Take Two in the Morning
Experimental drugs—those that have not yet been cleared by the FDA's seven-year evaluation process—are currently limited to patients enrolled in controlled clinical trials. But on Dec. 11, the FDA announced that it would make "significant regulatory changes" so that these potentially life-saving drugs could become more available to seriously ill patients with no other treatment options. The agency said it hopes these changes will encourage drug companies to provide experimental drugs to patients without fear of getting sued. In the past, the FDA has allowed certain patient populations—such as those who are terminally ill—access to new drugs, but only for emergency use. The new regulatory changes would make these drugs available to larger groups of patients whose conditions aren't as severe.
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A University of Illinois-Chicago study was stopped early when preliminary results showed that medical circumcision reduced participants' risk of contracting HIV by 53 percent. The study enrolled 2,784 HIV-negative young men in Kisumu, Kenya. After two years, 22 of the circumcised men and 47 of the uncircumcised men had contracted HIV. Public health organizations have not previously supported circumcision as a strategy for preventing HIV prevention because randomized, controlled trials of its effectiveness had not been conducted. Robert Bailer, the principal investigator of the study, said that the results now show that circumcision could be a promising intervention. But he cautions that circumcision alone isn't enough. "We can't expect to just cut off a foreskin and have the guy go on his merry way without additional tools to fight against getting infected," he said.
Flora and Fauna
The three wise men, so the Christmas tale goes, gave the baby Jesus gifts of gold, myrrh, and frankincense. Now, ecologists say the over-tapping of frankincense, which comes from Boswellia trees in the Horn of Africa, is endangering the regeneration of these trees. Tapping resin from Boswellia trees, according to a study released on Dec. 12 in the Journal of Applied Ecology, causes them to divert too much carbohydrate into resin and not enough into flower, fruit, and seed production. To fix the problem, the researchers suggest fewer tapping points per tree, and rest periods between tappings. Frankincense is an important product because it's a key ingredient in many kinds of incense and perfume, and, of course, will be featured prominently in the next two weeks in thousands of Nativity plays across the world.
New Jersey may lead the flock in establishing new guidelines for the humane treatment of farm animals. Groups such as the Humane Society of the United States and Farm Sanctuary are demanding stronger enforcement of a 2004 state law that prohibits cruelty to livestock. While the law prohibits such cruelty, certain common agricultural practices, such as castrating animals without anesthetic and starving chickens to boost egg production, have continued. Animal rights groups have now filed suit, requesting that the law be tightened to forbid these practices. New Jersey is the only state requiring officials to set standards for the humane treatment of farm animals.
Wanted: Water
Beijing's population is exploding, and combined with constant droughts from the north, the city is likely to experience a water crisis by 2010, state officials reported Dec. 13. At the end of last year, the city had 15 million permanent residents and four million migrant workers; by 2010, there will be an estimated three million more. Hoards of migrant workers have recently moved to the capital city from rural areas in the hope of getting construction jobs for the 2008 Olympics. The city government hopes the central government will figure out how to geographically balance the country's growing population; if not, they say, they'll have to take "drastic measures" to reduce consumption, including water rationing and severe price increases.