Yahoo Health News: 2008

2008年5月1日星期四

火车模块测试贴

暴笑短信

1.三老鼠吹牛,第一个老鼠说我每天将老鼠药当饭吃,第二个老鼠说我常用老鼠夹来锻炼身体,第三个鼠满不在乎说道,看到旁边那只怀孕的猫了嘛,那是我干的
2.有两个人去打猎,突然看见只老虎,两人撒腿就跑.跑着半截一个人说:哥们我不行了,别跑了咱跟老虎死磕吧."别操蛋了,我跑不过老虎我还跑不过你!"
|||3.歹徒闯入民宅强*妇女遭到誓死反抗,丈夫下地回来见老婆被歹徒压住,抡起铁铲怒拍,就听老婆骂道:"该死的,反抗了半天,被你一铲子给拍进去了"
4.看哪个银行缩写最牛.中国建设CBC(存不存)中国银行BC(不存)中国农业ABC(啊不存)中国工商ICBC(爱存不存)民生银行CMSB存吗傻逼
5.毛主席指着护士的胸问:这是啥子? 护士说:是胸主席.主席说:下面是啥子?这是肚脐主席.主席又问:再往下是啥子?是毛--主席!
6.青蛙和袋鼠去嫖妓,袋鼠三两下完事,听见隔壁整夜"一二三嘿!一二三嘿!一二三嘿"好羡慕!次日早上袋鼠说青蛙你好棒!青蛙:靠!老子一夜都没跳上床
7.好久没你消息了,这两天总想你,心里很乱,寻遍你爱去的池塘;就餐的小屋;睡觉的草坪;仍不见你踪影,我心都快碎了,养这么大的猪咋说丢就丢了呢?
8.狮子和熊分别在果树旁便便，一个月后，狮子便便的树比熊便便的树长得粗壮，于是熊说了句话:狮屎胜于熊便啊！
9.好消息:国家妓委调低小姐收费标准,将对小姐实行单向收费:只收插入费,免收拔出费;sj按流量计费,杜绝不sj乱收费现象;体外sj免收精虫漫游费
10.倪苹到蒙城作客,上一牛鞭,味道特好,问曰何物?冯巩说,牛群身上有!牛群说,冯巩身上也有!倪萍问:我身上有吗?两人齐答:你身上有时有.有时没有
|||11.一男去医院,医生问其何处不适男答:听后不要笑医生:当然男士脱裤,其小弟仅火柴粗医生大笑,男士怒道:人家都肿好几天了,你还笑!
12.女警宿舍失火一女警光着下身逃出.后发现内裤未穿,逐叫过警犬闻闻其两腿之间,示意警犬去房间叼其内裤.不一会,警犬从火里冲出,口里叼着根警棍.
13.(_!_)普通的屁屁 (__!__)胖屁屁 (!)紧绷的屁屁 (_._)平坦的屁屁 (_*_)发炎的屁屁 (_o_)痔疮的屁屁
14.一女党员被捕,敌人逼她写信引首长上钩女党员逼于无奈只有写,写完后偷偷从私处拨根体毛夹在信中,首长看完信后,拿着根毛沉思突然恍然大悟:阴谋
15.以前我买了两只狗,叫脸的一只送给你,叫屁股给自己,可没几天你的脸不幸死于车祸,三年后每当我看见屁股就想要是没有车祸你的脸也应该有屁股那么大了
16.两千年代爱情加快从爱到踹一个礼拜周一放电周二表态周三牵手周四做爱周五谈判周六拜拜周日寻找新的所爱你今天周几?
17.老师:降落伞和避孕套的区别是什么?小强:一个保护上头,一个保护下头.老师:60分.小翠: 降落伞破了少一个人,避孕套破了多一个人.老师:100
18.女作者请编辑审稿。编辑曰：上半部较丰满、两点突出，下半部有些毛草，并有一漏洞，水份较大。女问:怎么办?答曰:日后再说.
19.修车工嫖妓归来,师傅问感觉如何?答曰:车型属前后驱动,车身光滑雪白无刮蹭,两前大灯下垂少许,点火后呻吟声较响,缸筒间隙过大,润滑不足
20.当今四大扯淡:靠工资能买房子那是扯淡;靠老婆能满足性生活那是扯淡;靠工作政绩能升官那是扯淡;靠和平统一解决台湾问题那是扯淡.
|||21.傻子报警:树林有一女尸.问伤哪?胸部被钝器所伤.有两大包.不过致命伤在两腿之间有个口子翻翻着.问:死多久了?嗨!不好说都长毛了.
22.记者采访熊猫:您这一生有什么愿望么熊猫说:一个是有空儿的话看看中医治治我的黑眼圈二就是我(声泪俱下)TMD就想照张彩色相片!
23.经典猜谜：乌龟盖了房子后爬进去（盖中盖）。乌龟爬出来把房子拆了又盖一间爬进去（新盖中盖）。乌龟爬进爬出又拆又盖（巨能盖）。
24.一女兵为表忠心,在小腹纹了毛泽东像,一个男兵临死要见毛主席.女兵急中生智,把裤子脱了让他看,男兵:你骗人,这么大胡子的人是马克思!
25.施主您好,我们是藏边佛教理事会,在您收到这条短信时,我们已从您的手机中扣除了50元香火钱,为了答谢您,本理事会授予您至高无尚的法号:若智.
26.某男,妻经常红杏出墙,而视若不见,同事送一付对联,上联:只要日子过的去,下联:那怕头上有点绿,横批:忍者神龟.
27.知道为何我们今生有缘吗?其实一千多年前我们就认识了,也是在春天,你在风里随我跑了好远,成为千古佳话.那时我叫吕洞宾!
28.老处女一直找不到对象,绝望地跳楼自杀,恰巧落入一辆运香蕉的卡车里,老处女以为到了天堂,闭着眼睛摸着满车香蕉,深情地说:不要慌,一个一个来!
29.一人姓纪,妻生一儿名曰'大毛',次年又生一儿曰'二毛'.一心想要一女皆不成,当生完第七胎时妻子含泪说:不能再要了,再是男的就成'纪八毛了
30.幼儿园小芳老师指着黑板上:m,a,y,d,b几个拼音考考小朋友,小朋友们用最标准的发音说:"摸-阿-姨-的-波"
31.老婆大麻将至凌晨回家，为了不扰醒丈夫，她先在客厅里脱光了衣服再进卧室。恰遇丈夫醒来，见了大怒到:太过份了！你竟输的精光？
32.一对夫妻来到一口许愿井旁,丈夫弯腰，许个愿还往井里仍个硬币.妻子也想许愿但她弯腰时不小心翻入井里.丈夫惊呆了，然后又笑着对自己说真他*的灵啊！
|||33.一个小女孩到西饼店买早点。她对老板说：老板！买个巧克力娃娃。老板：你要男娃还是女娃？女孩：当然是要男娃娃喽！因为能吃的地方多了一点。
34.从前有个和尚临死时嘴里一直念着莎士比亚，当时还没有此人，后来一位学者一直在研究终于知道：原来这个和尚没碰过女人，他是在念:啥是B呀？
35.一艾滋病患者在临终前写了一副对联:上联是:为**生，为**死，为**奋斗一辈子;下联为:吃**亏，上**当，最终死在** 上.横联:倒**霉。
36.**和肛门是邻居 **说:这几天独眼龙老来家里串门,进进出出你也不来帮忙,肛门说他每次来都在我家门口挂两个手雷吓死我了。
37.死党等我有钱了我要用xo给你冲厕所，用美元为你点烟，买999朵玫瑰给你沐浴，找环珠格格给你做丫环，用肯德基把你喂胖,然后用波音送你到杀猪场。
38.某男在路边撒尿,一对母女经过.女母指责他 ,男:在您面前我还是是个孩子呢，没啥.一旁女孩怒吼道:你还是孩子?!看你那玩意都啥颜色了.当我外行呀！
39.两人流落荒岛.饥饿难耐,一人决定切小**充饥,正欲切,另一个忽然喊:停！眼中充满智慧地说:搓大了再切,那样肉多!
40.副局长在办公室大骂:局长算个**!恰被局长听到,反问:我是**,你们是什么?副局长立刻例证,机智的回答:我们是**毛,紧密的团结在您的周围.
41.尼姑养了一只鹰，叼走了和尚做饭用的桶、*、瓢。和尚气愤就拔掉了鹰的毛！尼姑找和尚算帐："你要*我给你*，你要瓢我给你瓢，你要桶我给你桶，你干吗拔我的鹰毛？"
42.女人八怕:姑娘时期没人要;恋爱失贞被甩掉;初夜无红老公闹;老公金枪不会翘;丈夫外面搞情调,野汉不带避孕套;正在偷情老公到;生个儿子像领导.
|||43.一名汽车司机经常被交警罚,非常恨交警.他妻子劝他说:以后咱生个孩子起名叫交警.你生气的时候你就打他.如果还不解恨你就*交警他妈!
44.有人告诉我想家的时候看看天想他*的时候看看月亮想朋友的时候看看远方可我不知道想你的时候我该看什么现在我终于知道了我看看猪圈就行了!
45.一个美国人向一个中国人吹牛:我们国内吃口香糖不乱吐，回收制成避孕套出口中国!中国人:这他妈算什么，我们用完避孕套也不乱仍制成口香糖出口美国！
46.和尚和尼姑邻居,心照不宣.一日,和尚贴副对联,上联:白天没球事,晚上球没事,横批: 无比繁恼.尼姑对:白天空洞洞,晚上洞空空.横批:有球比应
47.出门在外,老婆交代,少喝酒,多作爱,安全?随身带,老汉推车很精彩,背后插花最痛快,骑马射箭也不赖,一晚八炮不奇怪,千万别把枪用坏!
48.石油厂新人结婚,厂长送来对联.上联是:新人新井新钻头:下联是:越钻越深越出油.横批是:月明松.众问横批何意,答:将明字分开朗读即可.
49.晚饭后领导视察'江阴毛纺织厂',大门口霓虹灯的厂名不巧电路故障,第一个江字未亮,领导只能看到后五个字,于是关切地问厂长:原材料好搞嘛?
50.一男士去医院,医生问:何处不适？男答：听后不准笑.医生答:当然.男士脱其裤生殖器仅有火柴棒粗,医生大笑.男士大怒:都肿了好几天了,你还笑!
51.两人在玩扑克,他伸出双手说:一对五;她把脚也伸出来说:一对十:他把裤子一脱说:一对蛋:她急得把文胸一扯说:一对尖!他盯着犹豫一会儿说:大!
52.一小姐吃饭时点了道爆炒鞭花,夹菜时不慎掉到两腿之间,小姐大惊:这玩意真厉害!煮熟了剁碎了,它竟还认识路!
53.一男青年在公交车上看到一美女的衣领开得很低,春光外泄,戏言道'真是桃花盛开的地方啊',美女听后,撩起裙子说:'还有生你养你的地方'!
54.一对男女正在**,女的忽然跳下床,跑进厨房从米缸里抓了一把米,回来搬到男的身上,气哼哼地说:少在这里丢人现眼,回去去把小鸡喂大再来吧!
55.副局长在办公室大骂:局长算个**!恰被局长听到,反问:我是**,你们是什么?副局长立刻例证,机智的回答:我们是**毛,紧密的团结在您的周围.
56.允许你喝醉,允许你勾妹,但你晚上必须给老子归队,如果你敢伤老子的心,伤老子的肺,老子一定把你第三条腿打成残废,让你的小鸟鸟永远打瞌睡!
57.儿子每晚要和妈睡.妈说:你长大娶了媳妇也和妈睡呀?儿答:嗯.妈说:那你媳妇咋办?儿说:让她跟爸爸睡.爸听后激动地说:这孩子从小就懂事!
|||58两个历史系老师结婚,且都是二婚;入洞房后,女出上联求下联:夜袭珍珠港,美人受惊(精);男巧对:两颗原子弹,日德(的)投降;横批:二次大战!
59.某女到阿拉伯饭店用餐，见凡留大胡子者吃饭不需付钱，正疑惑之，老板道：'留胡子者皆警察！'，女遂将裙子一掀道：'吾乃秘密警察！ '
60.老公要出差半年，贤妻收拾行李完毕，深情地交给老公一包安全套说道：在外面实在忍不住的话记住一定带套，老公听罢激动地说：家里不宽裕还是用她们的吧。
61.某男看到一则广告：不开刀、不住院、让你的生殖器轻轻松松变大变粗！顿大喜，立即汇款。数日，收到邮包，急切地打开一看！操！原来是一个放大镜！
62.牧师问一对夫妇：如果五分钟后就到世界末日，你们想做什么事？丈夫兴致勃勃地回答：想做爱。太太白他一眼幽幽地说：那剩下的四分钟干什么？
63.诊断女人外遇绝窍：工作心不在焉，回家给老公摔脸，孩子学习不管，炒菜常多放盐。经常托辞体乏，不让老公沾边。半月做爱一次，既不呻吟也不动弹。
64.一七旬老翁与一年轻小姐做爱兴奋过度脱精而亡。其家人不服将小姐告上法庭。法官请法医验尸查明原因。法医验尸后下一结论：舒服死了！
65.俩屎壳螂讨论福利彩票，甲说:我要中了大奖就把方圆50里的厕所都买下来，每天吃个够！乙说:你丫太俗了！我要是中了大奖就包一活人，每天吃新鲜的！
66.一老头乘公交去高潮村办事。途中问女服务员:高潮到了没？女服务员:还没呢。一会儿他又问:高潮到了没？服务员说:糟老头急什么，高潮到了我会叫的！
67.公鸡出差一个月,回来后听说鹌鹑没事老来,公鸡怀疑.过两天母鸡生了个鹌鹑蛋,公鸡大怒,母鸡慌忙解释:*,早产啦!
68.村妇报案说:丢人那!俺昨晚被强*了.警察问他那人长啥样?那俺可没看清楚,不过肯定是个新手,因为他半天找不着地方,最后还是俺给他扶进去的.
69.狐狸爱上了兔子,约？去喝啤酒,兔子醉了,狐狸趁机把兔子给强*了,过了几天狐狸又叫兔子去喝酒,兔子说:'哎!不去了!不去了!,喝完啤酒屁股疼'
|||70.少女夜半归家,遭七暴徒,危险时一大妈挺身而出,救走少女自遭轮*,电台采访,大妈言：其实当时啥也没想,只想这点好事可不能全便宜了那小骚娘们儿!
71.屠夫嫖*被抓罚4000元并开收据.一日屠夫妻发现此收据,只识4000元不识'嫖*'二字,问屠夫：何事罚4000元？屠夫答到：罚我肉中注水!
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2008年4月16日星期三

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2008年4月5日星期六

Chefs warn on side-effects of sushi boom

TOKYO (Reuters) -
As Japanese sushi conquers restaurants
and homes around the world, industry experts are fighting the
side-effects of the raw fish boom: fake sushi bars,
over-confident amateurs, poisoned consumers.

Once a rare and exotic treat, seaweed rolls and bites of
raw tuna on vinegared rice are now familiar to most food fans.
So familiar, in fact, that many hobby cooks in Europe and the
United States like to make them in their own kitchens.

But chefs and sushi experts at an international restaurant
summit in Tokyo warned of a lack of awareness in handling raw
fish among amateurs and some restaurateurs who enter the
profitable industry without sufficient training.

"Everybody thinks: %26#39;sushi is so expensive -- I can buy
cheap fish, fresh fish, I can make it at home.%26#39; It%26#39;s not true.
Not every fish is suitable to eat raw," chef and restaurateur
Yoshi Tome told Reuters.

Tome%26#39;s restaurant, "Sushi Ran" in Sausalito, California,
was awarded a Michelin star and he often advises customers on
preparing Japanese food.

He sees himself as an educator as well as a chef, and
believes that more and better training opportunities are needed
to prevent food scandals that could hurt the entire industry.

"I get these questions all the time -- people call me: %26#39;Hey
Yoshi, my husband went to fish a big salmon, we%26#39;re looking to
eat it as sashimi. We opened it and a bunch of worms came out.
Can we eat it?"%26#39;

His answer: you cannot eat it as sashimi; but you can throw
away the affected parts and cook and eat the rest.

In fact, Tome said salmon, which is prone to parasites,
should never be eaten raw but be cooked, marinated, or frozen
before being consumed.

He described another case in which an inexperienced
restaurateur in the United States served raw baby crab. This
lead to cases of food poisoning and prompted a recall of that
type of crab. Tome serves the crab deep-fried at his restaurant
and says it is perfectly safe if prepared the right way.

"Here in Japan, some people eat raw chicken, chicken
sashimi. But we know chicken can have salmonella, so in the
U.S. nobody eats raw chicken," he added.

SUSHI POLICE

Japan%26#39;s bureaucrats drew criticism and ridicule a year ago
with a plan to create a global "sushi police" that would assess
Japanese restaurants overseas. Since then, there has been a
change of tactics, and the emphasis is now on education and
advice rather than uninvited checks.

Ryuji Ishii, who runs the Advanced Fresh Concepts Franchise
Corp, the largest supplier of fresh sushi to supermarkets in
the United States, finds that education is important not just
for food safety purposes.

Ishii is rolling out his ready-to-eat sushi range in
Wal-Mart supermarkets, having opened almost 90 sushi stalls
since last September. They are planning some 400 stores in
total.

But bringing raw fish and seaweed to middle America takes
some work -- Ishii cautiously described the sales as "decent."

"The challenge is, we have never dealt with that market. So
far, we%26#39;ve been dealing with a very upscale market, high-end
supermarkets," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the
two-day summit, organized by the Organization to Promote
Japanese Restaurants Abroad.

"In order to become really mainstream, we have to overcome
the Wal-Mart consumers," Ishii said. "We need more time to
educate the consumers."

He tries to tempt shoppers with samples of the most popular
type of sushi in the United States: the California Roll, made
with avocado. Purists might argue that the California Roll, a
U.S. invention, is not real sushi anyway, but Ishii says it
allows customers to have a first taste of Japanese food and
then get hooked on more exotic items -- the ones that include
raw fish.

(Reporting by Sophie Hardach; Editing by Alex Richardson)

The man who made lists to fend off depression

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -
His mother suffered dark
depressions and tried to dominate his life. His sister and
daughter had severe mental problems, his father and wife died
young and a beloved uncle committed suicide in his arms.

So what did Peter Mark Roget, the creator of Roget%26#39;s
Thesaurus, do to handle all the pain, grief, sorrow,
affliction, woe, bitterness, unhappiness and misery in a life
that lasted over 90 years?

He made lists.

The 19th century British scientist made lists of words,
creating synonyms for all occasions that ultimately helped make
life easier for term paper writers, crossword puzzle lovers and
anyone looking for the answer to the age-old question: "What%26#39;s
another word for ..."

And according to a new biography, making his lists saved
Roget%26#39;s life and by keeping him from succumbing to the
depression and misery of those around him.

"As a boy he stumbled upon a remarkable discovery -- that
compiling lists of words could provide solace, no matter what
misfortunes may befall him," says Joshua Kendall author of the
just published "The Man Who Made Lists" (Putnam, %26#36;25.95), a
study of Roget%26#39;s life (1779 to 1869) based on diaries, letters
and even an autobiography composed of lists.

Kendall, in a recent interview, said Roget cared more for
words than people and that making lists on the scale that he
did was obsessive-compulsive behavior that helped him fend off
the demons that terrorized his distinguished British family.

Madness was a regular guest in Roget%26#39;s home, Kendall said.
One of his grandmothers either had schizophrenia or severe
depression, Roget%26#39;s mother lapsed into paranoia, often accusing
the servants of plotting against her. Both his sister and his
daughter suffered depression and mental problems.

Then there was the case of Roget%26#39;s uncle, British member of
Parliament Sir Samuel Romilly, known for his opposition to the
slave trade and for his support of civil liberties. He slit his
own throat while Roget tried to get the razor out of his hands.

Unlike a Thesaurus, no one understood Uncle Sam%26#39;s last
words: "My dear....I wish..."

Indeed, to quote most of the Thesaurus listing for pain,
Roget%26#39;s was a life filled with grief, pain, suffering,
distress, affliction, woe, bitterness, heartache, unhappiness,
infelicity and misery.

NOT WHOLLY EVIL

Kendall said, "The lists gave him an alternative world to
which to repair." Many writers have declared their debt to
Roget, including Peter Pan%26#39;s creator, J.M. Barrie. In homage,
he put a copy of the Thesaurus in Captain Hook%26#39;s cabin so he
could declare: "The man is not wholly evil -- he has a
Thesaurus in his cabin.

The 20th century poet Sylvia Plath called herself "Roget%26#39;s
Strumpet" to pay respects for all the word choices he gave her.

But the British journalist Simon Winchester holds Roget
responsible for helping to dumb down Western culture because
his work allows a writer to look it up rather than think it
out.

Roget made his first attempt at a Thesaurus at age 26 but
put aside the effort and did not publish his book until 1852
when he was in his 70s and retired. He then kept busy with it
for the rest of his life.

It became an instant hit in Britain but did not sell that
well when an American edition was published two years later.
But when Americans went crazy for crossword puzzles in the
1920s, the Thesaurus assumed its place on reference shelves.

Kendall%26#39;s book is written in a style that he calls
"narrative non-fiction" which contains a lot of dialogue and
descriptions of how Roget and his friends feel and think, all,
he says, based on source material.

"I did a lot of work to stitch together a narrative," he
said, adding that all the scenes in the book are based on
actual events.

Italy recalls contaminated mozzarella cheese

ROME (Reuters) -
Italy ordered a recall on Friday of
mozzarella cheese potentially contaminated with cancer-causing
dioxin, as a widening health scare tainted the reputation of
one of its best-known culinary products.

Italy%26#39;s Health Ministry said it was withdrawing products
from 25 companies in Campania region, where Italy%26#39;s best
buffalo mozzarella is produced.

News of the recall came moments after France joined a small
group of nations that have decided to halt sales of some
Italian mozzarella, despite Italy%26#39;s assurances that none of the
suspect cheese was exported. Japan and South Korea had already
stopped imports.

The European Commission, which had previously threatened a
trade ban unless Rome acted more aggressively, said it was
satisfied with Italy%26#39;s latest effort to contain the scare.

Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D%26#39;Alema played down the
health risks even as he announced a recall affecting an
industry which employs 20,000 people and is worth about 300
million euros (%26#36;475 million) a year.

"This is a limited phenomenon and once the (recall)
measures are completed, we%26#39;re convinced that we can restore
confidence in the quality of a product that remains a symbol of
Italian gastronomy," he said.

In Brussels, the European Commission said Italy had also
pledged to carry out "constant monitoring" of production sites
to ensure no further cases of mozzarella cheese were found with
dioxin levels exceeding the EU%26#39;s maximum permitted levels.

"Taking into account the information that was given today,
there is no reason at this stage to take further action at EU
level," said Nina Papadoulaki, Commission health spokeswoman.

GARBAGE CRISIS

Italian health officials believe the dioxin is linked to a
recent garbage crisis in Naples and the surrounding Campania
region.

With dumps in the area full, locals burned piles of rubbish
in the streets and in open fields. Health officials say
industrial waste was also set ablaze, spreading fumes that in
some cases contained dioxin, a toxic chemical.

The bad publicity has made some Italian consumers wary. One
mozzarella dealer in Rome said sales to hotels and restaurants
had fallen by half.

"We are at the historical minimum level of sales," said
dealer Paolo Micocci, comparing the mozzarella scare to panic
over mad cow disease and bird flu.

"Scares have hit cows, then fish with mercury, then
chicken. ... Now, it%26#39;s our turn. We%26#39;ll hang in there."

Italy produces about 33,000 tonnes of buffalo mozzarella a
year, with 16 percent of it sold abroad, mostly in the European
Union. France and Germany are the major importers but sales
have been expanding to other countries, including Japan and
Russia.

France ordered its shops on Friday to stop selling all
mozzarella cheese from Italy%26#39;s Campania region, saying it was
"as a precautionary measure" pending further tests.

But German authorities said no such move was necessary
since Italian authorities had assured them that none of the
affected mozzarella from Campania was exported to EU countries.

Italy%26#39;s biggest farmers%26#39; group Coldiretti criticized
France, saying the health scare was based on emotion, not
science.

"France%26#39;s reaction is emotional. It follows the wave of
emotional reactions in Japan and Korea," said Rolando
Manfredini, food safety expert at Coldiretti.

(Additional reporting by Crispian Balmer in Paris, Jeremy
Smith in Brussels, Erik Kirschbaum in Berlin, Roberto Landucci
and Antonio Denti in Rome, and Svetlana Kovalyova in Milan,
editing by Mary Gabriel)

Red Cross launches China HIV prevention programme

BEIJING (AFP) -
The Red Cross Society of China on Friday launched its first ever nationwide HIV programme with the aim of reaching all 31 provinces and municipalities in the country by 2010.

The organisation, which first got involved in HIV work in 1994 in the southwestern province of Yunnan, said it aimed to upscale its HIV prevention work across the country over the next three years.

In 2007, just 22 out of 31 provinces had undertaken or were undertaking HIV projects, the organisation said.

It plans to prevent further infection through peer education and the spread of information, to expand care and support for those affected by HIV, and to reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with the disease.

An estimated 700,000 people in China are currently living with HIV, according to information compiled by the government and the United Nations.

Last year, an estimated 50,000 people became newly infected with the virus, and an estimated 20,000 people died of AIDS, the Red Cross Society of China said.

But the overall numbers may be considerably higher as many HIV cases still go unreported, and testing is not widespread, according to the organisation.

The Chinese government has in recent years stepped up its campaign against AIDS.

In February, authorities launched their first anti-AIDS programme focused on gay men.

At the same time, though, one of the nation%26#39;s most prominent AIDS campaigners, Hu Jia, is on trial for incitement to subvert state power.

A verdict on the case is expected soon.

Latest in cardiovascular care on display in Chicago confab

WASHINGTON (AFP) -
American cardiologists convene in Chicago this weekend for the world%26#39;s largest confab on heart disease, where results of major clinical trials that could influence medical practice will be unveiled.

"We are very excited about the meeting, there is going to be a lot of very important science presentations and some of them will transform the way we practice as we are going forward," said cardiologist Marc Shelton, chair of the American College of Cardiology%26#39;s 57th annual gathering.

The results of dozens of clinical trials will be unveiled during the three-and-a half-day meeting, opening Saturday and expected to draw some 18,000 participants, Shelton told reporters.

Of particular note is a forum on the controversial ENHANCE trial comparing US pharmaceutical giant Merck%26#39;s anti-cholesterol drug Vytorin with simvastatin, a predecessor from the same group that is now available in a low-cost generic version.

Although the clinical trial was concluded in 2006, Merck and Schering-Plough -- the maker of Zetia, another cholesterol-buster combined with simvastatin to create Vytorin -- waited until January 2008 to release the findings.

They show little apparent difference between Vytorin and simvastatin in patients with very high levels of cholesterol, although the former is five times as expensive as the latter.

The revelation caused sales of Vytorin and Zetia to drop by 18 percent and sent shares of the two pharmaceuticals plunging.

Following an aggressive advertising campaign launched in 2006, sales of Vytorin and Zetia had doubled in two years, bringing in five billion dollars world wide in 2007.

The results of the ENHANCE clinical trial will be discussed in a forum of eminent cardiologists Sunday, the second day of the conference.

"The goal that we have given to the panel members is to, at the end of the discussions, come up with a recommendation for how they would treat patients when they go home on Wednesday after the meeting," Shelton said.

A congressional panel has also launched a fraud investigation of the two companies.

Statins such as simvastatin, Pfizer%26#39;s lipitor, and AstraZeneca%26#39;s crestor act by blocking an enzyme in the liver, while Zetia absorbs cholesterol in the digestive tract.

The latter approach has not been proved to lower the risk of heart attack by reducing arterial plaque.

Several other important studies will be presented in Chicago this weekend, Shelton said.

A vast international clinical trial dubbed ONTARGET should provide epidemiological data on the best treatment for high blood pressure, after testing anti-hypertension medicines Telmisartan and Ramipril separately and in combination.

Other clinical trials involve hypertension treatment in patients over age 80 with obesity or high-risk diabetes.

Cardiovascular disease is the chief cause of death in the United States, claiming more than 900,000 lives each year.

It was responsible for 17.5 million deaths in the world in 2005, 30 percent of the total mortality, according to the World Health Organization.

S.Africa to track down TB patients

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) -
South Africa on Friday launched a four million dollar programme to track down tuberculosis patients who have defaulted treatment, leading to resistant strains of the illness.

Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, speaking in the Northern Cape on TB Day, said all nine provinces had established TB tracer teams of nurses and community health workers to follow up on patients who had defaulted treatment.

"These teams visit homes to find patients so that they can put them back on treatment. To further strengthen this programme, the national department has deployed an additional 72 teams in sub-districts which have poor TB outcomes," she said.

Tshabalala-Msimang said the 33 million rand (four million dollars / 2.5 million euros) programme hoped to improve treatment outcomes and prevent the development of drug resistant TB.

South Africa is desperately trying to curb its heavy caseload of TB. With more than 340,000 South Africans infected, patients defaulting from treatment have developed multi-drug resistant (MDR) and extreme drug resistant (XDR) TB.

Resistance to TB drugs can develop when patients fail to take their medication as prescribed, and in a minority of cases through direct transmission from person to person.

MDR-TB fails to react to the two most powerful anti-TB drugs, while XDR-TB is resistant to these and at least two others.

Nearly 400 cases of XDR-TB were diagnosed in 2007.

Tshabalala-Msimang said 400 million rand devoted by government to fighting TB was being used to improve the conditions of hospital isolation of patients.

The government decided to isolate people who have a history of defaulting treatment. Patients have broken out of hospital in frustration at the lengthy time medical care takes.

"It is in the interest of the public as well as these patients that XDR and MDR patients remain in hospital until they are discharged," the minister said.

She said TB plans had already brought defaulter rates to 8.8 percent in the first half of 2006 down from 9.7 percent in 2005, while the national cure rate went from 68.3 percent to 73.6 percent in the same period.

Italians wary of mozzarella scare but eat on

MILAN (Reuters) -
Carefully selecting a lump of fine
buffalo mozzarella, a Milan cheesemonger points to a
certificate stuck to the glass-fronted fridge which is meant to
appease cautious customers about its origins and quality.

Ever since news broke that some of Italy%26#39;s best mozzarella
was being made with milk contaminated with cancer-causing
dioxin, Alfredo says customers have been hesitant to buy the
cheese until they know where it comes from.

"People see what is happening and they are scared," said
the cheesemonger, who asked to be identified by his first name
only.

"There has been a small impact. We put up the certificate
to show where our product comes from and that helps."

Buffalo mozzarella is one of Italy%26#39;s best known culinary
specialties and a byword for fresh and natural Italian produce.
It is known abroad for its use on pizza, but purists eat it on
its own or with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

The cheese costs at least twice as much as mozzarella made
with cow%26#39;s milk, and Italy makes 33,000 tonnes of it a year, 16
percent of which is sold abroad.

Seeking to avert a major food scare, Italy has sealed off
83 dairy farms in the southern Campania region around Naples
after finding nearly one in five buffalo mozzarella producers
were making cheese with higher-than-permitted levels of dioxin.

Italy has told the European Commission it has not exported
any contaminated mozzarella but it took the precaution on
Friday of ordering a recall of cheese from 25 affected
producers from Campania, where Italy%26#39;s best buffalo mozzarella
is produced.

"Seeing what is happening to a symbol of Italian produce
makes you want to cry," said Lino Stoppani of upmarket Milan
food shop Peck. "We have seen caution. Customers are sensitive.
Certainly, there has been a fall in mozzarella consumption."

HEALTH RISKS

Officials believe the dioxin levels are linked to a recent
garbage crisis in Naples and nearby Campania area, where locals
burned rubbish in streets and open fields as dumps were full.

Police have also been investigating whether feed given to
buffalo herds was tainted, possibly by gangsters linked to
illegal waste disposal.

Italian officials are playing down health risks for the
public and say special checks are being made to guarantee the
safety of the cheese.

A consumer group has advised Italians not to eat it until
the final results of tests and the names of the producers
concerned are made public. A leading group of producers said
sales were down 30 percent in the first two months of the year,
with a revenue loss of 30 million euros (%26#36;47.29 million).

On Friday, France briefly prohibited sales of some Italian
mozzarella, but later lifted the order after winning assurances
from Rome that none of the suspect cheese was exported there.

Japan and South Korea have stopped imports of buffalo
mozzarella over contamination concerns.

But some consumers in Italy say they are not fearful.

"My first reaction was not to eat it as this is scary,"
said Milanese pensioner Mario Rossi as he shopped in a
supermarket, where rows of mozzarella cheese were stacked,
untouched. "But I will continue eating it, though with
caution."

At Milan%26#39;s Obika Mozzarella Bar, a restaurant specializing
in quality mozzarella, diners happily munched on the cheese.
The restaurant, which has branches in Rome and London as well,
says it has not felt any impact from the scare so far.

"Our clients trust us. ... This is something that has
scared a lot of people but it is a case of counterfeit,"
founder Silvio Ursini said by phone, underlining that all
cheese used by his restaurants undergoes thorough checks.

Pizzeria owner Pino Malastrana was not worried either.

"I buy four kilograms of it a day," he said, tucking into a
plate of buffalo mozzarella. "And I%26#39;ve been using it all up."

(Editing by Mary Gabriel)

WTO rules against US, Canada in beef row with EU

GENEVA (AFP) -
The World Trade Organisation has ruled against the United States and Canada in a row with the European Union over an EU ban on beef treated with growth hormones, a European official told AFP on Friday.

The WTO has found that penalities imposed by the US and Canada on some EU products in retaliation for the EU ban are illegal, said the official, who asked not to be named.

"The sanctions imposed by the United States and Canada are in contravention of WTO rules," the official said.

"The European Union wants the United States and Canada to abolish the sanctions."

The WTO is to make its decision public on Monday.

The Geneva-based trade body ruled in 1999 that Washington and Ottawa could slap higher tariffs on a list of EU products after it condemned the European Union for banning the use of certain growth-promoting hormones -- used by the US and Canada -- without a scientific assessment of the risk.

The EU had contested these sanctions, saying that they were no longer justified because it had found a scientific basis for banning hormone-treated beef and had updated its law in 2003.

The penalties, in the form of customs tariffs, amount to 116.8 million dollars (74 million euros) for the United States and 11.3 million dollars for Canada.

They target a host of products including French Dijon mustard and Roquefort cheese.

The EU says its ban is based on a study that found consumption of a particular type of hormone was harmful to human health.

The evidence on five other hormones, such as testosterone, was insufficient, but warranted a provisional ban on marketing meat containing those substances because of the uncertainty, according to the EU.

The US and Canada had rejected or raised doubts about the validity of the proof presented by Brussels to back up its ban.

Italy to recall contaminated mozzarella, EU executive 'satisfied'

ROME (AFP) -
The Italian government on Friday decided to begin recalling dioxin-tainted mozzarella from the market as France impounded shipments of the cheese made from buffalo milk in the region around Naples.

The Commission said it was "satisfied" with the move. "There is no reason at this stage to take further action at the EU level," spokeswoman Nina Papadoulaki told journalists in Brussels.

Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D%26#39;Alema earlier Friday said Rome would "this morning ... take the steps agreed with the European Union to withdraw from the market products that do not comply with standards and renew assurances to Italian and foreign consumers," the ANSA news agency reported.

The French government on Friday impounded shipments of mozzarella from Campania, the centre of chronic breakdowns in the waste disposal system that environmentalists say may be behind higher-than-normal levels of dioxin.

Japan and South Korea suspended imports of the cheese after Italian authorities said last week that high levels of dioxin, which increases the risk of cancer, were found in 66 buffalo herds around Naples.

But Rome has said that no tainted mozzarella has been exported, and Agriculture Minister Paolo De Castro insisted at a news conference on Thursday that "there is no health problem."

"It%26#39;s only a matter of a few limited cases in 83 farms out of 1,900 which were immediately isolated," he said.

He also rejected any link between the mozzarella contamination and the waste disposal crisis that engulfed the Naples region at the end of last year.

Overloaded treatment centres have reached the tipping point several times since 1994.

The problem is exacerbated by the local Camorra mafia, which controls many dumps in the region and makes a lucrative business out of shipping in industrial waste from companies in the north.

An animal disease prevention institute in Protici, near Naples, that has been monitoring milk and dairy products from 165 companies since January 2007 has cited dioxin "anomalies" at 25 of them.

The European Commission called late Thursday for urgent action and warned of unspecified steps against Campania, Italy%26#39;s poorest region.

"The commission believes that the measures put in place are not sufficient to ensure that no contaminated product enters the market," a statement said.

This was, it said, because "no recall of product potentially contaminated has been carried out and the surveillance programme on the farms of the Campania region is still too limited."

The commission said it could propose "safeguard measures for dairy products orginating from the region of Campania" if it deems new measures to be insufficient.

Italy produces 33,000 tonnes of mozzarella per year, some 80 percent of it in Campania, where a quarter of a million buffalo are farmed to produce milk for the product.

Buffalo milk mozzarella is a soft cheese served with tomatoes and basil in a Neapolitan speciality, the Caprese salad.

France scraps move to halt mozzarella sales

PARIS (AFP) -
France%26#39;s agriculture minister on Friday scrapped a decision to halt sales of imported mozzarella after Italy decided to recall the dioxin-tainted cheese.

Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier had ordered shops to stop selling mozzarella from Italy%26#39;s Campania region on Friday but later that same day withdrew the measures.

"The European Commission has just said that it was satisfied with the progress shown by the Italian government and sees no need for further European measures at this stage," said the agriculture ministry in a statement.

"The measures previously requested pending additional information from Italian authorities are no longer warranted," he added.

Italian authorities said last week that high levels of dioxin, which increases the risk of cancer, were found in 66 buffalo herds around the city of Naples.

A total of 83 buffalo farms in the Naples region were quarantined.

On Friday, Italy announced a recall of the cheese, a move welcomed by Brussels.

In 2007, France imported 257 tonnes of buffalo mozzarella, according to figures from the dairy industry.

After 40 years, Ebola still highly contagious to the public mind

LIBREVILLE (AFP) -
Popular culture and fears of bioterrorism have stoked the public%26#39;s fear of the Ebola virus, which -- despite terrifying symptoms and high mortality rate -- has only taken 600 lives in 40 years.

"Other diseases like cholera or malaria, kill a lot more people in a day than Ebola has already killed" since its discovery in 1970, said Thomas Geisbert, an American army researcher who was in Libreville for an international congress on the Ebola and Marburg viruses.

Ebola fever was named after a small river in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it was discovered in 1976. While extremely virulent, experts say the disease is containable because it kills its victims faster than it can spread to new ones.

Nonetheless, according to Geisbert, Ebola rose to notoriety through rumours, Hollywood films and popular fiction. The public%26#39;s fear was only made worse by the virus%26#39; 90 percent mortality rate, he said.

"There are not many micro organisms on the planet that cause 90 percent mortality. That automatically gets interest."

But so does the literature and cinema surrounding it.

"A lot of it started when Ken Alibek, who ran the Soviet Union bioweapon program ... testified in front of the US Congress in the mid-1990s that the Russians were developing Ebola and Marburg bioweapons and when the Soviet Union dissolved nobody knew where the stuff went," said Geisberg.

But he mainly attributes the public%26#39;s awareness of this virus to Richard Preston%26#39;s novel "Hot Zone," in which the virus is discovered in Virginia.

Jean-Paul Gonzalez, research director at the Orstom development research institute and another expert on the virus, cites the film "Outbreak" as further spreading fears of the disease in the public mind.

The blockbuster feature stars including Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman, Rene Russo, Kevin Spacey and Donald Sutherland.

"When the film came out, there was an epidemic in Kikwit (DR Congo) in 1995. The public watched this movie and then news on TV, and they saw that it was somewhat true," he said.

"When we see a woman lying on a bed and vomiting blood and a baby crying nearby, it%26#39;s an image. It sells."

After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the threat of bioterrorism added another layer to Ebola fears.

"Look at what five anthrax letters did in the United States," said Geisberg, referring to scares in the wake of September 11. "Look at the billions of dollars of impact."

Ebola could be spread quickly, according to Geisberg. If somebody had access to it, they would merely have to "put it in a bottle and kill 40 people in New York City," he said.

But if the illness has been much hyped in western society, in Africa it is a lack of information that has created problems.

"People are told they have to burn clothes, no longer bury their dead the traditional way," said Dr Jean-Jacques Mayembe, from a biomedical research institute in Kinshasa.

"We have succeeded in making people believe that Ebola is the work of witches, namely because of the spectacular effect and the vomiting of blood," said Pierre Fomenty, from the World Health Organisation.

One solution, said Mayembe, is to better inform people about the virus.

20 farms test positive for dioxin in Italian mozzarella scare: minister

ROME (AFP) -
Twenty Italian buffalo farms have tested positive for raised dioxin levels, the country%26#39;s health minister said Friday, as the country began recalling tainted mozzarella from the market.

Nevertheless, Singapore announced it was joining Japan and South Korea in banning Italian mozzarella sales as a precautionary measure.

The southeast Asian city state%26#39;s Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority said the ban was a precautionary measure until laboratory tests could "determine if they have been contaminated with dioxin".

Rome%26#39;s decision to withdraw the famous cheese from sale led the European Union to conclude that no action to protect consumers was necessary, and France quickly reversed a decision to pull imports of the cheese from the shelves.

The scare began last week when samples of mozzarella from the Naples region, which is made from buffalo milk, were found to have raised dioxin levels.

A total of 83 buffalo farms were quarantined. Of those 20 were found to have higher than approved dioxin levels, Under-Secretary of State for Health Gian Paolo Patta told the ANSA newsagency.

A dozen other farms have had quarantine restrictions lifted after testing negative, he added, without giving details for the remainder.

Italy%26#39;s Foreign Minister Massimo D%26#39;Alema said Rome would "take the steps agreed with the European Union to withdraw products that do not comply with standards and renew assurances to Italian and foreign consumers".

The EU commission said it was "satisfied" with the move. "There is no reason at this stage to take further action at the EU level," spokeswoman Nina Papadoulaki told journalists in Brussels.

Initially on Friday, the French government announced it would impound shipments of mozzarella from Campania, but rapidly reversed that decision after Rome%26#39;s announcement that it was withdrawing the cheese from sale.

Dioxin lead to an increased risk of cancer, and environmentalists link the cases to the long-running saga of rubbish disposal in and around Naples, which saw thousands of tonnes of garbage left undealt with at the end of last year.

The Italian government has said that no tainted mozzarella has been exported, and Agriculture Minister Paolo De Castro insisted at a news conference on Thursday that "there is no health problem".

He also rejected any link between the mozzarella contamination and the waste disposal crisis.

The refuse problem has gripped the region since 1994, where a lack of incinerators has led to overflowing landfill tips, which the local mafia is alleged to use for the illegal dumping of toxic waste.

Patta said farms that tested positive would remain quarantined for between 90 and 120 days, to allow the buffalo herds to eliminate the toxin.

"The inquiry will all-encompassing and noone will be excluded," Patta added.

Italy produces 33,000 tonnes of mozzarella per year, some 80 percent of it in Campania, where a quarter of a million buffalo are farmed to produce milk for the product.

Buffalo milk mozzarella is a soft cheese served with tomatoes and basil in a Neapolitan speciality, the Caprese salad.

Radon: The Silent Home Invader That Can Kill

FRIDAY, March 28 (HealthDay News) -- You can%26#39;t see, smell or
taste radon.

The gas emanates naturally from the soil, seeping up into homes that
rest on the ground. The only way to avoid it, really, is to have a house
on stilts.

But the radioactive gas is the leading cause of lung cancer among
nonsmokers in America, as well as the second leading cause of lung cancer
overall, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It claims
about 21,000 lives annually.

"It is a health risk you can%26#39;t see," said Kristy Miller, spokeswoman
for the EPA%26#39;s Office of Radiation and Indoor Air. "You can%26#39;t touch it, you
can%26#39;t feel it. It is an inert gas. It%26#39;s in your home for a long time,
leaving no trail of evidence. It%26#39;s only your proactive interest and
testing that%26#39;s going to prevent this health risk."

Radon is a global problem -- the World Health Organization says radon
causes up to 15 percent of lung cancers worldwide.

About one of every 15 homes in the United States is estimated to have a
dangerous radon level, which the EPA defines as more than 4 picocuries per
liter of air.

Radon is produced from the natural decay of uranium, an element found
in nearly all soils. "The earth is always emitting radon at some level,"
Miller said. "It%26#39;s always a part of the outdoor ambient air, in trace
amounts."

The gas typically moves up through the ground to the air above and into
your home through cracks and other holes in the foundation. The home then
traps radon inside.

"A home over the soil can act as a holding tank, allowing radon to
accumulate to high levels," Miller said.

When inhaled, radon can damage the lungs by continuing to emit tiny
bursts of alpha radiation, she said.

"The alpha emitters can actually damage the DNA of the lung tissue,"
Miller said. "The lung is extremely sensitive, compared with the
skin."

Any amount of radon exposure is bad, the EPA says, but the cancer risk
increases over time, as exposure is prolonged.

Because a house%26#39;s radon level depends on many variables -- the
composition of the soil, the construction of the house -- experts warn
that any house might have high levels of the gas.

"Even if you have a new home, you might have high radon," said Bruce
Snead, an extension specialist at Kansas State University specializing in
radiation and indoor air quality. "The only way to know is to test."

The EPA recommends that any homeowner should conduct a radon test. The
tests are easy to obtain. They%26#39;re sold at hardware stores, and some local
health departments and extension services offer to sell them at cost to
homeowners, Snead said.

"People can test a home on their own," he said. "All they have to do is
purchase a test kit, and read and follow the instructions."

The U.S. Surgeon General has recommended that people test their homes
for radon every two years, and retest any time they move, make structural
changes to the home or occupy a previously unused level of a house.

Homeowners also can hire a radon expert to come in and test levels, an
action that some states require as part of a home sale, Snead said. About
20 states have laws requiring notification of radon levels in real estate
transactions, and more are considering it, he said.

"Just as lead is a required notification, should the same thing happen
with radon?" Snead said.

If high levels of radon are discovered, a relatively low-cost home
repair can alleviate the problem, Snead said. The EPA recommends hiring a
qualified radon mitigation contractor to do the work, because lowering
high radon levels requires specific technical knowledge and special
skills.

The most common method of radon reduction is called soil suction. It
prevents radon from entering your home by drawing the radon from below the
house and venting it through a pipe, or pipes, to the air above the house
where it is quickly diluted, Snead said.

"The pipe discharges above the roof line, so this well-known carcinogen
will dissipate into the atmosphere," he said. The pipes can work either
passively, or with a fan used to pull air from the soil.

The average cost of a radon reduction system is about $1,200, according
to the EPA. The cost generally ranges from $800 to $2,500, depending on
the characteristics of the house and choice of radon-reduction
methods.

Some homes now are being built to be radon-resistant, with
gas-resistant foundations and sub-slab fill materials that allow gases to
move easily away, Snead said.

Snead recommends that everyone, homeowner or renter, be proactive in
dealing with the radon that could be building up in their homes.

"We save lives by having tests done and performing mitigation, and by
building houses that are radon-resistant," he said.

More information

To learn more, visit the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.

Squid beaks may have medical application

WASHINGTON - The razor-sharp beaks that giant squids use to attack whales %26#151; and maybe even Captain Nemo's submarine %26#151; might one day lead to improved artificial limbs for people.

That deadly beak may be a surprise to many people, and has long posed a puzzle for scientists. They wonder how a creature without any bones can operate it without hurting itself.

Now, researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara, report in Friday's edition of the journal Science that they have an explanation

The beak, made of hard chitin and other materials, changes density gradually from the hard tip to a softer, more flexible base where it attaches to the muscle around the squid's mouth, the researchers found.

That means the tough beak can chomp away at fish for dinner, but the hard material doesn't press or rub directly against the squid's softer tissues.

Herbert Waite, a professor in the university's department of molecular, cellular %26 developmental biology and co-author of the paper, said such graduated materials could have broad applications in biomedical materials.

"Lots of useful information could some out of this for implant materials, for example. Interfaces between soft and hard materials occur everywhere," he said in a telephone interview.

Frank Zok, professor and associate chair of the department of materials, said he had always been skeptical of whether there is any real advantage to materials that change their properties gradually from one part to another, "but the squid beak turned me into a believer."

"If we could reproduce the property gradients that we find in squid beak, it would open new possibilities for joining materials," Zok said in a statement. "For example, if you graded an adhesive to make its properties match one material on one side and the other material on the other side, you could potentially form a much more robust bond."

The researchers are learning lessons that can be applied to medical materials in the future, said Phillip B. Messersmith of the department of biomedical engineering at Northwestern University.

Messersmith, who was not part of the research team, noted that hard medical implants made of metal or ceramic are often imbedded in soft tissues.

"The lessons here from nature might be useful in transitions between devices and the tissues they are imbedded in," he said in a telephone interview.

Ali Miserez, a UCSB researcher and co-author of the paper, suggested the research could point the way to new types of medical materials.

"We could maybe imagine creating a full prosthesis that mimics the chemistry of the beak, so that it matches the elasticity of cartilage on one side and, on the other side, you could create a material which is very stiff and abrasion resistant," he said in an interview provided by Science.

Waite described the squid beak as like placing an X-Acto blade in a block of fairly firm Jell-O and then trying to use it to chop celery.

The base of the blade would damage the gelatin, but because of the change in density the base of the beak doesn't damage the squid, he pointed out. The squid solves the problem by changing the beak composition progressively, rather than abruptly, so that its tip can pierce prey without harming the squid in the process.

The researchers calculated the changes by carefully measuring the ratios of chitin %26#151; the material in insect shells %26#151; water and proteins in the beaks of Humboldt squid, showing gradual changes from tip to base.

Waite said it was the first time this had been measured. He said he was surprised that the main difference in density resulted from the amount of water included in each part of the beak.

Most people probably know squid best as fried calamari %26#151; the tasty starters popular in many restaurants. But the researchers noted that these are animals that deserve respect.

"Squids can be aggressive, whimsical, suddenly mean, and they are always hungry," Waite said. "You wouldn't want to be diving next to one. A dozen of them could eat you, or really hurt you a lot."

And they are very fast, swimming by a sort of jet propulsion.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, NASA and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

___

On the Net:

Science: http://www.sciencemag.org

NYC postpones calorie-posting rule

NEW YORK - Health officials have pushed back a deadline for national chain restaurants to put calorie counts on their menus in New York City outlets.

The requirement was supposed to take effect Monday, but a restaurant trade group has challenged it in court. The city Health Department said Thursday it was postponing the regulation's start date until April 15 because the court ruling is expected soon.

Health officials say the measure will combat obesity by forcing diners to face the caloric consequences of their orders. But the New York State Restaurant Association says the rule violates the First Amendment by forcing businesses to put what amounts to a message on their menus.

Still, one major chain %26#151; Starbucks %26#151; says it will meet the original Monday deadline.

FDA investigates Merck drug-suicide link

WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it is investigating a possible link between Merck's best-selling Singulair and suicide.

FDA said it is reviewing a handful of reports involving mood changes, suicidal behavior and suicide in patients who have taken the popular allergy and asthma drug.

Merck has updated the drug's labeling four times in the past year to include information on a range of reported side effects: tremors, anxiousness, depression and suicidal behavior.

FDA said it asked the Whitehouse, N.J.-based company to dig deeper into its data on Singulair for evidence of possible links to suicide. The agency said it has not established a "causal relationship" between Merck's drug and suicidal behavior. An agency spokeswoman said the review was prompted by three to four suicide reports it received since last October.

It could take up to nine months before agency scientists can draw any conclusions, FDA said in a posting to its Web site.

The agency recently began notifying the public earlier about possible safety issues. The policy change came after the FDA was criticized for acting too slowly on information about the risks of Merck's painkiller Vioxx and, GlaxoSmithKline plc's diabetes pill Avandia.

Merck officials stressed that the FDA's inquiry is based on reports, not clinical studies %26#151; which are the standard tool for evaluating drug safety. The company said none of the 11,000 patients enrolled in 40 Singulair trials has committed suicide.

"We have no indication that anything about the mechanism of Singulair is consistent with these events," said George Philip, director of research and product development. "But because suicide is a life-threatening event we thought it was important to provide this information in the product label."

Merck said it recently added reports of suicide to Singulair's label, which already listed suicidal thinking and behavior as reported side effects.

In clinical trials of asthma patients, the most common side effects were headache, flu, abdominal pain and cough.

With sales of $4.3 billion last year, Singulair is used by millions of patients in the U.S, according to Merck. First approved in 1998, it's part of a class of asthma and allergy drugs that includes AstraZeneca's Accolate and Critical Therapeutics's Zyflo.

FDA said it is also reviewing reports of side effects with those drugs. Their labeling does not contain language about suicide.

"Patients should not stop taking Singulair before talking to their doctor," FDA said in its statement, adding that doctors should monitor patients for suicidal behavior and mood changes.

Shares of Merck %26 Co. Inc. rose 8 cents to close at $44.78.