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Kentucky.com: News
News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com

• Measles deaths drop worldwide, report estimates
  Measles deaths worldwide declined dramatically to about 200,000 a year, continuing a successful trend, global health authorities reported Thursday. From 2000 to 2007, annual measles deaths dropped 74 percent, largely because of vaccination campaigns, according to a report from the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other organizations. Measles has long been a leading cause of death of young children globally and still kills more than 500 a day. But health officials estimate 11 million deaths were avoided in the decline. The most dramatic improvements were seen in Africa and in Greater Middle Eastern countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan, where measles deaths dropped by about 90 percent. The least progress was in Southeast Asia, where most of the world's measles deaths now occur. The report appears this week in publications of the CDC and WHO.
• Brain-injured troops face unclear long-term risks
  Many of the thousands of troops who suffered traumatic brain injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan are at risk of long-term health problems including depression and Alzheimer's-like symptoms, but it's impossible to predict how high those risks are, researchers say. About 22 percent of wounded troops have a brain injury, concluded the prestigious Institute of Medicine - and it urged precise steps for studying how these patients fare years later so that chances to help aren't missed. The Veterans Affairs Department, which requested the report, and the Pentagon already are taking some of the recommended steps. But a report out Thursday highlights the urgency. "I don't think we really knew how big a hole in scientific knowledge there is about blast-induced brain injuries," said Dr. George Rutherford of the University of California, San Francisco, the report's lead researcher. Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is a signature injury of the Iraq war. Most aren't penetrating head wounds but damage hidden inside the skull caused by an explosion's pressure wave. It can range from a mild concussion to severe injury. And because symptoms may not be immediately apparent, troops may not seek care.
• Conservation group sues for walrus protection
  A conservation group is going to court to force the federal government to consider adding the Pacific walrus to the list of threatened species. The Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne on Wednesday for failing to act on a petition seeking protection for walruses under the Endangered Species Act. Walruses are threatened by global warming that melts Arctic sea ice, according to the group, one of the parties that successfully petitioned to list polar bears as threatened. The group also has filed petitions to protect Arctic seals. The walrus petition was filed in February. The Fish and Wildlife Service was required by law to decide by May 8 whether the petition had merit, which would trigger a more thorough review and a preliminary decision after 12 months. The agency missed the deadline. Rebecca Noblin, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the delay would harm walruses.
• Study illuminates star explosion from 16th century
  More than 400 years after Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe challenged established wisdom about the heavens by analyzing a strange new light in the sky, scientists say they've finally nailed down just what he saw. It's no big surprise. Scientists have known the light came from a supernova, a huge star explosion. But what kind of supernova? A new study confirms that, as expected, it was the common kind that involves the thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf star with a nearby companion. The research, which analyzed a "light echo" from the long-ago event, is presented in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature by scientists in Germany, Japan and the Netherlands. The story of what's commonly called Tycho's supernova began on Nov. 11, 1572, when Brahe was astonished to see what he thought was a brilliant new star in the constellation Cassiopeia. The light eventually became as bright as Venus and could be seen for two weeks in broad daylight. After 16 months, it disappeared.
• Study raps Web sites touting stem cell therapies
  Consumers should be wary of Web sites from clinics that offer stem cell treatments, says a study that found a lack of firm medical evidence to back up their claims. The Web sites in the study generally portrayed their therapies as safe, effective and ready for routine use, but published research doesn't support that "overoptimistic" picture, the study authors said. The analysis is presented in the December issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell by scientists at the University of Alberta in Canada. They cautioned that their overall findings can't be applied to the claims of any individual clinic. The study is "a very important wake-up call," said Dr. George Daley, past president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, who had no role in the new report. "I think these Web sites are dangerous," said Daley, a Boston stem cell researcher. "They overpromise effectiveness and safety of the therapy and they completely underestimate and underinform about risks. ... (Such) overhyped marketing directly to the patient is putting patients at risk of financial exploitation at the very least, and physical danger at the worst." In recent years, desperate patients with few options have traveled to China and other countries where doctors offer stem cell or other cell treatments for such things as spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's disease and blindness.
• Scientists ask: Is technology rewiring our brains?
  What does a teenage brain on Google look like? Do all those hours spent online rewire the circuitry? Could these kids even relate better to emoticons than to real people? These sound like concerns from worried parents. But they're coming from brain scientists. While violent video games have gotten a lot of public attention, some current concerns go well beyond that. Some scientists think the wired world may be changing the way we read, learn and interact with each other. There are no firm answers yet. But Dr. Gary Small, a psychiatrist at UCLA, argues that daily exposure to digital technologies such as the Internet and smart phones can alter how the brain works. When the brain spends more time on technology-related tasks and less time exposed to other people, it drifts away from fundamental social skills like reading facial expressions during conversation, Small asserts. So brain circuits involved in face-to-face contact can become weaker, he suggests. That may lead to social awkwardness, an inability to interpret nonverbal messages, isolation and less interest in traditional classroom learning.
• Cleveland Clinic disclosing doctors' business ties
  The Cleveland Clinic says it will publicize the business ties its 1,800 doctors and researchers have with drug companies and device makers. The move, announced Wednesday, is the clinic's latest effort to guard against medical conflicts of interest and follows a rising national debate in recent years on the issue. The clinic is posting on its Web site the names of its physicians and researchers and the companies with which they have collaborations. Information includes whether clinic staff have an equity interest in a company, a right to royalties or a consulting relationship that pays more than $5,000 a year. Joseph Hahn, clinic chief of staff, says he believes the clinic is the first academic medical center in the nation to make the disclosures.
• Saudi Arabia finds chemical in milk from China
  The Saudi government has found excessive amounts of the industrial chemical melamine in powdered milk imported from China and lower concentrations in chocolate wafer cream made in Malaysia. The kingdom's Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it found melamine in five samples of milk and dairy products. The milk was produced by Nestle in China and the wafers by Apollo Industries in Malaysia. China has been struggling to get melamine out of its food supply after the chemical was found in infant formula and other dairy products. Six babies died and nearly 300,000 were sickened by melamine-tainted formula. Elsewhere in the Middle East, authorities in the United Arab Emirates have been monitoring imports closely and have not found any melamine-contaminated Chinese food products in that country. The UAE's General Secretariat of Municipalities banned Chinese dairy and related products in October and ordered them to be withdrawn until tests ensured they are free from melamine.
• NYC firefighter settles lawsuit for $3.75 million
  A New York City firefighter, critically injured w