Associate Professor David Harrich says they have discovered how to modify a protein in HIV so that, instead of replicating, it protects against the infection.
I consider that this is fighting fire with fire,
he said.
What we’ve actually done is taken a normal virus protein that the virus needs to grow, and we’ve changed this protein, so that instead of assisting the virus, it actually impedes virus replication and does it quite strongly.
Associate Professor Harrich says the modified protein cannot cure HIV but it has protected human cells from AIDS in the laboratory — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A tiny capsule swallowed by firefighters is changing the way volunteers work on the front line.
The pill can relay an individual’s core temperature in real time, giving a better understanding of the body’s vulnerability to heat stress to protect firefighters.
Victoria’s Country Fire Authority health and wellbeing officer Peter Langridge said the data gathered in a CFA trial had led to changes in firefighters’ work patterns, including the length of time they are exposed to blazes.
If we see their core body temperature increasing then we know to remove them from the fire and put them into the rehabilitation area,
he said.
Working in hot environments will stress different people at different rates. There is no set formula for how long a person can fight a fire before they start suffering from heat stress or dehydration and management is the key to protecting our fire fighters
— via redwolf.newsvine.com
Taking beta-blocker drugs may cut the risk of dementia, a trial in 774 men suggests.
The medication is used to treat high blood pressure, a known risk factor for dementia.
In the study, which will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting in March, men on beta-blockers were less likely to have brain changes suggestive of dementia.
Experts say it is too early to recommend beta-blockers for dementia.
The findings are preliminary and larger studies in men and women from different ethnicities are needed to see what benefit beta-blockers might offer.
People with high blood pressure are advised to see their doctor and get their condition under control to prevent associated complications like heart disease, stroke and vascular dementia — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A simple spit test could identify thousands of children with severe asthma who are taking medication which will never help them, scientists say.
One in seven people will not respond to salmeterol, found in purple or green inhalers, which is given to tens of thousands of children in the UK.
A study of 62 children showed those patients could be identified and given effective treatment.
The results were published in the journal Clinical Science — via redwolf.newsvine.com
It was early November when Martha Keochareon called the nursing school at Holyoke Community College, her alma mater. She had a proposal, which she laid out in a voice mail message.
I have cancer,
she said after introducing herself, and I’m wondering if you’ll need somebody to do a case study on, a hospice patient.
Perhaps some nursing students just want to feel what a tumor feels like,
she went on. Or they could learn something about hospice care, which aims to help terminally ill people die comfortably at home.
Maybe you’ll have some ambitious student that wants to do a project,
Ms Keochareon (pronounced CATCH-uron) said after leaving her phone number. Thank you. Bye.
Kelly Keane, a counsellor at the college who received the message, was instantly intrigued. Holyoke’s nursing students, like most, learn about cancer from textbooks. They get some experience with acutely ill patients during a rotation on the medical-surgical floor of a hospital. They practice their skills in the college’s simulation lab on sophisticated mannequins that can die
of cancer, heart attacks and other ailments. But Ms Keochareon, 59, a 1993 graduate of Holyoke’s nursing program, was offering students something rare: an opportunity not only to examine her, but also to ask anything they wanted about her experience with cancer and dying.
She is allowing us into something we wouldn’t ever be privy to,
Ms Keane said — via redwolf.newsvine.com
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