LONDON (Reuters) – British scientists plan to start tests on a novel vaccine against rheumatoid arthritis, which could suppress the effects of the joint condition using patients' own blood cells.

A team from Newcastle University will test the effectiveness of the vaccine in eight volunteers in a pilot study. If successful, there will then be larger clinical trials.

Quick harvesting of hearts raises ethics questions

BOSTON (Reuters) – Doctors who waited just 75 seconds after the final heartbeat before removing the hearts of dying newborns for transplants said on Wednesday they improved their odds of success but have also raised ethical questions about organ harvesting. The cases of two children who died between May 2004 and May 2007, and a third in which doctors waited three minutes, are detailed in a report and a series of commentaries in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Drugs, angioplasty give similar life quality: study

BOSTON (Reuters) – Using drugs alone may take longer than angioplasty or stent surgery to help restore blood flow in patients with clogged arteries but in the long run patients do just about as well, researchers reported on Wednesday. The surgery, known as PCI for percutaneous coronary intervention, may provide more short-term relief for some patients with severe or more frequent chest pain but the benefits tend to fade over the years, the international team of researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

One abortion no threat to mental health: group

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Women who have a single abortion do not have a higher risk of mental health problems such as depression than women who have their babies, the American Psychological Association reported on Wednesday. A panel appointed by the group representing psychologists found no credible evidence that having one elective abortion of an unwanted pregnancy causes mental health problems for adult women.

MS drug may work against viral infection: study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A drug that Novartis AG (NOVN.VX) is testing in people with multiple sclerosis also has the potential to treat certain viral infections, perhaps including the AIDS virus, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday. Low doses of the drug FTY720, also called fingolimod, given to mice once a day for three days eliminated an infection by a virus that can cause meningitis, an inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

More than 80 pct of Indonesia bird flu cases die

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Late diagnosis and treatment means that more than 80 percent of people infected with H5N1 avian influenza in Indonesia have died, researchers reported on Wednesday. An analysis of outbreaks in Indonesia, the country hardest hit by bird flu, affirms that quick treatment with antiviral drugs can save lives. But local health care workers are not properly trained in diagnosing bird flu and often do not have the needed drugs to treat it.

Study finds 140,000 bad reactions to antibiotics

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Bad reactions to antibiotics, mostly allergic ones, send people to U.S. emergency rooms more than 140,000 times each year, government researchers reported on Wednesday. The findings offer another reason for doctors to limit their use of the drugs, which are overused in the United States, the team at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Reflex may trigger cough in cystic fibrosis patients

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Gastroesophageal reflux (GER), potentially serious chronic heartburn, is common in patients with cystic fibrosis, but it does not appear to be brought about by coughing; in fact, it may be the other way around, Belgian investigators report in the medical journal Gut. “We belief that our results imply that, in contrast to what has been previously suggested, increased GER is not secondary to cough” in adults with cystic fibrosis,”