19 Feb 2013

THRONE SPEECH

ONTARIO LIBERAL PREMIER SPEECH

from ONTARIO LIBERAL PREMIER SPEECH.with (comments)

Your government is committed to health promotion to combat smoking and obesity, and it believes strongly in patient-centred care and evidence-based health policy.(NOT DEFINED)
Along with all parties in the legislature, it understands the pressing need to expand access to HOME CARE in Ontario.
And so your government will continue to expand the support available to people in their homes, and to address the needs of men and women across Ontario currently waiting for the HOME CARE services they require.(MD HOUSE CALL fee will be increased).
Your government will also continue to expand access to mental health services and support efforts to reduce stigma for men and women coping with mental illness.(TWO MENTAL HOSPITALS CLOSED in TORONTO)
It will work with partners in all related sectors to coordinate the best response to these challenges because Ontario's minds and spirits must be healthy, too.
It will also move forward with a Seniors Strategy to ensure that Ontario can best respond to the needs of its aging population.
It will promote partnership between health care providers - from hospitals and long-term care homes, to community support services and front line medical providers through Community Health Links - so that the care of our loved ones and our most vulnerable citizens is constant and cohesive.
To ensure the best treatment for our children, our parents, grandparents and our friends, your government believes the research community must be supported in its work.
And it is therefore announcing renewed support for the Ontario Brain Institute (655 BAY STREET @ Elm St) through a funding partnership with the PRIVATE sector.
Every dollar your government contributes will leverage four additional dollars from its partners by 2018.
( GOVERNMENT RECOGNITION of the IMPORTANCE of PRIVATE EQUITY).

UK: DEATH FROM CORONAVIRUS (NCoV)

Tuesday, Feb 19 2013 3PM 37°F 6PM 32°F 5-Day Forecast

Sars-like virus claims first UK victim after man, 39, dies at a Birmingham hospital

The patient, who was being treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, died on Sunday
Was a relative of patient being treated in Manchester after bringing back coronavirus from Middle East
Hospital says patient was already receiving treatment for long-term, complex health condition

By Anna Hodgekiss
PUBLISHED: 05:11 GMT, 19 February 2013 | UPDATED: 12:22 GMT, 19 February 2013

A new Sars-like illness has claimed its first UK victim, health officials confirmed today.
The 39-year-old man, who was being treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, died on Sunday after becoming infected with the novel coronavirus, the hospital confirmed today.
Of the 12 confirmed cases worldwide four have been British and five have died as a result of the virus.
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Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses known to cause illness ranging from the common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

The patient in Birmingham caught the disease from a relation who became infected in the Middle East, and is still being treated at a Manchester hospital.
A third member of the same family is also being treated for the virus at the hospital which health officials fear could be spread from person to person.
Of the 12 people who have been confirmed as suffering from the virus across the globe, six have now died.
Three people have died in Saudi Arabia and two in Jordan.
A hospital statement released today said: 'The patient was already an outpatient at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB), undergoing treatment for a long-term, complex unrelated health condition.
'The patient was immuno-compromised and is believed to have contracted the virus from a relative who is being treated for the condition in a Manchester hospital.

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'QEHB is working closely with the Health Protection Agency which is currently following up other household members and contacts of this case.
Professor John Watson, head of the respiratory diseases department at the HPA, said: ‘This case is a family member who was in close personal contact with the earlier case and who may have been at greater risk of acquiring an infection because of their underlying health condition.
'To date, evidence of person-to-person transmission has been limited. Although this case provides strong evidence for person to person transmission, the risk of infection in most circumstances is still considered to be very low.'
Infected patients have presented with serious respiratory illness with fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.

The lining of the lung, or epithelium, represents an important first barrier against respiratory viruses

Today, experts suggested the virus could potentially be treated by targeting the immune system.
The coronavirus (NCov) belongs to the same family as the coronavirus SARS, which surfaced in China more than a decade ago and infected 8,000 people worldwide, killing around one in 10 of them.
It's thought the virus can penetrate the lining of the passageways in the lung and evade the immune system as easily as a cold virus can.
The research also reveals that the virus is susceptible to treatment with interferons, components of the immune system that have been used successfully to treat other viral diseases, opening a possible mode of treatment in the event of a large-scale outbreak.
Now scientists at the Institute of Immunobiology at Kantonal Hospital in Switzerland, have tested how well the virus could infect and multiply in the entryways to the human lung using cultured cells manipulated to mimic the airway lining.

The lining of the lung, or epithelium, represents an important first barrier against respiratory viruses.

But, said co-author Dr Volker Thiel, this part of the body does not put up a big fight against NCoV.