Blood Donors Needed in Wake of Winter Storm

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News
• Date: Jan 29,2009

Wednesday’s winter storm has impacted the blood supply in the Philadelphia area. Several area blood drives were cancelled or postponed on Wednesday and many blood donors could not honor their appointments, resulting in a 32.5% reduction of Penn-Jersey Regional blood donations.

In all, 6 blood drives that were scheduled to collect over 410 units of blood have been cancelled due to the inclement weather throughout the region. This will affect the Red Cross’s ability to provide blood and blood products to local hospitals.

The American Red Cross is asking people to donate blood at area blood drives and donation centers over the next four days to help make up for Wednesday’s lost donations.

“This is a serious situation that can only be resolved by the willingness of people in our community to step forward and give blood for others in need,” says Brigid O’Neill-LaGier, chief executive officer of the American Red Cross, Penn-Jersey Blood Services Region. “We are relying on local blood donors to schedule a donation immediately in order for blood to be available for each and every patient.”

To ensure that patient needs are not compromised, the Penn-Jersey Region urgently asks all scheduled donors to make every effort to keep their scheduled appointments and encourages those who are not currently scheduled to call 1-800-GIVE LIFE (1-800-448-3543) for an immediate appointment. A call to action is sent to all members of the community.

Blood drives are held seven days a week in communities across the region. To make an immediate appointment for an American Red Cross blood drive this week, please call 1-800-GIVE LIFE (1-800-448-3543), or visit www.pleasegiveblood.org to find a listing of community blood drives.

Most healthy people who are at least 17 years old and weigh 110 pounds or more are eligible to donate whole blood every 56 days. In January of 2008 a law went into effect in the state of Pennsylvania that allows 16-year-old donors to donate blood with parental or legal guardian written consent. Donors can give blood at any one of nearly 200 blood drives sponsored by business and community groups in southeastern Pennsylvania and in New Jersey weekly, or at one of nine community donor centers.

Source: American Red Cross, Penn-Jersey Region

USAID Sends Additional Assistance for Zimbabwe Cholera Outbreak

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News
• Date: Jan 29,2009

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) continues to provide assistance to the people of Zimbabwe in the aftermath of a widespread cholera outbreak that began in August 2008. USAID is consigning nearly 440,000 bars of soap — valued at nearly $365,000 — to the U.N. Children’s Fund, which will provide it to humanitarian organizations to distribute as part of hygiene education programs in areas most affected by the cholera outbreak.

According to the World Health Organization, the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe has now affected all provinces and 57 out of 62 districts. As of January 22, 2009, more than 48,000 cases of cholera and 2,755 deaths have been reported.

Cholera is usually transmitted through contaminated water or food. Outbreaks can occur sporadically in any part of the world where water supply, sanitation, food safety, and hygiene are inadequate and spread rapidly in areas with inadequate treatment of sewage and drinking water. Although cholera is contagious, it can be prevented. USAID and the international community are diligently working in Zimbabwe to help prevent the spread of the disease.

To date, USAID has pledged $6.8 million in emergency assistance for Zimbabwe’s cholera outbreak. USAID’s assistance is supporting the provision of emergency relief supplies for affected populations, humanitarian coordination and information management, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and health interventions.

This assistance is in addition to the more than $4 million that USAID has provided for emergency WASH programs in Zimbabwe since October 2007. The U.S. Government has provided more than $264 million in humanitarian assistance for Zimbabwe’s ongoing health and food crisis since October 2007.

For more information about USAID’s emergency humanitarian assistance programs, please visit: www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/disaster_assistance/.

The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50 years.

Source: U.S. Agency for International Development

Motorcycle Seats NOT The Cause of Impotence or Erectile Dysfunction for Bikers

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News
• Date: Jan 28,2009

“A 2005 Japan impotence study uses soft words about hard seats suggesting motorbike ‘vibration may cause ED’ and ‘more studies are needed to determine the cause,’ ” says patent-granted author Randall Dale Chipkar. “Based upon limited information one cannot conclude motorcycle seats as causation for impotence.”

“Bicycling or hard scooter seats on rough roads are much more rigorous on the groin rather than modern day cruising seats. Not to mention motorcycle rubber-mounted engines, sophisticated suspensions, smooth asphalt and contoured padded seats,” Chipkar says.

“Subtle groin vibrations increase blood flow and are actually stimulating not debilitating on our tissues. Regular motorcycle seat vibration is not going to damage penile nerves,” Chipkar adds.

The pelvis and perineum are designed for prolonged sitting properly displacing pressure and any eventual discomfort can be walked off without sustaining biological harm or compromised blood flow.

“Causation of impotence or erectile dysfunction involves many issues including lifestyle habits. Unfortunately, I feel there is a much greater issue than pressure or vibration linking impotence to motorcycle riders,” says Chipkar.

“Most motorcycles have electrical components beneath the seat. Extremely low frequency electromagnetic field (ELF EMF) radiation passes through the seat penetrating into the rider’s groin. ELF EMFs can disrupt zinc ions which are linked to impotence and erectile dysfunction. Furthermore, excessive ELF EMF invasion compromises electromagnetic homeostasis involving neuron function, hormone imbalance and adrenal fatigue all linked to impotence and libido loss,” Chipkar says.

“I discovered up to 500 milliGauss of ELF EMF radiation above motorcycle seats zapping the prostate. In contrast, many doctors raise cancer concerns involving 3 to 5 milliGauss of ELF EMF exposure from hydro tower power lines and other sources,” adds Chipkar.

“On my website doctors prove ELF EMF danger. Impotence, erectile dysfunction, infertility, sterility, prostatitis, and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) are linked not to motorcycle seats but what’s ‘rising up’ through them,” Chipkar says.

Chipkar authored Motorcycle Cancer? to expose the truth. Chipkar is now campaigning worldwide to enhance the motorcycle industry to keep riders safer.

Randall Dale Chipkar is available for interviews and has a motorcycle cancer website for rider safety. For more information about The Motorcycle Cancer Book, proof of EMF danger, studies, erectile dysfunction, lymphoma, impotence, enlarged prostate, prostatitis, BPH, prostate cancer, colon cancer, kidney cancer, RiderSaver(TM) motorcycle seat shielding, etc. Please visit http://www.motorcyclecancer.com/

Source: Chipkar Health Concepts Limited

Novel Diabetes Drug Discovery Has Potential to Reverse Disease

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News
• Date: Jan 28,2009

A study released in Endocrine Practice (2008;14:1075), the leading peer-reviewed journal for practicing endocrinologists in the US and 65 countries, reports a ground breaking discovery with the potential to reverse type 1 and 2 diabetes.

Scientists at CureDM, Inc. have identified a 14- amino acid human peptide, Human proIslet Peptide (HIP), consisting of the bioactive region in the human REG3a gene responsible for regenerating pancreatic islets, a process also known as islet neogenesis. “Utilizing an innovative and proprietary approach to evaluate the human genome and proteome from a physiologic perspective, we were able to identify a highly conserved bioactive gene product that triggers islet neogenesis. Restoring functional islets as a therapeutic approach is fundamental to curing the underlying disease,” said Claresa S. Levetan, MD, FACE, Chief Medical Officer and Founder of CureDM, Inc.

CureDM has produced, stabilized and characterized this unique peptide in a variety of preclinical studies. In these studies, researchers have demonstrated that HIP stimulates insulin secretion in human pancreatic ductal tissue devoid of islets. HIP was also shown to stimulate new islet formation with a 3-fold increase in islet numbers in validated diabetic animal models compared to placebo, effectively reversing the disease in such animals. “Having demonstrated the preclinical proof of concept of this promising and novel therapeutic approach, we look forward to obtain regulatory approval and initiation of clinical testing of HIP in 2009,” said H. Joseph Reiser Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of CureDM.

The incidence of diabetes continues to grow at a double-digit rate worldwide with nearly 300 million patients estimated by 2030. At the time of diagnosis, islet mass is often reduced by 80% in type 1 patients and 50% in type 2 patients, supporting the importance of islet restoration as a therapeutic approach. Pancreatic islets contain four primary cell types and are responsible for producing insulin, amylin, glucagon and other hormones critical to maintaining normal glucose regulation. Current diabetes therapies, including insulin, help to control the disease but do not restore new islets. HIP addresses the underlying mechanism of the pathology of diabetes and represents a potentially curative approach to both, type 1 and 2 diabetes. If successful in human clinical trials, HIP-induced restoration of islet function has the potential to become a first-line treatment approach for diabetes and pre- diabetes.

About HIP

Human proIslet Peptide (HIP) is a 14-amino acid, stabilized human peptide that stimulates the signal pathways that induce new islet formation in the pancreas, without the use of stem cells. HIP creates new insulin-producing beta cells by generating new islets that contain alpha, beta, gamma and delta cells, all of which are necessary to regulate glucose metabolism. The core patent for the HIP technology was issued in July 2008.

Source: CureDM, Inc.