Entries from October 2007 ↓

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7 Jun: SA 29-25 Scotland

14 Jun: SA 28-19 Scotland

28 Jun: SA 26-25 Argentina

12 Jul: SA 26-22 Australia

19 Jul: SA 16-52 New Zealand

2 Aug: Australia 29-9 SA

9 Aug: N Zealand 19-11 SA

Tries from Stefan Terblanche and Trevor Halstead and a steady stream of points from the boot of Louis Koen were enough for them to snatch victory at the death.

Koen has proved indispensable this season and his precise kicking was again crucial a week on when South Africa came from behind to beat Scotland.

Terblanche got in on the act again with a try, but it was Koen who took the headlines, as he did against Argentina in their final match before the Tri-Nations.

Already accustomed to nail-biting finishes, South Africa and Koen came through by a single point against the Pumas, a penalty from the last kick of the game denying the visitors a first test win over their hosts.

Koen, who scored 16 points, finished the match with a 100% return from six shots at goal.

Against all expectations the Springboks maintained their winning run at the start of the Tri-Nations against Australia.

AFRIKAANS RUGBY TERMINOLOGY Try: N drie Penalty: N strafskop Tackle: N laagvat Come on ref: Kom nou rel Cauliflower ears: Blomkool ore

They stifled the Australians throughout and having scored two first-half tries through Brent Russell and Victor Matfield held on to claim a 26-22 win after a frantic final quarter.

That was as good as it got for South Africa.

Their season tailed off, starting with a trouncing at the hands of New Zealand.

The Springboks were outclassed throughout in Pretoria, Ashwin Willemse’s try their only answer to seven All Black touchdowns.

South Africa fared better at the start of their second game against Australia and at least stayed in contact with their opponents until early in his second half.

However, the match will be remembered for the violent scenes which marred the contest and resulted in Toutai Kefu being carried off on a stretcher following a high tackle.

Springbok pride was restored a week on with their most polished performance of the competition.

Despite coming away from Dunedin as 19-11 losers to New Zealand, they were defensively far more astute and ended with a stunning score from prop Richard Bands.

Since their last action on the pitch, preparations have been blighted by internal race rows.

An inquiry was launched into allegations of “racism and prejudice” within the squad which was subsequently delayed to let Strauli’s team concentrate on the World Cup.

South Africa’s World Cup pedigree

Read source of it on the Sport - Form guide: South Africa page
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The United States Government has approved the sale of a new drug expected to raise the stakes in the male impotence market.

Levitra, the first market rival to the hugely profitable Viagra, is being manufactured by the German firm, Bayer AG, and marketed by the British firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) as an alternative oral therapy for erectile dysfunction.

Since its appearance in 1998, sales of Pfizer’s Viagra have risen to nearly $2bn a year.

Both pills work in the same manner and doctors warn that both can have serious side effects, especially for men with heart problems.

A third anti-impotence pill, Cialis, is expected to reach the US market later this year.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Levitra, an orange pill compared to Viagra’s blue, based on studies showing that men were on average five times more likely to achieve an erection suitable for intercourse when taking the pill compared with those given a dummy medicine.

Researchers reported that studies of several thousand men showed that Viagra helped more than 70% improve their
erections.

As well as the warnings to men with heart conditions, the FDA said Levitra was not for patients with who had suffered a recent heart attack or stroke who have very low blood pressure or uncontrolled high blood pressure.

For otherwise healthy men, Levitra’s main side effects
were headache, flushing and a stuffy nose and sometimes dizziness.

Lawson Macartney, head of strategic management of GlaxoSmithKline’s cardiovascular, metabolic and urology drugs, said: “We know, from considerable market research, that the
market is ready for new options”.

GSK expects Levitra to be available in September.

Read source on News - Viagra rival approved in US
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Read http://www.webmd.com/content/article/116/112140.htm

Even if your high blood pressure (or hypertension) has caused erectile
dysfunction (ED), you have every reason to be optimistic about the future and a
healthy sex life. It is a common problem associated with high blood pressure
but there are many proven treatments you can try.

A doctor’s first choice for treating erection problems is usually one of the
pills called PDE5 inhibitors. First there was Viagra. Now there’s also Levitra
and Cialis. All three drugs work in similar ways. They don’t increase sexual
desire. They make it physically possible to get an erection when you are
aroused.

No one of them has been proven to work better than the others. But the time
they take to start working and the duration of their effects vary. That’s
something you may want to consider based on your sexual habits. For example,
does spontaneity matter to you, or do you usually plan sex ahead of time?

Viagra starts working in about 15 to 30 minutes and its effects last about
two to four hours. Levitra starts working in about 30 to 60 minutes and lasts
four to five hours. Cialis starts working in about 30 to 60 minutes and lasts
as long as 36 hours.

Men whose blood pressure isn’t under control and those who take
alpha-blockers (for high blood pressure or prostate problems) shouldn’t take
Viagra, Cialis, or Levitra.

Also, you may not be able to take these drugs if you:

• Take nitrate drugs (for chest pain)
• Had a heart attack or stroke in the past six months
• Have kidney or liver disease
• Have retinitis pigmentosa (an eye disease)

When Erectile Dysfunction Pills Aren’t an Option

If erectile dysfunction pills are out of the question, or if pills haven’t
worked for you, don’t worry. There are other good options.

Alprostadil is another drug for erectile dysfunction. However, it’s not a
pill. One brand, called MUSE, is an alprostadil pellet that you insert into the
tip of your penis with an applicator. It widens blood vessels and relaxes
smooth muscle tissue in the penis, allowing blood to fill the spongy tissue
that makes the penis erect.

Injections directly into the penis are another way to deliver alprostadil.
Phentolamine and papaverine are additional drugs that are injected into the
penis to treat erectile dysfunction. When injecting these drugs there is some
risk that your erection may last too long, a condition that can require medical
treatment.

Next, you may want to try a vacuum device, or “penis pump.” This is
typically a clear plastic cylinder with a bulb or plunger and a constriction
band.

You put your penis in the cylinder and start pumping. The suction creates a
vacuum, so blood rushes in to fill the spaces in the spongy tissue of the
penis, creating an erection. The erection lasts only as long as the blood stays
in, so you slide the band down around the base of your penis, trapping the
blood. It’s safe to keep the band on for up to 30 minutes.

These devices are available without a prescription, but it’s important to
buy one from a reputable manufacturer. The device must include a safety control
so you can’t harm your penis with too much suction. Continue reading →

Source: Ig Nobel prizes a mouthful of fun

BOSTON - Good news for your Viagra-using hamster: On his next trip to Europe he’ll bounce back from jet lag faster than his unmedicated friends.

The researchers who revealed that bizarre fact earned one of 10 Ig Nobel prizes awarded Thursday night for quirky, funny and sometimes legitimate scientific achievements, from the mathematics of wrinkled sheets to U.S. military efforts to make a “gay bomb.”

The recipients of the annual award handed out by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine were honored at Harvard University’s Sanders Theater.

A team at Quilmes National University in Buenos Aires, Argentina, came up with the jet-lag study, which found that hamsters given the anti-impotence drug needed 50 percent less time to recover from a six-hour time zone change. They didn’t fly rodents to Paris, incidentally &151; a chemical weapon that would make enemy soldiers want to make love with each other, not war with the enemy.

Abrahams talked to a number of retired and active Air Force personnel to try and get someone to accept the prize in person on behalf of the military. None would.

“Who in their right mind would turn something like this down?” Wansink said.

___

On the Web:

Ig Nobels: http://www.improbable.com Continue reading →

Original article Prostate Cancer: New Help for Tough Choices

April 25, 2001 (Dana Point, Calif.) — It’s now clear that nearly half of all U.S. men one day will hear the dread news that they have prostate cancer. What’s unclear is what they should do about it.

New tools can help men make this difficult decision, according to experts gathered here at the American Cancer Society’s Science Writers Seminar.

“For men today diagnosed with prostate cancer, 90% have localized, early cancer,” says Peter Scardino, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. “The dilemma they face is, ‘What shall I do about this? Should I treat it at all — or is the word cancer scaring me into taking potentially dangerous treatments?’ It is an agonizing decision among a wide array of different types of treatments. The better we understand the consequences of these choices, the more we can help men make wise decisions they can live with.”

Three conference presentations show that much progress is being made:

• Michael Kattan, PhD, outcome research scientist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, has developed a computer-based tool called a nomogram. The program takes in a man’s personal and medical data and then tells him — in cold, hard numbers — what his chances are for success and side effects with each available treatment.
• Mark S. Litwin, MD, MPH, associate professor of urology and health services at the UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center, has gathered data on the quality of life for patients who have undergone various treatments for prostate cancer. These findings can be used by new patients to make informed treatment choices.
• Joseph J. Disa, MD, a reconstructive and plastic surgeon at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, has helped to develop a new nerve-grafting technique that greatly reduces two of the most feared consequences of prostate surgery: erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence.

What Are My Chances, Doc?

When a patient first learns he has prostate cancer, he is faced with a bewildering array of options:

• Surgery can cut away the tumor — and maybe also the nerves that control erections and urination.
• External-beam radiation can kill prostate cancer cells, but the treatment can cause painful bladder symptoms and other problems.
• Brachytherapy is the implanting of small, radioactive seeds into the prostate, where they kill cancer cells — but new studies suggest that this treatment may have the same drawbacks as external radiation.
• And then there is watchful waiting, based on statistics that show a man is more likely to die with prostate cancer than to die of it. But for many patients — especially Americans with their can-do attitude — living with cancer is hard to accept.

Now Kattan and colleagues have developed the nomogram, a new program that lets a doctor punch in all relevant medical details into a computer or handheld device. Then, at the press of a button, the program shows what the chances are that a particular treatment will work for a particular patient — and what the chances are for something to go wrong.

“This approach is attempting to maximize the accuracy with which you can do that,” Kattan says. “The nomogram generally predicts better than a doctor’s prediction. … When it comes down to predicting, we as humans tend to predict the outcome we want to happen, not the outcome most likely to happen.”

A new, recently completed study of more than 4,000 patient records showed that the nomogram’s predictions come amazingly close to actual patient outcomes.

“I think what the nomograms will help do is put a number on the likelihood of success with different treatments,” Scardino says. “But it will not show whether one treatment is better than another. It will show that a certain treatment may be more likely to help, and then the decision will be whether the potential side effects are worth it.”

Litwin and Scardino already use the program in clinical practice. “My patients love it — even the ones that get bad news,” says Litwin. Continue reading →

Originaly from: Smiles Aplenty In Viagra Town page
(CBS)

Read source of it on the News - Japan’s schooling for scandal site
The report certainly made shocking reading. But its revelations about the motivation for the policy were not so surprising to those familiar with Japanese bureaucracy, pointing as it did to the cosy relationships between politicians, bureaucrats and business.

It concluded that the Health and Welfare Ministry, in conjunction with the powerful Japan Medical Association, was quarantining leprosy sufferers in order to secure larger budgets for the sanatoriums and to keep doctors employed.

Takesato Watanabe, a media ethics professor, said: “The medical lobby has a powerful influence on the government. They’re big donors and so they get laws passed that are favourable to them.”

No isolated case

And Japan’s leprosy policy followed a long string of health-related scandals over the years.

There isn’t a history in Japan of taking doctors to account Derrick Buddles, manager at medical-device manufacturer Stryker

One of the most notorious dated back to the 1980s, when more than 1,400 Japanese haemophiliacs were exposed to HIV as a result of the Japanese Health Ministry’s failure to ban unheated blood products, despite knowing they risked being tainted.

A senior doctor on the health and welfare ministry’s Aids research panel was accused of delaying heat-treated blood products to help a Japanese pharmaceutical company that was behind in developing new sterilised blood products.

More recently, food companies repackaged imported beef as Japanese beef to claim government compensation in the wake of a mad cow disease scare, and last summer Japan Dental Association (JDA) members were charged with bribing senior politicians while the government was reviewing medical fees.

“There isn’t a history in Japan of taking doctors to account,” said Derrick Buddles, a manager at medical-device manufacturer Stryker in Tokyo.

Dr Michio Nakayama, a professor of bio-ethics at Niigata University’s medical faculty, agreed, saying that in hierarchical Japan, where criticism of those in power is socially difficult, both the Japanese medical profession and health ministry have long taken a “doctor knows best” approach and simply shrugged off or ignored criticism.

The health ministry is not the only sector to be beset by scandal. Many areas of Japan’s administration, from the banking sector to its nuclear industry, have been tainted over the years.

Media role

But it is not just the establishment that is at fault. Japan’s media has played a part.

“The mass media were impotent in providing relief to the hidden human rights violations,” said the leprosy council’s report into the defunct quarantine policy.

Japan’s press is constrained by an archaic system

The problem is that Japan’s press, while nominally free, is constricted by the complex environment in which it operates.

Most journalists belong to hundreds of exclusive press clubs or “kisha clubs” which are affiliated to the organisations they cover. Club members depend on their host organisations for information and scoops. In return, there is a suspicion that they refrain from reporting issues affecting those organisations too critically.

Until recently clubs could prevent non-members from attending or asking questions at their respective press conferences.

But times are slowly changing.

A new Freedom of Information Act is helping the public and media to gain access to more information that used to be under the government’s control.

As a result, Dr Nakayama said, “some articles are pointing out what the medical professions do not like to disclose”.

‘Could try harder’

But Professor Watanabe still sees room for improvement, and not just in the medical and health sphere.

“At the national level, I don’t think information relating to things like diplomacy and defence is being disseminated properly, still,” he said.

In one famous example, TV station NTV broadcast a report about food aid that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was intending to give to North Korea during a controversial visit to the country as Japan attempted to find a solution to the delicate task of normalising relations between the two countries.

The government responded by threatening to throw the station off the accompanying press trip to Pyongyang unless it revealed its source, although it later relented.

The collusion between Japan’s powerful troika of politicians, business and bureaucrats both undermines the media’s effectiveness and creates a system which breeds the scandals it should be uncovering.

Unless that atmosphere changes, Japan’s leprosy scandal is unlikely to be its last.

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By Helen Branswell

TORONTO (CP) - As you zap mounds of spam from your e-mail inbox, do you ever wonder who would be naive enough to give credit card details to the anonymous folks behind the dubiously worded drug offers?

Well, researchers from the University of Toronto did. And to their surprise they found the damn spam delivered.

Dr. Alejandro Jadad and research fellow Peter Gernburd were able to purchase products that looked like brand-name erectile dysfunction medications, anti-anxiety drugs and obesity supplements with relative ease - though what exactly is in the bubble packs remains to be seen.

But Jadad, a researcher who describes himself as a public advocate, warned the business is a shady one. An address used to purchase medication one week can be a dead end the next, leaving buyers with no recourse if the drugs turn out to be bogus or past their expiry date.

“These could be fake. These could be real. These could be adulterated. We don’t know,” Jadad said of the products he and Gernburd managed to purchase.

“So ‘User beware’ big time here.”

“The message really is not ‘Oh, you’re going to get it.’ The message is you’re going to get things from places that you don’t know, that are not responsible, that disappear, and that are breaking the law. So be very careful.”

The researchers are in the process of having the products analyzed by a laboratory.

Health Canada would not offer comment Monday on Jadad’s study, which was published Tuesday in the journal Public Library of Science Medicine.

Instead, a spokesperson pointed to cautions posted on the department’s website, statements warning that people put their health at serious risk when they buy drugs online.

“You have no way of knowing where these companies are located, where they get their drugs, what is in their drugs, or how to reach them if there is a problem,” the department says in a fact sheet posted on its website.

“If you order from these sites, you may get counterfeit drugs with no active ingredients, drugs with the wrong ingredients, drugs with dangerous additives, or drugs past their expiry date. Even if these drugs do not harm you directly or immediately, your condition may get worse without effective treatment.”

Jadad was inspired to explore the business of spam-generated drug sales because of the volume of the unwanted e-mail he was getting himself.

A check of the medical literature produced little on the subject. So he and Gernburd set up three e-mail accounts and monitored the number and types of spam messages they received.

In one month - November 2006 - the accounts received 4,153 messages what qualified as spam, 82 per cent of the total e-mail traffic. Health-related spam made up 32 per cent of the total.

As far as the researchers could tell, most was from abroad - the United States, China and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Only 58 per cent of the active links in the spam e-mails were still viable a week later and only a quarter of the links still worked at the end of the month.

Jadad’s wife had secured a special credit card with a low credit limit and Jadad and Gernburd tried to order 27 items using it.

Only nine orders went through. Five were for prescription drugs (erectile dysfunction drugs and anti-anxiety medications) and four were for natural health products (weight management and penile enlargement).

The only charges made against the credit card were for items that were actually delivered, Jadad said. But whether the products are the real thing remains to be seen.

He wouldn’t say if the drugs were expired or more expensive than they would have been in a local pharmacy, saying that analysis will be in a future instalment of this work.

While some might worry that this study would actually give people confidence they can buy drugs from spammers, Jadad said it’s important to know what’s going on in this netherworld, because people clearly are accessing prescription drugs this way.

“The fact at the end of the day is … there are enough people who are willing to look at those messages and consider the products and make an order. And that is what keeps this going,” said Jadad, a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and founder of the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation at Toronto’s University Health Network.

“If people didn’t respond, we wouldn’t have spam. And the fact that spam is growing so much is a reflection of the fact that the spammers are making a lot of money out of it.”
Continue reading →