Billionaire Pledges $100M Guaranty for King-Drew

(AP) — A pharmaceutical billionaire is offering to provide University of California regents with a $100 million guaranty in support of the county’s proposal to reopen Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital in South Los Angeles.

Former UCLA surgeon Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong sent a letter to UC President Mark G. Yudof on Oct. 21 detailing his plan, saying the unjust situation compelled him to get involved.

Built to serve one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city, King-Harbor partially closed in August 2007 after years of negligence that resulted in patient deaths.

County officials had to secure a $100 million letter of credit to ensure the $63 million a year it will cost them to operate the hospital.

The county plan aims to reopen King-Harbor by 2012.

Celebrities Team Up with Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program

Dr. Bill J. Releford, founder of the Diabetic Amputation Prevention Foundation, will launch the Los Angeles initiative of the Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program in 100 barbershops throughout the Los Angeles area Nov. 7, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sponsored by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the program will offer free diabetes and high blood pressure screenings to African American men who normally visit their local barbers just anticipating the usual haircut. In addition, participants will be provided education about healthy lifestyle alternatives along with peripheral artery disease screenings and PEP Talk; the Prostate Education Project will address the issue of prostate cancer by distributing culturally appropriate educational materials as well.

The Whispers, Kim Coles, Tommy Davidson, T.C. Carson, Yo Yo and Montell Jordan are some of the celebrities slated to visit local barbershops.

Ultimately, the program’s goal is to screen more than 500,000 African American men by 2012. The program has already tested close to 10,000 African American men in 23 cities.

For more information and to view a list of participating barbershops, visit www.blackbarbershop.org.

Woman Convicted of Selling Human Growth Hormone

(AP) — A Los Angeles-area woman has been convicted for smuggling human growth hormone into the United States, then selling it over the Internet to doctors and spas across the country.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which led the probe, said Oct. 30 that 61-year-old Rana J. Hunter, of Marina del Rey, had been convicted in U.S. District Court on eight criminal counts, including smuggling goods into the United States, knowingly distributing growth hormone for a use unauthorized by law, and identity theft.

Prosecutors say Hunter’s business also claimed to offer Botox. Samples tested turned out to be fake.

Hunter, who has been imprisoned since her July 2008 arrest, faces a maximum penalty of 39 years in federal prison.

Scientists Decode DNA of Pig, a Research Favorite

CHICAGO (AP) — An international group of scientists has decoded the DNA of the domestic pig, research that may one day prove useful in finding new treatments for both pigs and people, and perhaps aid in efforts for a new swine flu vaccine for pigs.

Pigs and humans are similar in size and makeup, and scientists say they rely on pigs to study everything from obesity and heart disease to skin disorders in humans.

“The pig is the ideal animal to look at lifestyle and health issues in the United States,” said Larry Schook, a University of Illinois in Champaign biomedical science professor who led the DNA sequencing project.

Researchers announced the results of their work Oct. 26 at a meeting at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, Britain, one of the organizations involved in the research.

One way researchers could use the new information is by developing a swine flu vaccine for pigs to protect them from the new H1N1 virus that is spreading among people.

The U.S. Agriculture Department recently announced that six pigs from the Minnesota State Fair contracted the new H1N1 virus over the summer, the first report of pigs catching the virus in the United States. The hogs likely got it from fairgoers, officials said.

The swine flu is spreading easily among people but not by handling or eating pork products.