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Martin wades into abortion debateAs the Dáil committee hearings continue on the abortion bill, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has waded into the debate saying it is important that Christian believers "be, and seen to be, on the side of life, especially when life is most vulnerable".
Payment cuts see families pay rent shortfallLimits on rent supplement payments set by the Government are forcing thousands of families to make undeclared top-up payments to landlords to secure places to live.
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Anger as North Korea launches another missileNorth Korea fired a short-range missile from its east coast, a day after launching three more of these missiles, a South Korean news agency said.
How Star Trek predicted the futureWHEN Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry first dreamed up the concept of a television show based in the unexplored universe of Outer Space in 1964, the world was a very different place.
- BUSINESS
Warnings over future of eurozoneThe eurozone is heading towards a break up unless there are moves towards much closer political and fiscal union, according to chief economist with State Street Global Advisers, Chris Probyn.
Bruton defends corporate tax rateIreland will be able to maintain its current corporation tax code in the face of international pressure to prevent multinational corporations avoid paying their fare share of tax, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton said yesterday.
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Mayo’s statement of intentGalway 0-11 Mayo 4-16 Five minutes to go in Salthill yesterday and James Horan was still cajoling his men to sew it into Galway.
Wilkinson inspires Toulon to gloryASM Clermont Auvergne 15 Toulon 16 Not for the first time this season, a matchday performance and the result have made a mockery of the statistics.
- LIFESTYLE
What Lenny Abrahamson did nextLENNY Abrahamson has directed three feature films: Adam & Paul, Garage and What Richard Did.
Why do women love to dress up?Trying on clothes, said Ewart, produced "sensations which bring deep peace and perfect contentment" to the female mind.
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7-year-old’s leukaemia ‘killed’ with form of HIV
US doctors say they have saved a seven-year-old girl who was close to dying from leukaemia by pioneering the use of a modified form of the HIV virus.
By Jenny Johnson
After fighting her disease with chemotherapy for almost two years and suffering two relapses, the young girl “faced grim prospects”, doctors at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia said. So in February they agreed to take her on in an experimental programme that fought fire with fire.
Helped by a genetically altered HIV virus — stripped of its devastating properties that cause Aids — doctors turned the girl’s own immune cells into a superior force able to rout the “aggressive” leukaemia.
Emily Whitehead was the first child and is one of only a handful of people in total to be given what’s officially known as CTL019 therapy. The hospital stressed this could not yet be called “a magic bullet”. However in her case at least the success was dramatic.
First, millions of the girl’s natural immune system cells were removed. Then the modified HIV virus was used to carry in a new gene that would boost the immune cells and help them spot, then attack cancer cells that had previously been able to sneak in “under the radar”, the hospital said.
Finally the rebooted immune cells were sent back in to do their work.
Paediatric oncologist Stephan Grupp, who cared for the girl, explained there was never any danger of Aids during the process.
“The way we get the new gene into the T cells (immune cells) is by using a virus. This virus was developed from the HIV virus, however all of the parts of the HIV virus that can cause disease are removed,” he said. “It is impossible to catch HIV or any other infection. What’s left is the property of the HIV virus that allows it to put new genes into cells.”
During the treatment, Emily became very ill and went into the intensive care unit, underlining how risky the procedure can be. However, drugs that partly block the immune reaction were administered, without interfering with the anti-leukaemia action, and she recovered, the hospital said.
The result was “complete” and best of all, the doctors say, the boosted immune shield continues “to remain in the patient’s body to protect against a recurrence of the cancer”.
“She has no leukaemia in her body for any test that we can do — even the most sensitive tests,” Grupp said.
Emily’s parents Kari and Tom said the operation has changed their world as Emily is now back in school.