Survey: Many sexually abused as children
PASADENA, Calif., June 22 (UPI) -- A U.S. survey of 17,337 members of Kaiser Permanent HMO health plan concludes 25 percent of women and 16 percent of men were sexually abused as children.
The survey was done with the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
Sexually abused children are 40 to 50 percent more likely to report marriage problems when they become adults and are 40 percent more likely to marry an alcoholic, the study said.
"Childhood sexual abuse occurs on a worldwide basis, and although most studies on the long-term consequences of CSA have focused on women, sexual abuse of both boys and girls is prevalent," said Dr. Vincent Felitti with the Kaiser Permanente, San Diego Medical Center.
"An interesting finding of the article is that a significant number of boys were molested by women. All of this is unfortunately well concealed by time, shame, secrecy, and a social taboo against discussing these matters that have such important long-term consequences for health and well-being."
The study is published in the June American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Common virus found to kill cancer cells
HERSHEY, Pa., June 22 (UPI) -- A common, harmless virus has been found to kill cancerous cells affecting the cervix, breast and prostate within days, Penn State University researchers say.
"Our results suggest that adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV2), which infects the majority of the population but has no known ill effects, kills multiple types of cancer cells yet has no effect on healthy cells," said Dr. Craig Meyers, professor of microbiology and immunology at the Penn State College of Medicine. "We believe that AAV2 recognizes that the cancer cells are abnormal and destroys them."
Though similar in design and effectiveness to some gene therapies, Meyers and his team did not modify the AAV2, but left it in its natural form, and therefore, it would not be classified as a gene therapy.
The study was presented this week at the 24th annual meeting of the American Society for Virology at Penn State.
AMA says country faces doctor shortage
CHICAGO, June 22 (UPI) -- The American Medical Association says the United States faces a doctor shortage as the number of patients rises and the medical student population doesn't.
The association, meeting at its annual convention in Chicago, says the shortage is forcing overbooked hospitals to turn away patients, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Wednesday. The shortage is compounded by the unwillingness of many younger doctors to work long hours.
The number of medical students has remained roughly constant for 20 years, while many current doctors are nearing retirement age. At the same time, the aging baby boomers are requiring more care, the AMA said.
Specialties that are experiencing shortages include critical care, dermatology, radiology, endocrinology, allergy and immunology, psychiatry, cardiology and geriatrics.
The Council on Graduate Medical Education, which predicts a shortage of about 90,000 doctors by 2020, has proposed a 15 percent increase in medical school enrollment. A recent survey found 31 percent of medical schools plan to boost enrollment.
Russian rocket crashes after takeoff
MOSCOW, June 22 (UPI) -- A rocket carrying a Russian military satellite has crashed, Roskosmos, the Russian space agency, reported.
The Molniya rocket carrying the Molniya 3-K military communications satellite crashed Tuesday near the Uvat village in Russia's Tyumen region early Tuesday, Anatoly Perminov, head of Roskosmos told journalists in Moscow. The rocket crashed about five minutes after it was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia, he said.
Perminov gave the cause of the crash as either the failure of the third stage propulsion system or the failure to execute the command to separate. The crash, he said, did not do much damage to anything on the ground.
Roskosmos and the Russian Space Troops, the country's military space agency, have set up a commission of inquiry into the incident, Perminov said.
The military prosecution has started a criminal case in connection with the crash, according to the Russian Interfax news agency.
Researchers look for bedsore causes
NEW YORK, June 22 (UPI) -- People who get bedsores have cells that get stuck in the middle of the healing process and New York researchers said they will pursue why that happens.
Bedsores, also known as pressure sores or pressure ulcers, affect an estimated 5 to 10 percent of people who are hospitalized in the United States.
The problem is worse for nursing home patients, 13 percent of which suffer bedsores, and spinal-cord injury victims, where an estimated 39 percent have pressure ulcers.
Researchers from New York and Columbia universities studied human tissue taken from chronic wounds and found they had too much of molecule c-myc, which suppresses cell migration to the edge of a wound and impedes healing.
That is caused by overproduction of cell-behavior regulator beta-catenin, the researchers said of their study reported in the American Journal of Pathology.
Investigators said their next step will attempt to determine why that happens.
