Another 365 new E. coli cases found in Germany

European Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli holds a news conference on the contaminated cucumbers crisis in Brussels June 1, 2011. Spain said on Wednesday it was considering legal action against German regional authorities for blaming its produce for an E. coli outbreak that has killed 16 people in Germany, Sweden and other countries

Germany’s disease control centre reported 365 new E. coli cases today as the government scrambled to trace the source of the deadly outbreak.

A quarter of the new cases involved the hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious complication resulting from E. coli infection that affects the blood and kidneys, Germany’s Robert Koch Institute said.

The HUS outbreak, one of the largest of its kind, has been the main contributor to the deaths of some 16 people in north Europe, all of whom had travelled in northern Germany.



So far, more than 1,500 cases of E. coli/HUS have been reported in Germany alone and authorities have been unable to identify the source of the virulent strain of E. coli.

Germany’s Consumer Protection and Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner deflected criticism today that the government had falsely blamed Spanish cucumbers as the source of the outbreak after some tested positive for the bacteria.

“There were E. coli pathogens found on Spanish cucumbers,” Aigner told German television. “Therefore, per European regulations, a rapid alert needed to be sent out.”

Authorities in Hamburg said yesterday the E. coli found on Spanish cucumbers did not match the killer bacteria.

Spain said it was considering legal action against authorities in Hamburg for blaming its produce for the E. coli outbreak.

Spanish farmers say lost sales are costing them €200 million (RM867 million) a week and the crisis could put 70,000 out of work in a country which already has the highest unemployment rate in the European Union.

CPR switch: Chest presses first, then give breaths

New guidelines out Monday switch up the steps for CPR, telling rescuers to start with hard, fast chest presses before giving mouth-to-mouth.

The change puts "the simplest step first" for traditional CPR, said Dr. Michael Sayre, co-author of the guidelines issued by the American Heart Association.

In recent years, CPR guidance has been revised to put more emphasis on chest pushes for sudden cardiac arrest. In 2008, the heart group said untrained bystanders or those unwilling to do rescue breaths could do hands-only CPR until paramedics arrive or a defibrillator is used to restore a normal heart beat.

Now, the group says everyone from professionals to bystanders who use standard CPR should begin with chest compressions instead of opening the victim's airway and breathing into their mouth first.

The change ditches the old ABC training - airway-breathing-compressions. That called for rescuers to give two breaths first, then alternate with 30 presses.

Sayre said that approach took time and delayed chest presses, which keep the blood circulating.

"When the rescuer pushes hard and fast on the victim's chest, they're really acting like an artificial heart. That blood carries oxygen that helps keep the organs alive till help arrives," said Sayre, an emergency doctor at Ohio State University Medical Center.

"Put one hand on top of the other and push really hard," he said.

Sudden cardiac arrest - when the heart suddenly stops beating - can occur after a heart attack or as a result of electrocution or near-drowning. The person collapses, stops breathing normally and is unresponsive. Survival rates from cardiac arrest outside the hospital vary across the country - from 3 percent to 15 percent, according to Sayre.

Under the revised guidelines, rescuers using traditional CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, should start chest compressions immediately - 30 chest presses, then two breaths. The change applies to adults and children, but not newborns.

One CPR researcher, though, expressed disappointment with the new guidelines. Dr. Gordon Ewy of the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center thinks everyone should be doing hands-only CPR for sudden cardiac arrest, and skipping mouth-to-mouth. He said the guidelines could note the cases where breaths should still be given, like near-drownings and drug overdoses, when breathing problems likely led to the cardiac arrest.

Ewy is one of the authors of a recently published U.S. study that showed more people survived cardiac arrest when a bystander gave them hands-only CPR, compared to CPR with breaths.


The guidelines issued Monday also say that rescuers should be pushing deeper, at least 2 inches in adults. Rescuers should pump the chest of the victim at a rate of at least 100 compressions a minute - some say a good guide is the beat of the old disco song "Stayin' Alive."

Dr. Ahamed Idris, of the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, said people are sometimes afraid that they'll hurt the patient. Others have a hard time judging how hard they are pressing, he said.

"We want to make sure people understand they're not going to hurt the person they're doing CPR on by pressing as hard as they can," he said.

Idris, who directs the Dallas-Fort Worth Center for Resuscitation Research, said that for the last two years, they've been advising local paramedics to start with chest compressions and keep them up with minimal interruptions. That, along with intensive training, has helped improve survival rates, he said.

He said they found paramedics hadn't been starting compressions until the patient was in the ambulance and lost time getting airway equipment together.

"The best chance was to start chest compressions in the house, immediately," he said.

Eight virus types cause almost all cervical cancer

Scientists have identified the eight human papillomavirus (HPV) types responsible for more than 90 per cent of cervical cancer cases worldwide and say they should be the targets for the next generation of vaccines.

Drugmakers GlaxoSmithKline and Merck & Co. already make vaccines against HPV strains that cause many cases of cervical cancer, which is the second most common cancer in women worldwide and is expected to kill 328,000 this year.

In a large study looking at 60 years of data from 10,575 cases of invasive cervical cancer across 38 countries, an international team of scientists led by Silvia de Sanjose of the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Barcelona examined which types of HPV contributed most to the global incidence of the disease.

Their results, published in the Lancet medical journal on Monday, showed that eight HPV types — types 16, 18, 45, 33, 31, 52, 58, and 35 in descending order of frequency — were responsible for more than 90 per cent of cases.

GSK’s vaccine Cervarix and Merck’s Gardasil protect against HPV types 16 and 18, and, through cross-protection, partially also against HPV types 31 and 45.

Many wealthy countries have started HPV immunisation programmes with these shots for girls before they become sexually active, but the vaccines are generally too expensive and inaccessible for most people living in poorer nations.

De Sanjose said the study’s findings reinforced “the rationale for prevention of cervical cancer through use of existing vaccines” and would aid the development of second-generation vaccines against multiple HPV types.

Around 80 per cent of the world’s cervical cancer cases now occur in developing countries and the disease is caused by high-risk and sexually transmitted types of HPV.

Of the more than 118 different HPV types that have been identified, about 40 infect the genital tract and 12 are known to be cancer-causing, the scientists explained.

In their study, which involved cancer cases from Europe, North America, central South America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, the researchers also identified several rare HPV types — types 26, 30, 61, 67, 69, 82, and 91 — which can also cause cervical cancer but account for only one per cent of cases worldwide.

In a commentary about the study in the Lancet, Cosette Wheeler of the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in the United States described the research as “a Herculean effort that might be the benchmark for all time”.

The results “clearly support future directions for cervical screening and type-specific triage, establish the potential worldwide impact of current HPV vaccines, and set priorities for next-generation vaccines”, she wrote.

Obesity surgery ‘could save UK millions’

Providing surgical treatment for people who are morbidly obese could save British taxpayer-funded health services and the wider economy hundreds of millions of pounds a year, leading surgeons said today.

In an economic impact assessment of obesity surgery, the Royal College of Surgeons and the National Obesity Forum said the financial toll of unemployment, welfare payments, hospital costs and prescriptions caused by obesity could be cut drastically if more patients had weight-loss surgery.

A man walks past the New York Stock Exchange after trading hours in New York




The report was written by an independent consultancy called the Office of Health Economics and funded by the health firms Allergan and Covidien, both of whom make medical equipment used in weight-loss, or so-called bariatric, surgery.

Bariatric surgery is performed on people who are dangerously obese, as a way of trying to help them lose weight. The idea is to reduce the size of the stomach, either with a gastric band or a gastric bypass that re-routes the small intestines to a small stomach pouch, or by removing a portion of the stomach.

Critics of weight-loss surgery say its long-term risks are largely unknown, particularly in children, and argue it should be a last resort for morbidly obese people who have failed to lose weight by changing their diet and lifestyle.

The British report said that if five percent of eligible UK patients were given weight-loss surgery on the taxpayer-funded National Health Service (NHS), the gain to the economy within three years would be 382 million pounds. If 25 percent got surgery, the gain in three years would be 1.3 billion pounds.

On top of that, it said, the government could also expect to save between 35 million and 150 million pounds in welfare payments as people were able to return to work.

Britain’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which advises the government on the cost-effectiveness of drugs and medical treatments, recommends that patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or more, or those with a BMI of 35 or more and other serious illnesses, should be assessed for weight-loss surgery.

BMI is equal to weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. A person 5 feet 5 inches tall (165 cm) with a BMI of 40 would weigh more than 240 pounds (109 kg).

Today’s report said that around a million people in England have a BMI that meets NICE criteria and around a quarter of those are both fit for and willing to have surgery — yet only 3,600 weight-loss operations were carried out within the NHS in the year 2009/10.

“These figures are simply staggering,” John Black, President of the Royal College of Surgeons, said in a statement with the report.

“The NHS can not afford to ignore the mounting evidence that shows that bariatric surgery, for those patients where all other treatments have failed, is not only proven to be successful but also hugely cost-effective.”

A study in the British Medical Journal last month found that use of weight-loss surgery has increased 10-fold in hospitals in England since 2000 and that those who have gastric bands fitted can reduce their risk of early death and cut health service costs.

Venezuelan politician raffles breast implants

A Venezuelan politician is offering breast implants as a prize in a raffle to raise funds for his election campaign, a newspaper said on Friday.

“There are critics but also some people think it’s a nice idea,” Gustavo Rojas, an opposition candidate for a National Assembly position, told El Universal newspaper.

Cosmetic surgery, especially breast enlargement, is widespread in image-conscious Venezuela, whose beauty queens have won numerous international pageant titles.

Even a recession has not diminished Venezuelans’ appetite for cosmetic surgery with many people taking out loans for the surgery.

Rojas, of the opposition First Justice party, said he was not too worried about the medical details of his offer.

“The raffle is a financing mechanism, nothing else,” he told El Universal. “It’s the doctor who will do the operation, not me.”

Venezuelans vote on September 26 for a new parliament.

Developing nations to bear cancer brunt, unprepared

Developing countries will bear 60 per cent of the world’s cancer burden by 2020 and 70 per cent by 2030, but are not prepared for the looming crisis, cancer experts warned in a report today.

These countries do not have the infrastructure in place to prevent cancer, diagnose it early or provide long-term treatment, according to CanTreat International, which comprises experts from leading international cancer organisations.

“Developed countries have been setting up plans and systems to cope with cancer all the time, but developing countries are not ready ... treatment, diagnoses are made very late or not at all, so the (death) toll is much, much higher,” Joseph Saba, a medical doctor and member of the group, said in an interview.





CanTreat stands for the Informal Working Group on Cancer Treatment in Developing Countries. Its report was unveiled during the World Cancer Congress in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

There were 7.6 million cancer fatalities worldwide in 2008, making it a leading cause of death. The developing world made up 5.3 million, or 70 per cent. By 2050, low-income countries alone will account for three-quarters of all cancer deaths.

The economic impact of premature death and disability from cancer worldwide was US$895 billion (RM2.8 trillion) in 2008, excluding treatment costs, according to the American Cancer Society.

With changes in diet, worsening pollution, ageing populations, rising obesity rates, tobacco use and alcohol intake, developing countries are now saddled with more non-communicable diseases including heart problems, strokes, diabetes and cancers, in addition to infectious diseases.

There were 12.67 million new cases of cancer worldwide in 2008, with developing nations representing 56 per cent of the total. By 2020, there will be an estimated 15 million new cancer cases, 60 per cent of which will be in the developing world.

According to the CanTreat report, while a breast cancer patient has an 84 per cent chance of surviving for at least five more years in the United States, it is only 12 per cent in Gambia.

Cure rates for childhood cancer are 75 per cent in high-income countries but 10 to 15 per cent in low-income countries.

“We need centres for early diagnoses, trained doctors and nurses, follow-up mechanisms,” Saba said.

Saba urged health experts to learn from the experience of managing HIV/AIDS in the last 30 years: people will only come forward for screening if there are proper treatments in place.

“If you don’t have proper treatment, why do you want early detection if you can’t do anything about it? Treatment becomes the engine of cancer control,” he said.

Their report comes days after a group of scientists said in The Lancet journal that many cancers in developing countries could be treated using drugs that are off-patent and manufactured generically at affordable prices.

TV presenter has severe asthma attack live on air after swallowing a mosquito

On-air emergency: The mosquito can be seen flying into Huang Ching's mouth as she's live on air

A Taiwanese TV presenter had a severe asthma attack live on air after a mosquito flew into her mouth and bit her.

Huang Ching had to be hospitalised after she swallowed the insect, which then got stuck in her windpipe while she was reading the news.








Uh-oh: The mosquito gets lodged in the presenter's throat while she reads the news

Huang spent a day in hospital after the incident

The news anchor gamely continued with the broadcast despite the incident but executives from China Television Co decided to take her off air so she could get help.

They put on a four-minute advert and a replacement presenter was brought in to carry on with the broadcast.

Huang spent the following day in hospital after the incident.

'I never expected a mosquito to have such a great power. It really gave me a bad day,' she said.

Saudi man chains his son in the basement for six years because he is 'possessed by an evil female genie'

A Saudi man has been chained in a basement apartment for more than six years because his father believes he is possessed by an evil female genie.

'When he has fits he has convulsions and his entire body twists and his eyes become completely white,' said the father of the 29-year-old man who has been identified only as Turki.

'Then the voice of a woman can be heard coming from him.'





When Turki first began behaving bizarrely, his father took him to local Muslim clerics to recite the Koran over him.

'But most of them became scared when they heard the female voice telling them that she was a royal jinn (genie) and that no-one can exorcise her unless Turki dies,' his father said.

One cleric advised him to shackle his son’s arms and legs in chains and read the Koran to him.
'We did this. My son became quiet but is totally unaware of what is happening around him. He does not talk and is now unable to harm anyone,' Turki’s father told Arab News, an English language Saudi daily.

But genies, or jinn, in Islamic theology can be much more sinister. Some are good, others bad.

A Saudi family last year took a 'genie' to court, accusing it of theft and harassment.

The jinn was said to have terrified the children by throwing stones, stealing mobile phones and speaking in male and female voices.

Turki lives in a tiny, two-room basement apartment with his impoverished mother and her three other children in the holy city of Mecca. They survive on £150 a month from social security.

His parents divorced before he was 'possessed'.

Turki’s father claimed he himself was afflicted by a jinn at the age of nine and suffered for more than four decades until it was exorcised by a cleric.

'I used to see a woman who would at times appear very beautiful and at times extremely ugly,' he said.

On some occasions she was 'surrounded by fire' and on others appeared 'with animal limbs'.

A Saudi human rights activist and professor in Sharia (Islamic law) who visited Turki found him to be in a 'semi-coma'.

Muhammad Al-Suhali said Turki 'did not know what was going on around him. He could not eat, drink or use the toilet without the help of others'.

The professor added that when started to read some Koranic verses, Turki became furious and shook until he nearly fell out of his bed.

'When I stopped reciting, he became quiet again but was distant and unaware of what was happening,' Suhali told Arab News.

He praised Turki’s young wife for staying with him despite his frightening condition.

Suhali called on Saudi Ministry of Social Affairs to provide the family with better accommodation and to include Turki in its social security programme.

Youngest man to die of breast cancer: 28-year-old fought disease for four years

After a four-year battle against the disease Nicky Avery, pictured here with wife Cheryl, succumbed to breast cancer on Monday

The youngest man in Britain to be diagnosed with breast cancer has died aged 28.

Nicky Avery passed away in hospital on Monday after battling the disease over the past four years.

Before his diagnosis Mr Avery had no idea men could contract breast cancer, but he went on to campaign to raise awareness of the disease.





After initially beating the cancer in his breast, it later returned in his liver and bones and may have ultimately spread to his brain.

The former labourer from Southend-on-Sea underwent chemotherapy earlier this year, but was admitted to hospital after deteriorating and died surrounded by his family.

In April he had achieved his dream of marrying the love of his life Cheryl Perkins, 28.
Mr Avery was diagnosed with cancer in 2006 after a girlfriend convinced him to go to the doctors over a lump in his chest that he had ignored.

A biopsy and scan revealed it to be cancerous. At the time he said: 'I was quite ignorant of the fact a man could get breast cancer.

'Doctors at the hospital said, "Mr Avery, you have got cancer". It was as quick as that. I thought at first they had misdiagnosed me.

'It seemed totally surreal and still does.'

Like many women sufferers, Mr Avery had a radical mastectomy followed by intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

At the time he said: ' During my trips to hospital for treatment, I met women who were also being treated for breast cancer and they were really lovely.

'They were a real inspiration to me because they would go in for treatment and then go home and look after their families.'

Following his gruelling treatment he was told he had beaten the disease in May 2007.

But in March last year he was told it had spread. Despite vowing to beat the cancer again, it proved too severe.

Dr Anne Robinson, consultant oncologist at Southend Hospital and breast cancer specialist, treated Mr Avery throughout his illness.

She said she was amazed when she saw him with the disease at age 24. 'The way he dealt with his illness was inspirational,' she said.

'We don't get many men a year with breast cancer, especially someone his age.

'There are probably four or five men a year here with breast cancer compared with something like 400 women.

In a tribute to Mr Avery, his brother Joe wrote on the website Facebook: 'I'm missing u more than anything ... sweet dreams big bro n il b seein u sumday n were be side by side again love u nicky, ur my hero.'

His widow added: 'He's my hero, too, and will miss him every min of every day.'

Mr Avery's close friend Chris Osborne travelled back to the UK from South-East Asia when he heard he was in hospital, and arrived in time to see him the day before he died.

Mr Osborne later paid tribute online in his blog, writing: 'Nick was a hero to many, as he was always upbeat about battling cancer and still made it his priority to make people laugh and feel good about themselves.

'He was the least selfish person I knew and also the strongest by far.

'His big smile and deep laughter will be remembered by hundreds that were lucky to know him.'


The one in a thousand risk

Breast cancer is extremely rare in men.

A man's risk of developing breast cancer in his lifetime is just one in 1,000.

Every year 44,500 women are diagnosed with the disease compared with 300 men.

Of those women 12,000 die, while around 70 of the male sufferers succumb to it.

The symptoms, diagnoses and treatment are all similar to female breast cancer. The most common symptom is a firm, non-painful lump just below the nipple.

As with women, most cases are 60 to 70-year-olds, although it can affect men of any age.

Risk factors include a high oestrogen levels, exposure to radiation and a family history of breast cancer. Overall survival rate is the same as with women.

Parents' fury as teenage daughter dies just days after doctors sent her home and 'told her to take paracetamol'

Amy Carter, on the day she was released from Worcestershire Royal Hospital. She died three days later after suffering multiple organ failure and four heart attacks

A schoolgirl suffered multiple organ failure and four heart attacks just days after doctors sent her home with paracetamol and told her to take 'plenty of rest', an inquest heard.

Amy Carter, 15, begged doctors not to discharge her, telling them 'I'm dying' but medics assured her she would be fine.

She developed septicaemia after being released by doctors who had diagnosed her with glandular fever.

Two days later on Christmas Eve, Amy - who had not been able to eat for 19 days and weighed just six stone - was taken to hospital and died hours later.





Amy with her father Richard. After the inquest he said: 'We don't feel they did everything they could to give Amy the best chance of surviving'

Dr Andrew Short, clinical director at Worcestershire Royal Hospital (pictured), said Amy's condition was 'unique' and nothing would have saved her. He told the hearing: 'This tragic outcome could not have been foreseen'

She developed septicaemia after being released by doctors who had diagnosed her with glandular fever, an inquest heard.

A post-mortem examination revealed Amy, from Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, died from glandular fever and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome - a lethal combination of conditions never before seen in a patient.

But despite the hospital's evidence that Amy was treated in the correct manner being accepted, her parents Richard, 43, and Jacqueline, 48, are still demanding answers.

Mrs Carter told the inquest: 'I can't express myself properly to emphasise how poorly she was. She wasn't well enough to go home.

'I had to reassure her she was going to be alright. She even asked if she was going to die because she was that frightened.

'If they [the doctors] had stood there and watched her properly they would have told she was poorly but no one spent any time with her.

'Is a child who has not eaten for weeks well enough to go home?'
Amy was discharged by the Worcestershire Royal Hospital before results of blood tests and a throat swab were known - the swab later revealed bacteria that entered her bloodstream and triggered septicaemia.

Despite the inquest hearing the infection was not associated with the condition, her parents believe the treatment of their daughter was 'inadequate'.

Speaking after an inquest, Mr Carter said: 'We weren't allowed to ask the questions we wanted to ask. We don't feel they did everything they could to give Amy the best chance of surviving.'

He added: 'The doctors said she was going to be really poorly but was going to be ok. I thought we were being a pain by phoning up the doctors.

'On the 24th I got up to go to work, gave her a kiss, said goodbye then never saw her alive again. My daughter died and I think her care was inadequate and more could have been done.'

Amy fell ill at the beginning of last December suffering flu-like symptoms.

Her parents, who both run pet shops, took her to an out-of-hours medical unit at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

An on-call doctor diagnosed sinusitis and prescribed a one-week course of antibiotics and sent Amy home.

Days later her face swelled up so much that she couldn't open her left eye and Amy was taken to her local GP who gave her antihistamines.

But over the next few days her health deteriorated.

On December 19 she was taken to hospital after collapsing at home and doctors diagnosed glandular fever, which was backed up by blood tests.

Three days later on December 22 she was discharged from hospital and told to take paracetamol and take plenty of rest.

But on Christmas Eve she was rushed to Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

Doctors desperately tried to revive her using adrenaline injections after she suffered four cardiac arrests but she died at 3.14pm.

Dr Mary Hanlon, the consultant paediatrician responsible for patients on the ward when Amy - who also had pneumonia - was discharged, said the bacteria entered the bloodstream and caused septicaemia but it was not 'medical practice' to treat it when it was first detected.

She said: "We wouldn't have waited for the results of the swab before sending her home. We had a diagnosis of glandular fever.

'Every person who gets glandular fever from now on, should they get a throat swab and then treat it in case they get septicaemia? That is not current medical practice.'

Margaret Barnard, deputy coroner for Worcestershire, asked: 'Do you think this should change?' 'No, I don't,' Dr Hanlon replied. 'We do not give people with glandular fever anti-biotics to stop them getting septicaemia.

'It's just very unfortunate that Amy got this other infection on top of having glandular fever. Once the septicaemia gets into your bloodstream it is rampant.'

Dr Andrew Short, clinical director for paediatrics at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, carried out an investigation into Amy's death to see if any lessons could have been learned.

He admitted nurses failed to correctly mark up the overall scores on her early warning chart but retrospectively said the correct information would still have resulted in her being discharged.

Dr Short added the medical cause of Amy's death was streptococcus toxic shock syndrome - a condition which has never previously been linked to glandular fever - after results from a swab revealed streptococcus was present in her throat.

He added this is present in the throats of 30 per cent of the population and it is not medical practice to treat it when someone is diagnosed with glandular fever.

'Of all the cases of children with streptococcus toxic shock syndrome over the past two years not one was associated with glandular fever,' said Dr Short. 'This case was unique.

'This tragic outcome could not have been foreseen.'

Deputy coroner for Worcestershire Margaret Barnard recorded a verdict of natural causes and accepted the evidence from doctors who decided not to treat the bacteria with anti-biotics as it had potential side-effects.

She said: 'Miss Carter suffered an infection in her throat which spread to her windpipe and into her blood.

'There is no medical record or literature of anyone suffering glandular fever and streptococcal toxic shock and that made Miss Carter unique.'

After the inquest Amy's parents - who have another daughter Sam, 17, and son, Ben, 24 - said they were considering taking legal action against Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

Mr Carter said: 'We don't feel they did everything they could to give Amy the best chance of surviving.'

The Trust's chief executive John Rostill, however, insisted the care Amy received was appropriate.

He said: 'Following Amy's death a full investigation was carried out by the Trust which found that at all stages of her hospital stay, Amy received appropriate care.'

How a brain scan could help you choose the perfect career

Brain scans showed a close correlation with traditional tests

Brain scans may be able to help people choose their careers, scientists claim.

Researchers used a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner to study the brains of 40 volunteers seeking career guidance.





They then compared the results to see if there was a correlation between person's brain and their aptitude for different tasks.

The discovered that the amount of grey matter - the parts of the brain used for dealing with information - showed how good the volunteer was at tasks like remembering facst and arithmetic.

And they found structure patterns that correlated with different kinds of ability, such as speed of reasoning, numerical skills, spatial awareness, and memory, as well as general intelligence.

The results matched test scores from a battery of traditional mental tests.

Study leader Dr Richard Haier, from the University of California at Irvine, said: 'A person's pattern of cognitive strengths and weaknesses is related to their brain structure, so there is a possibility that brain scans could provide unique information that would be helpful for vocational choice.

'Our current results form a basis to investigate this further.'

The 40 participants had all consulted the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation, a non-profit organisation that provides psychometric assessments for vocational guidance.

The findings are published in the online journal BMC Research Notes.

Fans pay £30,000 for X-rays of Marilyn Monroe's chest

Marilyn's hands can be seen on her hips as she has her chest X-rayed in 1954

Three X-rays of Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe's chest and pelvis taken during a hospital visit have sold for more than 10 times their pre-sale estimates at auction in the U.S..

The X-rays fetched £30,000 during a sale of Hollywood memorabilia.


The X-ray was taken just months after she filmed her classic Seven Year Itch

Auction house Julien's held the auction in Las Vegas last weekend, with the X-rays expected to go for just £500 to £800 each.
The most sought-after items of the sale had toured Ireland, Japan and China before going under the hammer.

The Monroe X-rays came from a 1954 visit by the actress to the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. The actress died in August 1962 at the age of 36.

She had been admitted for surgery for endometriosis, a condition of the womb which caused her a lot of pain.
Film footage shows her leaving the hospital two days after the X-ray was taken, looking unkempt.

She was still married at the time to American baseball star Joe Di Maggio although the couple had split and were going through divorce proceedings.

Two months earlier she filmed her famous scene from classic movie Seven Year Itch where a warm air vent billows her white dress up around her waist.

The X-ray carries her married name of Marilyn Di Maggio.

A young doctor working in the hospital's radiology department later obtained the X-ray and when he taught at the centre's medical school used to to show it to students.

It later passed to his daughter who has put it up for sale.

Other items also sold at the auction included a chair from Monroe's last photo shoot that went for £23,000, Christopher Reeves' Superman VI costume, which sold for £21,000, and a dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face, which went for £37,000.

A crystal-studded glove from Michael Jackson's Victory Tour sold for £126,000 at an earlier Music Icons sale held by Julien's Auctions.

The incredible moment a deaf baby hears his mother's voice for the very first time

An overjoyed Jonathan stretches back in delight


An incredulous smile of joy spreads across the baby's face as his mother asks him: 'Did you hear that, Jonathan?'

Gurgling in a mix of wonder and joy, this is the incredible moment a child hears his mother's voice for the first time.

Eight-month-old Jonathan was born deaf and had cochlear implants put into his ears so he could hear.

His father filmed the tear-jerking moment they were turned on for the first time, capturing the amazement in the boy's face as he heard his mother's voice saying his name.The clip has become a YouTube sensation with 1.4million views, mostly in the last few weeks.


The implant is turned on - and Jonathan, hearing his mother's voice for the first time, turns to her, his dummy dropping from his mouth as it opens in amazement

Seconds before the implant is turned on, Jonathan rests peacefully in his mother's arms

In the clip a man thought to be one of the doctors can be heard saying that the implants are being turned on, adding: 'Here we go'.

His blonde mother is seen holding her son in her arms and staring at him and saying: 'Hi Jonathan! Hi! Could you hear that?'

His dummy drops from his mouth as he opens it in astonishment, then starts to gurgle as a smile lights up his face.

His thrilled mother, a smile beaming across her face also, adds: 'Hi sweetie. Could you hear that?'

'You got that Dad, right', a doctor asks the man filming, to which the father replies: 'Uh-huh'.
We call that a late Christmas present. That's really good', adds the doctor.

The clip was uploaded by a user called 'beancounterbb' and is part of a set of three that show the cochlear implants being tested.
Although filmed two years ago, they have now gone viral, sparking a wave of empathy from astonished YouTube viewers.

Typical was a comment from Lapsmon, who wrote: 'Wonderful. Beautiful. Amazing. Absolute tear-jerker'.

Skybird 1956 wrote: 'This touched my heart' and Simkabuki added: 'That was just magical'.

Cochlear implants are surgically implanted electronic devices that give a sense of sound to somebody who is profoundly deaf or hard of hearing.

Older children and adults who receive the device still need therapy to process sounds, but babies like Jonathan are more likely to develop speech at a normal rate.

More than 112,000 people worldwide have received cochlear implants.

Woman whose face was torn off by a chimp released from hospital

Charla, who has hidden her face under a hat and veil, with her daughter Brianna

Travis, the pet chimpanzee, was shot and killed by police following the attack.Charla Nash, whose face was ripped off by her friend's pet chimpanzee, has finally left hospital more than a year after the attack

 

A woman who lost her hands and much of her face when she was mauled by a chimpanzee has been released from hospital.

Charla Nash was discharged from the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio on Thursday night and transported to a Boston-area assisted-living centre, where she plans to continue her rehabilitation.

Bill Monaco, an attorney for Ms Nash's family, told The Associated Press: 'She's going to be learning some skills necessary to become independent.

'She needs a rehab facility while they assess what they can do for her in the future.'



Ms Nash was attacked by 200lb pet chimpanzee Travis in February 2009 after its owner asked her to help lure the creature back into her house in Stamford, Connecticut.

The animal ripped off Ms Nash's hands, nose, lips and eyelids.

Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic, who have performed multiple surgeries for Ms Nash, released a statement reading: 'Ms Nash has made great progress in her recovery. She is doing well and has been discharged from the Cleveland Clinic.

'Throughout her stay she has touched the lives of many of our employees; we wish Charla and her family all the best.'Mr Monaco said Ms Nash's goal is to have more reconstructive surgery and learn to live independently.
The Cleveland Clinic performed America's first face transplant in 2008 but told Ms Nash's family in January that she is not a candidate for a face and hand transplant.

Ms Nash, who revealed her heavily disfigured face in November on The Oprah Winfrey Show, was taken to the clinic soon after the attack.

Her family is suing the chimpanzee's owner, Sandra Herold, for $50million and wants to sue the state for $150million - saying that state officials failed to prevent the attack.

The chimp was shot and killed by police after the attack, and tests showed he had the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in his system.

The chimp had also escaped in 2003 from his owner's car and led police on a chase for hours in Stamford. No one was injured.

World Cup fans warned over S.Africa fever outbreak

South Africans queue to buy tickets as the final round of sales begins for the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup in Soweto township, near Johannesburg, April 15, 2010.

Tourists in South Africa including soccer fans heading to the World Cup must guard against mosquito bites and avoid contact with raw meat due to an outbreak of Rift Valley fever, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

Officials in South Africa, the host of the 2010 World Cup from June 11 to July 11, have reported 172 human cases of the animal viral disease this year, including 15 deaths, it said.



Many tourists visit South Africa's game parks and the WHO warned visitors to avoid contact with dead animals -- another way of catching the disease.

"People should be aware there is Rift Valley Fever in several provinces and should take precautions when visiting areas where they could be exposed to animals that could be infected," WHO spokeswoman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi told Reuters.

A female German tourist who visited game reserves was confirmed as having the disease upon return from South Africa last month, the WHO said in a statement. Three other travelers fell ill with similar symptoms but all four have recovered.

The virus usually causes relatively mild flu-like symptoms and neck stiffness in people, progressing sometimes to hallucinations, dizziness or even coma, according to the WHO.

A small percentage of victims develop a hemorrhagic form which causes them to vomit blood, pass blood in feces, or bleed from the nose, gums, or skin. Half of such patients die.

Human cases have been confirmed in Free State Province, Eastern Cape Province, Northern Cape Province, Western Cape and North West Province, most after contact with infected livestock.

MOSQUITO BITES

The WHO, a United Nations agency, said it was not advising any international travel restrictions to or from South Africa.

"However, WHO recommends that visitors to South Africa, especially those intending to visit farms and/or game reserves, avoid coming into contact with animal tissues or blood, avoid drinking unpasteurized or uncooked milk or eating raw meat."

"All travelers should take appropriate precautions against mosquito bites (use of mosquito nets, insect repellents)," it said.

Most human infections result from contact with the blood or organs of infected animals, according to the WHO.

It can also be caught from the bites of infected mosquitoes or other flies.

There is also some evidence that humans may become infected with Rift Valley Fever by drinking the unpasteurized or uncooked milk of infected animals, it said.

The virus can be transmitted through the handling of animal tissue during slaughtering or butchering, assisting with animal births, veterinary procedures or from disposing of carcasses.

Herders, farmers, slaughterhouse workers and veterinarians are at higher risk of infection.

A vaccine for humans has been developed but is not licensed and is not commercially available, according to the WHO.

Woman whose face was shot off to get new magnetic prosthetic ... so she can raise her son without wearing a mask

New beginning: Left, Chrissy Steltz, her face covered by a sleep mask, laughs during an interview. Right, Chrissy as a teenager shortly before the horrific accident that tore away her face

Recovery: Left, a computer graphic shows how Chrissy's face will look after the surgery. Right, an X-ray of Chrissy's skull shows the missing eye socket and nasal cavity - as well as shotgun pellets that remain embedded in her head

An American woman is set to have a total mid-face reconstruction after losing her eyes and nose in a horrific shooting accident.

Chrissy Steltz, 27, was just 16 when her friend accidentally blasted a shotgun in her face at point blank range.

Eleven years later, doctors are set to reconstruct her face with a silicone mask with a nose and glass eyes, magnetically attached to dental implants drilled into her remaining bones.The never-before-attempted surgery will, she hopes, allow her to raise her young son without wearing a mask.

Because she has no eye sockets or sinus cavity, doctors are unable to perform a face transplant.

Instead they are to mask her injuries with artificial eyes and a nose of silicone.

The mask will be held in place by magnets attached to eight implants embedded in the remaining bones of her face.

The $20,000 (£13,000) three-hour surgery is not covered by health insurance as it is considered cosmetic - so doctors have donated their time and skill.

And if all goes well, by this summer, Chrissy will once again have a face.




Determined: Doctors operate during one of Chrissy's many surgeries

Just like any other girl: Chrissy refused to let her injuries hold her back, returning to school to attend her high school prom...

Finding love: Chrissy with her partner and the father of little Geoffrey, Geoffrey Dilgers

... and going whitewater rafting with friends



Teen sweetheart: Chrissy with her boyfriend at the time of the accident, Will O'Brien

What it will be like: Chrissy meets Lisa Glendinning, a patient who has has a similar prosthetic applied to one side of her face

A mom without a mask: Chrissy cuddles her eight-month-old son Geoffrey

Chrissy made incredible strides towards living a normal life after the horrific accident when she was just a high school student in Portland, Oregon.

She learned to read Braille and walk with a cane.

Attending a school for the blind she fell in love with another student, Gregory Dilgers. The pair have since had a son, also named Geoffrey. He is eight months old.

When Chrissy goes to sleep at night, she told ABC's 20/20, she dreams she can see little Geoffrey before her.
'I see his chubby cheeks and his gorgeous eyes and his perfect little lips,' she said.

'When I go to bed every night ... my dreams are fully sighted. I still see the sky. I still see … you know, the ocean.

'The oddest of dreams is I'll pull off my sleep-shade and I'll look just like I did when I was 16,' she said. 'And I'll throw the sleep-shade on the ground and walk off.'

It was during her spring break in 1999 that the horrific accident occurred.

She recounted how she was at her Portland flat with friends one day, admitting they were doing 'what teenagers shouldn't do' - drinking.

She went to get some orange juice, she said, and found a friend holding the 12-gauge shotgun.

'My words were, "Put that down before you kill somebody,"' she said.

'And he told me, "It's not loaded."
She was just five feet away from him at the time. 'Yep. And from that moment is when my life changed.'

Her boyfriend at the time, Will O'Brien, rushed into the room seconds later.

He told 20/20: 'I don't know if you have ever seen like a wounded animal trying to get up?

'That's what I saw. I saw an injury that nobody survives, except somebody really strong. And she was trying to get up.'

Chrissy was rushed to hospital, where doctors saved her life - but not her face.

The blast tore away her left eye socket, her nose, and the supporting mid-facial structures. It damaged her right eye so much that she lost all vision.
Doctors were amazed she survived the blast. She was in a coma for six weeks - and when she awoke she thought she had fallen asleep during a car journey with her family.

It was O'Brien who broke the news of what happened to her.

The only one of her five senses that wasn't affected was touch, she said. 'I have no smell. I have no sight. I have a little taste.'

But she refused to let her injuries stop her. She went on to her high school prom and graduated with straight As.

'I knew I could sit back and have a pity party, or I could figure out what to do and go about doing it, and that's exactly what I did,' she told 20/20.

At classes for the blind, she met Geoffrey Dilger. By coincidence he also lost his sight at 16, though in his case it was due to a rare illness.

Seven years into their relationship, the couple had baby Geoffrey.

'I would like for him to be able to grow up with his mom not needing a sleep-shade,' Chrissy said.

And if all goes well with the surgery, she may just get her wish.