I visited an old friend last Tuesday, I had a great time talking and catching up but that wasn't the one that i really can't forget, it was my friend's niece.
She was just around 2 years old. I called her but she didn't react or respond.
Then i found out that she was deaf.
My friend told me that it was Congenital deafness. And she is planning to send her to speech classes the moment the kid started schooling.
I was really concern because this is the first time i saw somebody that is deaf at a very young age.
So the moment i arrived i started my research about different type of deafness, and here's what i found.
Congenital deafness is one type of deafness that started from the moment you were born. It's like you already show hearing defects since you were young.
People don't usually react to different sounds that surround them.
You will know if a child has these kind of hearing defects if he's old enough to talk but still doesn't talk.
They should be wearing hearing aids and should undergo some speech training. Congenital deafness usually started from mothers who has German Measles.
Conductive deafness is a hearing loss that is cause by a defect of the external canal and the middle ear.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Congenital and conductive deafnes
Monday, December 1, 2008
Fate And Effects Of The Drug Tamiflu In The Environment
The research council FORMAS in Sweden has granted 574 000 euro to a new research project that will study the environmental fate and effects of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu on the development on influenza resistance.
Tamiflu is being stockpiled all over the world for use in fighting the next influenza pandemic. However, there are growing signs that influenza viruses may develop resistance to this vital pharmaceutical, because it is routinely prescribed for seasonal influenza.
- This research project is interdisciplinary and will combine studies on the environmental fate of the drug with in vivo studies of the development of Tamiflu resistant viruses say the project leader Björn Olsen at the Department of Medical Sciences Uppsala University.
This research project presents an innovative approach to studying the development of Tamiflu resistance in influenza viruses caused by environmental contamination which is a potential threat to one of our few defences against a future influenza pandemic.
Scientists from Uppsala University, Umeå University and Karolinska Institute will investigate the potential problem from an environmental chemical, virological and infectious diseases aspect.
A wide range of topics will be addressed; studies of the degradation of Tamiflu in sewage treatment plants will be combined with screening of the environmental levels in surface water in Japan. Japan is one of the world's top-per-capita consumers of Tamiflu and it has been estimated that approximately 40% of those that are infected by influenza viruses are treated with Tamiflu. This makes Japan one of the "Hot Spots" in the world and the research project has established collaboration with scientists at Kyoto University and several field sampling campaigns in Japan has been scheduled. Detected environmental levels will then be used in an in vivo Mallard infection model for detailed studies on the development of Tamiflu resistance in low pathogenic avian viruses. This will be combined with a screening study of the occurrence of resistant viruses in faecal samples from wild ducks in the vicinity of Japanese sewage treatment plants.
UPPSALA UNIVERSITET
P.O. Box 256
SE-751 05 Uppsala
http://www.uu.se
