October 8, 2003 - Minnesota health professionals, hospital administrators and school personnel say they're ill prepared to handle a SARS outbreak. Many health experts predict that Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is likely to resurface this year during the coming cold and flu season. More than eight thousand people have been infected with SARS worldwide in the last year. Though most of those infections occurred outside of the United States, analysts predict that a SARS outbreak could occur in the U.S. this winter. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
October 8, 2003 - There are half as many Catholic nuns today as there were forty years ago. The median age of nuns is 69. Many religious communities around the country are trying some unusual approaches to attract new members. A group of sisters in Duluth is one of them. They're advertising. Mainstreet Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports.
October 8, 2003 - Last months shootings in a Cold Spring school and at the Hennepin County Government Center recently have focused attention on gun violence. Medical professionals say the problem goes well beyond those headline-grabbing incidents, but they've been struggling to find the right approach to reduce gun injuries and deaths. Dr. Jon Hallberg is medical director of the Primary Care center at the University of Minnesota. He says gun violence should be treated like any other public health issue.
October 9, 2003 - Cancer researchers announced a major treatment advance for breast cancer survivors today (THURS). They've found an estrogen-blocking drug, which greatly reduces the reoccurrence of breast cancer. Canadian oncologists led the breakthrough the study, and a Mayo physician conducted research in the US. Minnesota Public Radio's Erin Galbally (GAL buh lee) reports:
October 9, 2003 -
October 13, 2003 - A bill working its way through Congress would allow defendants better access to DNA tests and compensate those exonerated of wrongful convictions. The bill calls for almost two-billion dollars to educate DNA testers and process backlogged DNA tests. Peter Neufeld is the director of the National Innocence Project, a non-profit legal clinic that handles cases where post-conviction DNA testing could prove an inmate's innocence. He says DNA evidence has helped his organization free 138 wrongfully convicted people from prison. Of those already exonerated, at least 10 were on death row.
October 13, 2003 -
October 13, 2003 -
October 15, 2003 - The University of Minnesota this week is marking the 25th anniversary of its first human heart transplant. A number of people who have received new hearts at the hands of university surgeons will gather to mark the anniversary,including the university's longest-surviving heart transplant recipient. The first human heart transplant was done in South Africa in 1967. Since the U of M began doing the procedure 11 years after that, university surgeons have performed almost 500 heart transplants, including 28 so far this year. The recipients have ranged from 6 months to 70 years old. Dr. Leslie Miller is the director of the University's heart transplant program. He joins us now.
October 15, 2003 - Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich brought his presidential campaign kick-off tour to Minneapolis last night. About two-thousand supporters gathered at Roosevelt High School, one of 12 stops Kucinich scheduled over three days. Kucinich supporters say their candidate is the only presidential contender who truly represents a change from George W. Bush. Minnesota Public Radio's Marisa Helms reports.