China develops herbal medication to treat A/H1N1 flu

BEIJING: Chinese medical specialists announced Thursday they had developed a Chinese herbal medication to treat the A/H1N1 flu.

Seven months of scientific and clinical studies showed the remedy, called "Jin Hua Qing Gan Fang," was effective in treating A/H1N1 flu patients, said Wang Chen, president of Beijing's Chaoyang Hospital.

"It can shorten patients' fever period and improve their respiratory systems. Doctors have found no negative effects on patients who were treated in this way," he said.

"It is also very cheap, only about a quarter of the cost of Tamiflu," he said at a press conference held by the Beijing Municipal Government.

China develops herbal medication to treat A/H1N1 flu

A worker in the herbal medicine department of the Beijing University Hospital of Chinese Medicine, weighs and then mixes herbs for packaging December 17, 2009.[Agencies]

Tamiflu, a product of Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding, was recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the treatment of the A/H1N1 flu.

"The municipal government has gathered the most outstanding medical experts in the Chinese capital to develop the new medication," Zhao Jing, director of the Beijing Municipal Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said at the press conference.

Over the past seven months, more than 120 medical specialists, led by academicians Wang Yongyan and Li Lianda from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, had participated in the research, she said.

The municipal government earmarked 10 million yuan (US$1.47 million) for the project, she said.

"Medical experts proved the effectiveness of Jin Hua in treating A/H1N1 flu from both the basic scientific studies and clinical studies," she said.

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The basic scientific studies lasted for almost five months and were conducted by experts from the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Beijing University of Technology.

"In vivo and in vitro, experiments on mice and rabbits show Jin Hua can bring down a fever and resist the A/H1N1 flu virus," said Huang Luqi, vice president of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences.

Thursday's Beijing Daily hailed the new herbal medication as the "world's first traditional Chinese medicine to treat the A/H1N1 flu".

Citing medical officials, the paper said "Jin Hua" was picked from among more than 100 classic anti-flu prescriptions based on traditional Chinese herbal medicine.

"Science workers proved its effectiveness through medical experiments on more than 4,000 mice and clinical studies on 410 patients with slight A/H1N1 flu syndrome," it said.

The "Jin Hua" prescription had been adopted in many local traditional Chinese medicine hospitals, it said.

Zhao Jing said 11 hospitals nationwide, including Chaoyang Hospital and Ditan Hospital in Beijing, had conducted clinical studies on "Jin Hua" and gave positive assessments.

"We are applying for patents for 'Jin Hua' both at home and abroad," she said.

"We are further developing the medicine and trying to present it to the whole country and world as soon as possible, thus offering an alternative to treat the A/H1N1 flu," she said.

The Chinese mainland has reported almost 108,000 A/H1N1 flu cases, including 442 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

China develops herbal medication to treat A/H1N1 flu

Packets and vials of a Chinese herbal medicine claiming to alleviate the symptoms of H1N1 influenza, also known as swine flu, can be seen on display at the official launch in Beijing December 17, 2009.[Agencies]



Dr. Cris Tunon, senior program management officer at the WHO Representative Office in China, said Thursday the "WHO welcomes the clinical results," as the traditional Chinese medicine offered a low-cost treatment of A/H1N1 flu.

Catch me if you can - escaper's taunt to police

An Auckland Prison inmate left police a note on a concrete slab before cutting his way through a steel perimeter fence to freedom, taunting them to "catch me if u can".

Kevin Polwart's cartoon rabbit, accompanied by the words, was aimed at investigators, who last night had been unable to find the 49-year-old who broke out on Wednesday.

Detective Senior Sergeant Kim Libby of North Shore police said Polwart was displaying arrogance and confidence, and his amateurish artwork was "a provocative action to taunt police".

Polwart was serving a 16-year term for armed robbery, and news of his escape has prompted one security company he had previously robbed to raise its alert levels.

He committed an armed robbery of a security van in 1999, stealing $600,000.

He was jailed for 10 years for this offence, but escaped in 2001 for 41 days, during which time he held up an Armourguard van in Auckland.

Armourguard general manager Ian Anderson said yesterday the company had quickly set up additional security measures after Polwart's escape.

The safety and protection of staff were paramount, he said.

Polwart was sentenced to a further six years after his 2001 recapture, and was 14 months from parole when he escaped this week.

Police are trying to track him down through his family and associates.

They believe Polwart, who is Maori, is no longer in the area around the prison at Paremoremo.

Mr Libby said it was likely he had help once he escaped and could have been picked up by a car.

He said police believed Polwart would soon start to feel the pressure of being on the run and would seek help from others such as family and associates to avoid capture.

Initially, 20 officers, supported by dogs and a police helicopter, were involved in the search. About 10 officers are now working on it.

The prison is in a rural area and there are no bus services.

A jacket was found near the prison, but nothing else.

Mr Libby said that although Polwart had "quite a grand mo" when he escaped, he might have shaved it off to change his appearance.

And it was possible he could now be armed.

"We are prepared for that," Mr Libby said. "We won't be putting the public and ourselves in any danger."

Polwart cut through a steel fence around a concrete yard in which he was working, using an angle grinder with which he had been working on concrete panels.

Best Man Rigs Newlyweds' Bed To Tweet During Sex. Not Kidding.

MG Siegler
TechCrunch.com
Saturday, December 12, 2009; 6:54 PM

When a man in the UK was asked to be the best man at his friend's wedding, he was touched. So touched, that he promised not to pull any pranks before or during the wedding. After the wedding though, that's another story.

This man, who is choosing to stay anonymous, has set up this Twitter account for the sole purpose of automatically tweeting when the newlyweds are having sex. I'm not kidding. Read the entire tweet stream from the bottom up if you want the full story. But basically, this guy was watching his friend's house while they went on their honeymoon and he placed a device under their mattress. This device, which is similar to the one found here, is a pressure-sensitive pad that tweets out when sexual activity starts, when it ends, the force of the "action," and a "frenzy" rating.

December 9 saw the first such action. This is the first report:

They?re on the job! #1 ¿ Action commenced at 12.21GMT. Weight: 84KG.

And then it was over ? 3 minutes later:
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They?re off the job! #1 ? Action concluded at 12.24GMT. Duration: 3 m.15 s. Frenzy Index: 8 (scary). Judge?s Comment: "Is that it?"

But alas, that was just a test of the guy jumping on the bed to make sure it would work. It did. So the real first action is as follows:

They?re on the job! #2 ¿ Action commenced at 15.50GMT. Weight: 151KG.

22 minutes later:

They?re off the job! #2 ? Action concluded at 16.12GMT. Duration: 22 m.05 s. Frenzy Index: 4 (easy listening). Judge?s Comment: "Good work!"

Before everyone goes crazy over this, remember that all of this is being done anonymously. Neither the friend nor the couple are known. In fact, who knows if this is even real, and who cares, it's hilarious. Still, the man claims he will let his friend in on the fun soon. "What you will NEVER know is who they are. Or who I am.I figure I?ll tell my mate in due course that he?s had an audience.So spread the word!," writes the anonymous man. Consider it spread.

So why's he doing this? "BTW ¿ he stitched me up something rotten when he was my best man so I reckon this is reasonable payback ," he tweets.

Oh Twitter, the joys never end. What will they think of next?

Girl defies ban on driving to save many lives

JEDDAH: A teenage girl defied a Saudi ban on women drivers to save her father and brother from the Nov. 25 floods. Malak Al-Mutairy took some rope and drove her father’s GMC to the low-lying Qous Valley where water had nearly submerged the car her family was standing on top of.

She parked her car at an elevated position on the road and waded into the water as far as she could before throwing the rope to her brother, Al-Madinah newspaper reported.

The brother tied the rope on the car and then Malak slowly towed the vehicle out of the water. When her brother fell into the water she returned to help him. Her father Fawaz Al-Mutairy, and brother Faiz were overwhelmed by the floods on their way to buy sacrificial animals for Eid Al-Adha.

There were other submerged cars with people inside them crying for help. Despite her father’s pleas not to return, Malak managed to tow eight more cars with dozens of people inside to safety.

“I had to brave the terrifying floods and rain to rescue my father because no one responded to his call for help,” said Malak.

“My father had taught me how to drive cars when we went on picnics to deserts. I am sorry that I could not help more people because by the time I towed eight cars the water was too high.”

Al-Mutairy was proud that his daughter had saved many people.

“My daughter has a strong personality. Nothing, even floods, deters her when she is determined to do something. No ordinary girl would have accomplished what she did in such weather,” he said.

However, the family was forced to live in a tent after their hilltop house in Hazarat district was damaged. When they did not receive any aid,

Al-Mutairy was forced to ask for shelter from the Civil Defense, he said. He added that his wife was still in shock.Hind Al-Doussary, a woman rescued by Malak, said her driver could not do anything to save her and her children. She said if it was not for Malak all of them would have drowned.