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Gordon Brown defends the role of British troops in Afghanistan

The Prime Minister said it is vital that Britain has a military presence to counter the threat from extremists operating in the area.

"If we are to defend Britain properly from this terrorist threat, then it is not enough simply to defend ourselves here.

"We have got to make sure that we diminish the effect of those people who are planning terrorist activities on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

"If we let the Taliban back into control in Afghanistan, then al Qaida will have an even bigger base in which to move," he said during a visit to a community centre in Widnes, Cheshire.

The Prime Minister said it was not only essential to keep British troops safe, but also to train Afghan forces in order for them to maintain control of their country.

He said: "And so it's important to the security of Britain, but it's also important, of course, that we do everything to keep our troops safe, that all the security measures are put in place that are essential for them, and that we train up the Afghan security forces, so that they themselves can take over responsibility of Afghanistan, and then allow the number of British troops to go down."

Asked if he thought he was losing the argument to keep British forces in Afghanistan, he said: "I think we've got to remind people that the terrorist threat is something we have experienced in this country and it's caused the loss of life."

He offered hope that once the Afghan forces have been trained, British troops will be withdrawn.

"I think we've also got to show people that there is a way forward - that as we train Afghan forces to take responsibility for their own country, then our troops can come home. And it's to make that happen that we're stepping up the training of Afghan forces.

"It's not easy and we will have difficult days as we have had, but it's important to recognise that there are 43 countries involved in this effort and we have got to do it together to make sure this terrorist threat does not become a reality on our streets."

Drug Could Help Treat Small HER2-Positive Breast Tumors

Women with a relatively uncommon type of breast cancer are significantly more likely to face its recurrence and spread, but researchers now say these women may benefit from treatment with the breast cancer drug Herceptin.

Two studies, from the United States and Italy, examined cases of women with small (1 centimeter or less in diameter) HER2-positive breast cancers that hadn't spread to the lymph nodes. The researchers found that the cancer is more than two times more likely to recur in HER2-positive women than in women with HER2-negative breast cancers.

The U.S. study, which looked at 965 women diagnosed between 1990 and 2002, also found that HER2-positive women had a more than fivefold higher risk of metastasis, in which the cancer spreads to other parts of the body, once the cancer returns than those with HER2-negative tumors.

The researchers estimate that only one in four breast cancers are HER2-positive. The new research, published in the Nov. 2 online edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, looked at those with small tumors.

Currently, the guidelines don't suggest that women with such small tumors receive treatment with the drug trastuzumab (Herceptin). However, the authors of the new studies recommend that the drug be considered for them.

"We expected the risk of recurrence and metastasis in HER2-positive node-negative patients with small tumors to be higher than in women with HER2-negative tumors, but we didn't expect the magnitude of this [increased] risk to be so high," Dr. Ana M. Gonzalez-Angulo, an associate professor in the department of breast medical oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and lead author of the U.S. study, said in a news release from the journal's publisher. "This elevated risk is unacceptable, and indicates that women with small HER2-positive node-negative breast tumors should be offered participation in clinical trials assessing anti-HER2 therapies, such as trastuzumab [Herceptin], or other adjuvant treatment."

Schools Try To Deal With Flu Absences

Flu season is in full swing, and some schools are taking extra steps to get the germs out and their students back in class.

School officials in Londonderry said they have never seen absences as bad as they have been this year, even in the middle of winter when the flu and other respiratory viruses peak.

Third-grade teacher Heather Larochelle presides over a classroom at Matthew Thornton Elementary School filled with many empty desks. When she asks the students who remain to raise their hands if they have been out sick this year, all but one put their hands up.

The principal's office received 23 calls reporting absences Wednesday to go along with 80 children who already were out.

Despite precautions such as hand sanitizers around the school, the nurse's office has remained busy. School nurse Sarah Brown said she sent an e-mail reminder to teachers to try to reduce the spread of the flu.

"To have the windows open in their classrooms if they're able to and just wipe down the desks," Brown said. "The children always wash their hands on the way to lunch to reinforce the hand washing."

In Larochelle's classroom, the desks are no longer grouped together. The water fountain is now off limits, and students use paper cups. There is also hand sanitizer in the classroom. Larochelle said the flu is making it tough to teach.

If I have eight, nine, 10, 11 kids out, it's tough to introduce new things and keep track of who's gotten what information," she said.

In Windham, students had a scheduled day off Tuesday, so custodians spent the day disinfecting every school. The superintendent said that while he didn't have the absentee numbers yet for Wednesday, it appears the district may have turned a corner, although the middle school remains the hardest hit.

"In checking the numbers today in three other schools, those numbers have come back to normal absenteeism for this time of year," said Superintendent Frank Bass. "The middle school is still high, but nowhere near as high as it was on Monday."

Officials said they're hopefully the approaching Thanksgiving holiday and winter holiday will help disrupt the spread of the flu.

Pet cat in U.S. catches swine flu

A cat in Iowa has tested positive for H1N1 swine flu, the first time a cat has been diagnosed with the new pandemic strain, the American Veterinary Medical Association said on Wednesday.

The 13-year-old cat apparently caught the virus from one of the people living in the house, the group said in a statement. It has recovered and does not appear to have infected anyone or anything else.

Pigs are the original source of the H1N1 virus and it has been found in several herds, as well as in a pet ferret. Ferrets are especially susceptible to human influenza viruses.

"Two of the three members of the family that owns the pet had suffered from influenza-like illness before the cat became ill," Iowa Department of Public Health Veterinarian Dr. Ann Garvey said in a statement.

"This is not completely unexpected, as other strains of influenza have been found in cats in the past." Both the cat and its owners have recovered from their illnesses.

The AVMA has a website on H1N1 illnesses in U.S. animals. Dogs and horses also can catch various influenza strains, although none have so far been diagnosed with H1N1.

"Indoor pets that live in close proximity to someone who has been sick are at risk and it is wise to monitor their health to ensure they aren't showing signs of illness," said Dr. David Schmitt, state veterinarian for Iowa.

The new H1N1 passes easily from person to person and has infected millions globally since March, killing at least 5,000 people whose infections have been documented.

Eating Slowly May Help Weight Control

Eyeball your food a little longer if you're looking to shed some pounds, because wolfing it down too fast may make you prone to overeat, a new study shows.

So savor those aromas, relish the meal's presentation, and don't just dig in like you've got to finish it off in a hurry, researchers report in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Eating a meal quickly puts the kibosh on the release of hormones in the gut that induce feelings of being full, and this can lead to overeating, says study researcher Alexander Kokkinos, MD, PhD, from Laiko General Hospital in Athens, Greece.

In short, eating too fast blocks the release of gut hormones that help make you feel full, and thus you may overeat.

"Most of us have heard that eating fast can lead to food overconsumption and obesity, and in fact some observational studies have supported this notion," Kokkinos says in a news release. "Our study provides a possible explanation for the relationship between speed eating and overeating by showing that the rate at which someone eats may impact the release of gut hormones that signal the brain to stop eating."

Previous studies have shown that the release of gut hormones after a meal acts on the brain and induces feelings of fullness and satisfaction, the researchers note. But until now, they say, concentrations of appetite-regulating hormones haven't been studied in the context of different rates of eating.

In the study, 17 healthy men consumed the same test meal, 300 milliliters (about 10 ounces) of ice cream, at different rates during two separate test sessions. The duration of one meal was five minutes and the other was 30 minutes.

The researchers took blood samples and measured levels of different gut hormones before the meal and at 30 minute intervals after eating began until the study session ended 210 minutes later.

The scientists conclude that "eating at a physiologically moderate pace leads to a more pronounced anorexigenic gut peptide [appetite reduction] response than eating very fast."

The notion that eating quickly leads to weight gain used to be considered "an old wives' tale," the researchers say, but their study suggests there is some truth to it.

"Our findings give some insight into an aspect of modern-day food overconsumption, namely the fact that many people, pressed by demanding working and living conditions, eat faster and in greater amounts than in the past," Kokkinos says in the news release. "The warning we were given as children that 'wolfing down your food will make you fat' may in fact have a physiological explanation."