TOKYO, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Japan needs to recognize more people who suffer from radiation disease caused by the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the nation's health minister said.
Minister Akira Nagatsuma called for a revision of the law governing radiation illnesses caused when the United States bombed Japan in August 1945 near the end of World War II, The Mainichi Daily News reported Friday.
"Without legal revision, further relaxation (of the standards) would be difficult," Nagatsuma told a group of people who represent radiation victims.
The law last was revised in 1981 to give more medical benefits to atomic bomb survivors, who since have argued the legislation too narrowly defines who was harmed by radiation from the bombs.
Nagatsuma made no mention of revising the healthcare allowance of about $372 a month that most atomic bomb survivors receive.
Britain apologizes to Thalidomide patients
LONDON, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- The British government's formal apology to Thalidomide victims comes 50 years too late but is important nonetheless, a Thalidomide Trust official said.
Speaking at the House of Commons Thursday, British Health Minister Mike O'Brien formally apologized to the estimated 466 Thalidomide survivors in Britain.
O'Brien expressed "sincere regret" the government did not do more to stop prescriptions of the drug for pregnant women in the 1950s and 1960s as a treatment for morning sickness and insomnia, The Times of London reported Friday. The drug was withdrawn in 1961 after thousands of babies were born deformed.
Guy Tweedy, a spokesman for the Thalidomide Trust, said the apology came 50 years too late but meant "as much in some ways as" the $32.5 million in additional support for British survivors announced last month. The money is to be administered through the trust.
In the 1970s, the drug's British manufacturer, Distillers Biochemicals, paid $45 million in compensation to survivors, which has averaged about $32,000 per person a year.
Patients notified of unneeded stents
TOWSON, Md., Jan. 15 (UPI) -- St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson, Md., may have unnecessarily implanted stents in 369 cardiology patients, hospital officials said.
The hospital's cardiology business is the subject of a federal healthcare fraud investigation, The Baltimore Sun reported Friday.
The 369 stent patients were contacted by the hospital last month, Jeffrey Norman, the hospital's chief executive officer told the Sun.
The only doctor implicated in the review, Mark Midei, has had his hospital privileges revoked. Midei told the Sun he expects to be cleared of wrongdoing.
Coronary stent placements, which can cost more than $10,000, open arteries clogged with plaque or create a bridge around damaged areas.
Typically, stents are inserted during cardiac catheterization, in which a tool is inserted into the bloodstream through a small incision in the leg and threaded up to the arteries close to the heart.
Fish have longer memories than believed
WAGGA WAGGA, Australia, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- A widely held belief that fish remember things for only three seconds is a myth, an Australian researcher said.
Despite their tiny brains, fish actually are "quite sophisticated" and can retain memories for months, said Kevin Warburton, who teaches at the Institute for Land, Water and Society at Charles Sturt University, New South Wales.
Silver perch, for example, remember a predator for several months after just one encounter, Warburton told The Daily Telegraph in a story published Friday.
"And carp that have been caught by fishers avoid hooks for at least a year," Warburton said. "That fish have only a three-second memory is just rubbish."
Fish also use memory to modify their behavior. In reefs, for example, so-called cleaner fish who glean parasites from other fish use their best behavior when they believe their are being observed by potential clients, Warburton said.
"This improves their 'image' and their chances of attracting clients," Warburton said.
very good
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