In a study of non-human primates infected with the influenza virus that killed 50 million people in 1918, an international team of scientists has found a critical clue to how the virus killed so quickly and efficiently.Writing this week (Jan. [click link for full article]

Previously married mothers had higher rates of depressive disorders and alcohol abuse compared to married or never-married mothers, according to a new study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). The study, which highlights differing rates of psychiatric and substance use disorders between single and married mothers over a 12-month period, fills an important information gap in our understanding of the relationship between family structure and psychiatric outcomes. [click link for full article]

British women’s binge drinking is clearly defined by their age and education, suggests a large, long term study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.Educated women binge drink in their 20s, but curb their habits by their 40s. But the reverse is true of women with little education, whose binge drinking is more likely to take off in their 40s, shows the research. [click link for full article]

Enforced redundancies, also known as “downsizing,” boost mental health problems among those who keep their jobs, reveals research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.The researchers base their findings on prescriptions among more than 26,500 municipal workers in Finland between 1994 and 2000, after a period of redundancies, sparked by a national recession. Information was gleaned from national registers. [click link for full article]

What:Veterans with diabetes comprise over half of all hospitalizations for lower-extremity ulceration, and two-thirds of all hospitalizations for amputation. In fact, diabetes affects nearly one in five veterans who receive care in the VA healthcare system. The VA is taking steps to improve the functional outcome of these amputee patients by empowering their caregivers with the knowledge of advanced bionic prosthetic technologies and gait training. [click link for full article]

Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) has welcomed the results of an independent study demonstrating that Boston Scientific’s TAXUS(TM) paclitaxel-eluting stent (PES) exhibited a lower re-intervention rate and equal or lower instances of death or heart attack than the Cypher(TM) sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) and bare-metal stents (BMS). The results of the study were published in the January 1 edition of the European Heart Journal. [click link for full article]

People born with a hole between the two smaller chambers of the heart - known as atrial septal defect - or with other heart and circulatory conditions, accounted for a third of the 139,100 hospital admissions for birth defects in 2004, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.Digestive problems such as pyloric stenosis, a narrowing of the stomach that causes vomiting, were the second-leading category of birth defects. [click link for full article]

In 2006, 180 countries around the world contributed a total of $360 million to the regular resources of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. This was the highest number of donor nations and the largest amount of contributions to UNFPA since the organization began its operations in 1969.”We are very thankful for the continuous and growing support from nearly all United Nations Member States,” said UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid. [click link for full article]

Narcotic drugs (opioids) are commonly prescribed for short-term relief of chronic back pain, but their effectiveness long-term has been questioned in a review article by researchers at Yale School of Medicine, who also found that behaviors consistent with opioid abuse was reported in 24 percent of cases. [click link for full article]

On Thursday, during the Winter 2007 Meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA) in New York, the organization’s Board of Directors approved a position statement strongly condemning the use of torture. APsaA and in doing so, joins with other mental health and medical professional organizations in their stance on this issue. [click link for full article]