A website for children and young people suffering from ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis) will be launched tomorrow at the start of International ME Awareness Week. The free Internet service - www.jafc.demon.co.uk/YAOnline - offers advice, practical help and new opportunities for sufferers, whose symptoms include severe exhaustion, muscle pain and headaches.

- Millions of people may die of TB
Millions more people are likely to die from TB before vaccines or better antibiotic treatments are developed. Experts warn that the slowness of TB vaccine trials means that doctors won't have an effective immunisation against the disease for 30 to 40 years.
Barry Bloom, of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, says by that time we could see as many as another 80 million deaths.
- Skin patches could relieve back pain
Back pain sufferers could soon get relief from skin patches which administer painkillers. In a trial of 50 patients at Baylor College of Medicine in the US, 43 reported significant relief and said they found the patches were more convenient than taking drugs.
- Five thousand heart patients’ story
Five thousand heart patients are to be recruited to see whether a drug which relieves chest pain can also provide protection against coronary disease.
In a three-year trial, the University of Glasgow will investigate whether nicorandil, used to treat angina, can also reduce deaths from heart disease.
- Snake poison may heal hearts
Snake poison could soon be used in the treatment of heart disease, strokes and cancer. It has been found that viper venom contains toxins which disintegrate blood clots and stop cancer cells dividing and spreading.
- Bubonic plague may ease pain
Bubonic plague may hold the key to easing the pain of millions of people suffering from arthritis and other inflammatory diseases.
M.D scientists at Porton Down, Wiltshire, have found that a protein from the killer bug which devastated Europe and Asia in the 14th Century can damp down inflammation.
- Soya beans’ genistein can beat cancer
Researchers have discovered an ingredient in soya beans called genistein can beat cancer. It weakens the ability of cancer cells to grow to such an extent that they starve and die. Scientists at the University of California in LA believe this is why Asians, who once ate a soya-rich diet and enjoyed a low incidence of cancers, increase their chances of getting the disease when they move to the US and change to a Western diet.
(Source: Findarticles.com)