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Global Fund-Financed Programs Reaching More People, Report Shows
The most recent statistics on programs funded in 140 countries through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria released Wednesday reveal "[m]ore than 2 million people living with HIV have been reached with life-saving treatment," the UN News Centre reports (7/8).

Molecule Helps Breast Cancer Cells To Survive In The Bone Marrow
Patients who survive an initial diagnosis of breast cancer often succumb to the disease years later when the cancer shows up in a different part of the body. Now, scientists have identified key signals that support the long term survival of breast cancer cells after they have spread to the bone marrow. The research, published by Cell Press in the July issue of the journal Cancer Cell, may lead to development of treatment strategies that decrease the likelihood of breast cancer recurrence in the bone and other organs.
News of the day
Do Viruses Make Bacteria More Deadly? - Research Examines ' Superbug' C. Difficile
Research at the University of Leicester is focussing on a major killer in UK hospitals. In England and Wales, the national health statistics in 2007 showed that there were 8,324 death certificates which named Clostridium difficile. This is a bacterium which causes severe diarrhoea in humans and animals as the underlying cause of death, a 28% increase from 2006.
Nutrition

The Publics' Ignorance Of Anatomy Revealed By Study

A study of patients and members of the public has shown that most lack even basic knowledge of human anatomy. The research, featured in the open access journal BMC Family Practice, found that people were generally incapable of identifying the location of major organs, even if they were currently receiving relevant treatment. John Weinman led a team of researchers from King"s College London who aimed to update a similar survey carried out almost forty years ago. He said, "We thought that the improvements in education seen since then, coupled with an increased media focus on medical and health related topics, and growing access to the internet as a of medical information, might have led to an increase in patients" anatomical knowledge. As it turns out, there has been no significant improvement in the intervening years". The 722 people who took part in the study were shown pictures of the human body (male or female) with certain areas shaded out and were asked which of the shaded areas was the location of a given organ. Although 85.9% of people could identify the location of the intestines and 80.7% knew where the bladder could be found, only 46.5% of people correctly identified the heart and 68.6% misidentified the position of the lungs. Overall, approximately half of the answers were correct. There was no significant difference between men and women, although women did perform better when a female body image was used. The researchers are concerned about the potential problems these findings reveal in doctor-patient communication, with possible adverse effects on diagnosis and treatment outcomes. According to Weinman, "Recent evidence has shown that when doctors" and patients" vocabulary are matched, significant gains are found in patients" overall satisfaction with the consultation as well as rapport, communication comfort and compliance intent". Notes: How accurate is patients" anatomical knowledge : a cross-sectional, questionnaire study of six patient groups and a general public sample. John Weinman, Gibran Yusuf, Robert Berks, Sam Rayner and Keith J Petrie BMC Family Practice (in press) Graeme Baldwin BioMed Central


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