A California teenager sick with leukemia died on Thursday after they failed to get a match in the United States.  The girls adoptive mother even went to China to find a bone marrow donor to no avail.

Katie Cramer, 16 years-old, died at home on Thursday, the Sacramento Bee reported. Katie was first diagnosed with the fatal blood disease four years ago. Since then, her family struggled to search for a bone marrow donor so she could go through a transplant.

The teenage girl was only 14-months old when she was adopted from China. She had no known blood relatives who could possibly donate to her with bone marrow.

Katie’s case could highlight the difficulties that ethnic minorities face when searching for bone marrow matches. The Asian American Donor Program said that they only have about 50-percent chance to find a match from the donor registry in the United States, which is significantly lower than the 80-percent chance for Americans.

Katie’s adoptive mother, Sherrie Cramer, went to China in July in the hopes of finding a donor. However, her trip was not successful when the samples she brought, after some tests done by the local Red Cross, proved not to find a perfect match for Katie.

After her mother’s trip to China, Katie’s health condition aggravated as she battled with heart damage, as well as weakened immune system brought about her treatments for cancer.

Katie’s doctor informed her family on New Year’s Day that she would not get better, and had only few days left to live.

Katie, on her last days, was surrounded by friends, family, and her beloved dog. Her parents were at her side when she stopped breathing. Sherrie told the Bee that it was very beautiful and peaceful. They had known all the things she had fought, and it was a relief that she was not in pain and not sick.

The public memorial will be held on January 22 in Sacramento.

Patients who have recovered from the H1N1 “swine flu” pandemic attack of last 2009 have developed atypical antibodies that might protect them from a variety of flu strains, the US researchers informed on Monday.

Specialists were stunned to discover that the immune response of the patients to a new flu could lead the way to a universal vaccine against several kinds of strains that have been present for decades, according to a study written in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

US researchers examined nine patients who had been infected with the flu last year. They discovered antibodies that when tried on mice could shield them from a deadly dose of at least three various flu strains, as well as the bird flu.

Study author Patrick Wilson informed that the study showed how to create a single vaccine that could possibly offer immunity to all influenza. Patrick Wilson is the assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago.

It was a shock for them that a very different influenza strain, instead of the most common strains, could potentially give them a vaccine that is widely applicable to all sorts of influenza.

The researchers took blood samples from the patients around 10 days after they manifested symptoms of flu. Some had mild flu while others had severe form that required admission in the hospital.

The researchers isolated the antibodies that they had found in the patients blood. The study said that five of these antibodies could protect against all the seasonal H1N1 flu strains from the last decade, the ‘Spanish flu’ strain from 1918 and the pathogenic H5N1 avian flu.

Among the antibodies, only one showed protection against the 2009 H1N1 strain when tested on mice. The said antibody was taken from the patient who had the most severe H1N1 infection.

The virus infected millions of people and hospitalized thousands in United States. It was first detected year 2009 in United States and Mexico. Swine flu was different because it was more dangerous for pregnant women and young people than other strains of flu which are more lethal in the older generation.

Researchers have found another benefit of circumcision for health, saying that it can protect men against the virus that causes AIDS, as well as the virus that causes cervical cancer in their partners.

In the Lancet medical journal on Thursday, they reported that the partners of circumcised men had lower rate of infection in two years with the HPV or human papilloma virus. This is the virus that causes warts and cervical cancer in women.

Dr. Maria Waver and her colleagues at John Hopkins University located in Baltimore wrote in the journal that their findings show that male circumcision should now be recognized as an effective way to reduce the incidence of HPV infections in women.

However, they said it only deems partial protection against the infection. Thus, safe sex practices are still important.

Waver and her team also added that the study revealed that circumcised men have lesser risk to be infected with the virus that causes the grave diseases, AIDS.

Human papilloma virus is widely known as the primary cause of cervical cancer in women. However, it also causes other infection such as genital warts that might eventually lead to cancer of the penis, anus, head or neck.

HPV is highly contagious. It has dozens of strains that can infect a large number of people in just a few years after the commencement of sexual activity. Most people previously infected with the virus have a complete recovery. However, some experience changes that cause cancer.

In women, cervical cancer ranks second most common cancer worldwide. Certain drug manufacturing companies had already released vaccines against the virus. But, most of it is not available to women in growing countries.

Wavers’ team said that taking off the foreskin during the process of circumcision makes the penis less likely to bring a range of microorganisms.

Since the United States started the routine of vaccinating citizens against chicken pox in 1995, the number of Americans hospitalized each year because of the infection has decreased by more than two-thirds according to a government researchers report on Monday.

Studies revealed that after giving vaccinations to produce immunity against the Varicella virus that causes the illness, the annual rates of chickenpox infections in the country dropped by 80 percent to 90 percent by the succeeding decade.

A new study done by the researchers of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tried to look at how the rates of chickenpox-related hospitalizations have been modified.

Most chickenpox cases may pose mild symptoms such as itchy blisters and fever. However, there are some people that develop potentially life-threatening complications such as dehydration, pneumonia and inflammation of the brain, which is also known as encephalitis.

The researchers found out that there were one in 100,000 Americans that had chickenpox complications during the year 2000 and 2006 in comparison to the yearly rate of 4 out of 100,000 people between 1988 and 1995, the period before chickenpox vaccinations were introduced.

As a whole, chickenpox hospitalizations fell by 71 percent during the study period. The CDC researchers suppose that vaccinations against chickenpox prevented an estimated number of 50,000 hospitalizations in the year 2000 until 2006.

These results further support the great decline in severe cases of chickenpox disease, the lead researcher Adriana S. Lopez explained. She also reminded the parents that it is still important to have their children vaccinated against the disease.

German scientists, who used a bone marrow transplant to treat an HIV-infected patient with leukemia, have affirmed him cured of the virus. This is a surprising statement from the medical field where the word “cure” is hardly mentioned.

The patient had both HIV infection and leukemia when he received a bone marrow transplant in 2007 coming from a donor who had a genetic mutation, which is identified to offer patients natural immunity to the virus.

According to Thomas Schneider of Berlin Charite hospital and his colleagues, the patient is free of the virus almost four years after the transplant. The virus does not show signs that it is hiding in any part of his body.

Their results strongly suggest that the cure of HIV has been attained in the patient as they have written in the journal Blood.

A bone marrow transplant is the last resort for treating cancers such as leukemia. The treatment requires destroying the patient’s bone marrow and transplanting a different bone marrow from a donor with nearly same blood and immune system type. Several months are required to assist the patient’s recovery.

The treatment is not practical and it might kill people according to Dr. Robert Gallo of the University of Maryland. He helped discover the virus that causes AIDS.

Scientists have learned since 1990 that there are some people, often from the Northern European descent, have the genetic mutation and are seldom infected with HIV.

There are already some researchers working on the thought of gene therapy to help or try curing HIV; however the technology is still in experimental stages.

Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer has reached her liver and physicians have advised against further treatment, the People magazine has reported on Monday.

The now-separated wife of U.S presidential candidate John Edwards was briefly hospitalized last week. She is currently resting at her home with her family and friends. The celebrity magazine reported that her breast cancer, which was first diagnosed in 2004, has metastasized to her liver as stated by her doctors.

According to the Edwards family’s statement in People magazine, the doctors have advised Elizabeth that it would be unproductive to give further treatment for her cancer.

Upon visiting Edwards Facbook page, it revealed a recent status change on Monday. Elizabeth posted a status telling about how her life has been sustained by her family, friends, as well as her faith in the power of hope and resilience, which she considers as her three saving graces.

In addition, she said that those graces have carried her through difficult times and have brought more joy than she could have imagined. She also pointed out that one’s life is numbered and everyone knows that.

Edwards’ breast cancer had spread to her bones in 2007. During her interview in June 2010, she also said that it has already reached other parts of her body, particularly in her spine, legs and skull.

Elizabeth Edwards and her politician husband announced their separation in January after 32 years of marriage. The separation was followed by a scandal that links the U.S Senator with an affair with another woman, and that he had fathered a baby during his bid for the U.S presidential nomination in 2008.

Elizabeth had written two best-selling books, entitled “Resilience” and “Saving Graces,” which talks about her long battle with her illness, as well as the reports surrounding her husband.

Weight-loss gurus may have claimed that increased protein and less refined carbohydrates in the diet can keep a person from gaining weight. However, a team of European researchers confirmed this claim based on the study they have compiled with a number of men, women and their families.

The study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was conducted by Dr. Thomas Meinert Larsen of the University of Copenhagen and his colleagues. Initially, they had 773 men and women with their families from eight western European countries enrolled in the study.

Each family was arbitrarily assigned with one weight-maintenance diet out of five categories for 26 weeks. One group served as the control with no food restrictions. The rest were assigned various proportions of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates that were categorized as high or low glycemic index, which measures how rapid a food is converted to sugar in the blood.

Some people dropped out of the study, which consist mostly of the group from high protein or low-glycemic index category, as well as the low-protein and high-glycemic group.

548 people completed the study, and among them, only those who consumed a low-protein and high-GI diet gained a remarkable amount of weight.

Meanwhile, the researchers discovered that those people who were included in the high-protein gained one kilogram less than those who were included in the low-protein group. The same happened with the low-glycemic index versus high-glycemic index diet.

Based on the study, among the participants who had lost a minimum of eight percent body weight while on a low-calorie diet, those who followed a maintenance diet high in protein and low in refined carbs for the next six months are the least possible to regain any weight. They were also the least likely to drop out of the study.

According to Dr. David Ludwig, anyone can lessen their calorie intake and lose weight for a short span of time; however, the difficult part is to keep it off. However, he suggests for the people to try this diet at home.

Hormone-blocking therapy used by the male population to treat prostate cancer may increase their risk of developing colon cancer, according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The drug treatment is called ‘androgen deprivation therapy’ also known as ADT, which is used to suppress the production of male hormone testosterone which increases the development of prostate cancer.

ADT is commonly used to treat prostate cancer even though it has known potential effects such as diabetes and obesity. Diabetes and obesity are the two main risk factors in the development of colon cancer.

The U.S Food and Drug Administration just informed last month that hormonal treatments for prostate cancer such as Lupron and Trelstar should bear new warnings regarding their potential risks of heart problems and diabetes.

According to the researchers, studies in animals suggested that the male hormones stop the signals that cause cancer cells to grow, which in turn suppresses the development of colon cancer.

The authors say it might be possible that inhibiting the release of hormones in the body could lead to greater risk for colon cancer.

Dr. Vahakn Shahinian of the University of Michigan, along with his colleagues studied more than 100,000 older men that were diagnosed with prostate cancer between the years 1993 and 2002.

They discovered that those men who received ADT had about 30 to 40 percent greater risk of developing colon cancer during the follow-up period. However, the case is still based on an observational study, and not a proven cause and effect.

A study found that those children whose mothers consumed a lot of peanuts during pregnancy may be at greater risk to develop an allergy to the nuts. In addition, the more peanuts the mothers consumed, the greater the chances are for the children to develop it.

However, it still isn’t apparent if the mother’s consumption of peanuts can actually lead to the grave and potentially fatal allergy that seems to be on the rise, which is currently affecting about 1 percent of children.

The study was initiated by Scott Sicherer of Mount Sinai School of Medicine located at New York City, as well as a team of colleagues from five places across United States.

They studied 500 infants who likely had egg or milk allergy. However, these infants, aged between 3 and 15 months old, have no known peanut allergy, and most have not yet tried eating peanuts.

Researchers found that more than a quarter showed strong reaction in a “sensitivity test” with peanuts, and children of mothers who had eaten peanuts during pregnancy have about three times chance to show signs of the allergy.

However, the study reveals that consuming peanuts while the mother is breastfeeding did not appear to cause a significant effect on children.

Sicherer and his team explain that the children only underwent blood tests for peanut sensitivity. The test is not the same as those actually done to diagnose an allergy. The team is still continuing the study by following the children to identify what allergies may come and go.

Tests have helped confirm that the chemicals used to remove oil from the BP spill have not yet reached the fish, shrimp, crabs or oysters at the Gulf of Mexico, according to the U.S. officials on Friday.

The officials from the Food and Drug Administration, as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that the tests have been made in more than 1,700 samples and results show that lesser than 1 percent of the samples had any trace of the chemicals used, and the ones that did had very low levels.

Dr. Vicky Seyfert-Margolis, FDA’s senior adviser in the field of science and innovation informed that the second round of testing confirmed that the Gulf seafood brought in the market is safe for human consumption.

The BP spill occurred when the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig exploded on April 11. This incident killed 11 workers and spilled about 4.9 million barrels, which is equivalent to 185 million gallons of crude oil.

Sensory testing was once done by trained experts to determine the sign of chemical contamination in the seafood. The recent chemical test was done to back-up the sensory testing as informed by Dr. John Stein, NOAA’s seafood safety program director.

The chemical test looks for DOSS or Dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate, which is the main compound found in the dispersant chemical utilized to separate the spilled oil. This is also used in a variety of household products and OTC medications at extremely low levels.

The results of the test confirm the result of the sensory testing and that the seafood samples pose no threat on humans.