Health Headlines - January 4

Israeli Prime Minister Suffers 2nd Stroke: Reports

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a "significant" stroke Wednesday after being rushed to a Jerusalem hospital, a hospital official was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, director general of Hadassah Hospital, said Sharon was put under general anesthetic and was receiving breathing assistance while doctors assessed his condition.

The prime minister, who was scheduled to undergo a heart procedure Thursday in connection with a stroke he suffered Dec. 18, was taken to the hospital after not feeling well at his Negev ranch, according to an earlier statement by his office.

The office announcement said Sharon, 77, was taken to Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital, where doctors had planned to close a hole in his heart Thursday. His personal physician was with him, and he was fully conscious, his office said.

Channel 10 News quoted Sharon's spokesman Wednesday as saying the prime minister's symptoms were not severe, and he was being taken by ambulance from his ranch in southern Israel to the Jerusalem hospital, even though there was a closer hospital in Beersheba.

Doctors said last month that Sharon would not suffer long-term effects from the stroke, but they discovered a birth defect in his heart, a small hole, that apparently contributed to the stroke.

Home Male Infertility Test Debuts

A do-it-yourself male fertility test that claims to offer a 95 percent accurate result within 75 minutes will go on sale in the U.K. this month.

The Fertell test works by forcing sperm to swim through a barrier designed to mimic a woman's cervix, The Times of London reported. The test measures the number of active sperm able to swim past this barrier.

A positive test -- indicated by a red line -- means that a sample contains more than 10 million active sperm per milliliter. This level is considered normal according to World Health Organization guidelines.

A study of 150 men found that the test provided an accurate result in 95 percent of cases. But the creators of the test noted that it's not capable of diagnosing all male infertility problems.

Stem Cell Study Co-Authors Agree on Retraction

All the co-authors of a discredited stem cell research article have agreed on a retraction that will be published at a later date, editors at the journal Science announced Wednesday.

Publication of the retraction, on research once seen as a major breakthrough, will wait until it can be compared with the results of an investigation into the controversy by Seoul National University, Agence France Presse reported.

A leading stem cell scientist at the university, Hwang Woo-Suk, resigned last week after investigators concluded there was no scientific basis to his claim that he created stem cells matched to individual patients. The investigators are now also looking at Hwang's previous stem cell work and his claim to have cloned a dog.

When it was published in Science last spring, the latest stem cell research was seen as a major breakthrough. The ability to tailor stem cells to individual patients would be an important advance in treating disease such as diabetes and Alzheimer's, AFP reported.

New Bird Flu Outbreak in China

Chinese officials have confirmed the first bird flu outbreak in Sichuan province, the third-most populous in the country and a important agricultural region.

On Tuesday, the agriculture ministry said that tests confirmed the H5N1 bird flu virus as the cause of a disease that killed 1,800 birds in Dazhu county of Sichuan in December, Agence France Presse reported.

An official with the provincial livestock bureau said it was the first outbreak of bird flu in Sichuan. The bureau declined to speculate on the source of the outbreak.

Nearly 13,000 poultry were slaughtered in Dazhu county following the outbreak and the county's 4.6 million remaining poultry have been vaccinated against bird flu.

More Deaths Linked to Natrecor Heart Drug

Two additional patient deaths that occurred during a study of the heart failure drug Natrecor have been reported by California-based drug maker Scios Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson.

The revelation has prompted one cardiologist to demand that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration withdraw the drug from the market, the Associated Press reported.

These two additional deaths bring to seven the number of patients who died within 30 days of being treated with Natrecor during the study, which was conducted three years ago. Scios said it only recently learned about the two additional deaths, and added that it was confident the new information doesn't indicate an increased risk for patients taking Natrecor.

However, New York cardiologist Dr. Jonathon Sackner-Bernstein said the drug should be withdrawn. He was lead author of a report critical of Natrecor that was published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The FDA approved Natrecor in 2001 to treat serious breathing problems associated with heart failure. Early in 2005, the FDA ordered that more information about the risk of death from the drug be included in the package insert for doctors.

Rhode Island Legalizes Medical Marijuana

Rhode Island has legalized medical marijuana, the first state to do so since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2005 that patients who use marijuana can still be prosecuted under federal law.

The new Rhode Island law permits patients with illnesses such as AIDS and cancer to grow up to 12 marijuana plants or buy 2.5 ounces of marijuana to ease their symptoms. Patients who use medical marijuana are required to register with the state and obtain an identification card, the Associated Press reported.

Other states that allow the use of medicinal marijuana are: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.

While the Supreme Court ruled that medical marijuana users can be prosecuted under U.S. law, federal authorities say it's unlikely that many will actually be charged.

Coffee May Reduce Breast Cancer Risk

Coffee may help reduce the risk of breast cancer in women who have a family history of the disease, says a study of 1,690 women in four countries.

The study found that drinking at least six cups of caffeinated coffee a day reduced the breast cancer risk by almost 70 percent in women who have BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations, the New York Daily News reported.

Women with the gene mutations who drank four to five cups of coffee a day had a 25 percent reduced risk of breast cancer, and those who drank one cup to three cups a day had a 10 percent reduced risk.

This benefit was not seen in women who drank decaffeinated coffee. The researchers believe that caffeine may offer this protection through its effect on female hormones, the Daily News reported.

The study appears in the International Journal of Cancer.

Food Fact:
Herbal form = function.

For herbally "enhanced" drinks, pay attention to what the label doesn't say. Labels typically do not list the form of an herb, making it impossible to gauge effectiveness. With ginkgo, for example, potential benefits have been seen in extracts standardized to contain a certain percentage of active ingredients. If the ginkgo in a drink is not of this kind, it will be ineffective no matter how much is added.

Fitness Tip of the day:
Beat the clock.

By making physical activity a natural part of your day, you get all the benefits of exercise -- in a fraction of the time. Walk to an appointment. Take the stairs. Scrub the floor or your car. Leading an active life gives you many of the same benefits as structured exercise, and you don't have to "make time" to do it.

FAQ of the day:
Do I need to drink milk to get my calcium?

Your calcium may be OK, but you may be lacking vitamin D, which is essential for calcium absorption and bone health. We typically get vitamin D from sunlight (our skin synthesizes the vitamin using UV light) and fortified foods, such as milk and some breakfast cereals. But other milk-based foods, such as yogurt and cheese, use unfortified milk, so no vitamin D. If you don't drink fortified milk, are over age 65, and spend a lot of time indoors, consider a vitamin D supplement providing 400 to 600 IU daily.