Health officials are reporting that a patient was infected with the AIDS virus through a kidney transplant from a live donor.They are calling it the first confirmed instance of HIV spreading through an organ transplant from a live donor since routine laboratory screening of donors began in the 1980s.It happened in New York City in 2009, but New York City health officials said Thursday that they only learned of the case late last year.The male donor had been tested for HIV about 10 weeks before he donated a kidney. Health officials believe he was infected in the time between that test and the surgery.No other details about the donor or recipient were released. Health officials say both are alive and receiving HIV treatment.

In a way it could be good. HIV naturally kills the ability of antibodies to fight diseases, the same antibodies that also attack organs and lead to life long immunosuppression.Something might be learnt about harnessing HIV , just as we have learnt to harness radiation to kill cancer, snake venom in stroke and heart ailments , etc medicines.Listen to this from WIRED: Scientists have used gene therapy to halt the progression of adrenoleukodystrophy, a fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by a single defective gene, in two seven-year-old boys.

The new vector, called a lentivirus, didnâ??t work all the time, but it was far more efficient than the old one. In the two boys who received the treatment, 15 percent of the stem cells in their bone marrow now possess a copy of the healthy ABCD1 gene. These cells are essentially immortal, and should provide a steady supply of healthy myelin-producing cells in perpetuity.Ignorance and Fear of unknown are the worst enemy. It must be time to start looking at HIV as a totally different aspect to see how to control and use it to solve other problems.

The Department of Public Health says a low concentration of radioiodine-131 (I-131) was found in a rain sample during the past week. They did not release the exact location of the sample. State officials emphasize that the drinking water supply is unaffected, but they are monitoring reservoirs and receiving test results on a rolling basis. 
“In terms of the rain water, [there] is very low level [radiation],” said State Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Richard K. Sullivan Jr. “[The] Public Health [Department] was clear that they do not believe that there is any impact to public health here at all, so people can rest assured about that.”Results from the Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs last week showed no detectable traces of I-131. Though as a safety precaution, the state Department of Environmental Protection is collecting and testing 12 additional samples across the state, including samples from the McClean Reservoir in Holyoke and Cobble Mountain in Westfield.

As for the cause of the radiation, lawmakers have often warned that environmental impacts like these could affect the state due to our close proximity to the Vermont Yankee and Plymouth Pilgrim nuclear power plants. 
“These plants were built to last for 40 years,” said Senator Stanley Rosenberg (D-Amherst). “We should not be playing with people’s health and welfare by risking the meltdown or release of radiation from a nuclear plant that’s gone beyond its useful life.”But Secretary Sullivan says experts believe the radiation is likely caused by events in Japan – which is struggling to contain radioactive water leaks at the Fukushima nuclear plant. 
Several other states like Florida, Nevada, North and South Carolina are also reporting low levels of I-131. Federal health officials say there is no public health risk.

• Medibank Private will create a portal to integrate consumer information into a Health Book for customers and providers involved in its health management and chronic disease management programs. Medibank won’t use the information to handle claims or to test eligibility for benefits, according to the government.
• Fred IT will deploy MedView at pharmacies and general practitioners in the Geelong region. Using a medicines repository and national electronic prescription standards, the deployment will allow up to 2 million patients and their providers to see a list of medications prescribed and dispensed to patients, even if those patients have interacted with multiple doctors and pharmacies. The project will involve RED, eRx, Best Practice, Zedmed, iCare, Microsoft and Simpl.
• Brisbane South General Practice Division aims to enrol up to 25,000 patients with disabilities and their carers, war veterans and widows as well as school children onto PCEHR. The project will involve two divisions of general practice, public and private hospitals, allied health providers and GPs.
• Mater Misericordiae Health Services Brisbane will implement a PCEHR for maternity patients and newborns in the Brisbane area. It hopes to reach 9000 mothers and involve three GP divisions, specialist obstetricians and software vendor InterSystems.
• St Vincent’s and Mater Health Sydney will roll-out PCEHR components such as GP health summaries and referrals and will work on enabling two shared electronic health record systems (from Smart Health Solutions and Precedence Healthcare) to interoperate. The project could reach 1 million individuals and also involves HCN and Best Practice.
• The Greater Western Sydney e-Health Consortium will pave the way for a NSW-wide implementation. It will implement secure messaging, e-referrals and a medical imaging repository for patients, focusing on mothers and babies, the aged and chronically ill, as well as those with different cultural backgrounds. Involving four GP divisions, its reach could be as wide as 1,750,000 people.
• The Northern Territory Department of Health and Families will leverage its existing e-health record to provide residents in the territory, as well as indigenous communities in South Australia and Western Australia with a PCEHR-aligned record.
• The Tasmanian North West Area Health Service will target aged and palliative care medical specialists, nurse consultants, patients and their families in north-west Tasmania. It will use off-the-shelf care planning software to share care directives until the PCEHR is implemented.
• Calvary Health Care ACT will test existing e-health systems from iSoft, HCN, HealthLink, Smart Health Solutions and Precedence Health Care under the new national PCEHR foundations. This project is intended to support a cross border population of 800,000 people.

The association has been compiling an annual list of the top 10 major advances in heart disease and stroke research since 1996. This year, for the first time, two separate lists have been compiled that highlight the top ten research advances in each respective area. “We have come far in the past decade, reducing heart disease deaths by more than 27 percent and stroke deaths by more than 44 percent,” said Ralph Sacco, M.D., president of the AHA and chairman at the department of neurology for the Miller School of Medicine at University of Miami. “But we know there is still much to be done in improving the lives of heart disease and stroke patients – and more importantly, in preventing these devastating diseases in the first place. Scientific research will help us lead the way. 

They believe that the number of obese children and adults has increased in the country. The health system in the country is not capable of handling these problems. The people of the country should be provided with the knowledge of living a healthy life. A lot of people are not aware of the precaution they should take if diagnosed with a heart disease. There are numerous people who are suffering from a heart disease but still have not been diagnosed.

In Canada the Heart and Stroke Foundation suggests that the authorities should make sure that the people get regular heath checks.Researchers at Simon Fraser University and St. Paul’s Hospital are studying the options of providing an easy access to health care providers. The research will help patients in disease management. They have introduced websites for the benefit of patients and their families.

Even after the reduction in deaths caused by the by  heart diseases and strokes in Canada, the Heart and Stroke Foundation is not satisfied. They believe that there is a lot to be done to make people aware about the consequences of heart diseases and strokes. The deaths from heart diseases and strokes have reduced by 75% in the country.