Pig Cell Implants Into Human
Brains in Huntington's Trial
NewScientist.com
PIG brain cells could be implanted into human brains by the start of next year if trials of a pioneering treatment for Huntington's disease are approved in the US. Similar tests on primates have proved "astonishingly successful" in treating the degenerative brain disease, according to researchers who carried out the work at Living Cell Technologies (LCT) in Auckland, New Zealand. The injection of live animal cells into human brains is likely to raise ethical concerns and fears of pig viruses being transmitted to humans. But researchers say the benefits of a cure outweigh such concerns. "Yes, we have created a chimera, but one that is tolerated and beneficial," says Bob Elliott, LCT's medical director.

Facing Shortages, Colleges Want
Nurses in Teaching Roles Faster
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
OMAHA, Neb. -- Facing not only a shortage of nurses but a shortage of professionals to train them, colleges are developing programs to get more nurses into teaching roles faster. When Heidi Keeler heads to class next Monday, she'll be the first student to enroll at The University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing's new fast-track program. The goal is to help get more nurses in the field to stave off the nursing shortage that is expected to worsen over the next five to seven years.

University Gets Millions For Nurses
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
The University of Saint Francis and Parkview Health are joining forces over the next five years to increase the number of nurses in the area – particularly nurses with master’s degrees. Saint Francis and Parkview officials announced Thursday the continuation of a partnership that started five years ago to address the nursing shortage. Over the next five years, Parkview will give Saint Francis nearly $2.8 million for the program. About $1.5 million will be used for scholarships with the rest paying for instructors, marketing and other expenses.

Excela Health Hires 60 New Nurses
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
When Westmoreland Regional, Latrobe Area and Frick hospitals merged into Excela Health last year, one of the system's first priorities was to develop a plan to recruit nurses.

FDA Tightens Acne Drug Restrictions
Accutane Users, Doctors, Retailers
Must Enroll In National Registry
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Everyone who uses the acne drug Accutane will have to enroll in a national registry, along with every doctor who prescribes it and every drugstore that sells it—tough new restrictions aimed at preventing women from becoming pregnant with this birth defect-causing drug. The Food and Drug Administration announced the long-anticipated program Friday, more than a year after the agency’s scientific advisers urged the extra curbs because repeated safety warnings have failed to stop Accutane-damaged pregnancies.

Ga. MD Accused in Flesh-Eating Paste Aid
ABC News
ROCHELLE, Ga. -- A doctor is accused of assisting an unlicensed practitioner who allegedly treats cancer patients with a flesh-eating herbal paste that leaves them with horrible disfigurements, including mutilated breasts. Georgia's board of medical examiners has accused Lois March, an ear, nose and throat specialist, of aiding and abetting Dan Raber's practice over the last three years by providing pain medication to patients who had received the treatments. One patient's flesh was eaten so badly from his shoulder that the bone was exposed.

N.C. Patients Discuss Surgical-Tool Fiasco
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Patients whose surgeons unknowingly used instruments washed in hydraulic fluid instead of detergent held their first group meeting, sharing stories of delayed recoveries and distrust of their doctors. About 50 people attended the meeting Thursday, organized by a freelance medical writer who was among 3,800 patients to undergo surgery with instruments washed in the fluid in late 2004 at two hospitals owned by Duke University Health System.

Smokers Taking Controversial Cancer Test
The Associated Press
If a simple, painless test can find the world's deadliest cancer when it is smaller than a pea - and such a test does indeed exist - shouldn't people who are most at risk have one? Surprisingly, the federal government, American Cancer Society and a raft of cancer specialists say the answer is "no." They are waging an uphill battle as frightened current and former smokers rush to get a special kind of X-ray that other physicians are urging for lung cancer detection but that has not yet conclusively been shown to save lives.

Curry Spice May Protect Against Cancer
The Guardian
Scientists hope they are unravelling the secrets of how a prime curry ingredient helps protect against cancer. They have found the active agent in turmeric, the spice that colours and flavours many Asian meals, can block a cancer-promoting protein. They want to follow up tests using cell cultures in the laboratory with trials of tablets on patients.

State Bans Shipments Of Pet Rodents From Ohio Facility
ClickOnDetroit.com
LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan banned shipments of pet mice, hamsters and guinea pigs from Ohio on Monday because they could be infected with a disease harmful to unborn children and people with weakened immune systems. The state Department of Community Health issued the public health order after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said rodents infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, or LCMV, were shipped from an Ohio pet distribution center to stores in Michigan and other states.