Global Health: TB Treatment May Leave Some Patients Contagious

AFRICALeave a comment

TB Treatment May Leave Some Patients Contagious Photo An HIV-positive woman with tuberculosis symptoms at a hospital in Uganda. Researchers studying TB patients who were also infected with H.I.V. found that they may require higher doses of the standard medications. Credit Rebecca Vassie/Associated Press The World Health Organization’s dosage guidelines for two leading tuberculosis medications may be far too low for patients with H.I.V., allowing them to remain contagious for longer than necessary, a new study has found.
TB, now the leading infectious killer worldwide, takes over 1.5 million lives per year. Treatment lasts at least six months and can cause serious side effects, making it difficult for patients to stick to it.
Doctors have been prescribing two TB drugs, rifampicin and isoniazid, for almost half of a century. But the new research, published in March in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, adds to growing evidence that higher doses may kill the deadly mycobacteria fas..

Defying Arrest Deadline, Brazil’s Ex-President Dares Police to Come Get Him

WORLD NEWSLeave a comment

Defying Arrest Deadline, Brazil’s Ex-President Dares Police to Come Get Him Photo Supporters of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil outside the headquarters of the metal workers’ union in São Bernardo do Campo on Friday. The former leader spent Thursday night there as he weighed his response to an arrest warrant. Credit Lalo de Almeida for The New York Times SÃO BERNARDO DO CAMPO, Brazil — Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil defied a Friday deadline to report to prison to begin serving a 12-year corruption sentence, daring authorities to haul him away from a union headquarters thronged by his supporters.
As the 5 p.m. deadline neared, Mr. da Silva’s supporters counted down the last five seconds. Then they began chanting: “There is no surrender!”
Mr. da Silva’s decision set the stage for a heated confrontation between the most loyal defenders of a polarizing, yet enormously popular politician, and law enforcement officials who regard his imprisonment as..

More Jobs, Faster Growth and Now, the Threat of a Trade War

BUSINESSLeave a comment

Supported by Economy More Jobs, Faster Growth and Now, the Threat of a Trade War Photo Jerome H. Powell, the new Federal Reserve chairman, on Friday visited a Chicago incubator for industrial start-ups, highlighting the role of manufacturing in the recovery. Credit Lyndon French for The New York Times The rapidly escalating trade conflict with China has upended the prevailing economic dynamic of falling unemployment and faster growth, leaving policymakers and investors scrambling to figure out the way forward.
The threat of a trade war loomed over Jerome H. Powell’s inaugural speech as Federal Reserve chairman on Friday in Chicago, even as he tried to focus attention on the fundamental strength of the American economy. Financial markets fell Friday morning after President Trump’s latest salvo against China, then tumbled further after Mr. Powell indicated that the Fed saw no imminent need to adjust its outlook. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index ended the day down 2.2 percent, c..

Income from UK savings accounts dropped 16% in a year, new research shows

ECONOMYLeave a comment

A low return on savings in traditional accounts could be driving people towards more high-risk investment options
UK savers’ income from bank accounts fell 16 per cent in a year, according to new research, due to low interest rates from banks and building societies.
According to easyMoney, the investment platform launched by easyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the drop in savings income is worse in real terms due to rising inflation.
The decline in income is based on numbers from the 2015/2016 financial year (the latest available data from HMRC) when savers made £5.7bn compared with £6.8bn in 2014/2015.
Read more What an interest rate rise means for home owners and first-time buyers At the end of the 2014/2015 fiscal year, inflation was -0.1 per cent; by January this year it had risen to 3 per cent.
With savers seeing less benefit from stashing their money in bank accounts and cash ISAs, easyMoney said, people are increasingly turning towards alternatives, with many incli..

Your Money: A $350 Million Fund Helps Many Public Servants. Meet the Ones Left Out.

BUSINESSLeave a comment

Supported by Your Money A $350 Million Fund Helps Many Public Servants. Meet the Ones Left Out. Photo Robin White, an assistant professor at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La., purposely paid more than she owed on her student loans. “I wanted to make it clear that I was not trying to take taxpayers’ money,” she said. Credit Annie Flanagan for The New York Times Two weeks ago, Congress created a $350 million pot of money to help teachers, firefighters and others in public service who thought they were enrolled in a program that would forgive their student loans after 10 years of payments. Many of them were not getting credit for their loan payments after all.
These public servants, under the terms of the public service loan forgiveness program, are supposed to have their remaining federal student loan balance forgiven after 120 on-time payments. The program began in 2007, and 2017 was supposed to be the year the first participants got to the finish line.
Few people have cr..