| Gray's medical work called world-changing
LIVERPOOL, England, Jan. 26 British anesthesiologist Thomas Cecil Gray, who left behind the legacy of his revolutionary "Liverpool Technique," has died at age 94.
Gray died Jan. 21 at his home, the Liverpool Echo reported.
Gray's innovative use of a muscle relaxer acquired from the South American poison curare drastically changed the world's anesthesiology practices, The Independent reported Saturday.
Gray proved the increased dosage of such muscle relaxers to patients in surgery would prevent anesthetists from having to use large amounts of potentially dangerous deep-sleep aids.
Patients reportedly were able to regain consciousness more quickly and comfortably with Gray's revolutionary "Liverpool Technique." It took more than 10 years of research before most anesthetists began to accept the controversial new method.
FDA warns about buying prescription meds on Web
Federal health officials say some Internet shoppers who thought they'd bought drugs such as sleep aids and antidepressants were instead shipped a powerful anti-psychotic. In some cases, the unwitting consumers wound up in emergency rooms. The Food and Drug Administration says a preliminary analysis indicates a number of people took a schizophrenia drug called haloperidol. Investigators say the pills were packaged in plain plastic bags and mailed in envelopes that had Greek postmarks. However, the buyers thought they'd gotten other pills, such as Ambien, a sleep aid, or Xanax, an anti-anxiety medication. The FDA says it has reports of several consumers seeking emergency treatment for symptoms such as breathing difficulties, muscle spasms and stiffness.
Aids leaves Africa's grannies to raise children
Skinny and gap-toothed, her nose smudged with black dust, grandmother Kanotu Mumo sorts charcoal into small pots for sale on the stoop of her slum hut. Mumo is an "Aids granny" in Kibera, Nairobi, one of Africa's biggest slums. Like grandmothers all over Africa, they have been left to fend for orphans after their own children and husbands died. Her hut, stacked with sacks of charcoal, measures 3m by 2,5m and it is too dark inside to see more than a few centimetres, even in the middle of the day. Somehow she shelters four grandchildren, two great grandchildren and the child of a dead relative, who sleep on mattresses and two beds. There is no toilet or running water. According to United Nations figures, at least 12-million children in Africa have lost one or both parents because of Aids. This accounts for 80% of all Aids orphans in the developing world.
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