I happened across Kathryn's blog many, many moons ago, and have made her site a regular stop in my daily travels in the blogosphere. No matter your faith, please take a moment and think of David this weekend.

My husband is sitting downstairs in a recliner, talking with his parents, and they are all giving as good as they get. This would be neither here nor there except that since the middle of the month David was dying in front of my eyes, day by day, sometimes hour by hour, even minute by minute.

…

We're not out of the woods, necessarily. We may never be. We're dealing with heart failure and damaged lungs on top of MS and scoliosis. He's got tubes here and there and I've become accustomed to the constant, unevenly-cycling sound of the oxygen concentrator he has to have with him at all times. He's still quite sick and weak, and we're told he's permanently disabled. The hospital has lined us up with home nursing services; they'll be here Monday. I've been thrown into a world of acronyms and odd phrases and government workers and pills and forms to sign and sometimes-scary vigils.

…

So I'm off for now. But I wanted to let you know that things are still upside down and not so good, but on the other hand they don't seem so bad as they were.

I have been praying for David, and I am sure your prayers would be appreciated as well.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today is issuing a Public Health Advisory to alert physicians of reports of suicidal thinking in children and adolescents associated with Strattera, a drug approved to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). FDA has also directed Eli Lilly and Company, manufacturer of Strattera, to develop a Medication Guide for patients and caregivers.

FDA is advising health care providers and caregivers that children and adolescents being treated with Strattera should be closely monitored for clinical worsening, as well as agitation, irritability, suicidal thinking or behaviors, and unusual changes in behavior, especially during the initial few months of therapy or when the dose is changed (either increased or decreased). Patients and caregivers who have concerns or questions about these symptoms should contact their healthcare provider.

"FDA's action today is another example of the agency acting swiftly to alert the public to significant drug safety information needed to use a drug in a safe manner," said Dr. Steven Galson, Director for the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, FDA.

Today's actions follow a review and analysis of 12 clinical trials conducted in children with ADHD and one trial in children with enuresis (bedwetting) that identified an increased risk of suicidal thinking for Strattera. There was one suicide attempt by a patient who received Strattera among the approximately 2,200 patients in the trial. As part of a larger evaluation of psychiatric drugs and suicidality, FDA had requested that the manufacturer conduct a review of its database and clinical trials, which included more than 2200 patients–1350 patients receiving Strattera (atomoxetine) and 851 receiving a placebo. The analysis showed that 0.4% of children treated with Strattera reported suicidal thinking compared to no cases in children treated with the placebo.

Strattera, manufactured by Eli Lilly, has been on the market since 2002 and has been used in more than two million patients.

Health care professionals are encouraged to report any unexpected adverse events associated with Strattera directly to Eli Lilly, Indianapolis, Ind. at 1-800-LillyRx or to the FDA MedWatch program at 1-800-FDA-1088; by FAX at 1-800-FDA-0178; by mail to MedWatch, Food and Drug Administration, HFD-410, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD, 20857-9787; or online at www.fda.gov/medwatch/report.htm.

Many species of bats found across China are infected with viruses similar to the
SARS virus, an international team of researchers reported on Thursday.

Zhengli Shi of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and colleagues sampled more than 400 bats of various species across China and found up to 70 percent of some species showed evidence of infection with SARS-like viruses.

This would support the idea that bats are the reservoir — the natural host — of the virus. Animals that act as reservoirs carry and spread a virus without themselves becoming ill.

…

Earlier this month a team of Hong Kong researchers reported that bats found in Hong Kong carried a virus very similar to the SARS virus.

They said the horseshoe bats, used both as food and in Chinese medicine, should be handled with great care.

Shi, Wendong Li and colleagues studied other bats found in four different parts of China. They found that anywhere between 28 percent and 71 percent of the bats, depending on the species and location, had evidence of infection with a SARS-like coronavirus. Theirs was different from the virus found by the Hong Kong researchers, they said.

"A plausible mechanism for emergence from a natural bat reservoir can be readily envisaged," they wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.

They said an infected bat could have been kept in a cage next to a civet in a market with the civet becoming infected and passing the virus to humans.

[Source: Reuters via Yahoo! News]

Items seized in a search of the apartment belonging to a man under investigation in the disappearance of Virginia Commonwealth University freshman Taylor Marie Behl include fabric from a mattress that might be stained with blood, a cell phone that might belong to Taylor, women's clothes and a .32-caliber gun cartridge, court documents released yesterday show.

Police refused to comment on the seized items, citing the ongoing investigation.

"We cannot comment on that at all," said Detective Ron Brown with the Richmond Police Department.

Ben Fawley, 38, was formally considered a "person of interest" in Taylor's disappearance, a title that was dropped this week after police concluded their interviews with him.

"We are not using the term because we are interested in all persons who may have information," said Kirsten Nelson, a spokeswoman for the Richmond Police Department. "We are not calling him a person of interest because he is not a suspect, but we are still looking at him very seriously."

Other items seized in the Sept. 23 search include videotapes, bags of clothes, a hatchet, a hammer and three pairs of underwear from an outdoor garbage can; a beaded necklace with a cross and a watch from an outdoor supercan; a black brassiere, white panties, tissues and tampon wrappers, several VCU student IDs — which might include one belonging to Taylor, copies of student IDs, a box of bones and five skateboards from inside Mr. Fawley's apartment.

Also seized were several fitted bedsheets, a futon cover, a bra and hat and a vacuum cleaner bag.

Richmond police yesterday asked the public to help locate a car with a personalized Virginia license plate that may have a possible connection to Taylor Marie Behl's disappearance 24 days ago: "GRN ERTH."

Police said the plate was stolen from a vehicle around the time the 17-year-old Virginia Commonwealth University freshman vanished Sept. 5.

A law-enforcement source familiar with the case said the plate may have been in the possession of Ben Fawley, a 38-year-old amateur photographer and acquaintance of Behl's who was one of the last people to see her.

Police spokeswoman Cynthia Price yesterday described Fawley as one of several persons whom "police are talking with in connection with the investigation into Taylor's disappearance."