TiG Rants

Novel Intestinal E. Coli Linked to Crohn's Disease

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Aug 21 -- A selective increase in a novel type of invasive Escherichia coli relative to depletion of Clostridial species appears to be involved in the etiology of Crohn's disease, according to a report in the July 12th issue of the ISME Journal: Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology.

In the study, Dr. Kenneth W. Simpson, from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and colleagues used DNA analysis to compare the ileal microbial flora of patients with ileum-involved or colon-only Crohn's disease and of healthy subjects.

Compared with the other groups, the ileum-involved Crohn's group showed an increase in E. coli species and decrease in Clostridiales. Moreover, the severity of the ileitis was directly related to the number of E. coli present. Lastly, only invasive species of E. coli were found in inflamed mucosa.

Further analysis showed that the invasive E. coli exhibited novel phylogeny with characteristics similar to that of extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli and Enterobacteriaceae.

"Our findings raise the possibility that a novel group of E. coli contains opportunistic pathogens that may be causally related to chronic intestinal inflammation in susceptible individuals," Dr. Simpson said in a statement. "They suggest that an integrated approach that considers an individual's mucosa-associated flora in addition to disease phenotype and genotype may improve outcome."

Date Posted: August 22, 2007

“With No Immediate Cause”, Ntozake Shange

every 3 minutes a woman is beaten
every five minutes a
woman is raped/every ten minutes
a lil girl is molested
yet i rode the subway today
i sat next to an old man who
may have beaten his old wife
3 minutes ago or 3 days/30 years ago
he might have sodomized his
daughter but i sat there
cuz the young men on the train
might beat some young women
later in the day or tomorrow
i might not shut my door fast
every 3 minutes it happens
some woman’s innocence
rushes to her cheeks/pours from her mouth
like the betsy wetsy dolls have been torn
apart/their mouths
menses red & split/every
three minutes a shoulder
is jammed through plaster and the oven door/
chairs push thru the rib cage/hot water or
boiling sperm decorate her body
i rode the subway today
& bought a paper from a
man who might
have held his old lady onto
a hot pressing iron/i don’t know
maybe he catches lil girls in the
park & rips open their behinds
with steel rods/i can’t decide
what he might have done i only
know every 3 minutes
every 5 minutes every 10 minutes/so
i bought the paper
looking for the announcement
the discovery/of the dismembered
woman’s body/the
victims have not all been
identified/today they are
naked and dead/refuse to
testify/one girl out of 10’s not
coherent/i took the coffee
& spit it up/i found an
announcement/not the woman’s
bloated body in the river/floating
not the child bleeding in the
59th street corridor/not the baby
broken on the floor/
there is some concern
that alleged battered women
might start to murder their
husbands & lovers with no
immediate cause”

i spit up i vomit i am screaming
we all have immediate cause
every 3 minutes
every 5 minutes
every 10 minutes
every day
women’s bodies are found
in alleys & bedrooms/at the top of the stairs
before i ride the subway/buy a paper/drink
coffee/i must know/
have you hurt a woman today
did you beat a woman today
throw a child across a room
are the lil girl’s panties
in yr pocket

did you hurt a woman today
i have to ask these obscene questions
the authorities require me to
establish
immediate cause
every three minutes
every five minutes
every ten minutes
every day.

ABO and Rh distribution by nation

ABO and Rh blood type distribution by nation (averages for each population)

Population	O+	A+	B+	AB+	O−	A−	B−	AB−
Australia[11]	40%	31%	8%	2%	9%	7%	2%	1%
Belgium[12]	38%	34%	8.5%	4.1%	7%	6%	1.5%	0.8%
Canada[13]	39%	36%	7.6%	2.5%	7%	6%	1.4%	0.5%
Denmark[14]	35%	37%	8%	4%	6%	7%	2%	1%
Finland[15]	27%	38%	15%	7%	4%	6%	2%	1%
France[16]	36%	37%	9%	3%	6%	7%	1%	1%
Hong Kong, China[17]	40%	26%	27%	7%	<0.3%	<0.3%	<0.3%	<0.3%
Korea, South[18]	27.4%	34.4%	26.8%	11.2%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.05%
Netherlands[19]	39.5%	35%	6.7%	2.5%	7.5%	7%	1.3%	0.5%
Poland[20]	31%	32%	15%	7%	6%	6%	2%	1%
Sweden[21]	32%	37%	10%	5%	6%	7%	2%	1%
UK[22]	37%	35%	8%	3%	7%	7%	2%	1%
USA[23]	38%	34%	9%	3%	7%	6%	2%	1%

Novartis says patents help innovation

An Indian court has thwarted efforts by Swiss pharmaceuticals firm Novartis to obtain a new patent for a variation of the same drug.

The firm's bid to patent anti-cancer drugs Glivec was rejected because it is a new form of an existing substance.

Novartis said the decision by a Chennai court was "unconstitutional" and broke international laws. But it also said it was unlikely to make an appeal.

India fears that too many patents may threaten availability of cheap drugs.

The country India has developed a range of generic drugs, affordable by the country's poor. If Novartis were to patent more drugs there are fears by advocacy groups that poorer people would not have access to such drugs, and would be priced out of the market.