H E A LT H & S C I E N C ETUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2014

KUWAIT: Kuwait’s 16th International Conferenceon Ophthalmology kicked off on Sunday withchildren’s eye diseases as the major topic.Opening the event on behalf of Health MinisterAli Saad Al-Obaidi, Secretary General of KuwaitInstitute for Medical Specialization (KIMS)Ibrahim Hadi said that ophthalmology is a topissue for the ministry, adding that participants,both locals and foreigners, will discuss severalpapers.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Hadistressed the ministry’s support to such scientificand specialized activities which offer opportuni-ties to exchange expertise and treatment meth-ods. He also emphasized the significance of exhi-bitions held on the sidelines of the scientificgatherings, displaying latest diagnosing and

treatment technology. Focusing on pediatricophthalmology reflects awareness and responsi-

bility for protecting right of the young in enjoy-ing good health, he said.

Meanwhile, Hadi said that KIMS organizes upto 31 programs, both locals and fellowships, cov-ering all specializations. He added that up to 96doctors from the Kuwait Board passed the finaltest, and would be honored in a ceremony to beheld on November 30, under auspices of HisHighness the Prime Minister Sheikh JaberMubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.

The annual event focuses on an ophthalmol-ogy issue every year, leading ophthalmologistAdnan Al-Wael, president of the conferencesaid. This year, participants will discuss pedi-atric squint, aiming at providing children suffer-ing from it with treatment in time and at earlyage. —KUNA

Pediatric ophthalmology main

theme of 16th Kuwait Int’l conf

KUWAIT: Kuwait has become one of the world’sfirst ten countries to use Positron EmissionTomography (PET) to detect prostate cancer. Thenew technology has been introduced to patientsin Kuwait at the Department of Nuclear Medicineat Kuwait Cancer Control Center (KCCC). “The PETimaging helps precisely locate the sites and activi-ty of prostate cancer,” PET expert at the KCCC andHead of Kuwait Society of Nuclear Medicine(KSNM) Dr Fahad Marafi told KUNA Sunday.

He stated that Kuwait is using one of the mostnovel PET radiotracer inhibitor, known as gallium68, to detect prostate-specific membrane antigen(PSMA) which is a cell surface protein with highexpression in prostate carcinoma (PC) cells. “Arab,Middle Eastern and even most of the world coun-tries do not have access to this isotope (gallium68),” Marafi noted.

He explained that PET is a nuclear medicine,functional imaging technique that produces amulti-dimensional image of functional processesin the body. The patient is injected by gallium 68before PET imaging, he said, noting that the Ga-68/PET imaging has provided high detectionrates to the lesions. For his part, PET expert DrAbdulreda Abbas said that the new detectiontechnique would lead to great improvement inthe treatment and care given the patients.

“This kind of imaging would give patients achance to be treated by radiotherapy techniques,”he told KUNA. Prostate cancer is a common can-cer in men and continues to be a major health

problem. Imaging plays an essential role in theclinical management of patients. An importantgoal for prostate cancer imaging is more accurate

disease characterization through the synthesis ofanatomic, functional, and molecular imaginginformation.—KUNA

Kuwait uses Ga-68 in PET

imaging of prostate cancer

Mansour Al-Shemmari

FREETOWN: With Ebola rampagingthrough Sierra Leone, most ordinary out-ings are off limits-for fear of contracting thevirus that has killed more than 1,000 oftheir compatriots, people cannot go toschool or the movies, a football game or aconcert. But they can go to the mosque orto a church. On Sunday, several hundredpeople headed to the Freetown branch ofthe Winners Chapel megachurch, where arevivalist minister presided over serviceslike a rock star.

Wearing a purple suit and mauve shirt,microphone in hand, Olatunji Oseni stood ona raised platform in the centre of this build-ing in a relatively affluent part of the capital,angrily punching the air with his clenchedfist. “We will overcome Ebola through theblood of Christ, with his help, and withprayer,” he shouted, bringing the crowd totheir feet. They threw their arms into the air,clapped their hands, and begged God to for-give them for their sins and the wretched-ness of their souls. Outside the gates to thechurch, as at all public venues, large buckets ofchlorinated water are available for people towash their hands in. Often there are also offi-cials who check people’s temperatures as theygo into a venue.

Preventive measures“ We have no case of Ebola in this

church,” the deacon, who would give hisname only as Jim, told AFP. He added thatthe church had followed all preventivemeasures-including a ban on physical con-tact-ordered since the start of the out-break early this year.

“We used to shake hands, to hug, butwe don’t do it anymore,” he said, notinghow the rows of chairs were arranged sothat worshippers could not touch. “Wehave nowhere to go, we find our salvationin God,” Jim said. Leaving the service, abuxom 19-year-old named Princess jokeswith a crowd of youths gathered aroundher: “We have to stay home, we can’t goout, I can’t see my girlfriends or myboyfriend. Going to church is the only waywe can see each other. It’s really boring.”Some 1,130 people in the impoverishedwest African country have died from thevirus out of 4,862 cases in the current out-break, declared a state of emergency onJuly 31. The combined death toll withGuinea and Liberia, the two other coun-tries where the current epidemic is cen-tered, is near 5,000, the UN agency said onFriday. —AFP

PORTLAND: A Maine nurse whobattled politicians over her quaran-tine after she returned from treat-ing Ebola patients in West Africasaid she will continue speaking outon behalf of public health workers.Yesterday marked the 21st daysince Kaci Hickox’s last exposure toan Ebola patient, a 10-year old girlwho suffered seizures before dyingalone without family. Today Hickoxwill no longer require daily moni-toring for Ebola symptoms, andsaid she looks forward to steppingout her front door “like normalpeople.”

But the Texas native said shewon’t back away from the debateover treatment of health care work-ers. “In the past, a quarantine wassomething that was consideredvery extreme. I’m concerned abouthow lightly we’re taking this con-cept today,” said Hickox, whodefied state-ordered quarantineattempts in New Jersey and Maine.“I’m concerned that the wrongpeople are leading the debate andmaking the decisions.”

She said the US needs a publiceducation campaign to betterexplain the virus that has killednearly 5,000 in Liberia, Sierra Leoneand Guinea. However, Hickox saidshe wouldn’t let her experienceprevent her from returning to WestAfrica. “Something like quarantineis not going to scare me fromdoing the work that I love,” she saidfrom her home in Fort Kent innorthern Maine. “I would return toSierra Leone in a heartbeat.”

Hickox said she plans to havedinner with her boyfriend to markthe end of the deadly disease’sincubation period, but she’s notsure what kind of reception she’ll

get. She has been hailed by someand vilified by others for refusingto be quarantined. Most peoplehave been supportive, she said, butothers have been hateful. Shereceived a letter from one personwho said he hoped she wouldcatch Ebola and die.

Other side“We’re still thankful we’ve had a

lot of great support in this commu-nity but I’d be lying if I said that itdidn’t make me a little bit nervousthinking about people from theother side of the debate and howthey might react to me,” Hickoxsaid. A volunteer with DoctorsWithout Borders, she spent amonth at a hospital where therewere never enough beds for all of

the Ebola patients who neededhelp. It was so hot that volunteerscould only spend about an hour ata time treating patients in theirprotective suits. They weredrenched in sweat when they fin-ished their shifts, she said.

On the morning she left SierraLeone, the weary nurse learnedthat the girl she’d treated hoursearlier had died. She was debriefed

by Doctors Without Borders inBrussels before flying to the US. Itwas after three hours of question-ing at the Newark LibertyInternational Airport that sheresolved that she’d have to make astand on behalf of all returninghealth care workers. “I said I’mgoing to have to do somethingabout this because I can’t possibly

let my colleagues go through this.This is completely unacceptable,”she said.

Hickox was sequestered in amedical tent for days because NewJersey announced new Ebola regu-lations the day she arrived.

Degrees in nursingShe eventually was allowed to

travel to Maine, where the statesought to impose a “voluntaryquarantine” before trying and fail-ing to create a buffer between herand others. A state judge rejectedattempts to restrict her move-ments, saying she posed no threatas long as she wasn’t demonstrat-ing any symptoms of Ebola. Hickoxsaid health care professionals likethose at the US Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention - not politi-cians like New Jersey Gov ChrisChristie and Maine Gov PaulLePage - should be in charge ofmaking decisions that are ground-ed in science, not fear. Hickox saidshe’s considering her options asshe looks for work. Her boyfriend,Ted Wilbur, contends he was toldto stay away from the University ofMaine at Fort Kent while she wasin the news. He formally withdrewfrom the school Friday.

The couple said they’d be leav-ing town soon. Hickox, who holdsa nursing degree from theUniversity of Texas at Arlingtonand master’s degrees in nursingand public health from JohnsHopkins University, said she mayopt to go back to school. “I havebeen over the last couple of daysbeen toying with the idea ofmaybe getting a doctorate degreeand focusing on quarantine law,”she said.—AP

NEW YORK: Now that new medicines promise tocure millions of hepatitis C patients in coming years,drugmakers including Gilead Sciences Inc are turn-ing their attention to other liver diseases, with apotential market that could rival the success ofstatins, which generated more than $30 billion a yearin sales at their peak. Several companies are workingon treatments for hepatitis B, which can be con-trolled but not yet cured, and for fatty liver conditionscaused by rising obesity, which without treatmentcould affect half of all Americans by 2030, accordingto the American Liver Foundation (ALF). Some of thedrugs will address advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis,which are the scarring that virtually all liver diseasescause without effective treatments. Each of thesedrugs, once approved, could reach annual sales of asmuch as $10 billion, industry analysts said.

Most of the treatments are now in early Phase I orPhase II clinical trials, with more informative interimdata on several expected over the course of the nextyear. Gilead, which was first to market with its hepati-tis C cure Sovaldi late last year and has been rackingup about $3 billion in sales each quarter, is a solid betto be among the leaders in the next wave of livertherapies, experts said.

“The Gilead program is encouraging,” said DrNaga Chalasani, director of gastroenterology andhepatology at Indiana University Hospital inIndianapolis, who is participating in clinical trials of

promising drugs from Gilead and others.Drugmakers are working to address the fatty liverdisease known as NASH, or nonalcoholic steatohep-atitis. Without treatment, NASH can progress to liver-destroying cirrhosis and potentially cancer.

ALF estimates that non-alcoholic fatty liver dis-ease, including NASH, affects up to 30 percent ofpeople in the United States. It can be caused by baddiets and alcohol abuse, and has also been tied todiabetes. “We have no treatment for that conditionother than tell a patient they need to lose weight,”said Dr Mauricio Lisker-Melman, director of thehepatology program at Washington UniversitySchool of Medicine in St Louis. InterceptPharmaceuticals has attracted the most attention.Just released final data from a mid-stage clinical trialshowed its obeticholic acid halted NASH progres-sion and improved liver scarring in primarily moder-ately ill patients. “For now, no one else has demon-strated an antifibrotic effect in this population, and Ibelieve we are ahead of the pack in that sense,” saidIntercept Chief Executive Mark Pruzanski. Interceptplans to begin a Phase III trial with at least 1,000more seriously ill patients next year. Dr ScottFriedman, dean for therapeutic discovery at Mt SinaiHospital in New York, who has worked with virtuallyall the companies in the field, said most were firsttesting drugs in patients whose liver damage is notadvanced. —Reuters

Ebola nurse to be advocate for health workers

MAINE: In a Friday, Oct 31, 2014 file photo, Kaci Hickox comesout of her house to speak to reporters, in Fort Kent. —AP

SIERRA LEONE: People wash their hands on a no hands improvised device asothers queue to have the temperature checked at a sanitary check point 70km from Freetown on the road to Port Loko. —AFP

In Ebola-hit Sierra Leone, places of

worship the only places to gather

After hepatitis C cure, companies

target next big liver disease market