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Study Indicates 50% Survival Rate in Mice After Fatal Radiation Exposure
Index:
Study - 50% Survival Rate in Mice After Fatal Radiation Exposure
Japan to join treaty on nuclear waste
Iowa Senators Bash Army's Cleanup Delay
U.N. Finds Uranium at Iran Nuclear Plant
==========================================
Study Indicates 50% Survival Rate in Mice After Fatal Radiation
Exposure
ImmuneRegen BioSciences and Department of Defense Study Provides
Further Evidence that Homspera May Increase Survival Rate of
Radiation Exposure
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Aug. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GPN Network,
Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: GPNW) today announced that its wholly owned
subsidiary, ImmuneRegen BioSciences, Inc., a research and development
biotechnology company, has completed its recent radiation-based
research. The results indicated a 50 percent survival rate of
treated mice, which ImmuneRegen believes is attributable to its
Homspera Treatment. The recent study, which was done in
collaboration with the Department of Defense (DoD), was designed to
study the effects of the company's proprietary substance, Homspera,
on mice after exposure to fatal doses of radiation.
The study, conducted at the University of Arizona by Dr. Mark Witten,
PhD, co-founder and acting head researcher of ImmuneRegen
BioSciences, Inc., was performed on 16 mice, four of which were
controls. Each mouse was given a single, fatal dose of radiation,
then all non-control mice received an aerosol dose of Homspera, a
proprietary manufactured form of the naturally occurring
immunomodulator Substance P, for 35 days. After 35 days of
treatment, six of the original twelve mice survived the lethal
radiation dose and currently do not appear to show any adverse signs
or side effects from the injury or the treatment.
This study was based on a similar previous study with a smaller
sample group. The results of that study indicated a 25 percent
survival rate for those mice treated with Homspera which ImmuneRegen
believes is attributable to its Homspera Treatment. Based on the
success of these studies, the company plans to continue with its
research and move to larger animal groups, such as monkeys.
"We have been researching the effects of Homspera on radiation
exposure for some time," states Michael K. Wilhelm, CEO of
ImmuneRegen BioSciences, Inc. "This latest research study and its
corresponding results show great potential for Homspera in our future
treatment for radiation exposure."
-------------------
Japan to join treaty on nuclear waste
TOKYO, Aug. 26 (Kyodo) - The Japanese government decided Tuesday to
join Nov. 24 a treaty intended to ensure the safety of nuclear waste
management, government officials said.
The Diet has already approved the Joint Convention on the Safety of
Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste
Management.
The treaty, which went into effect in June 2001 with the membership
of 25 countries, had 31 members as of Aug. 5.
In line with the treaty, Japan will soon submit a report to the
International Atomic Energy Agency on the amount of used spent
nuclear fuel and radioactive waste and the facilities used to contain
it.
--------------------
Iowa Senators Bash Army's Cleanup Delay
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - Sens. Tom Harkin and Charles Grassley are
urging the Army to press ahead with its cleanup of dangerous
contaminants at an ammunition plant in southeastern Iowa.
In a letter Monday to acting Army Secretary Les Brownlee, Harkin
criticized the Army for delaying the removal of chemical and
radioactive materials at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in
Middletown.
``The workers at IAAP and their families devoted their lives to our
national security. It is past time that we devote ourselves to their
safety,'' Harkin, a Democrat, wrote.
Grassley, a Republican, said while he understands the need to adjust
the cleanup schedule, significant delays are unacceptable.
``Iowans need to know that this won't continue to drag on with no end
in sight,'' Grassley said.
>From the 1940s to 1970s, the 19,000-acre plant was one of several
nationwide that assembled and tested nuclear weapons. It continues to
make missiles and other ordnance for the Army.
After explosives residue, spent uranium and other hazardous materials
were found, the Environmental Protection Agency designated a portion
of the site as a Superfund site.
The Army, with assistance and oversight from the EPA, is responsible
for developing and carrying out the cleanup that was initially slated
for completion in 2014.
Tensions between the two agencies have increased amid negotiations
over the latest cleanup plans, which suggest pushing back deadlines.
Army correspondence to the EPA states: ``Dates for most documents and
fieldwork will be extended many years,'' according to Harkin's
letter.
The EPA and the Iowa senators are pushing for a faster timeline.
Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith did not respond to Harkin's letter,
citing a department policy not to comment on correspondence between
senior Army officials and members of Congress.
Harkin complained that a new Army request for additional study on
chemicals contaminating ground water outside plant boundaries is
unfair to nearby property owners. Several residents have been forced
to give up using water from their wells.
---------------------
U.N. Finds Uranium at Iran Nuclear Plant
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - U.N. inspectors found traces of highly
enriched, weapons-grade uranium at an Iranian nuclear facility, a
report by the U.N. nuclear agency says. Iran said Tuesday the traces
came with equipment purchased abroad decades ago.
The find heightened concerns that Tehran may be running a secret
nuclear weapons program.
Agency inspectors found ``particles'' of highly enriched uranium that
could be used in a weapons program at the facility at Natanz, said
the report prepared for a meeting of the U.N. agency's board Sept. 8
in Vienna. Contents of the report were made known to The Associated
Press by diplomats who requested anonymity.
The United States has accused Iran of developing a clandestine
nuclear weapons program, violating the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty barring the spread of atomic weapons.
Iran has denied the allegations, insisting its programs are devoted
only to generating electricity.
Ali-Akbar Salehi, Tehran's ambassador to the IAEA, said the equipment
was ``contaminated'' with enriched uranium before it was purchased by
Iran.
Salehi told AP the equipment in question was ``brought many years ago
from intermediaries'' and so it was impossible to name the countries
of origin.
Separately, Salehi also said Iran was ready to negotiate an IAEA
request that it sign an additional agreement throwing open its
nuclear programs to more intrusive inspections.
Salehi said the offer, made Monday, indicates ``for the first time
... that the government of Iran is ready to enter negotiations into
the additional protocol.''
He said talks would likely begin after two IAEA meetings next month;
one on Sept. 8 by the agency's board of governors on the Iran report
and another the week after when the full IAEA assembly convenes.
IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky called Iran's overture ``a positive
step.''
Suspicion about Iran's nuclear program prompted Mohamed ElBaradei,
the director-general of the Vienna-based IAEA, to tour Iran's nuclear
facilities in February. The visit was intended to ensure that Iran's
nuclear program was limited to peaceful, civilian purposes and that
the facilities were safe.
ElBaradei's tour included a visit to the incomplete nuclear plant in
Natanz, about 320 miles south of Tehran. At the time, diplomats said
he was taken aback by the advanced stage of a project using hundreds
of centrifuges to enrich uranium.
ElBaradei, in advance comments to be published Thursday by the German
news magazine Stern, said the traces were found on the centrifuges at
Natanz, adding ``This worries us greatly.''
Salehi, Iran's chief IAEA delegate, said the centrifuges in question
were being used only to produce low enriched uranium used as fuel for
power plants.
Gwozdecky said the agency's inspectors had visited Iran five times
since June.
``In particular, we have visited a number of new sites, have the
results of previously taken environmental samples and taken many more
new samples, and are in receipt of much new information from the
Iranian authorities,'' he said.
Analyzing the new material would take ``weeks or months,'' he added.
In July, ElBaradei pressed Iran for ``substantial progress without
delay'' in clarifying aspects of its nuclear program and in signing
an agreement that would let U.N. inspectors conduct in-depth and
comprehensive checks of Tehran's nuclear facilities.
At that time, he denied reports that agency inspectors found enriched
uranium in samples taken recently in Iran, calling it ``pure
speculation at this stage.''
Iran is building, with Russian help, its first nuclear reactor at
Bushehr, on the shore of the Persian Gulf. It has a capacity of 1,000
megawatts and should be completed next year.
Iran's second nuclear reactor will have a capacity of 1,000 megawatts
and the government is beginning feasibility studies for a 5,000
megawatt reactor, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported
this month.
On the Net:
IAEA, www.iaea.org/worldatom
-----------------
Childhood cancer survival comes at cost - US study
By Maggie Fox
WASHINGTON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Most U.S. children diagnosed with
cancer now survive, but life comes at a price -- later cancers, heart
disease and learning disorders, according to a report issued on
Tuesday.
Parents, doctors and the cancer survivors themselves need a clear set
of guidelines so they know what to look for as the years pass, an
expert committee at the Institute of Medicine said in the report.
"Success in treating disease has been tempered by the knowledge that
the cure has often came at a price, which may not be manifest until
many years after completion of therapy," the report reads.
"As many as two-thirds of childhood cancer survivors are likely to
experience at least one late effect, with perhaps one-fourth of
survivors experiencing a late effect that is severe or life
threatening."
The Institute of Medicine, one of the National Academies of Sciences,
advises the federal government on matters of health and medicine.
"What happens is for several reasons kids are not followed properly
in many cases after they complete their therapy," Dr. Joseph Simone,
a retired pediatric oncologist who chaired the panel, said in a
telephone interview.
"Once the chance of recurrence has dissipated, perhaps the family
doesn't want to go back to an environment that has bad memories,
children get to be adolescents and say 'I don't want to go back to
that children's place', families move ... so there is no structure
naturally for them to go to," added Simone.
"And we can't expect primary care doctors to take on this
responsibility without some form of guideline, really some form of
road map to follow."
The panel called on the National Cancer Institute to put together the
guidelines so they could be widely available.
RISKS DEPEND ON THE CURE
They could be long and complex, because a patient's health risks
depend on what kind of cancer they had as children and what treatment
they got.
For instance, leukemia survivors risk learning disabilities, heart
problems, hepatitis C from blood transfusions, obesity and
osteoporosis.
Brain cancer survivors need to be watched for learning disabilities
or other neurologic effects, hearing loss, kidney damage, infertility
and vision problems.
"We have to consider cancer in children, the ones who survive, a
chronic disease now," Simone said.
As of 1997, there were 270,000 survivors of childhood cancer of all
ages in the United States.
"This translates to about 1 in 640 adults between ages 20 to 39
years," the report reads.
Pediatric cancer once was a death sentence but treatment methods have
brought the overall survival rate up to 78 percent. An estimated
12,400 children and adolescents under age 20 were diagnosed with
cancer in 2000, the report said, and 2,300 died of cancer the same
year.
"Most patients who survive cancer have been exposed to combinations
of two or three of the mainstays of cancer treatment: chemotherapy,
radiation therapy, and surgery," the report said.
These treatments can be harsh and while they kill the cancer, they
damage healthy cells, too -- leading to long-term consequences.
Simone said he was struck by how many parents of children with cancer
did not realize their children would need specialized follow-up care.
"As many as 50 to 60 percent of children with cancer are initially
treated in specialized cancer centers, but only an estimated 40 to 45
percent are receiving follow-up care in specialized clinics," the
report said.
-------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle
Director, Technical
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service
ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100 Extension 2306
Fax:(714) 668-3149
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com
Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/
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