Lower-Dose Bird Flu Vaccine Study Begins

April 11, 2006 08:46:22 PM PST

TUESDAY, April 11 (HealthDay News) -- American researchers have launched a seven-month study to test lower doses of a vaccine as protection against the H5N1 strain of bird flu.

The trial -- which began recruiting in late March -- is being conducted at Duke University Medical Center, in Durham, N.C., and three other U.S. locations: the University of Maryland, Baltimore; University of Rochester, in New York; and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston.

The goal of the multi-center trial is to test whether a modified form of an investigational bird flu vaccine, given in lower doses, is able to trigger a strong immune response. Initial trials showed that it required high doses and at least two injections of the vaccine to prompt a potent response.

The vaccine uses an inactivated flu virus based on a strain taken from a Vietnamese patient in 2004. There is no live virus in the vaccine and no risk that study volunteers will contract bird flu or spread it to others.

"We hope that by adding a compound called an adjuvant to the vaccine, we can create a stronger immune response to smaller doses of the vaccine," Duke study leader Dr. Emmanuel Walter, associate director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute's Primary Care Research Consortium, said in a prepared statement.

The adjuvant being using in this study is aluminum hydroxide, commonly used in vaccines for children and adults.

The study is sponsored by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about bird flu.

Sleep Cycle Might Explain Near-Death Experience

April 11, 2006 08:46:22 PM PST

People who say they've had a near-death experience -- which includes feeling outside of one's body, and an accompanying sense of peace -- often have different sleep-wake control systems than other people, U.S. researchers report.

The finding could help explain this experience in certain people, concludes a U.S. study in the April 11 issue of the journal Neurology.

Researchers compared 55 people who'd had a near-death experience to 55 people of the same age and gender who hadn't had this kind of phenomenon. For this study, a near-death experience was defined as a life-threatening event (such as a heart attack or traffic crash) when a person felt a number of sensations, including a sense of being outside their physical body, unusual alertness, seeing an intense light, and having a feeling of peace.

People with near-death experiences were more likely to have a sleep-wake system where the boundaries between sleep and wakefulness were not as clearly regulated as normal and the REM (rapid eye movement) state of sleep can intrude into normal wakeful consciousness, the study said.

Examples of REM state intrusion include: waking up and having the feeling of being unable to move; sudden muscle weakness in the legs; and hearing sounds just before falling asleep or just after waking up that other people can't hear.

Sixty percent of the people in this study who had near a near-death experience reported having REM intrusion, compared to 24 percent of the people who didn't have a near-death experience.

"These findings suggest that REM state intrusion contributes to near-death experiences. People who have near-death experiences may have an arousal system that predisposes them to REM intrusion," study lead author Dr. Kevin R. Nelson of the University of Kentucky in Louisville, said in a prepared statement.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about sleep.