Children Should Get 2nd Dose of Chickenpox Vaccine: CDC Panel
Children 4 to 6 years old should be given the varicella zoster (chickenpox) vaccine, in addition to the initial dose they received at age 12 to 18 months, an expert panel advising the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended.
Up to 20 percent of children who receive a single dose of the vaccine aren't fully protected against chickenpox, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices said in recommending the second dose to the full CDC. In a statement, the panel also said a single dose administered at 18 months or younger might not continue to offer protection into adulthood.
Before the varicella vaccine was licensed in 1995, about 4 million U.S. cases of chickenpox were reported each year, leading to 13,500 hospitalizations and 150 deaths. Those numbers have since declined by up to 85 percent, the agency said.
Nonetheless, the CDC said it has been concerned about scattered outbreaks among vaccinated school children. Chickenpox cases in vaccinated children are usually mild, but the children can transmit the virus to others, including adults who are prone to more severe symptoms.
The full CDC typically follows the recommendations of its advisory panels.
Prostate Cancer Vaccine Boosts Survival: Study
Men with advanced prostate cancer who were given an investigational cancer vaccine survived an average of 4 1/2 months longer than men who received a placebo, researchers found.
Dendreon Corp's sipuleucel-T vaccine delayed disease progression and prolonged survival in men with asymptomatic metastatic hormone refractory prostate cancer, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, said in a statement. Dendreon funded the study at 19 centers in the United States.
The vaccine, known by the brand name Provenge, is designed to stimulate immunity to prostatic acid phosphatase, an antigen found in some 95 percent of prostate cancers, the researchers said.
Median survival was 25.9 months longer among those given the vaccine, compared to 21.4 months for placebo-treated men, the researchers said. The study appears in the July issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Anemia Drug Approved for Blood Cancer
The anemia drug Revlimid (lenalidomide) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a new use to treat multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood.
The new approval allows maker Celgene Corp. to market Revlimid for use in combination with the steroid dexamethasone among multiple myeloma patients who have tried at least one prior therapy, the Associated Press reported.
In clinical trials, participants who took Revlimid and dexamethasone survived an average of 29.6 months, compared with 20.2 months for those who took a combination of dexamethasone and a placebo.
Multiple myeloma affects about 50,000 people in the United States, and more than 14,000 new cases are diagnosed annually, the AP said.
Liver-Damage Reports Prompt Antibiotic Label Change
The labeling for the antibiotic Ketek (telithromycin) will be updated to reflect the possibility of severe liver damage, manufacturer Sanofi-Aventis said Thursday.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received 12 reports of acute liver failure, four of which were fatal, the Associated Press reported. FDA safety evaluators found 23 other cases of serious liver injury among Ketek users, the wire service said.
An internal FDA memo says those injury reports, in proportion to the number of prescriptions written, exceed adverse reports for similar drugs, the AP said.
The drug has been sold in the United States since 2004. Earlier this month, Sanofi stopped enrolling children in trials of Ketek, the wire service said.
The Senate Finance Committee is investigating allegations of fraud connected with the Ketek trials, the AP reported, without elaborating.
Lawsuit Challenges Medicaid Proof-of-Citizenship Rule
A class-action lawsuit filed in Chicago seeks to strike down a law requiring Medicaid beneficiaries to prove U.S. citizenship before obtaining health benefits.
The lawsuit, filed this week in federal district court, seeks to enjoin the Bush administration from implementing the law, which is set to take effect July 1. Consumer groups fear the law would cause millions of low-income citizens to become uninsured, the Associated Press reported.
Congress passed the legislation earlier this year to ensure that only citizens or qualified legal immigrants have access to Medicaid. The move was sparked by an inspector general's report showing that most states don't verify claims of U.S. citizenship.
Under the disputed law, if records such as birth certificates or passports are unavailable, states can accept sworn affidavits from two people, one of whom cannot be a relative. The witnesses would be subject to prosecution if they commit perjury, the AP said.
Scientists Find Gene Boosts Melanoma Risk
Scientists have identified a gene that increases a person's risk of developing the most common form of melanoma skin cancer.
Researchers at the U.S. National Cancer Institute said they've identified variant forms of the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene that increase a person's risk of melanoma, even if the person has dark skin pigmentation.
Looking for an association between inherited variant forms of MC1R and the development of melanoma, the researchers studied melanomas in 85 people at the Bufalini Hospital in Cesena, Italy, and 112 patients at the Department of Dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco.
"Knowing who is at greater risk for melanoma due to heredity, and understanding the pathways leading to cancer, are important steps in addressing a disease which is expected to be diagnosed in over 62,000 Americans in 2006," said Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
The findings are published in the June 29 online edition of the journal Science.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Health Headlines - June 29
1 in 5 Transplant Centers Fails Standards: Report
Dozens of heart, liver and lung transplant centers across the United States continue to operate despite failing to meet standards for patient survival and the minimum number of operations performed to receive federal funding, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
Forty-eight of the 236 approved centers operating nationwide under the aegis of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services continue working despite the lapses, according to the newspaper's report cited by the Associated Press.
Between 2002 and 2004, the newspaper said, the programs had 71 more patients die than expected within a year of a transplant.
"The bottom line message," said Dr. Mark Barr, a cardiothoracic transplant surgeon and president of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, "is that there are too many programs in the United States that need to be shut down," the AP reported.
Medicare funds most of the nation's transplant centers and requires that they perform a minimum number of transplants and achieve a specific survival rate to be certified for funding.
Representatives of some of the programs said they should be given more time to fix problems and said that it was impossible to judge a program based on figures from just a few years.
Pentagon Revising Document on Homosexuality
Under pressure from lawmakers and medical professionals, the Pentagon says it will revise a document that labels homosexuality a mental disorder.
"Homosexuality should not have been characterized as a mental disorder in an appendix of a procedural instruction," said Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Jeremy Martin, cited by the Associated Press. "A clarification will be issued over the next few days," he said.
Called a Defense Department Instruction, the document outlines retirement and discharge policies for service members with disabilities. One section lists homosexuality alongside mental retardation and personality disorders.
The American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder more than 30 years ago, the AP said.
The Pentagon already has a "don't ask, don't tell" policy that prohibits inquiries into the sex lives of service members but does require discharge of those who openly acknowledge being gay.
EU Set to Approve MS Drug Tysabri
The European Union is ready to approve the sale of Tysabri, a highly touted drug used to suppress the effects of multiple sclerosis, U.S. and Irish makers of the drug said Thursday.
"This decision means that patients in Europe who are suffering from this chronic, debilitating disease now have an effective new treatment alternative," Kelly Martin, president and chief executive officer of Elan Corp. PLC of Ireland, told the Associated Press.
The EU's expected approval follows the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision June 5 to allow resumed sales of Tysabri.
Tysabri had been withdrawn from the U.S. market in February 2005, after three users in clinical trials contracted a rare brain disease. Two of them died, but U.S. regulators later permitted Tysabri's relaunch after no new cases were detected and new safeguards were put into place, the AP reported.
Year-Round Birth Control Pill Approval Withheld
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has delayed approval of a new birth control pill that prevents users from menstruating at all, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
The FDA had already extended the review period for Lybrel, and manufacturer Wyeth Pharmaceuticals told the wire service that it hoped the contraceptive would have been approved Tuesday.
But the FDA asked for an additional delay, saying it wanted more clinical trial data on the pill's shelf live, pregnancy rates, and trial dropout rates, the AP reported.
The pill is designed to prevent menstruation, but only if used 365 days a year without interruption. Clinical trials suggested the pill was 98 percent effective in preventing pregnancy, although some users had problems with bleeding or spotting, Wyeth told the wire service.
Two Genes Linked to Liver Cancer
Abnormalities in two genes, dubbed Yap and CIAP1, probably play a "significant role" in causing liver cancer, say scientists at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York.
Liver cancer is the fifth most common form of cancer worldwide, yet in absence of effective treatment options, it's the third-leading cause of cancer deaths, the researchers said in a statement.
The scientists discovered the genetic link while observing how engineered liver stem cells responded after being transplanted into the livers of adult mice. The researchers performed DNA scans on mice that went on to develop liver cancer.
The findings offered hope for testing new therapies and treatments for liver cancer, the researchers said. The study is published in the June 30 issue of the journal Cell.
Novel Weight-Loss Drug to Be Launched in Britain
Britons will be the first to gain access to Sanofi-Aventis' much-anticipated diet drug Acomplia (rimonabant), but obese Americans will have to wait for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's possible approval later this year.
The European Union on Wednesday approved the heralded pill, which in trials cut users' body weight by up to 10 percent within a year, Britain's Daily Mail reported. The drug works by curbing a person's appetite.
The pill and its hefty price tag of nearly $100 a month won't be available to the British masses just yet, the newspaper noted, because Britain's National Health Service hasn't decided whether to subsidize it.
Rollouts of rimonabant are expected soon in Denmark, Ireland, Germany, Finland, and Norway, the Daily Mail said. The U.S. FDA has asked Sanofi for additional data before considering approval, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
Dozens of heart, liver and lung transplant centers across the United States continue to operate despite failing to meet standards for patient survival and the minimum number of operations performed to receive federal funding, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
Forty-eight of the 236 approved centers operating nationwide under the aegis of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services continue working despite the lapses, according to the newspaper's report cited by the Associated Press.
Between 2002 and 2004, the newspaper said, the programs had 71 more patients die than expected within a year of a transplant.
"The bottom line message," said Dr. Mark Barr, a cardiothoracic transplant surgeon and president of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, "is that there are too many programs in the United States that need to be shut down," the AP reported.
Medicare funds most of the nation's transplant centers and requires that they perform a minimum number of transplants and achieve a specific survival rate to be certified for funding.
Representatives of some of the programs said they should be given more time to fix problems and said that it was impossible to judge a program based on figures from just a few years.
Pentagon Revising Document on Homosexuality
Under pressure from lawmakers and medical professionals, the Pentagon says it will revise a document that labels homosexuality a mental disorder.
"Homosexuality should not have been characterized as a mental disorder in an appendix of a procedural instruction," said Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Jeremy Martin, cited by the Associated Press. "A clarification will be issued over the next few days," he said.
Called a Defense Department Instruction, the document outlines retirement and discharge policies for service members with disabilities. One section lists homosexuality alongside mental retardation and personality disorders.
The American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder more than 30 years ago, the AP said.
The Pentagon already has a "don't ask, don't tell" policy that prohibits inquiries into the sex lives of service members but does require discharge of those who openly acknowledge being gay.
EU Set to Approve MS Drug Tysabri
The European Union is ready to approve the sale of Tysabri, a highly touted drug used to suppress the effects of multiple sclerosis, U.S. and Irish makers of the drug said Thursday.
"This decision means that patients in Europe who are suffering from this chronic, debilitating disease now have an effective new treatment alternative," Kelly Martin, president and chief executive officer of Elan Corp. PLC of Ireland, told the Associated Press.
The EU's expected approval follows the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision June 5 to allow resumed sales of Tysabri.
Tysabri had been withdrawn from the U.S. market in February 2005, after three users in clinical trials contracted a rare brain disease. Two of them died, but U.S. regulators later permitted Tysabri's relaunch after no new cases were detected and new safeguards were put into place, the AP reported.
Year-Round Birth Control Pill Approval Withheld
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has delayed approval of a new birth control pill that prevents users from menstruating at all, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
The FDA had already extended the review period for Lybrel, and manufacturer Wyeth Pharmaceuticals told the wire service that it hoped the contraceptive would have been approved Tuesday.
But the FDA asked for an additional delay, saying it wanted more clinical trial data on the pill's shelf live, pregnancy rates, and trial dropout rates, the AP reported.
The pill is designed to prevent menstruation, but only if used 365 days a year without interruption. Clinical trials suggested the pill was 98 percent effective in preventing pregnancy, although some users had problems with bleeding or spotting, Wyeth told the wire service.
Two Genes Linked to Liver Cancer
Abnormalities in two genes, dubbed Yap and CIAP1, probably play a "significant role" in causing liver cancer, say scientists at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York.
Liver cancer is the fifth most common form of cancer worldwide, yet in absence of effective treatment options, it's the third-leading cause of cancer deaths, the researchers said in a statement.
The scientists discovered the genetic link while observing how engineered liver stem cells responded after being transplanted into the livers of adult mice. The researchers performed DNA scans on mice that went on to develop liver cancer.
The findings offered hope for testing new therapies and treatments for liver cancer, the researchers said. The study is published in the June 30 issue of the journal Cell.
Novel Weight-Loss Drug to Be Launched in Britain
Britons will be the first to gain access to Sanofi-Aventis' much-anticipated diet drug Acomplia (rimonabant), but obese Americans will have to wait for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's possible approval later this year.
The European Union on Wednesday approved the heralded pill, which in trials cut users' body weight by up to 10 percent within a year, Britain's Daily Mail reported. The drug works by curbing a person's appetite.
The pill and its hefty price tag of nearly $100 a month won't be available to the British masses just yet, the newspaper noted, because Britain's National Health Service hasn't decided whether to subsidize it.
Rollouts of rimonabant are expected soon in Denmark, Ireland, Germany, Finland, and Norway, the Daily Mail said. The U.S. FDA has asked Sanofi for additional data before considering approval, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Health Headlines - June 28
Cervical Cancer Vaccine Should be Standard for Young Girls: Panel
The newly approved vaccine to prevent cervical cancer should be a routine shot given to all girls 11 and 12 years old, a panel of experts advising the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended.
Merck's Gardasil, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on June 8, prevents infection with the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus (HPV) that's responsible for most cases of cervical cancer. The cancer can emerge later in life from exposure during the teenage years, the Bloomberg news service reported.
The CDC's advisory panel has submitted a proposal to the agency's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommending the shot for all 11- and 12-year-olds. The committee is set to decide on Thursday whether the CDC should add Gardasil to the list of standard inoculations for teen girls, Bloomberg said. The full agency usually adopts the recommendations of its expert committees.
Girls at that age now typically get a combination vaccine that protects them against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis, and another against meningitis, Bloomberg said.
Heart Patients Often Become Depressed: Study
Almost half of those who are hospitalized for cardiovascular problems go on to develop depression, new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concludes.
On the other hand, 80 percent of the heart patients who are treated for depression eventually respond to treatment, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found.
But they warned in Wednesday's issue of the journal that depression among heart patients is underdiagnosed, noting that the problem is far more common than among the 1-in-20 people in the general population who has depression.
Depression may have been present before heart problems surfaced or been caused by the mental stress of having cardiovascular issues, the researchers said. But the physical effects of surgery can also spark depression, they said, noting prior scientific findings that tiny clots can travel to the patient's brain after cardiovascular surgery, triggering problems including depression, experts told the Associated Press.
A positive side effect of taking depression medication after heart surgery is that most antidepressants help make the blood less likely to clot, possibly preventing future cardiovascular problems, the wire service reported.
Exelon Approved for Parkinson's Dementia
The first drug to treat dementia associated with Parkinson's disease has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Novartis Pharmaceutical's Exelon (rivastigmine tartrate) is already sanctioned to treat mild-to-moderate dementia associated with Alzheimer's disease, the agency said in a statement.
Almost 0.5 percent of people older than 65 have Parkinson's dementia, including such symptoms as impaired memory and attention. Exelon's effectiveness was established in 24-week clinical trials involving 541 people with mild-to-moderate dementia associated with Parkinson's, the FDA said.
Common adverse reactions to the drug included nausea, weight loss, anorexia, and loss of strength, the agency said.
Fewer Teens Becoming Mothers: Report
Fewer U.S. teenagers are having babies, according to a new report on child and teen health from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Teen birth rates fell to 42 per 100,000 females in 2003 -- the most recent year for which statistics are available -- from 48 per 100,000 females in 2000, according to the report released Tuesday. The foundation said it considered statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and other government agencies.
The percentage of high school dropouts also declined, to 8 percent in 2004 from 11 percent in 2000, and the death rates for both children and teens fell slightly over the period, according to an Associated Press account of the report.
But about 18 percent (some 13 million children) lived in poverty in 2004, up from 17 percent in 2000. And one-third of children lived in homes where no parent had a full-time job, up slightly from 32 percent in 2000.
Overall, children and teens fared best in the states of New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Iowa. They fared worst in Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, South Carolina and Tennessee, the foundation said.
Avastin Trial for Pancreatic Cancer Halted
Roche Holding AG said Tuesday that it was stopping clinical trials of its cancer drug Avastin for pancreatic cancer because the drug failed to extend patients' lives, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The Swiss drugmaker said the decision wouldn't affect existing filings and approvals of the drug's use for colorectal, lung and breast cancers, Dow Jones said.
The pancreatic trials were comparing use of Avastin combined with chemotherapy, versus chemotherapy alone. Roche said the trials weren't ended because of safety reasons, and no safety issues were uncovered during the trials.
Avastin was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for advanced colorectal cancer in 2004, and approval petitions have been filed for cancers of the lung and breast, Dow Jones said.
Dry Eye Rules in Vegas
Las Vegas sits atop a new list of the 100 hotspots for dry eye, a condition caused when the tear glands fail to keep the eye sufficiently moist. Left untreated, dry eye can boost a person's risk of infection and impaired vision, according to the list's sponsor, the National Women's Health Resource Center (NWHRC).
The non-profit group considered six factors, including temperature, humidity, wind, altitude, pollutants, and eye allergens.
After Las Vegas, rounding out the top 10 U.S. dry eye spots were the Texas cities of Lubbock, El Paso, Midland, and Dallas; followed by Atlanta; Salt Lake City; Phoenix; Amarillo, Texas; and Honolulu.
Dry eye is among the most common complaints brought to eye doctors, accounting for nearly one-fourth of all office visits, the NWHRC said.
The newly approved vaccine to prevent cervical cancer should be a routine shot given to all girls 11 and 12 years old, a panel of experts advising the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended.
Merck's Gardasil, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on June 8, prevents infection with the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus (HPV) that's responsible for most cases of cervical cancer. The cancer can emerge later in life from exposure during the teenage years, the Bloomberg news service reported.
The CDC's advisory panel has submitted a proposal to the agency's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommending the shot for all 11- and 12-year-olds. The committee is set to decide on Thursday whether the CDC should add Gardasil to the list of standard inoculations for teen girls, Bloomberg said. The full agency usually adopts the recommendations of its expert committees.
Girls at that age now typically get a combination vaccine that protects them against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis, and another against meningitis, Bloomberg said.
Heart Patients Often Become Depressed: Study
Almost half of those who are hospitalized for cardiovascular problems go on to develop depression, new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concludes.
On the other hand, 80 percent of the heart patients who are treated for depression eventually respond to treatment, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found.
But they warned in Wednesday's issue of the journal that depression among heart patients is underdiagnosed, noting that the problem is far more common than among the 1-in-20 people in the general population who has depression.
Depression may have been present before heart problems surfaced or been caused by the mental stress of having cardiovascular issues, the researchers said. But the physical effects of surgery can also spark depression, they said, noting prior scientific findings that tiny clots can travel to the patient's brain after cardiovascular surgery, triggering problems including depression, experts told the Associated Press.
A positive side effect of taking depression medication after heart surgery is that most antidepressants help make the blood less likely to clot, possibly preventing future cardiovascular problems, the wire service reported.
Exelon Approved for Parkinson's Dementia
The first drug to treat dementia associated with Parkinson's disease has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Novartis Pharmaceutical's Exelon (rivastigmine tartrate) is already sanctioned to treat mild-to-moderate dementia associated with Alzheimer's disease, the agency said in a statement.
Almost 0.5 percent of people older than 65 have Parkinson's dementia, including such symptoms as impaired memory and attention. Exelon's effectiveness was established in 24-week clinical trials involving 541 people with mild-to-moderate dementia associated with Parkinson's, the FDA said.
Common adverse reactions to the drug included nausea, weight loss, anorexia, and loss of strength, the agency said.
Fewer Teens Becoming Mothers: Report
Fewer U.S. teenagers are having babies, according to a new report on child and teen health from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Teen birth rates fell to 42 per 100,000 females in 2003 -- the most recent year for which statistics are available -- from 48 per 100,000 females in 2000, according to the report released Tuesday. The foundation said it considered statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and other government agencies.
The percentage of high school dropouts also declined, to 8 percent in 2004 from 11 percent in 2000, and the death rates for both children and teens fell slightly over the period, according to an Associated Press account of the report.
But about 18 percent (some 13 million children) lived in poverty in 2004, up from 17 percent in 2000. And one-third of children lived in homes where no parent had a full-time job, up slightly from 32 percent in 2000.
Overall, children and teens fared best in the states of New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Iowa. They fared worst in Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, South Carolina and Tennessee, the foundation said.
Avastin Trial for Pancreatic Cancer Halted
Roche Holding AG said Tuesday that it was stopping clinical trials of its cancer drug Avastin for pancreatic cancer because the drug failed to extend patients' lives, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The Swiss drugmaker said the decision wouldn't affect existing filings and approvals of the drug's use for colorectal, lung and breast cancers, Dow Jones said.
The pancreatic trials were comparing use of Avastin combined with chemotherapy, versus chemotherapy alone. Roche said the trials weren't ended because of safety reasons, and no safety issues were uncovered during the trials.
Avastin was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for advanced colorectal cancer in 2004, and approval petitions have been filed for cancers of the lung and breast, Dow Jones said.
Dry Eye Rules in Vegas
Las Vegas sits atop a new list of the 100 hotspots for dry eye, a condition caused when the tear glands fail to keep the eye sufficiently moist. Left untreated, dry eye can boost a person's risk of infection and impaired vision, according to the list's sponsor, the National Women's Health Resource Center (NWHRC).
The non-profit group considered six factors, including temperature, humidity, wind, altitude, pollutants, and eye allergens.
After Las Vegas, rounding out the top 10 U.S. dry eye spots were the Texas cities of Lubbock, El Paso, Midland, and Dallas; followed by Atlanta; Salt Lake City; Phoenix; Amarillo, Texas; and Honolulu.
Dry eye is among the most common complaints brought to eye doctors, accounting for nearly one-fourth of all office visits, the NWHRC said.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Health Headlines - June 27
Fewer Teens Becoming Mothers: Report
Fewer U.S. teenagers are having babies, according to a new report on child and teen health from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Teen birth rates fell to 42 per 100,000 females in 2003 -- the most recent year for which statistics are available -- from 48 per 100,000 females in 2000, according to the report released Tuesday. The foundation said it considered statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and other government agencies.
The percentage of high school dropouts also declined, to 8 percent in 2004 from 11 percent in 2000, and the death rates for both children and teens fell slightly over the period, according to an Associated Press account of the report.
But about 18 percent (some 13 million children) lived in poverty in 2004, up from 17 percent in 2000. And one-third of children lived in homes where no parent had a full-time job, up slightly from 32 percent in 2000.
Overall, children and teens fared best in the states of New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Iowa. They fared worst in Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, South Carolina and Tennessee, the foundation said.
Avastin Trial for Pancreatic Cancer Halted
Roche Holding AG said Tuesday that it was stopping clinical trials of its cancer drug Avastin for pancreatic cancer because the drug failed to extend patients' lives, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The Swiss drugmaker said the decision wouldn't affect existing filings and approvals of the drug's use for colorectal, lung and breast cancers, Dow Jones said.
The pancreatic trials were comparing use of Avastin combined with chemotherapy, versus chemotherapy alone. Roche said the trials weren't ended because of safety reasons, and no safety issues were uncovered during the trials.
Avastin was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for advanced colorectal cancer in 2004, and approval petitions have been filed for cancers of the lung and breast, Dow Jones said.
Dry Eye Rules in Vegas
Las Vegas sits atop a new list of the 100 hotspots for dry eye, a condition caused when the tear glands fail to keep the eye sufficiently moist. Left untreated, dry eye can boost a person's risk of infection and impaired vision, according to the list's sponsor, the National Women's Health Resource Center (NWHRC).
The non-profit group considered six factors, including temperature, humidity, wind, altitude, pollutants, and eye allergens.
After Las Vegas, rounding out the top 10 U.S. dry eye spots were the Texas cities of Lubbock, El Paso, Midland, and Dallas; followed by Atlanta; Salt Lake City; Phoenix; Amarillo, Texas; and Honolulu.
Dry eye is among the most common complaints brought to eye doctors, accounting for nearly one-fourth of all office visits, the NWHRC said.
FDA Enforcement Actions Declining, Lawmaker Says
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's enforcement of national food and drug laws lapsed sharply in the first five years of the George W. Bush administration, a top House Democrat alleges.
An investigation by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) found the number of FDA warning letters sent to drug and medical device companies dropped 54 percent in 2005 from five years earlier, according to an analysis of the study by The New York Times.
Seizures of mislabeled, defective, or dangerous products fell 44 percent over the span, the inquiry found. And enforcement actions over medical devices fell 65 percent. This was not because companies were in greater compliance with government regulations, Waxman's probe concluded, but because top FDA officials increasingly overruled subordinates' desire to enforce regulations, the newspaper said.
Reaction to the investigation was mixed, the Times reported. "I doubt that it makes a significant difference in the safety of drugs or other products," the newspaper quoted Jack Calfee, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, as saying.
Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, noted that the FDA receives some $380 million a year from drug companies and device makers. "The public is getting the kind of FDA that the industry is paying for them to get," he said.
U.S. Supreme Court Won't Hear Generic Drug Case
The U.S. Supreme Court has turned down the Federal Trade Commission's bid to end what the FTC says is now a common drug company practice of paying off generic drug manufacturers in exchange for delaying introduction of cheaper generics, the Associated Press reported.
The Supreme Court refused to hear the FTC's appeal of a March 2005 lower-court decision that found such settlements permissible under antitrust law. That decision involved drug maker Schering-Plough Corp., which paid two generic-drug companies a total of $75 million to settle separate lawsuits involving a potassium supplement prescribed to people on blood pressure medications. The settlements included pledges from both firms that they would keep their generic versions off the market for a specified period, the AP said.
Since last year's ruling that such settlements were allowed, the number of similar settlements has jumped, the FTC told the wire service.
The appeal of the lower-court decision had pitted the FTC against the U.S. Justice Department, which had urged the Supreme Court not to consider the case, the AP reported. The Justice Department's Solicitor General had argued that the case wasn't the proper vehicle for the high court to decide whether the settlements improperly restrained trade, the wire service said.
Antidepressants, Air Conditioning May Be Sparking Obesity: Study
Everyone knows that fatty food consumption and lack of exercise are prime contributors to America's growing waistline, note researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. But in addition to what they call the "big two," factors like the growing use of antidepressant medications and air conditioning may also be responsible, the scientists say.
Writing in the International Journal of Obesity, study author David Allison said too much attention is being paid to the "big two" causes of obesity. Allison cited other factors, including the growing use of antipsychotics, antidepressants, antihistamines, and other drugs known to cause weight gain, Bloomberg news service reported.
And America's growing reliance on air conditioning may be interfering with the natural biological process of burning energy to keep our bodies within a certain temperature, Allison said. "Yesterday in Alabama it was 100 degrees," he told Bloomberg. "If you were here in 1960, with no air conditioning in a car or restaurant, you probably wouldn't want to go to the all-you-can-eat buffet."
Allison's research cited other factors contributing to the obesity problem, including former cigarette smokers who eat as a substitute, adults getting less sleep, and mothers giving birth later in life, Bloomberg reported.
Fewer U.S. teenagers are having babies, according to a new report on child and teen health from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Teen birth rates fell to 42 per 100,000 females in 2003 -- the most recent year for which statistics are available -- from 48 per 100,000 females in 2000, according to the report released Tuesday. The foundation said it considered statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and other government agencies.
The percentage of high school dropouts also declined, to 8 percent in 2004 from 11 percent in 2000, and the death rates for both children and teens fell slightly over the period, according to an Associated Press account of the report.
But about 18 percent (some 13 million children) lived in poverty in 2004, up from 17 percent in 2000. And one-third of children lived in homes where no parent had a full-time job, up slightly from 32 percent in 2000.
Overall, children and teens fared best in the states of New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Iowa. They fared worst in Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, South Carolina and Tennessee, the foundation said.
Avastin Trial for Pancreatic Cancer Halted
Roche Holding AG said Tuesday that it was stopping clinical trials of its cancer drug Avastin for pancreatic cancer because the drug failed to extend patients' lives, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The Swiss drugmaker said the decision wouldn't affect existing filings and approvals of the drug's use for colorectal, lung and breast cancers, Dow Jones said.
The pancreatic trials were comparing use of Avastin combined with chemotherapy, versus chemotherapy alone. Roche said the trials weren't ended because of safety reasons, and no safety issues were uncovered during the trials.
Avastin was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for advanced colorectal cancer in 2004, and approval petitions have been filed for cancers of the lung and breast, Dow Jones said.
Dry Eye Rules in Vegas
Las Vegas sits atop a new list of the 100 hotspots for dry eye, a condition caused when the tear glands fail to keep the eye sufficiently moist. Left untreated, dry eye can boost a person's risk of infection and impaired vision, according to the list's sponsor, the National Women's Health Resource Center (NWHRC).
The non-profit group considered six factors, including temperature, humidity, wind, altitude, pollutants, and eye allergens.
After Las Vegas, rounding out the top 10 U.S. dry eye spots were the Texas cities of Lubbock, El Paso, Midland, and Dallas; followed by Atlanta; Salt Lake City; Phoenix; Amarillo, Texas; and Honolulu.
Dry eye is among the most common complaints brought to eye doctors, accounting for nearly one-fourth of all office visits, the NWHRC said.
FDA Enforcement Actions Declining, Lawmaker Says
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's enforcement of national food and drug laws lapsed sharply in the first five years of the George W. Bush administration, a top House Democrat alleges.
An investigation by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) found the number of FDA warning letters sent to drug and medical device companies dropped 54 percent in 2005 from five years earlier, according to an analysis of the study by The New York Times.
Seizures of mislabeled, defective, or dangerous products fell 44 percent over the span, the inquiry found. And enforcement actions over medical devices fell 65 percent. This was not because companies were in greater compliance with government regulations, Waxman's probe concluded, but because top FDA officials increasingly overruled subordinates' desire to enforce regulations, the newspaper said.
Reaction to the investigation was mixed, the Times reported. "I doubt that it makes a significant difference in the safety of drugs or other products," the newspaper quoted Jack Calfee, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, as saying.
Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, noted that the FDA receives some $380 million a year from drug companies and device makers. "The public is getting the kind of FDA that the industry is paying for them to get," he said.
U.S. Supreme Court Won't Hear Generic Drug Case
The U.S. Supreme Court has turned down the Federal Trade Commission's bid to end what the FTC says is now a common drug company practice of paying off generic drug manufacturers in exchange for delaying introduction of cheaper generics, the Associated Press reported.
The Supreme Court refused to hear the FTC's appeal of a March 2005 lower-court decision that found such settlements permissible under antitrust law. That decision involved drug maker Schering-Plough Corp., which paid two generic-drug companies a total of $75 million to settle separate lawsuits involving a potassium supplement prescribed to people on blood pressure medications. The settlements included pledges from both firms that they would keep their generic versions off the market for a specified period, the AP said.
Since last year's ruling that such settlements were allowed, the number of similar settlements has jumped, the FTC told the wire service.
The appeal of the lower-court decision had pitted the FTC against the U.S. Justice Department, which had urged the Supreme Court not to consider the case, the AP reported. The Justice Department's Solicitor General had argued that the case wasn't the proper vehicle for the high court to decide whether the settlements improperly restrained trade, the wire service said.
Antidepressants, Air Conditioning May Be Sparking Obesity: Study
Everyone knows that fatty food consumption and lack of exercise are prime contributors to America's growing waistline, note researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. But in addition to what they call the "big two," factors like the growing use of antidepressant medications and air conditioning may also be responsible, the scientists say.
Writing in the International Journal of Obesity, study author David Allison said too much attention is being paid to the "big two" causes of obesity. Allison cited other factors, including the growing use of antipsychotics, antidepressants, antihistamines, and other drugs known to cause weight gain, Bloomberg news service reported.
And America's growing reliance on air conditioning may be interfering with the natural biological process of burning energy to keep our bodies within a certain temperature, Allison said. "Yesterday in Alabama it was 100 degrees," he told Bloomberg. "If you were here in 1960, with no air conditioning in a car or restaurant, you probably wouldn't want to go to the all-you-can-eat buffet."
Allison's research cited other factors contributing to the obesity problem, including former cigarette smokers who eat as a substitute, adults getting less sleep, and mothers giving birth later in life, Bloomberg reported.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Health Headlines - June 26
1st Cases of Bird Flu From Wild Fowl Documented
Four people from Azerbaijan are the first confirmed cases of bird flu being passed from wild fowl, Britain's The Guardian newspaper reported Monday.
The four victims died after they plucked the feathers from dead swans to sell for pillows, the newspaper said. Three other people were infected the same way but survived.
Most of the 220 other documented cases of bird flu have been transmitted to people via infected domestic birds, the newspaper said. A few are believed to have acquired the deadly H5N1 strain from other people.
The Azerbaijani cases were first reported in March, but were only recently confirmed. Six of the seven victims, all between ages 10 and 20, were from the same family. Hunting and harvesting wild birds is illegal in Azerbaijan, and surviving family members finally conceded to plucking the feathers from the dead birds, The Guardian said.
1 Million Chocolate Bars Recalled for Salmonella
British candymaker Cadbury Schweppes says despite the recall of 1 million chocolate bars for possible salmonella contamination, the rest of its candy remains safe, the Associated Press reported Monday.
The company said a batch of chocolate used to make the bars had been contaminated with waste water from a leaky pipe at a factory in Marlbrook, England, in January. The products were recalled as a precaution, the company said, despite tests that found only "minute traces" of bacteria, the AP reported.
The British government said it was investigating why Cadbury didn't alert authorities earlier, the wire service said.
A spokesman for Cadbury, the world's largest confectionary company, said, "Our products are perfectly safe. We'd gone through our rigorous testing process."
Britain's Health Protection Agency told the wire service it was too early to determine whether the contamination might be linked to 45 cases of a rare strain of salmonella reported in Britain over the past four months.
Digital Handheld Device Helps Blind People 'Read'
A new electronic device that combines a personal digital assistant and a digital camera promises to help blind people to understand everything from menus to cooking instructions, the Associated Press reported Monday.
"It's not quite like having a pair of eyes that work, but it's headed in that direction," James Gashel, executive director at the National Federation of the Blind, told the wire service.
Users position the reader over a document, taking a snapshot of the text. The image is then read by the handheld's synthetic voice.
The device, developed by inventor Ray Kurzweil, has been dubbed the Kurzweil-National Federation of the Blind Reader. It's set to go on sale Saturday for about $3,500, the AP said.
Gashel labeled the technology the biggest breakthrough for the 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the United States in three decades. He calls it "the camera that talks."
New Test May Offer Alzheimer's Insights
U.S. researchers hope to answer an important and long-vexing question about the origins of Alzheimer's disease: Do patients with the condition have high levels of a brain protein because they make too much of it or because they can't clear it from their brains fast enough?
Scientists at the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis say they have developed the first safe and sensitive way to monitor the production and clearance rates of amyloid beta peptide (Abeta) in the human central nervous system. The new testing process could open an important window into the origin of Alzheimer's disease that, in addition to helping scientists better understand the source of the condition, will likely help them improve its diagnosis and treatment, the researchers said.
High levels of Abeta in the brain are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease and are believed to be a key cause of the condition. Tests that measure Abeta levels in the cerebrospinal fluid have been available for some time. However, those tests gave no hint as to whether Abeta in patients' brains came from an increase in the mechanisms that make the protein or a reduction in the processes that regularly clear it from the brain, the researchers said.
Because Alzheimer's symptoms take many years to develop, some researchers had assumed the creation and clearance rates for Abeta were very slow. But the initial test of the new technique, applied to six healthy volunteers, suggests the opposite.
"Abeta has the second-fastest production rate of any protein whose production rate has been measured so far," says lead author Dr. Randall Bateman, assistant professor of neurology at the school. "In a time span of about six or seven hours, you make half the amyloid beta found in your central nervous system."
Ideally, the production and clearance rates stay balanced, causing the overall amount of Abeta in the central nervous system to remain constant. In the healthy volunteers who were the first test subjects, Bateman found the production and clearance rates were the same. He is now applying the technique to individuals with Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers are developing Alzheimer's drugs that either decrease Abeta production or increase its clearance, Bateman said, and the new test could be important in determining which approach is most effective.
The test also may be useful in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's prior to the onset of symptoms, which appear after the disease has inflicted widespread and largely irreversible damage to the brain.
The study appears online June 25 in the journal Nature Medicine.
HIV Drug Approved for Those Not Responding to Existing Drugs
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Prezista (darunavir), a new drug for adults whose HIV infection hasn't responded to treatment with other antiretroviral drugs.
Prezista, a new protease inhibitor, is approved to be used with a low-dose of ritonavir and other active anti-HIV agents. Ritonavir, a protease inhibitor approved in 1996, slows the breakdown of Prezista in the body, increasing the concentration of Prezista in the patient's system, the FDA said.
HIV causes AIDS, which results in more than 15,000 premature deaths each year in the United States and more than 2.8 million deaths each year worldwide.
"This approval offers new hope to HIV patients who too often urgently need new therapies in order to maintain their health," said Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach, acting FDA commissioner. "This drug is not a cure, but when combined with other standard therapies, it presents one more major step in our effort to help patients combat the effects of the disease."
Four people from Azerbaijan are the first confirmed cases of bird flu being passed from wild fowl, Britain's The Guardian newspaper reported Monday.
The four victims died after they plucked the feathers from dead swans to sell for pillows, the newspaper said. Three other people were infected the same way but survived.
Most of the 220 other documented cases of bird flu have been transmitted to people via infected domestic birds, the newspaper said. A few are believed to have acquired the deadly H5N1 strain from other people.
The Azerbaijani cases were first reported in March, but were only recently confirmed. Six of the seven victims, all between ages 10 and 20, were from the same family. Hunting and harvesting wild birds is illegal in Azerbaijan, and surviving family members finally conceded to plucking the feathers from the dead birds, The Guardian said.
1 Million Chocolate Bars Recalled for Salmonella
British candymaker Cadbury Schweppes says despite the recall of 1 million chocolate bars for possible salmonella contamination, the rest of its candy remains safe, the Associated Press reported Monday.
The company said a batch of chocolate used to make the bars had been contaminated with waste water from a leaky pipe at a factory in Marlbrook, England, in January. The products were recalled as a precaution, the company said, despite tests that found only "minute traces" of bacteria, the AP reported.
The British government said it was investigating why Cadbury didn't alert authorities earlier, the wire service said.
A spokesman for Cadbury, the world's largest confectionary company, said, "Our products are perfectly safe. We'd gone through our rigorous testing process."
Britain's Health Protection Agency told the wire service it was too early to determine whether the contamination might be linked to 45 cases of a rare strain of salmonella reported in Britain over the past four months.
Digital Handheld Device Helps Blind People 'Read'
A new electronic device that combines a personal digital assistant and a digital camera promises to help blind people to understand everything from menus to cooking instructions, the Associated Press reported Monday.
"It's not quite like having a pair of eyes that work, but it's headed in that direction," James Gashel, executive director at the National Federation of the Blind, told the wire service.
Users position the reader over a document, taking a snapshot of the text. The image is then read by the handheld's synthetic voice.
The device, developed by inventor Ray Kurzweil, has been dubbed the Kurzweil-National Federation of the Blind Reader. It's set to go on sale Saturday for about $3,500, the AP said.
Gashel labeled the technology the biggest breakthrough for the 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the United States in three decades. He calls it "the camera that talks."
New Test May Offer Alzheimer's Insights
U.S. researchers hope to answer an important and long-vexing question about the origins of Alzheimer's disease: Do patients with the condition have high levels of a brain protein because they make too much of it or because they can't clear it from their brains fast enough?
Scientists at the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis say they have developed the first safe and sensitive way to monitor the production and clearance rates of amyloid beta peptide (Abeta) in the human central nervous system. The new testing process could open an important window into the origin of Alzheimer's disease that, in addition to helping scientists better understand the source of the condition, will likely help them improve its diagnosis and treatment, the researchers said.
High levels of Abeta in the brain are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease and are believed to be a key cause of the condition. Tests that measure Abeta levels in the cerebrospinal fluid have been available for some time. However, those tests gave no hint as to whether Abeta in patients' brains came from an increase in the mechanisms that make the protein or a reduction in the processes that regularly clear it from the brain, the researchers said.
Because Alzheimer's symptoms take many years to develop, some researchers had assumed the creation and clearance rates for Abeta were very slow. But the initial test of the new technique, applied to six healthy volunteers, suggests the opposite.
"Abeta has the second-fastest production rate of any protein whose production rate has been measured so far," says lead author Dr. Randall Bateman, assistant professor of neurology at the school. "In a time span of about six or seven hours, you make half the amyloid beta found in your central nervous system."
Ideally, the production and clearance rates stay balanced, causing the overall amount of Abeta in the central nervous system to remain constant. In the healthy volunteers who were the first test subjects, Bateman found the production and clearance rates were the same. He is now applying the technique to individuals with Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers are developing Alzheimer's drugs that either decrease Abeta production or increase its clearance, Bateman said, and the new test could be important in determining which approach is most effective.
The test also may be useful in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's prior to the onset of symptoms, which appear after the disease has inflicted widespread and largely irreversible damage to the brain.
The study appears online June 25 in the journal Nature Medicine.
HIV Drug Approved for Those Not Responding to Existing Drugs
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Prezista (darunavir), a new drug for adults whose HIV infection hasn't responded to treatment with other antiretroviral drugs.
Prezista, a new protease inhibitor, is approved to be used with a low-dose of ritonavir and other active anti-HIV agents. Ritonavir, a protease inhibitor approved in 1996, slows the breakdown of Prezista in the body, increasing the concentration of Prezista in the patient's system, the FDA said.
HIV causes AIDS, which results in more than 15,000 premature deaths each year in the United States and more than 2.8 million deaths each year worldwide.
"This approval offers new hope to HIV patients who too often urgently need new therapies in order to maintain their health," said Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach, acting FDA commissioner. "This drug is not a cure, but when combined with other standard therapies, it presents one more major step in our effort to help patients combat the effects of the disease."
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Health Headlines - June 25
New Test May Offer Alzheimer's Insights
U.S. researchers hope to answer an important and long-vexing question about the origins of Alzheimer's disease: Do patients with the condition have high levels of a brain protein because they make too much of it or because they can't clear it from their brains fast enough?
Scientists at the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis say they have developed the first safe and sensitive way to monitor the production and clearance rates of amyloid beta peptide (Abeta) in the human central nervous system. The new testing process could open an important window into the origin of Alzheimer's disease that, in addition to helping scientists better understand the source of the condition, will likely help them improve its diagnosis and treatment, the researchers said.
High levels of Abeta in the brain are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease and are believed to be a key cause of the condition. Tests that measure Abeta levels in the cerebrospinal fluid have been available for some time. However, those tests gave no hint as to whether Abeta in patients' brains came from an increase in the mechanisms that make the protein or a reduction in the processes that regularly clear it from the brain, the researchers said.
Because Alzheimer's symptoms take many years to develop, some researchers had assumed the creation and clearance rates for Abeta were very slow. But the initial test of the new technique, applied to six healthy volunteers, suggests the opposite.
"Abeta has the second-fastest production rate of any protein whose production rate has been measured so far," says lead author Dr. Randall Bateman, assistant professor of neurology at the school. "In a time span of about six or seven hours, you make half the amyloid beta found in your central nervous system."
Ideally, the production and clearance rates stay balanced, causing the overall amount of Abeta in the central nervous system to remain constant. In the healthy volunteers who were the first test subjects, Bateman found the production and clearance rates were the same. He is now applying the technique to individuals with Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers are developing Alzheimer's drugs that either decrease Abeta production or increase its clearance, Bateman said, and the new test could be important in determining which approach is most effective.
The test also may be useful in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's prior to the onset of symptoms, which appear after the disease has inflicted widespread and largely irreversible damage to the brain.
The study appears online June 25 in the journal Nature Medicine.
HIV Drug Approved for Those Not Responding to Existing Drugs
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Prezista (darunavir), a new drug for adults whose HIV infection hasn't responded to treatment with other antiretroviral drugs.
Prezista, a new protease inhibitor, is approved to be used with a low-dose of ritonavir and other active anti-HIV agents. Ritonavir, a protease inhibitor approved in 1996, slows the breakdown of Prezista in the body, increasing the concentration of Prezista in the patient's system, the FDA said.
HIV causes AIDS, which results in more than 15,000 premature deaths each year in the United States and more than 2.8 million deaths each year worldwide.
"This approval offers new hope to HIV patients who too often urgently need new therapies in order to maintain their health," said Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach, acting FDA commissioner. "This drug is not a cure, but when combined with other standard therapies, it presents one more major step in our effort to help patients combat the effects of the disease."
Losing Weight Helps People With Osteoarthritis
Patients with knee osteoarthritis who lose weight are significantly less disabled and are better able to manage pain, a new study found.
"Weight-reduction therapy in overweight osteoarthritic patients is a very appealing goal, both with regards to disease specific pain and disability reduction as well as for overall health benefits such as cardiovascular risk reduction" said study author Robin Christensen, of The Parker Institute, HS Frederiksberg Hospital, in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The findings were presented Saturday at the 2006 European League Against Rheumatism Congress, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of joint disease, and is often associated with significant disability and an impaired quality of life. A number of studies had suggested a relationship between weight loss and health gains in patients with knee osteoarthritis. This led the Danish researchers to launch a "meta-analysis" of existing research to see if weight loss really did offer health gains.
The researchers reviewed 23 clinical trials. Their conclusion: The evidence shows that osteoarthritis patients will experience at least a "moderate clinical effect in their physical disability (ES>0.5) with a moderate dietary regime following more than 7.6 percent weight reduction.
"A 10 percent reduction in body weight results in a moderate-to-large improvement in self reported physical disability," Christensen said.
Rheumatoid Arthritis Diminishes Patients' Sex Lives
One-third of patients with rheumatoid arthritis feel their condition has a "considerably" negative influence on their sex lives, new research finds.
"Today's findings indicate the need for increased attention on the effect of rheumatoid arthritis on sexual activity as well as reveal that sexual problems should be addressed as part of the general health care given to RA patients," said Ylva Helland, department of rheumatology at Diakonhjemmet Hospital in Oslo, Norway.
The findings were presented Saturday at the 2006 European League Against Rheumatism Congress, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The study found that 31 percent of RA patients reported that the disease had no impact on sexual activity, with another 38 percent saying it had "little" impact. But, 21 percent said their condition had considerable impact on their sex lives, and 10 percent said RA made sexual activity either almost or totally impossible.
Compared to the female patients, men were more likely to report a significant impact on their sexual activity.
Human Bird-Flu Transmission Confirmed in Indonesian Cluster
The first case of human-to-human transmission of the bird flu virus has been confirmed in laboratory tests of samples taken from a 10-year-old Indonesian boy who died last month from the H5N1 avian influenza strain, a World Health Organization official said Friday.
Genetic sequencing of a virus sample taken from the boy showed a minute change that was also found in a sample taken from his father, who also later died, said Dick Thompson, a spokesman for the United Nations health agency in Geneva, Switzerland. Human-to-human transmission had been suspected as the cause of the infection in seven members of a family of eight from the island of Sumatra.
The Sumatran cluster attracted international attention because it represented the largest reported instance of bird-flu spread among people and the first evidence of a three-person chain of infection.
U.S. researchers hope to answer an important and long-vexing question about the origins of Alzheimer's disease: Do patients with the condition have high levels of a brain protein because they make too much of it or because they can't clear it from their brains fast enough?
Scientists at the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis say they have developed the first safe and sensitive way to monitor the production and clearance rates of amyloid beta peptide (Abeta) in the human central nervous system. The new testing process could open an important window into the origin of Alzheimer's disease that, in addition to helping scientists better understand the source of the condition, will likely help them improve its diagnosis and treatment, the researchers said.
High levels of Abeta in the brain are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease and are believed to be a key cause of the condition. Tests that measure Abeta levels in the cerebrospinal fluid have been available for some time. However, those tests gave no hint as to whether Abeta in patients' brains came from an increase in the mechanisms that make the protein or a reduction in the processes that regularly clear it from the brain, the researchers said.
Because Alzheimer's symptoms take many years to develop, some researchers had assumed the creation and clearance rates for Abeta were very slow. But the initial test of the new technique, applied to six healthy volunteers, suggests the opposite.
"Abeta has the second-fastest production rate of any protein whose production rate has been measured so far," says lead author Dr. Randall Bateman, assistant professor of neurology at the school. "In a time span of about six or seven hours, you make half the amyloid beta found in your central nervous system."
Ideally, the production and clearance rates stay balanced, causing the overall amount of Abeta in the central nervous system to remain constant. In the healthy volunteers who were the first test subjects, Bateman found the production and clearance rates were the same. He is now applying the technique to individuals with Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers are developing Alzheimer's drugs that either decrease Abeta production or increase its clearance, Bateman said, and the new test could be important in determining which approach is most effective.
The test also may be useful in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's prior to the onset of symptoms, which appear after the disease has inflicted widespread and largely irreversible damage to the brain.
The study appears online June 25 in the journal Nature Medicine.
HIV Drug Approved for Those Not Responding to Existing Drugs
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Prezista (darunavir), a new drug for adults whose HIV infection hasn't responded to treatment with other antiretroviral drugs.
Prezista, a new protease inhibitor, is approved to be used with a low-dose of ritonavir and other active anti-HIV agents. Ritonavir, a protease inhibitor approved in 1996, slows the breakdown of Prezista in the body, increasing the concentration of Prezista in the patient's system, the FDA said.
HIV causes AIDS, which results in more than 15,000 premature deaths each year in the United States and more than 2.8 million deaths each year worldwide.
"This approval offers new hope to HIV patients who too often urgently need new therapies in order to maintain their health," said Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach, acting FDA commissioner. "This drug is not a cure, but when combined with other standard therapies, it presents one more major step in our effort to help patients combat the effects of the disease."
Losing Weight Helps People With Osteoarthritis
Patients with knee osteoarthritis who lose weight are significantly less disabled and are better able to manage pain, a new study found.
"Weight-reduction therapy in overweight osteoarthritic patients is a very appealing goal, both with regards to disease specific pain and disability reduction as well as for overall health benefits such as cardiovascular risk reduction" said study author Robin Christensen, of The Parker Institute, HS Frederiksberg Hospital, in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The findings were presented Saturday at the 2006 European League Against Rheumatism Congress, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of joint disease, and is often associated with significant disability and an impaired quality of life. A number of studies had suggested a relationship between weight loss and health gains in patients with knee osteoarthritis. This led the Danish researchers to launch a "meta-analysis" of existing research to see if weight loss really did offer health gains.
The researchers reviewed 23 clinical trials. Their conclusion: The evidence shows that osteoarthritis patients will experience at least a "moderate clinical effect in their physical disability (ES>0.5) with a moderate dietary regime following more than 7.6 percent weight reduction.
"A 10 percent reduction in body weight results in a moderate-to-large improvement in self reported physical disability," Christensen said.
Rheumatoid Arthritis Diminishes Patients' Sex Lives
One-third of patients with rheumatoid arthritis feel their condition has a "considerably" negative influence on their sex lives, new research finds.
"Today's findings indicate the need for increased attention on the effect of rheumatoid arthritis on sexual activity as well as reveal that sexual problems should be addressed as part of the general health care given to RA patients," said Ylva Helland, department of rheumatology at Diakonhjemmet Hospital in Oslo, Norway.
The findings were presented Saturday at the 2006 European League Against Rheumatism Congress, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The study found that 31 percent of RA patients reported that the disease had no impact on sexual activity, with another 38 percent saying it had "little" impact. But, 21 percent said their condition had considerable impact on their sex lives, and 10 percent said RA made sexual activity either almost or totally impossible.
Compared to the female patients, men were more likely to report a significant impact on their sexual activity.
Human Bird-Flu Transmission Confirmed in Indonesian Cluster
The first case of human-to-human transmission of the bird flu virus has been confirmed in laboratory tests of samples taken from a 10-year-old Indonesian boy who died last month from the H5N1 avian influenza strain, a World Health Organization official said Friday.
Genetic sequencing of a virus sample taken from the boy showed a minute change that was also found in a sample taken from his father, who also later died, said Dick Thompson, a spokesman for the United Nations health agency in Geneva, Switzerland. Human-to-human transmission had been suspected as the cause of the infection in seven members of a family of eight from the island of Sumatra.
The Sumatran cluster attracted international attention because it represented the largest reported instance of bird-flu spread among people and the first evidence of a three-person chain of infection.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Health Headlines - June 24
HIV Drug Approved for Those Not Responding to Existing Drugs
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Prezista (darunavir), a new drug for adults whose HIV infection hasn't responded to treatment with other antiretroviral drugs.
Prezista, a new protease inhibitor, is approved to be used with a low-dose of ritonavir and other active anti-HIV agents. Ritonavir, a protease inhibitor approved in 1996, slows the breakdown of Prezista in the body, increasing the concentration of Prezista in the patient's system, the FDA said.
HIV causes AIDS, which results in more than 15,000 premature deaths each year in the United States and more than 2.8 million deaths each year worldwide.
"This approval offers new hope to HIV patients who too often urgently need new therapies in order to maintain their health," said Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach, acting FDA commissioner. "This drug is not a cure, but when combined with other standard therapies, it presents one more major step in our effort to help patients combat the effects of the disease."
The most common side effects of the Prezista-ritonavir regimen include diarrhea, nausea and headache. The risks and benefits of Prezista have not been established for adults who have not been previously treated for HIV, or for children, the FDA said.
Rheumatoid Arthritis Diminishes Patients' Sex Lives
One-third of patients with rheumatoid arthritis feel their condition has a "considerably" negative influence on their sex lives, new research finds.
"Today's findings indicate the need for increased attention on the effect of rheumatoid arthritis on sexual activity as well as reveal that sexual problems should be addressed as part of the general health care given to RA patients," said Ylva Helland, department of rheumatology at Diakonhjemmet Hospital in Oslo, Norway.
The findings were presented Saturday at the 2006 European League Against Rheumatism Congress, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The study found that 31 percent of RA patients reported that the disease had no impact on sexual activity, with another 38 percent saying it had "little" impact. But, 21 percent said their condition had considerable impact on their sex lives, and 10 percent said RA made sexual activity either almost or totally impossible.
Compared to the female patients, men were more likely to report a significant impact on their sexual activity.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease characterized by inflammation of the lining of the joints. It can produce long-term joint damage, resulting in chronic pain, loss of function and disability, according to the Arthritis Foundation.
Human Bird-Flu Transmission Confirmed in Indonesian Cluster
The first case of human-to-human transmission of the bird flu virus has been confirmed in laboratory tests of samples taken from a 10-year-old Indonesian boy who died last month from the H5N1 avian influenza strain, a World Health Organization official said Friday.
Genetic sequencing of a virus sample taken from the boy showed a minute change that was also found in a sample taken from his father, who also later died, said Dick Thompson, a spokesman for the United Nations health agency in Geneva, Switzerland. Human-to-human transmission had been suspected as the cause of the infection in seven members of a family of eight from the island of Sumatra.
"We have seen a genetic change that confirms in a laboratory that the virus has moved from one human to another," Thompson told Bloomberg News. The change in the virus "doesn't seem to have any significance in terms of the pathology of the disease or how easily it's transmitted,' he said.
The Sumatran cluster attracted international attention because it represented the largest reported instance of bird-flu spread among people and the first evidence of a three-person chain of infection.
A 37-year-old woman suspected of being the first family member to die was buried before samples were taken. She reportedly mixed fowl manure with soil with her bare hands to fertilize her garden.
The woman's 10-year-old nephew, an 18-month-old niece, two teenage sons and a 29-year-old sister became sick between May 2 and May 4, and later died after having close contact with the woman during her illness, Bloomberg said. A 25-year-old brother was also infected but survived.
The New York Times reported that the first five family members to fall ill had identical strains of H5N1, but the virus had mutated slightly in the sixth victim, the 10-year-old boy, who passed it to his father. That mutation allowed the lab to confirm the route of transmission.
World health officials said there was no evidence that the mutated virus is any better adapted to human infection than before. In fact, the WHO has been following 54 neighbors and family members who lived near the family for a month, and none has contracted the virus, the newspaper said.
At least 130 of the 228 people known to be infected with bird flu since 2003 have died, according to the WHO. World health officials are tracking the spread of the virus in the event it becomes more adept at infecting people.
FDA Approves Generic Version of Zocor
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Friday approved the first generic version of Zocor, Merck & Co.'s popular cholesterol-lowering statin drug whose patent protection expires at midnight.
The FDA decision capped a difficult week for Merck, since Zocor generated $3.1 billion in sales in the United States and $4.4 billion worldwide last year for the firm. But Zocor's patent expiration also could mean fewer profits at drug maker Pfizer Inc., whose rival cholesterol drug, Lipitor, is the world's most popular medicine, with global sales last year of $12 billion. Lipitor's patent runs until 2011.
Stains drugs accounted for $16 billion in U.S. sales in 2005. Simvastatin (Zocor) is recommended for use with a diet restricted in saturated fat to treat high cholesterol and to reduce triglycerides and other fatty substances in the blood , the FDA said.
"Simvastatin is a widely used cholesterol lowering agent, and its generic version can bring significant savings to the millions of Americans with this disease," Gary J. Buehler, director of FDA's Office of Generic Drugs, said in a prepared statement.
Zocor has sold for about $3 a daily pill. As a result of the patent expiration, simvastatin's cost could drop 30 percent or more in the next few days, and by as much as 90 percent next year, to about 30 cents a pill, according to The New York Times.
In addition to approving simvastatin, the FDA approved three other generics this week:
* Finasteride tablets, 1 mg (Propecia), for the treatment of mild to moderate male pattern hair loss in men between 18 and 41 years of age.
* Finasteride tablets, 5 mg, (Proscar), for the treatment of benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) in men with an enlarged prostate to improve symptoms by reducing the size of the prostate.
* Lamotrigine tablets (chewable), 5 mg and 25 mg (Lamictal), as therapy for treating patients with seizures due to epilepsy.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Prezista (darunavir), a new drug for adults whose HIV infection hasn't responded to treatment with other antiretroviral drugs.
Prezista, a new protease inhibitor, is approved to be used with a low-dose of ritonavir and other active anti-HIV agents. Ritonavir, a protease inhibitor approved in 1996, slows the breakdown of Prezista in the body, increasing the concentration of Prezista in the patient's system, the FDA said.
HIV causes AIDS, which results in more than 15,000 premature deaths each year in the United States and more than 2.8 million deaths each year worldwide.
"This approval offers new hope to HIV patients who too often urgently need new therapies in order to maintain their health," said Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach, acting FDA commissioner. "This drug is not a cure, but when combined with other standard therapies, it presents one more major step in our effort to help patients combat the effects of the disease."
The most common side effects of the Prezista-ritonavir regimen include diarrhea, nausea and headache. The risks and benefits of Prezista have not been established for adults who have not been previously treated for HIV, or for children, the FDA said.
Rheumatoid Arthritis Diminishes Patients' Sex Lives
One-third of patients with rheumatoid arthritis feel their condition has a "considerably" negative influence on their sex lives, new research finds.
"Today's findings indicate the need for increased attention on the effect of rheumatoid arthritis on sexual activity as well as reveal that sexual problems should be addressed as part of the general health care given to RA patients," said Ylva Helland, department of rheumatology at Diakonhjemmet Hospital in Oslo, Norway.
The findings were presented Saturday at the 2006 European League Against Rheumatism Congress, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The study found that 31 percent of RA patients reported that the disease had no impact on sexual activity, with another 38 percent saying it had "little" impact. But, 21 percent said their condition had considerable impact on their sex lives, and 10 percent said RA made sexual activity either almost or totally impossible.
Compared to the female patients, men were more likely to report a significant impact on their sexual activity.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease characterized by inflammation of the lining of the joints. It can produce long-term joint damage, resulting in chronic pain, loss of function and disability, according to the Arthritis Foundation.
Human Bird-Flu Transmission Confirmed in Indonesian Cluster
The first case of human-to-human transmission of the bird flu virus has been confirmed in laboratory tests of samples taken from a 10-year-old Indonesian boy who died last month from the H5N1 avian influenza strain, a World Health Organization official said Friday.
Genetic sequencing of a virus sample taken from the boy showed a minute change that was also found in a sample taken from his father, who also later died, said Dick Thompson, a spokesman for the United Nations health agency in Geneva, Switzerland. Human-to-human transmission had been suspected as the cause of the infection in seven members of a family of eight from the island of Sumatra.
"We have seen a genetic change that confirms in a laboratory that the virus has moved from one human to another," Thompson told Bloomberg News. The change in the virus "doesn't seem to have any significance in terms of the pathology of the disease or how easily it's transmitted,' he said.
The Sumatran cluster attracted international attention because it represented the largest reported instance of bird-flu spread among people and the first evidence of a three-person chain of infection.
A 37-year-old woman suspected of being the first family member to die was buried before samples were taken. She reportedly mixed fowl manure with soil with her bare hands to fertilize her garden.
The woman's 10-year-old nephew, an 18-month-old niece, two teenage sons and a 29-year-old sister became sick between May 2 and May 4, and later died after having close contact with the woman during her illness, Bloomberg said. A 25-year-old brother was also infected but survived.
The New York Times reported that the first five family members to fall ill had identical strains of H5N1, but the virus had mutated slightly in the sixth victim, the 10-year-old boy, who passed it to his father. That mutation allowed the lab to confirm the route of transmission.
World health officials said there was no evidence that the mutated virus is any better adapted to human infection than before. In fact, the WHO has been following 54 neighbors and family members who lived near the family for a month, and none has contracted the virus, the newspaper said.
At least 130 of the 228 people known to be infected with bird flu since 2003 have died, according to the WHO. World health officials are tracking the spread of the virus in the event it becomes more adept at infecting people.
FDA Approves Generic Version of Zocor
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Friday approved the first generic version of Zocor, Merck & Co.'s popular cholesterol-lowering statin drug whose patent protection expires at midnight.
The FDA decision capped a difficult week for Merck, since Zocor generated $3.1 billion in sales in the United States and $4.4 billion worldwide last year for the firm. But Zocor's patent expiration also could mean fewer profits at drug maker Pfizer Inc., whose rival cholesterol drug, Lipitor, is the world's most popular medicine, with global sales last year of $12 billion. Lipitor's patent runs until 2011.
Stains drugs accounted for $16 billion in U.S. sales in 2005. Simvastatin (Zocor) is recommended for use with a diet restricted in saturated fat to treat high cholesterol and to reduce triglycerides and other fatty substances in the blood , the FDA said.
"Simvastatin is a widely used cholesterol lowering agent, and its generic version can bring significant savings to the millions of Americans with this disease," Gary J. Buehler, director of FDA's Office of Generic Drugs, said in a prepared statement.
Zocor has sold for about $3 a daily pill. As a result of the patent expiration, simvastatin's cost could drop 30 percent or more in the next few days, and by as much as 90 percent next year, to about 30 cents a pill, according to The New York Times.
In addition to approving simvastatin, the FDA approved three other generics this week:
* Finasteride tablets, 1 mg (Propecia), for the treatment of mild to moderate male pattern hair loss in men between 18 and 41 years of age.
* Finasteride tablets, 5 mg, (Proscar), for the treatment of benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) in men with an enlarged prostate to improve symptoms by reducing the size of the prostate.
* Lamotrigine tablets (chewable), 5 mg and 25 mg (Lamictal), as therapy for treating patients with seizures due to epilepsy.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Health Headlines - June 23
WHO: Bird flu virus mutated in Indonesia
A World Health Organization investigation showed that the H5N1 virus mutated in an Indonesian family cluster on Sumatra island, but bird flu experts insisted Friday it did not increase the possibility of a human pandemic.
The virus that infected eight members of a family last month — killing seven of them — appears to have slightly mutated in a 10-year-old boy, who is suspected of having passed the virus to his father, the WHO investigative report said.
It is the first evidence of possible human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 virus, said Tim Uyeki, an epidemiologist from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He added that the virus died with the father and did not pass outside the family.
"It stopped. It was dead end at that point," he said, stressing that viruses are always slightly changing and there was no reason to raise alarm bells.
The findings appeared in a report obtained by The Associated Press that was distributed at a closed meeting in Jakarta attended by some of the world's top bird flu experts.
The three-day session that wraps up Friday was convened after Indonesia asked for international help checking the virus, which has killed 39 people there.
Experts fear the virus will mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially starting a pandemic. So far, it remains hard for people to catch, and most human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds.
WHO concluded in its report that human-to-human transmission likely occurred among seven relatives infected with the H5N1 virus in a remote farming village on Sumatra island. An eighth family member who was buried before specimens could be taken is believed to have been infected by poultry, a WHO report said.
Despite the virus' slight mutation in the father and son, Uyeki insisted that an analysis suggested there was "nothing remarkable about these viruses."
Bird flu has killed at least 130 people worldwide since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003.
Older Transfused Blood May Raise Risks After Surgery
When it comes to blood transfused during surgery into very sick heart patients, newer may be better, researchers report.
"High-risk patients who received older blood were more likely to die after cardiac surgery," said lead investigator Dr. Elliot Bennett-Guerrero, director of perioperative clinical research at the Duke University Medical Center.
Specifically, repeat bypass patients who received the "freshest" blood during their operation (stored for one to 19 days) had a 4 percent in-hospital death rate, compared to a 25 percent rate in similar patients receiving the "oldest" blood (stored for 31 to 42 days). U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations prohibit the use of blood stored for more than 42 days.
The study authors and others stressed that blood transfusion is often absolutely necessary to save lives. They also noted that for healthier patients requiring fewer units of blood, any increase in risk from receiving older blood would probably be minimal.
The study appears in the July issue of Analgesia & Anesthesia.
Each year, Americans receive more than 12 million units of potentially life-saving blood, with more than 2 million units used in cardiovascular surgeries, according to data included in the study.
Whether or not the amount of time blood has spent in storage can affect the recipient's health "has been an age-old question in transfusion medicine," Bennett-Guerrero said.
In the new study, the Duke team took a retrospective look at the medical files of 321 patients who underwent repeat, open-heart surgeries for either coronary artery bypass or valve replacement between 1995 and 2001. The patients received a relatively large amount of donated blood -- an average of 5 units -- during these procedures.
The researchers tracked the patients' incidence of in-hospital and long-term mortality, as well as post-surgical complications such as kidney failure. They compared the rate of those types of outcomes to the number of units and age of the blood each patient received.
In-hospital death rates rose along with the age of blood received, the study found, as did hospital length-of-stay -- an average of 3.5 days for those receiving freshest blood vs. seven days for those getting older units.
Patients who received older blood also had higher rates of death in the eight years after their surgery, the researchers noted. According to Bennett-Guerrero, that's probably due to the long-term consequences of complications sustained just after surgery (for example, kidney failure) that may have been triggered -- at least in part -- by the use of older transfused blood.
Why might blood stored closer to the 42-day maximum be less healthy than "younger" blood?
"One of the theories is that as red blood cells age during storage, they become stiffer," Bennett-Guerrero said. "There's lots of evidence that these stiffer red blood cells may not deliver oxygen as efficiently. Or, they may even clot up or get stuck in organs and cause those organs to become damaged."
One blood expert called the study "commendable" but urged caution in interpreting the results.
"This paper is provocative, but it's a retrospective study with lots of confounding factors," said Dr. Richard Benjamin, chief medical officer of the American Red Cross. "We need to do a randomized, prospective trial to see if what we think we are seeing here is real."
Benjamin noted that the study focused on the very sickest type of patients, whose surgeries required very large amount of blood. The average "low-risk" patient might require just one or two units, he said.
"Remember, the more blood that you get, the more likely you are to get at least one old unit," Benjamin said. He added that the patients in the Duke study were already fragile; it's likely that healthier individuals wouldn't be at any significant risk from receiving a unit of older blood. "The danger [to that group] is infinitesimally small," Benjamin said.
And he said that, until supplies of donated blood increase, the only alternative is for patients is to receive "no blood at all."
"Our difficulty at the Red Cross is that we'd love to give everyone fresh blood -- there's no question about that," Benjamin said. "But we can't because there just isn't enough of it. So, we have to keep it on the shelf for a while. If we restricted its use to fresh blood only, a lot of people wouldn't get transfused, and they'd die."
Bennett-Guerrero agreed that a larger, prospective trial is needed, and said his team is applying for a U.S. National Institutes of Health grant to conduct just such a trial. If the results of that trial are similar to those found in the retrospective study, they may point to a need for more selective rationing of fresher blood to specific patients on a case-by-case basis, he said.
Bennett-Guerrero also seconded the notion that older, sicker patients may be at highest risk from receiving older blood.
"If you look at patients who are doing really well, maybe at lower risk for surgical procedures, my guess is that in that setting, it doesn't matter whether they even receive the blood or not, or whether the blood is older," he said. "But if you take someone who is 80 years old with complex heart surgery, who's already at high risk of developing complications, it may be a factor that puts them over the edge."
Health Tip: Heat Stroke? Get Help!
Heat stroke occurs when the body is not able to cool itself to a safe temperature. It usually happens when a person is exposed for too long to the sun, without proper shade, cooling and hydration.
The very young and the very old are most sensitive to heat and most likely to develop heat stroke, as are people who work outside and those taking certain medications, the University of Maryland Medical Center says.
Heat stroke is typically characterized by flushed, hot and dry skin. Other symptoms can include dizziness, headache, confusion, fatigue, seizure, and loss of consciousness.
Someone with heat stroke should receive professional medical attention. A heat stroke victim should be brought inside out of the sun and cooled down immediately. The skin should be wiped down with cool water and fanned to bring the body temperature down. Ice packs should be applied to the groin and armpits, and the patient should rest in a cool place with the feet slightly elevated.
Doctors often treat heat stroke victims with intravenous fluids. Bed rest is usually recommended.
A World Health Organization investigation showed that the H5N1 virus mutated in an Indonesian family cluster on Sumatra island, but bird flu experts insisted Friday it did not increase the possibility of a human pandemic.
The virus that infected eight members of a family last month — killing seven of them — appears to have slightly mutated in a 10-year-old boy, who is suspected of having passed the virus to his father, the WHO investigative report said.
It is the first evidence of possible human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 virus, said Tim Uyeki, an epidemiologist from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He added that the virus died with the father and did not pass outside the family.
"It stopped. It was dead end at that point," he said, stressing that viruses are always slightly changing and there was no reason to raise alarm bells.
The findings appeared in a report obtained by The Associated Press that was distributed at a closed meeting in Jakarta attended by some of the world's top bird flu experts.
The three-day session that wraps up Friday was convened after Indonesia asked for international help checking the virus, which has killed 39 people there.
Experts fear the virus will mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially starting a pandemic. So far, it remains hard for people to catch, and most human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds.
WHO concluded in its report that human-to-human transmission likely occurred among seven relatives infected with the H5N1 virus in a remote farming village on Sumatra island. An eighth family member who was buried before specimens could be taken is believed to have been infected by poultry, a WHO report said.
Despite the virus' slight mutation in the father and son, Uyeki insisted that an analysis suggested there was "nothing remarkable about these viruses."
Bird flu has killed at least 130 people worldwide since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003.
Older Transfused Blood May Raise Risks After Surgery
When it comes to blood transfused during surgery into very sick heart patients, newer may be better, researchers report.
"High-risk patients who received older blood were more likely to die after cardiac surgery," said lead investigator Dr. Elliot Bennett-Guerrero, director of perioperative clinical research at the Duke University Medical Center.
Specifically, repeat bypass patients who received the "freshest" blood during their operation (stored for one to 19 days) had a 4 percent in-hospital death rate, compared to a 25 percent rate in similar patients receiving the "oldest" blood (stored for 31 to 42 days). U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations prohibit the use of blood stored for more than 42 days.
The study authors and others stressed that blood transfusion is often absolutely necessary to save lives. They also noted that for healthier patients requiring fewer units of blood, any increase in risk from receiving older blood would probably be minimal.
The study appears in the July issue of Analgesia & Anesthesia.
Each year, Americans receive more than 12 million units of potentially life-saving blood, with more than 2 million units used in cardiovascular surgeries, according to data included in the study.
Whether or not the amount of time blood has spent in storage can affect the recipient's health "has been an age-old question in transfusion medicine," Bennett-Guerrero said.
In the new study, the Duke team took a retrospective look at the medical files of 321 patients who underwent repeat, open-heart surgeries for either coronary artery bypass or valve replacement between 1995 and 2001. The patients received a relatively large amount of donated blood -- an average of 5 units -- during these procedures.
The researchers tracked the patients' incidence of in-hospital and long-term mortality, as well as post-surgical complications such as kidney failure. They compared the rate of those types of outcomes to the number of units and age of the blood each patient received.
In-hospital death rates rose along with the age of blood received, the study found, as did hospital length-of-stay -- an average of 3.5 days for those receiving freshest blood vs. seven days for those getting older units.
Patients who received older blood also had higher rates of death in the eight years after their surgery, the researchers noted. According to Bennett-Guerrero, that's probably due to the long-term consequences of complications sustained just after surgery (for example, kidney failure) that may have been triggered -- at least in part -- by the use of older transfused blood.
Why might blood stored closer to the 42-day maximum be less healthy than "younger" blood?
"One of the theories is that as red blood cells age during storage, they become stiffer," Bennett-Guerrero said. "There's lots of evidence that these stiffer red blood cells may not deliver oxygen as efficiently. Or, they may even clot up or get stuck in organs and cause those organs to become damaged."
One blood expert called the study "commendable" but urged caution in interpreting the results.
"This paper is provocative, but it's a retrospective study with lots of confounding factors," said Dr. Richard Benjamin, chief medical officer of the American Red Cross. "We need to do a randomized, prospective trial to see if what we think we are seeing here is real."
Benjamin noted that the study focused on the very sickest type of patients, whose surgeries required very large amount of blood. The average "low-risk" patient might require just one or two units, he said.
"Remember, the more blood that you get, the more likely you are to get at least one old unit," Benjamin said. He added that the patients in the Duke study were already fragile; it's likely that healthier individuals wouldn't be at any significant risk from receiving a unit of older blood. "The danger [to that group] is infinitesimally small," Benjamin said.
And he said that, until supplies of donated blood increase, the only alternative is for patients is to receive "no blood at all."
"Our difficulty at the Red Cross is that we'd love to give everyone fresh blood -- there's no question about that," Benjamin said. "But we can't because there just isn't enough of it. So, we have to keep it on the shelf for a while. If we restricted its use to fresh blood only, a lot of people wouldn't get transfused, and they'd die."
Bennett-Guerrero agreed that a larger, prospective trial is needed, and said his team is applying for a U.S. National Institutes of Health grant to conduct just such a trial. If the results of that trial are similar to those found in the retrospective study, they may point to a need for more selective rationing of fresher blood to specific patients on a case-by-case basis, he said.
Bennett-Guerrero also seconded the notion that older, sicker patients may be at highest risk from receiving older blood.
"If you look at patients who are doing really well, maybe at lower risk for surgical procedures, my guess is that in that setting, it doesn't matter whether they even receive the blood or not, or whether the blood is older," he said. "But if you take someone who is 80 years old with complex heart surgery, who's already at high risk of developing complications, it may be a factor that puts them over the edge."
Health Tip: Heat Stroke? Get Help!
Heat stroke occurs when the body is not able to cool itself to a safe temperature. It usually happens when a person is exposed for too long to the sun, without proper shade, cooling and hydration.
The very young and the very old are most sensitive to heat and most likely to develop heat stroke, as are people who work outside and those taking certain medications, the University of Maryland Medical Center says.
Heat stroke is typically characterized by flushed, hot and dry skin. Other symptoms can include dizziness, headache, confusion, fatigue, seizure, and loss of consciousness.
Someone with heat stroke should receive professional medical attention. A heat stroke victim should be brought inside out of the sun and cooled down immediately. The skin should be wiped down with cool water and fanned to bring the body temperature down. Ice packs should be applied to the groin and armpits, and the patient should rest in a cool place with the feet slightly elevated.
Doctors often treat heat stroke victims with intravenous fluids. Bed rest is usually recommended.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Health Headlines - June 22
Chinese SARS-Bird Flu Report Puzzles WHO
Chinese scientists Wednesday said that a man initially thought to have SARS actually died of bird flu in 2003 -- two years before the country reported any human bird-flu infections to the World Health Organization. But the scientists now want to withdraw their report to a leading medical journal.
WHO was surprised by the report, which came from eight scientists and not the Chinese government. The findings were printed Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine. At the last minute, however, at least one of the Chinese scientists e-mailed the journal Wednesday morning, requesting that the report be withdrawn. Journal editors were waiting to see whether the authors would now retract the paper, according to the Associated Press.
The confusion surrounding the man's death in Beijing raises the possibility that other cases in China already attributed to SARS may have actually been the deadly H5N1 flu. "It's hard to believe that this is the only person in all of China who developed H5N1" that year, Dr. John Treanor, a flu expert at the University of Rochester, told the news service.
A WHO spokesman in China said the agency would formally request that the Chinese Ministry of Health clarify the report and explain why it took more than two years to uncover the finding. Attempts to reach the Chinese scientists for comment were unsuccessful, the AP reported.
China didn't report its first human cases of bird flu outside Hong Kong until 2005. Eight infections and five deaths were recorded that year, and this year the government has reported at least 10 infections and seven deaths. The SARS outbreak in China began in November 2002, but was not recognized until the following spring. More than 1,450 cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome were confirmed, the vast majority in Asia. Many cases were diagnosed based on symptoms, which are similar to those of bird flu, and not lab tests.
During the SARS outbreak, some public-health experts questioned whether the Chinese government was being candid about the extent of the crisis.
The New England Journal of Medicine report raised the possibility that the two dangerous viruses emerged simultaneously. The newly disclosed case in Beijing means "there may be more jumps from birds to people than we realized," a journal editor told AP.
Health Insurance Coverage for Children Improved in 2005
American children experienced the greatest increase in health insurance coverage since 1997, but coverage for all Americans continues to vary by state, according to two new reports released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The reports, which present the latest data on U.S. health habits, found that in 2005, an estimated 41.2 million persons of all ages (14.2 percent) were without health insurance, down from 15.4 percent in 1997. During the same time period, only 8.9 percent of children were without insurance, compared to 13.9 percent in 1997.
Among other key findings in the CDC report were a rise in both diagnosed diabetes and asthma, up to 7.4 percent and 7.8 percent of the population, respectively.
Texas lead the nation in persons not covered for health care with 24 percent lacking insurance. Massachusetts topped the list of 20 states for which statistics were available for the study, with just 6 percent of its residents lacking coverage.
The findings are available on the CDC's Web site at www.cdc.gov/nchs.
Limiting Teen Driving Cuts Crash Rates: Study
A study of young drivers has found that limiting the hours they drive and their number of passengers can reduce crash rates among teens by 20 percent.
Researchers with the Traffic Injury Research Foundation in Ottawa, Canada, compared accidents involving 16-year-old drivers in Oregon and Ontario in 2002. Oregon restricted unsupervised nighttime driving and the number of passengers, while Ontario did not carry the prohibitions at the time of the study, according to the Associated Press.
Crashes involving injuries and deaths were 20 percent fewer among the teen drivers in Oregon, which prohibits unsupervised driving between midnight and 5 a.m. for entry-level drivers and prevents drivers from having passengers under age 20 during the first six months of receiving a driver's license.
Traffic accidents kill about 6,000 U.S. motorists between the ages of 16 to 20 every year, making them the leading cause of death for teens, the AP noted. Safety experts say teens are more prone to crashes because they lack experience and driving skills.
Resistant Staph Infections Are Global Problem
As many as 53 million people worldwide may be carriers of a bacterial superbug that's becoming more resistant to antibiotics, the Times of London said Wednesday.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a serious staph infection, is frequently acquired by surgical patients and others in hospitals. While the germ can be carried harmlessly on the skin, the bacterium can be lethal if it enters the body.
The germ is spreading into the general community, where frequent physical contact can increase the risk of transmission, doctors at the Groningen University Medical Centre in the Netherlands wrote in the online version of The Lancet. Those most at risk of infection include homeless people, prisoners, military recruits, gay men, children in day-care centers, and athletes who participate in contact sports, the newspaper said.
The drug-resistant germ is becoming more prevalent even in Scandinavian nations that have waged the biggest campaign against MRSA, the scientists said.
Drug Prices in U.S. Jump in 2006, Surveys Find
Prices for the most frequently prescribed drugs jumped sharply in the first quarter of the year, as the new Medicare drug coverage program was going into effect, two independent U.S. surveys found.
Wholesale prices charged by pharmaceutical companies rose 3.9 percent in the first three months of the year -- four times the inflation rate during the same span, according to an AARP analysis reported by the Associated Press.
The price of the popular sleep aid Ambien shot up 13.3 percent, and the top-selling cholesterol drug Lipitor jumped 4.7 percent to 6.5 percent, depending on the dose prescribed, the AARP said.
A separate survey by the patient advocacy group Families USA found similar price rises, the wire service reported. For the typical older American who takes an average of four prescription drugs, the price jumps translated to a $240 average increase over the 12 months ended March 31, the AARP said.
A drug industry trade group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association, issued a statement calling the surveys "erroneous," the AP reported. The group said prices, in fact, had risen less than 2 percent since Jan. 1.
Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has accused Merck & Co. of conspiring with insurance companies to create lower copays for people who buy Merck's anti-cholesterol drug Zocor than for customers who would buy a soon-to-be released generic alternative, the AP said. Schumer asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate.
Chinese scientists Wednesday said that a man initially thought to have SARS actually died of bird flu in 2003 -- two years before the country reported any human bird-flu infections to the World Health Organization. But the scientists now want to withdraw their report to a leading medical journal.
WHO was surprised by the report, which came from eight scientists and not the Chinese government. The findings were printed Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine. At the last minute, however, at least one of the Chinese scientists e-mailed the journal Wednesday morning, requesting that the report be withdrawn. Journal editors were waiting to see whether the authors would now retract the paper, according to the Associated Press.
The confusion surrounding the man's death in Beijing raises the possibility that other cases in China already attributed to SARS may have actually been the deadly H5N1 flu. "It's hard to believe that this is the only person in all of China who developed H5N1" that year, Dr. John Treanor, a flu expert at the University of Rochester, told the news service.
A WHO spokesman in China said the agency would formally request that the Chinese Ministry of Health clarify the report and explain why it took more than two years to uncover the finding. Attempts to reach the Chinese scientists for comment were unsuccessful, the AP reported.
China didn't report its first human cases of bird flu outside Hong Kong until 2005. Eight infections and five deaths were recorded that year, and this year the government has reported at least 10 infections and seven deaths. The SARS outbreak in China began in November 2002, but was not recognized until the following spring. More than 1,450 cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome were confirmed, the vast majority in Asia. Many cases were diagnosed based on symptoms, which are similar to those of bird flu, and not lab tests.
During the SARS outbreak, some public-health experts questioned whether the Chinese government was being candid about the extent of the crisis.
The New England Journal of Medicine report raised the possibility that the two dangerous viruses emerged simultaneously. The newly disclosed case in Beijing means "there may be more jumps from birds to people than we realized," a journal editor told AP.
Health Insurance Coverage for Children Improved in 2005
American children experienced the greatest increase in health insurance coverage since 1997, but coverage for all Americans continues to vary by state, according to two new reports released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The reports, which present the latest data on U.S. health habits, found that in 2005, an estimated 41.2 million persons of all ages (14.2 percent) were without health insurance, down from 15.4 percent in 1997. During the same time period, only 8.9 percent of children were without insurance, compared to 13.9 percent in 1997.
Among other key findings in the CDC report were a rise in both diagnosed diabetes and asthma, up to 7.4 percent and 7.8 percent of the population, respectively.
Texas lead the nation in persons not covered for health care with 24 percent lacking insurance. Massachusetts topped the list of 20 states for which statistics were available for the study, with just 6 percent of its residents lacking coverage.
The findings are available on the CDC's Web site at www.cdc.gov/nchs.
Limiting Teen Driving Cuts Crash Rates: Study
A study of young drivers has found that limiting the hours they drive and their number of passengers can reduce crash rates among teens by 20 percent.
Researchers with the Traffic Injury Research Foundation in Ottawa, Canada, compared accidents involving 16-year-old drivers in Oregon and Ontario in 2002. Oregon restricted unsupervised nighttime driving and the number of passengers, while Ontario did not carry the prohibitions at the time of the study, according to the Associated Press.
Crashes involving injuries and deaths were 20 percent fewer among the teen drivers in Oregon, which prohibits unsupervised driving between midnight and 5 a.m. for entry-level drivers and prevents drivers from having passengers under age 20 during the first six months of receiving a driver's license.
Traffic accidents kill about 6,000 U.S. motorists between the ages of 16 to 20 every year, making them the leading cause of death for teens, the AP noted. Safety experts say teens are more prone to crashes because they lack experience and driving skills.
Resistant Staph Infections Are Global Problem
As many as 53 million people worldwide may be carriers of a bacterial superbug that's becoming more resistant to antibiotics, the Times of London said Wednesday.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a serious staph infection, is frequently acquired by surgical patients and others in hospitals. While the germ can be carried harmlessly on the skin, the bacterium can be lethal if it enters the body.
The germ is spreading into the general community, where frequent physical contact can increase the risk of transmission, doctors at the Groningen University Medical Centre in the Netherlands wrote in the online version of The Lancet. Those most at risk of infection include homeless people, prisoners, military recruits, gay men, children in day-care centers, and athletes who participate in contact sports, the newspaper said.
The drug-resistant germ is becoming more prevalent even in Scandinavian nations that have waged the biggest campaign against MRSA, the scientists said.
Drug Prices in U.S. Jump in 2006, Surveys Find
Prices for the most frequently prescribed drugs jumped sharply in the first quarter of the year, as the new Medicare drug coverage program was going into effect, two independent U.S. surveys found.
Wholesale prices charged by pharmaceutical companies rose 3.9 percent in the first three months of the year -- four times the inflation rate during the same span, according to an AARP analysis reported by the Associated Press.
The price of the popular sleep aid Ambien shot up 13.3 percent, and the top-selling cholesterol drug Lipitor jumped 4.7 percent to 6.5 percent, depending on the dose prescribed, the AARP said.
A separate survey by the patient advocacy group Families USA found similar price rises, the wire service reported. For the typical older American who takes an average of four prescription drugs, the price jumps translated to a $240 average increase over the 12 months ended March 31, the AARP said.
A drug industry trade group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association, issued a statement calling the surveys "erroneous," the AP reported. The group said prices, in fact, had risen less than 2 percent since Jan. 1.
Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has accused Merck & Co. of conspiring with insurance companies to create lower copays for people who buy Merck's anti-cholesterol drug Zocor than for customers who would buy a soon-to-be released generic alternative, the AP said. Schumer asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Health Headlines - June 21
Drug Prices in U.S. Jump in 2006, Surveys Find
Prices for the most frequently prescribed drugs jumped sharply in the first quarter of the year, as the new Medicare drug coverage program was going into effect, two independent surveys found.
Wholesale prices charged by pharmaceutical companies rose 3.9 percent in the first three months of the year -- four times the inflation rate during the same span, according to an AARP analysis reported by the Associated Press.
The price of the popular sleep aid Ambien shot up 13.3 percent, and the top-selling cholesterol drug Lipitor jumped 4.7 percent to 6.5 percent, depending on the dose prescribed, the AARP said.
A separate survey by the patient advocacy group Families USA found similar price rises, the wire service reported. For the typical older American who takes an average of four prescription drugs, the price jumps translated to a $240 average increase over the 12 months ended March 31, the AARP said.
A drug industry trade group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association, issued a statement calling the surveys "erroneous," the AP reported. The group said prices, in fact, had risen less than 2 percent since Jan. 1.
Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has accused Merck & Co. of conspiring with insurance companies to create lower copays for people who buy Merck's anti-cholesterol drug Zocor than for customers who would buy a soon-to-be released generic alternative, the AP said. Schumer asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate.
"It appears Senator Schumer is criticizing us because he says that our prices are too low. That's a new one," the wire service quoted a Merck spokesman as saying.
Lowering Stress Could Boost Pregnancy Chances
Reducing stress could help some women improve their chances of becoming pregnant, researchers at Emory University in Atlanta say.
A combination of stress management therapy and instruction on better diet and exercise "restored fertility" in 80 percent of participants in a small study, CBS News reported.
The researchers measured amounts of the stress hormone cortisol in study participants, who were ages 20-35. The scientists concluded that psychotherapy aimed at stress reduction could be an easier, less expensive alternative than fertility treatments.
Results were presented at a meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Prague.
Israeli researchers at the same meeting offered additional evidence that lifestyle changes could boost fertility, noting that women who were entertained by a trained clown shortly before they received in vitro fertilization treatments were up to 35 percent more likely to conceive, news reports said.
Faulty Gene Combination Linked to Breast Cancer
Icelandic women who had a pair of faulty genes were almost certain to develop breast cancer, researchers in Reykjavik found.
It's not clear to what degree that finding applies to women from other countries, the Associated Press reported.
Defects on two genes discovered in the 1990s -- BRCA1 and BRCA2 -- have been linked to inherited forms of breast cancer. But since they account for only 10 percent to 15 percent of total breast cancer cases, scientists have long searched for a genetic accomplice, the wire service said.
The BARD1 gene may be just that, according to the AP.
Women's risk of developing breast cancer roughly doubled when they were found to have mutations in both the BARD1 and BRCA2 genes, the Icelandic scientists said. In the United States, however, the genetic mutation in the BRCA1 gene is more common than the BRCA2 anomaly, according to the wire service.
The research, led by the company deCode Genetics Inc., included 1,090 Icelandic women with breast cancer, comparing them to 703 women who were free of the disease. Results are published in the journal PLoS Medicine.
World's Women Ignorant About Fertility: Survey
Most women who participated in a global survey of fertility issues didn't know many of the basic facts about reproductive health, including the age at which female fertility begins to decline, the survey's sponsor said Tuesday.
Other questions dealt with the impact of sexually transmitted disease on reproductive health, the effects of contraception, and the percentage of couples who are infertile. None of the more than 17,000 respondents from 10 countries was able to answer all 15 survey questions correctly, the American Fertility Association (AFA) said in a statement.
Respondents with a college education were more knowledgeable about fertility issues than those with a high school background, the association said. The general lack of knowledge was especially prevalent in Uganda, where surveyors interviewed some 6,500 people, often traveling by bicycle from village to village, the AFA said.
Other participants were from the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Slovak Republic, Argentina, Turkey, and Belgium. Survey results were announced Tuesday at a meeting of the European Society of Human Reproductive Endocrinology in Prague.
Acupuncture Won't Help Hot Flashes: Report
Acupuncture was no better at preventing hot flashes associated with menopause than sham treatments, Mayo Clinic researchers found.
Four years ago, U.S. Women's Health Initiative scientists reported landmark findings that the female hormone estrogen -- once routinely prescribed to calm hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms -- raised women's risk of breast cancer and heart problems. This drove millions of women to seek alternative treatments.
Experts tell the Washington Post that women with hot flashes frequently respond to non-medicinal placebos, thinking their symptoms are actually being treated.
The Mayo researchers evaluated 103 women between the ages 45 and 59 who said they had at least five hot flashes daily. Half of the women who thought they were receiving acupuncture actually had the needles placed superficially where they would have no proven value. The women who had actual acupuncture had no better response to hot flashes than those who received the sham treatments, the researchers said.
Study results were presented at a recent meeting of the North American Conference on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and are to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Menopause, the Post said.
Prices for the most frequently prescribed drugs jumped sharply in the first quarter of the year, as the new Medicare drug coverage program was going into effect, two independent surveys found.
Wholesale prices charged by pharmaceutical companies rose 3.9 percent in the first three months of the year -- four times the inflation rate during the same span, according to an AARP analysis reported by the Associated Press.
The price of the popular sleep aid Ambien shot up 13.3 percent, and the top-selling cholesterol drug Lipitor jumped 4.7 percent to 6.5 percent, depending on the dose prescribed, the AARP said.
A separate survey by the patient advocacy group Families USA found similar price rises, the wire service reported. For the typical older American who takes an average of four prescription drugs, the price jumps translated to a $240 average increase over the 12 months ended March 31, the AARP said.
A drug industry trade group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association, issued a statement calling the surveys "erroneous," the AP reported. The group said prices, in fact, had risen less than 2 percent since Jan. 1.
Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has accused Merck & Co. of conspiring with insurance companies to create lower copays for people who buy Merck's anti-cholesterol drug Zocor than for customers who would buy a soon-to-be released generic alternative, the AP said. Schumer asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate.
"It appears Senator Schumer is criticizing us because he says that our prices are too low. That's a new one," the wire service quoted a Merck spokesman as saying.
Lowering Stress Could Boost Pregnancy Chances
Reducing stress could help some women improve their chances of becoming pregnant, researchers at Emory University in Atlanta say.
A combination of stress management therapy and instruction on better diet and exercise "restored fertility" in 80 percent of participants in a small study, CBS News reported.
The researchers measured amounts of the stress hormone cortisol in study participants, who were ages 20-35. The scientists concluded that psychotherapy aimed at stress reduction could be an easier, less expensive alternative than fertility treatments.
Results were presented at a meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Prague.
Israeli researchers at the same meeting offered additional evidence that lifestyle changes could boost fertility, noting that women who were entertained by a trained clown shortly before they received in vitro fertilization treatments were up to 35 percent more likely to conceive, news reports said.
Faulty Gene Combination Linked to Breast Cancer
Icelandic women who had a pair of faulty genes were almost certain to develop breast cancer, researchers in Reykjavik found.
It's not clear to what degree that finding applies to women from other countries, the Associated Press reported.
Defects on two genes discovered in the 1990s -- BRCA1 and BRCA2 -- have been linked to inherited forms of breast cancer. But since they account for only 10 percent to 15 percent of total breast cancer cases, scientists have long searched for a genetic accomplice, the wire service said.
The BARD1 gene may be just that, according to the AP.
Women's risk of developing breast cancer roughly doubled when they were found to have mutations in both the BARD1 and BRCA2 genes, the Icelandic scientists said. In the United States, however, the genetic mutation in the BRCA1 gene is more common than the BRCA2 anomaly, according to the wire service.
The research, led by the company deCode Genetics Inc., included 1,090 Icelandic women with breast cancer, comparing them to 703 women who were free of the disease. Results are published in the journal PLoS Medicine.
World's Women Ignorant About Fertility: Survey
Most women who participated in a global survey of fertility issues didn't know many of the basic facts about reproductive health, including the age at which female fertility begins to decline, the survey's sponsor said Tuesday.
Other questions dealt with the impact of sexually transmitted disease on reproductive health, the effects of contraception, and the percentage of couples who are infertile. None of the more than 17,000 respondents from 10 countries was able to answer all 15 survey questions correctly, the American Fertility Association (AFA) said in a statement.
Respondents with a college education were more knowledgeable about fertility issues than those with a high school background, the association said. The general lack of knowledge was especially prevalent in Uganda, where surveyors interviewed some 6,500 people, often traveling by bicycle from village to village, the AFA said.
Other participants were from the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Slovak Republic, Argentina, Turkey, and Belgium. Survey results were announced Tuesday at a meeting of the European Society of Human Reproductive Endocrinology in Prague.
Acupuncture Won't Help Hot Flashes: Report
Acupuncture was no better at preventing hot flashes associated with menopause than sham treatments, Mayo Clinic researchers found.
Four years ago, U.S. Women's Health Initiative scientists reported landmark findings that the female hormone estrogen -- once routinely prescribed to calm hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms -- raised women's risk of breast cancer and heart problems. This drove millions of women to seek alternative treatments.
Experts tell the Washington Post that women with hot flashes frequently respond to non-medicinal placebos, thinking their symptoms are actually being treated.
The Mayo researchers evaluated 103 women between the ages 45 and 59 who said they had at least five hot flashes daily. Half of the women who thought they were receiving acupuncture actually had the needles placed superficially where they would have no proven value. The women who had actual acupuncture had no better response to hot flashes than those who received the sham treatments, the researchers said.
Study results were presented at a recent meeting of the North American Conference on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and are to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Menopause, the Post said.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Health Headlines - June 20
Faulty Gene Combination Linked to Breast Cancer
Icelandic women who had a pair of faulty genes were almost certain to develop breast cancer, researchers in Reykjavik found.
It's not clear to what degree that finding applies to women from other countries, the Associated Press reported.
Defects on two genes discovered in the 1990s -- BRCA1 and BRCA2 -- have been linked to inherited forms of breast cancer. But since they account for only 10 percent to 15 percent of total breast cancer cases, scientists have long searched for a genetic accomplice, the wire service said.
The BARD1 gene may be just that, according to the AP.
Women's risk of developing breast cancer roughly doubled when they were found to have mutations in both the BARD1 and BRCA2 genes, the Icelandic scientists said. In the United States, however, the genetic mutation in the BRCA1 gene is more common than the BRCA2 anomaly, according to the wire service.
The research, led by the company deCode Genetics Inc., included 1,090 Icelandic women with breast cancer, comparing them to 703 women who were free of the disease. Results are published in the journal PLoS Medicine.
Acupuncture Won't Help Hot Flashes: Report
Acupuncture was no better at preventing hot flashes associated with menopause than sham treatments, Mayo Clinic researchers found.
Four years ago, U.S. Women's Health Initiative scientists reported landmark findings that the female hormone estrogen -- once routinely prescribed to calm hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms -- raised women's risk of breast cancer and heart problems. This drove millions of women to seek alternative treatments.
Experts tell the Washington Post that women with hot flashes frequently respond to non-medicinal placebos, thinking their symptoms are actually being treated.
The Mayo researchers evaluated 103 women between the ages 45 and 59 who said they had at least five hot flashes daily. Half of the women who thought they were receiving acupuncture actually had the needles placed superficially where they would have no proven value. The women who had actual acupuncture had no better response to hot flashes than those who received the sham treatments, the researchers said.
Study results were presented at a recent meeting of the North American Conference on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and are to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Menopause, the Post said.
Military Cemeteries May Be Closed in Bird Flu Outbreak
U.S. military veterans who die during a bird flu pandemic may not be immediately interred in one of the nation's 120 military cemeteries, which could be closed during such an outbreak, according to contingency plans by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The VA buries about 93,000 veterans and eligible family members a year, and might not have the staff available during a bird flu pandemic to continue the burials, according to VA plans cited by the Associated Press.
The federal government is preparing for a worst-case scenario of some 2 million deaths in the United States during an avian flu pandemic, the wire service said.
Instead of immediate burial, the VA said bodies of bird flu victims may have to be stored in refrigerated warehouses or specially outfitted trucks until staffing shortages ease, the AP said.
Pentagon: Homosexuality a Mental Disorder
Decades after mental health experts abandoned the notion that homosexuality was a mental disorder, a newly uncovered Pentagon document lists being gay alongside retardation and other mental problems, the Associated Press reported.
The document was found by the Center for Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military, at the University of California at Santa Barbara. A Pentagon spokesman told the wire service that the document was under review.
The U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy bars the Pentagon from asking about a service member's sexual preference but orders discharge for those who are openly gay. Last year, 726 military members were discharged under the policy, the first time that number had increased since 2001, the AP said.
The newly uncovered document, called a Defense Department Instruction, was criticized by the American Psychiatric Association, which in a recent letter to the Pentagon's top doctor noted that the APA backed off the notion that homosexuality was a mental disorder in 1973, the wire service reported.
Nine members of Congress wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Monday asking that the Pentagon review its policies, the AP said. It did not identify the lawmakers nor the specific contents of their letter.
Having a Boy May Raise Risk of Later Miscarriage
Having a first-born male child seems to raise some women's risk of subsequent miscarriage, Danish researchers found.
The scientists at University Hospital in Copenhagen hypothesize that male genes can trigger an immune reaction in some women that endangers later pregnancies, Britain's Daily Mail newspaper reported Tuesday.
Vulnerable first-time mothers who gave birth to a boy were almost two-thirds less likely to have a second child. Of 305 study participants who had unexplained recurring miscarriages, 60 percent had first-born boys, the newspaper said.
"We think there is an immune response against genes from the male Y chromosome," study leader Dr. Henrietta Svarre Nielsen told the paper.
The research was presented Tuesday at a meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Prague.
World's Women Ignorant About Fertility: Survey
Most women who participated in a global survey of fertility issues didn't know many of the basic facts about reproductive health, including the age at which female fertility begins to decline, the survey's sponsor said Tuesday.
Other questions dealt with the impact of sexually transmitted disease on reproductive health, the effects of contraception, and the percentage of couples who are infertile. None of the more than 17,000 respondents from 10 countries was able to answer all 15 survey questions correctly, the American Fertility Association (AFA) said in a statement.
Respondents with a college education were more knowledgeable about fertility issues than those with a high school background, the association said. The general lack of knowledge was especially prevalent in Uganda, where surveyors interviewed some 6,500 people, often traveling by bicycle from village to village, the AFA said.
Other participants were from the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Israel, The Netherlands, Slovak Republic, Argentina, Turkey, and Belgium. Survey results were announced Tuesday at a meeting of the European Society of Human Reproductive Endocrinology in Prague.
Icelandic women who had a pair of faulty genes were almost certain to develop breast cancer, researchers in Reykjavik found.
It's not clear to what degree that finding applies to women from other countries, the Associated Press reported.
Defects on two genes discovered in the 1990s -- BRCA1 and BRCA2 -- have been linked to inherited forms of breast cancer. But since they account for only 10 percent to 15 percent of total breast cancer cases, scientists have long searched for a genetic accomplice, the wire service said.
The BARD1 gene may be just that, according to the AP.
Women's risk of developing breast cancer roughly doubled when they were found to have mutations in both the BARD1 and BRCA2 genes, the Icelandic scientists said. In the United States, however, the genetic mutation in the BRCA1 gene is more common than the BRCA2 anomaly, according to the wire service.
The research, led by the company deCode Genetics Inc., included 1,090 Icelandic women with breast cancer, comparing them to 703 women who were free of the disease. Results are published in the journal PLoS Medicine.
Acupuncture Won't Help Hot Flashes: Report
Acupuncture was no better at preventing hot flashes associated with menopause than sham treatments, Mayo Clinic researchers found.
Four years ago, U.S. Women's Health Initiative scientists reported landmark findings that the female hormone estrogen -- once routinely prescribed to calm hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms -- raised women's risk of breast cancer and heart problems. This drove millions of women to seek alternative treatments.
Experts tell the Washington Post that women with hot flashes frequently respond to non-medicinal placebos, thinking their symptoms are actually being treated.
The Mayo researchers evaluated 103 women between the ages 45 and 59 who said they had at least five hot flashes daily. Half of the women who thought they were receiving acupuncture actually had the needles placed superficially where they would have no proven value. The women who had actual acupuncture had no better response to hot flashes than those who received the sham treatments, the researchers said.
Study results were presented at a recent meeting of the North American Conference on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and are to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Menopause, the Post said.
Military Cemeteries May Be Closed in Bird Flu Outbreak
U.S. military veterans who die during a bird flu pandemic may not be immediately interred in one of the nation's 120 military cemeteries, which could be closed during such an outbreak, according to contingency plans by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The VA buries about 93,000 veterans and eligible family members a year, and might not have the staff available during a bird flu pandemic to continue the burials, according to VA plans cited by the Associated Press.
The federal government is preparing for a worst-case scenario of some 2 million deaths in the United States during an avian flu pandemic, the wire service said.
Instead of immediate burial, the VA said bodies of bird flu victims may have to be stored in refrigerated warehouses or specially outfitted trucks until staffing shortages ease, the AP said.
Pentagon: Homosexuality a Mental Disorder
Decades after mental health experts abandoned the notion that homosexuality was a mental disorder, a newly uncovered Pentagon document lists being gay alongside retardation and other mental problems, the Associated Press reported.
The document was found by the Center for Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military, at the University of California at Santa Barbara. A Pentagon spokesman told the wire service that the document was under review.
The U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy bars the Pentagon from asking about a service member's sexual preference but orders discharge for those who are openly gay. Last year, 726 military members were discharged under the policy, the first time that number had increased since 2001, the AP said.
The newly uncovered document, called a Defense Department Instruction, was criticized by the American Psychiatric Association, which in a recent letter to the Pentagon's top doctor noted that the APA backed off the notion that homosexuality was a mental disorder in 1973, the wire service reported.
Nine members of Congress wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Monday asking that the Pentagon review its policies, the AP said. It did not identify the lawmakers nor the specific contents of their letter.
Having a Boy May Raise Risk of Later Miscarriage
Having a first-born male child seems to raise some women's risk of subsequent miscarriage, Danish researchers found.
The scientists at University Hospital in Copenhagen hypothesize that male genes can trigger an immune reaction in some women that endangers later pregnancies, Britain's Daily Mail newspaper reported Tuesday.
Vulnerable first-time mothers who gave birth to a boy were almost two-thirds less likely to have a second child. Of 305 study participants who had unexplained recurring miscarriages, 60 percent had first-born boys, the newspaper said.
"We think there is an immune response against genes from the male Y chromosome," study leader Dr. Henrietta Svarre Nielsen told the paper.
The research was presented Tuesday at a meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Prague.
World's Women Ignorant About Fertility: Survey
Most women who participated in a global survey of fertility issues didn't know many of the basic facts about reproductive health, including the age at which female fertility begins to decline, the survey's sponsor said Tuesday.
Other questions dealt with the impact of sexually transmitted disease on reproductive health, the effects of contraception, and the percentage of couples who are infertile. None of the more than 17,000 respondents from 10 countries was able to answer all 15 survey questions correctly, the American Fertility Association (AFA) said in a statement.
Respondents with a college education were more knowledgeable about fertility issues than those with a high school background, the association said. The general lack of knowledge was especially prevalent in Uganda, where surveyors interviewed some 6,500 people, often traveling by bicycle from village to village, the AFA said.
Other participants were from the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Israel, The Netherlands, Slovak Republic, Argentina, Turkey, and Belgium. Survey results were announced Tuesday at a meeting of the European Society of Human Reproductive Endocrinology in Prague.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Health Headlines - June 19
Cough Suppressant Patches Recalled After Child's Seizure
The maker of a cough-suppressing vapor patch is recalling the product after an unidentified child suffered a seizure after chewing on one, the Associated Press reported Monday.
All versions of Triaminic Vapor Patches are being recalled by the Swiss drug firm Novartis AG, the company said. The patches contain camphor, eucalyptus oil and menthol, and are meant to be applied to the chest or throat. But the company acknowledged that children could remove the patches -- recommended for children ages two years and older -- and place them in their mouths, the wire service reported.
Ingesting the patch's contents can cause a burning sensation in the mouth, headache, nausea, vomiting or seizure, the AP said. In the lone reported instance of a child chewing on the patch, the victim recovered the same day, Novartis said.
More than 50 million of the patches have been sold, the company said. Parents should discard the product or return it to the place of purchase for a refund. For more information, call Novartis at 1-800-452-0051, or visit http://www.triaminic.com.
U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Block Medicare Drug Provision
Rebutting state claims that the new Medicare drug benefit was a prescription for financial hardship, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to block part of the law that requires states to reimburse the federal government for certain expenses, the Associated Press reported.
The court, without comment, refused a bid by 15 states to overturn a requirement that the states pay Washington, D.C., money they are expected to save from no longer having to subsidize drugs for people enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid, the AP reported.
The national prescription benefit for the elderly and disabled took effect on Jan. 1. Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, Texas and New Jersey wanted the justices to issue an injunction against the disputed provision, and 10 other states filed briefs with the court claiming the provision threatened state independence, the wire service said. The court rejected both claims without comment.
Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz had argued that the provision was expected to cost the states billions of dollars over the next two years, the AP said.
Use of Amphetamines in the Workplace Declines, Tester Says
Use of amphetamines in the American workplace fell 8 percent last year, and corporate drug use overall fell to a 17-year-low, the nation's biggest corporate drug testing firm said Monday.
Quest Diagnostics said its semi-annual drug testing index revealed that 0.48 percent of all corporate amphetamine tests came back positive in 2005, down from 0.52 percent in 2004. Amphetamine tests included detection of methamphetamine, a frequently abused street drug that's often created in home-made laboratories from ingredients found in many cold medicines.
Overall, workplace drug use fell to its lowest level since Quest began publishing its index in 1988, the company said in a statement. Of tests for all drugs conducted in the United States last year, 4.1 percent came back positive, versus 4.5 percent a year earlier.
Corporate marijuana use alone sank 12 percent in 2005 from the prior year, Quest said.
2.4 Million Started Painkillers Without Prescription in 2004
New federal statistics show that almost 2.4 million Americans began taking narcotic pain relievers for nonmedical use in the past year -- more than those who started using marijuana or cocaine.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration took data from the 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health and found that 2.4 million persons 12 or older initiated non-medical use of prescription pain relievers in the 12 months prior to the survey. Meanwhile, an estimated 2.1 million Americans started using marijuana, and 1 million began using cocaine.
Among the drugs taken: 48 percent of new initiates used Vicodin, Lortab or Lorcet; 34.3 percent used Darvocet, Darvon, or Tylenol with codeine; 20 percent used Percocet, Percodan or Tylox; 18.4 percent used generic hydrocodone; 14.3 percent used generic codeine; 8.4 percent used Oxycontin; and 4.3 percent used morphine. Over half of people who began non-medical use of pain medications (54.9 percent) in 2004 were female, according to the report.
"While overall illicit drug use continues to decline among our young people, we are always paying close attention to the data to identify any potential areas of concern," said SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie. "Abuse of prescription pain medication is dangerous and can lead to the destructive path of addiction. The initiation rates show we must continue our efforts to help the public confront and reduce all drug abuse."
Canada Widens Bird-Flu Quarantine on Prince Edward Island
Canada this weekend broadened quarantine measures to contain bird flu on Prince Edward Island, where an infected gosling was found on a farm last week and a second farm was under watch after officials discovered there had been movement of people and perhaps poultry between the two farms.
Both farms had a small, mixed flock of free-range birds, Jim Clark, national manager of the avian influenza working group of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, told CBC News Monday.
The alarm was raised last week when a goose tested positive for an H5 virus on a farm in western P.E.I. Four of 11 geese died on that farm, leading to a post-mortem that proved inconclusive, Clark said. So far, no sign of bird flu has been found on the second farm, Clark said, but he couldn't be certain under the final results were available Tuesday or Wednesday.
The tests will check if the virus is the H5N1 strain that has killed more than 140 million poultry and at least 129 people, mainly in Asia, according to Bloomberg News.
Over the weekend, Hungarian officials culled 3,000 more domestic poultry on fears they were exposed to the virus, the Magyar Nemzet newspaper reported Monday. Indonesia also reported its 50th human case of the disease last week, as authorities made plans to slaughter more poultry. The disease has spread across two-thirds of the country's provinces and killed more than one person a week this year.
Animal health officials worldwide are monitoring for H5N1, described by some scientists as the most lethal avian flu strain yet recorded. It has spread to almost 40 countries in Asia, Europe and Africa this year, and the diseased fowl increase the risk to humans that the virus may mutate into a pandemic that could kill millions of people.
The maker of a cough-suppressing vapor patch is recalling the product after an unidentified child suffered a seizure after chewing on one, the Associated Press reported Monday.
All versions of Triaminic Vapor Patches are being recalled by the Swiss drug firm Novartis AG, the company said. The patches contain camphor, eucalyptus oil and menthol, and are meant to be applied to the chest or throat. But the company acknowledged that children could remove the patches -- recommended for children ages two years and older -- and place them in their mouths, the wire service reported.
Ingesting the patch's contents can cause a burning sensation in the mouth, headache, nausea, vomiting or seizure, the AP said. In the lone reported instance of a child chewing on the patch, the victim recovered the same day, Novartis said.
More than 50 million of the patches have been sold, the company said. Parents should discard the product or return it to the place of purchase for a refund. For more information, call Novartis at 1-800-452-0051, or visit http://www.triaminic.com.
U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Block Medicare Drug Provision
Rebutting state claims that the new Medicare drug benefit was a prescription for financial hardship, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to block part of the law that requires states to reimburse the federal government for certain expenses, the Associated Press reported.
The court, without comment, refused a bid by 15 states to overturn a requirement that the states pay Washington, D.C., money they are expected to save from no longer having to subsidize drugs for people enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid, the AP reported.
The national prescription benefit for the elderly and disabled took effect on Jan. 1. Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, Texas and New Jersey wanted the justices to issue an injunction against the disputed provision, and 10 other states filed briefs with the court claiming the provision threatened state independence, the wire service said. The court rejected both claims without comment.
Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz had argued that the provision was expected to cost the states billions of dollars over the next two years, the AP said.
Use of Amphetamines in the Workplace Declines, Tester Says
Use of amphetamines in the American workplace fell 8 percent last year, and corporate drug use overall fell to a 17-year-low, the nation's biggest corporate drug testing firm said Monday.
Quest Diagnostics said its semi-annual drug testing index revealed that 0.48 percent of all corporate amphetamine tests came back positive in 2005, down from 0.52 percent in 2004. Amphetamine tests included detection of methamphetamine, a frequently abused street drug that's often created in home-made laboratories from ingredients found in many cold medicines.
Overall, workplace drug use fell to its lowest level since Quest began publishing its index in 1988, the company said in a statement. Of tests for all drugs conducted in the United States last year, 4.1 percent came back positive, versus 4.5 percent a year earlier.
Corporate marijuana use alone sank 12 percent in 2005 from the prior year, Quest said.
2.4 Million Started Painkillers Without Prescription in 2004
New federal statistics show that almost 2.4 million Americans began taking narcotic pain relievers for nonmedical use in the past year -- more than those who started using marijuana or cocaine.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration took data from the 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health and found that 2.4 million persons 12 or older initiated non-medical use of prescription pain relievers in the 12 months prior to the survey. Meanwhile, an estimated 2.1 million Americans started using marijuana, and 1 million began using cocaine.
Among the drugs taken: 48 percent of new initiates used Vicodin, Lortab or Lorcet; 34.3 percent used Darvocet, Darvon, or Tylenol with codeine; 20 percent used Percocet, Percodan or Tylox; 18.4 percent used generic hydrocodone; 14.3 percent used generic codeine; 8.4 percent used Oxycontin; and 4.3 percent used morphine. Over half of people who began non-medical use of pain medications (54.9 percent) in 2004 were female, according to the report.
"While overall illicit drug use continues to decline among our young people, we are always paying close attention to the data to identify any potential areas of concern," said SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie. "Abuse of prescription pain medication is dangerous and can lead to the destructive path of addiction. The initiation rates show we must continue our efforts to help the public confront and reduce all drug abuse."
Canada Widens Bird-Flu Quarantine on Prince Edward Island
Canada this weekend broadened quarantine measures to contain bird flu on Prince Edward Island, where an infected gosling was found on a farm last week and a second farm was under watch after officials discovered there had been movement of people and perhaps poultry between the two farms.
Both farms had a small, mixed flock of free-range birds, Jim Clark, national manager of the avian influenza working group of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, told CBC News Monday.
The alarm was raised last week when a goose tested positive for an H5 virus on a farm in western P.E.I. Four of 11 geese died on that farm, leading to a post-mortem that proved inconclusive, Clark said. So far, no sign of bird flu has been found on the second farm, Clark said, but he couldn't be certain under the final results were available Tuesday or Wednesday.
The tests will check if the virus is the H5N1 strain that has killed more than 140 million poultry and at least 129 people, mainly in Asia, according to Bloomberg News.
Over the weekend, Hungarian officials culled 3,000 more domestic poultry on fears they were exposed to the virus, the Magyar Nemzet newspaper reported Monday. Indonesia also reported its 50th human case of the disease last week, as authorities made plans to slaughter more poultry. The disease has spread across two-thirds of the country's provinces and killed more than one person a week this year.
Animal health officials worldwide are monitoring for H5N1, described by some scientists as the most lethal avian flu strain yet recorded. It has spread to almost 40 countries in Asia, Europe and Africa this year, and the diseased fowl increase the risk to humans that the virus may mutate into a pandemic that could kill millions of people.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Health Headlines - June 18
Protestors Demand Better Care for Those Exposed to 9/11 Dust
Over 200 people rallied at New York City's ground zero Saturday to protest what they say is the U.S. government's failure to care for those whose health was affected by airborne contaminants at the site of the 9/11 attacks.
"Our goal is very simple," said Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, a New York City Democrat. "We want everyone exposed to the deadly toxins monitored and everyone who is sick treated."
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined the air at ground zero safe to breathe in the days following the attacks. But experts have since questioned that conclusion. Many of those gathered Saturday said their health had been seriously impaired since breathing in fumes and airborne toxins, the New York Times reported.
Maloney and others are demanding better recognition of 9/11-linked illness and improved health care benefits for those affected. The government has set aside over $100 million for the screening and care of ground zero workers, but Maloney said that amount doesn't begin to cover expected costs for tens of thousands of workers.
Speaking at the rally yesterday was Joseph Zadroga, whose son James -- a 34-year-old New York City police detective -- died in January from heart and lung complications. A New Jersey medical examiner concluded that Zadroga's death was "directly related to the 9/11 incident."
"I really believe that my son would be alive today if they took care of him right after 9/11," Zadroga told the Times.
Separated Twins' Condition Deemed Stable
Two 10-month-old, formerly conjoined twin girls were successfully separated in a marathon surgery in Los Angeles Thursday and are now in stable condition, the Associated Press reported.
Steve Rutledge, a spokesman for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, said Regina and Renata Salinas are resting on ventilators in intensive care cribs, with no signs of infection or other problems. He said doctors do not yet know when the Mexican-born girls might leave the ICU.
The surgery to separate the girls took almost a full day as surgeons separated and divided up bone and organs shared by the twins. The girls -- who were fused together from the lower chest to the pelvis -- only shared one large intestine, so doctors made the decision to give that organ to Renata. They said it is possible Regina may require a colostomy later in life.
Conjoined twins are extremely rare. In the U.S., experts estimate that such births occur once in every 200,000 live deliveries.
Officials Warn of Medicare Scams
Seniors are falling prey to telephone scams where callers ask for banking information in exchange for enrollment in Medicare's Part D drug plan, officials at the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Friday.
"We are taking further steps to prevent, identify, and help law enforcement officials apprehend these scam artists," CMS head Dr. Mark B. McClellan said in a statement.
Medicare Part D enrollment for 2006 officially closed May 15, and enrollment for 2007 does not begin until the fall.
"Part D enrollment has ended. Unless you've just become eligible for Medicare, you should be leery about people telling you to sign up for a new Medicare drug plan," Vicki Gottlich, senior policy advisor for the Center for Medicare Advocacy in Washington, D.C., told the Boston Globe.
"If someone calls you, don't give them your Social Security number, your credit card number, or bank account number," Gottlich advised. Officials at CMS also noted that it is against Medicare rules for marketers to go into residences uninvited, or ask for bank account numbers or other personal data over the phone. Seniors who suspect fraud can call CMS at 877-772-3379.
Dutch Surgeons Perform New Heartburn Surgery
A team of Dutch surgeons performed a new form of surgery on Friday to ease gastric reflux, the Associated Press reported.
Unlike standard surgeries, the new procedure avoids the need for an external incision in the abdomen. Instead, doctors conducted the camera-guided procedure via a tube threaded down the patient's throat into the stomach.
Tiny, newly developed robotic tools performed the surgery, which involved pulling together part of the stomach lining to form a kind of valve at the bottom of the esophagus.
Gastric reflux, which affects millions of Americans, is caused when stomach acids splash up past a weakened esophageal sphincter into the esophagus.
One expert said it's not clear whether this new surgery -- developed by Seattle-based EndoGastric Solutions, Inc. -- will become the new standard, since other techniques are also being tested.
"What's not clear right now is which of the different approaches - and there are several - will win out," Dr. Larry Brandt, chief of the gastrointestinal department at Montefiore Medical Center, New York City, told the AP.
Iowa Mumps Outbreak Under Control
Health officials in Iowa said on Friday that the number of cases of mumps in the state had dropped considerably in the past few weeks, suggesting that this year's unusual outbreak has been contained.
As of Wednesday, the Iowa Department of Public Health reported 1,938 confirmed or probable cases of mumps in the state, up by just 14 cases from the previous week.
As reported by the Associated Press, Iowa was the worst-hit of a number of 12 Midwest states affected by the mumps outbreak, which together reported 3,200 cases. No deaths and few hospitalizations were reported from the usually mild illness, which hit colleges especially hard.
Experts are blaming the outbreak on the failure of many American children to get booster shots after receiving their first mumps vaccine as babies. To fill that gap, Iowa health officials have offered free vaccination to all 18-to-46-year-olds.
"We had many more people vaccinated, so the number of susceptible people went down," Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, state epidemiologist, told the AP.
Over 200 people rallied at New York City's ground zero Saturday to protest what they say is the U.S. government's failure to care for those whose health was affected by airborne contaminants at the site of the 9/11 attacks.
"Our goal is very simple," said Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, a New York City Democrat. "We want everyone exposed to the deadly toxins monitored and everyone who is sick treated."
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined the air at ground zero safe to breathe in the days following the attacks. But experts have since questioned that conclusion. Many of those gathered Saturday said their health had been seriously impaired since breathing in fumes and airborne toxins, the New York Times reported.
Maloney and others are demanding better recognition of 9/11-linked illness and improved health care benefits for those affected. The government has set aside over $100 million for the screening and care of ground zero workers, but Maloney said that amount doesn't begin to cover expected costs for tens of thousands of workers.
Speaking at the rally yesterday was Joseph Zadroga, whose son James -- a 34-year-old New York City police detective -- died in January from heart and lung complications. A New Jersey medical examiner concluded that Zadroga's death was "directly related to the 9/11 incident."
"I really believe that my son would be alive today if they took care of him right after 9/11," Zadroga told the Times.
Separated Twins' Condition Deemed Stable
Two 10-month-old, formerly conjoined twin girls were successfully separated in a marathon surgery in Los Angeles Thursday and are now in stable condition, the Associated Press reported.
Steve Rutledge, a spokesman for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, said Regina and Renata Salinas are resting on ventilators in intensive care cribs, with no signs of infection or other problems. He said doctors do not yet know when the Mexican-born girls might leave the ICU.
The surgery to separate the girls took almost a full day as surgeons separated and divided up bone and organs shared by the twins. The girls -- who were fused together from the lower chest to the pelvis -- only shared one large intestine, so doctors made the decision to give that organ to Renata. They said it is possible Regina may require a colostomy later in life.
Conjoined twins are extremely rare. In the U.S., experts estimate that such births occur once in every 200,000 live deliveries.
Officials Warn of Medicare Scams
Seniors are falling prey to telephone scams where callers ask for banking information in exchange for enrollment in Medicare's Part D drug plan, officials at the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Friday.
"We are taking further steps to prevent, identify, and help law enforcement officials apprehend these scam artists," CMS head Dr. Mark B. McClellan said in a statement.
Medicare Part D enrollment for 2006 officially closed May 15, and enrollment for 2007 does not begin until the fall.
"Part D enrollment has ended. Unless you've just become eligible for Medicare, you should be leery about people telling you to sign up for a new Medicare drug plan," Vicki Gottlich, senior policy advisor for the Center for Medicare Advocacy in Washington, D.C., told the Boston Globe.
"If someone calls you, don't give them your Social Security number, your credit card number, or bank account number," Gottlich advised. Officials at CMS also noted that it is against Medicare rules for marketers to go into residences uninvited, or ask for bank account numbers or other personal data over the phone. Seniors who suspect fraud can call CMS at 877-772-3379.
Dutch Surgeons Perform New Heartburn Surgery
A team of Dutch surgeons performed a new form of surgery on Friday to ease gastric reflux, the Associated Press reported.
Unlike standard surgeries, the new procedure avoids the need for an external incision in the abdomen. Instead, doctors conducted the camera-guided procedure via a tube threaded down the patient's throat into the stomach.
Tiny, newly developed robotic tools performed the surgery, which involved pulling together part of the stomach lining to form a kind of valve at the bottom of the esophagus.
Gastric reflux, which affects millions of Americans, is caused when stomach acids splash up past a weakened esophageal sphincter into the esophagus.
One expert said it's not clear whether this new surgery -- developed by Seattle-based EndoGastric Solutions, Inc. -- will become the new standard, since other techniques are also being tested.
"What's not clear right now is which of the different approaches - and there are several - will win out," Dr. Larry Brandt, chief of the gastrointestinal department at Montefiore Medical Center, New York City, told the AP.
Iowa Mumps Outbreak Under Control
Health officials in Iowa said on Friday that the number of cases of mumps in the state had dropped considerably in the past few weeks, suggesting that this year's unusual outbreak has been contained.
As of Wednesday, the Iowa Department of Public Health reported 1,938 confirmed or probable cases of mumps in the state, up by just 14 cases from the previous week.
As reported by the Associated Press, Iowa was the worst-hit of a number of 12 Midwest states affected by the mumps outbreak, which together reported 3,200 cases. No deaths and few hospitalizations were reported from the usually mild illness, which hit colleges especially hard.
Experts are blaming the outbreak on the failure of many American children to get booster shots after receiving their first mumps vaccine as babies. To fill that gap, Iowa health officials have offered free vaccination to all 18-to-46-year-olds.
"We had many more people vaccinated, so the number of susceptible people went down," Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, state epidemiologist, told the AP.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Health Headlines - June 17
Separated Twins' Condition Deemed Stable
Two 10-month-old, formerly conjoined twin girls were successfully separated in a marathon surgery in Los Angeles Thursday and are now in stable condition, the Associated Press reported.
Steve Rutledge, a spokesman for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, said Regina and Renata Salinas are resting on ventilators in intensive care cribs, with no signs of infection or other problems. He said doctors do not yet know when the Mexican-born girls might leave the ICU.
The surgery to separate the girls took almost a full day as surgeons separated and divided up bone and organs shared by the twins. The girls -- who were fused together from the lower chest to the pelvis -- only shared one large intestine, so doctors made the decision to give that organ to Renata. They said it is possible Regina may require a colostomy later in life.
Conjoined twins are extremely rare. In the U.S., experts estimate that such births occur once in every 200,000 live deliveries.
Officials Warn of Medicare Scams
Seniors are falling prey to telephone scams where callers ask for banking information in exchange for enrollment in Medicare's Part D drug plan, officials at the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Friday.
"We are taking further steps to prevent, identify, and help law enforcement officials apprehend these scam artists," CMS head Dr. Mark B. McClellan said in a statement.
Medicare Part D enrollment for 2006 officially closed May 15, and enrollment for 2007 does not begin until the fall.
"Part D enrollment has ended. Unless you've just become eligible for Medicare, you should be leery about people telling you to sign up for a new Medicare drug plan," Vicki Gottlich, senior policy advisor for the Center for Medicare Advocacy in Washington, D.C., told the Boston Globe.
"If someone calls you, don't give them your Social Security number, your credit card number, or bank account number," Gottlich advised. Officials at CMS also noted that it is against Medicare rules for marketers to go into residences uninvited, or ask for bank account numbers or other personal data over the phone. Seniors who suspect fraud can call CMS at 877-772-3379.
Dutch Surgeons Perform New Heartburn Surgery
A team of Dutch surgeons performed a new form of surgery on Friday to ease gastric reflux, the Associated Press reported.
Unlike standard surgeries, the new procedure avoids the need for an external incision in the abdomen. Instead, doctors conducted the camera-guided procedure via a tube threaded down the patient's throat into the stomach.
Tiny, newly developed robotic tools performed the surgery, which involved pulling together part of the stomach lining to form a kind of valve at the bottom of the esophagus.
Gastric reflux, which affects millions of Americans, is caused when stomach acids splash up past a weakened esophageal sphincter into the esophagus.
One expert said it's not clear whether this new surgery -- developed by Seattle-based EndoGastric Solutions, Inc. -- will become the new standard, since other techniques are also being tested.
"What's not clear right now is which of the different approaches - and there are several - will win out," Dr. Larry Brandt, chief of the gastrointestinal department at Montefiore Medical Center, New York City, told the AP.
Iowa Mumps Outbreak Under Control
Health officials in Iowa said on Friday that the number of cases of mumps in the state had dropped considerably in the past few weeks, suggesting that this year's unusual outbreak has been contained.
As of Wednesday, the Iowa Department of Public Health reported 1,938 confirmed or probable cases of mumps in the state, up by just 14 cases from the previous week.
As reported by the Associated Press, Iowa was the worst-hit of a number of 12 Midwest states affected by the mumps outbreak, which together reported 3,200 cases. No deaths and few hospitalizations were reported from the usually mild illness, which hit colleges especially hard.
Experts are blaming the outbreak on the failure of many American children to get booster shots after receiving their first mumps vaccine as babies. To fill that gap, Iowa health officials have offered free vaccination to all 18-to-46-year-olds.
"We had many more people vaccinated, so the number of susceptible people went down," Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, state epidemiologist, told the AP.
Blacks Hear Better Than Whites: Study
Blacks hear better than whites, woman hear better than men, and despite all the ear-blasting devices of modern electronics, hearing levels in the United States are about the same as they were 35 years ago, a government study has found.
The racial and sex differences confirmed earlier studies that had reached the same conclusion, but the new study by scientists with the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health was the largest national sample yet to report such a finding, the Associated Press reported Thursday.
Some scientists believe that higher melanin levels in blacks may play a role in how the body removes harmful chemical compounds caused by damage to the sensitive hair cells in the inner ear. In this way, higher melanin may protect blacks from noise-induced hearing loss as years go by.
Elliott Berger, an Indianapolis-based hearing protection expert, said that genetics or differences in noise exposure may explain the difference between women and men. "Boys have typically done noisier activities," Berger told AP.
The study looked at more than 5,000 people who underwent hearing tests from 1999 through 2004 as part of a comprehensive, annual federal health survey that included physical examinations. The 10- to 20-minute test involved wearing headphones and pressing a button when a tone was heard. Frequency and decibel levels were also measured.
Women were more sensitive to higher frequency tones in the test. They could hear higher tones at 11 to 22 decibels, compared with 19 to 32 decibels for men, AP reported. The results closely followed those collected from hearing tests conducted from 1971 to 1975.
Two 10-month-old, formerly conjoined twin girls were successfully separated in a marathon surgery in Los Angeles Thursday and are now in stable condition, the Associated Press reported.
Steve Rutledge, a spokesman for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, said Regina and Renata Salinas are resting on ventilators in intensive care cribs, with no signs of infection or other problems. He said doctors do not yet know when the Mexican-born girls might leave the ICU.
The surgery to separate the girls took almost a full day as surgeons separated and divided up bone and organs shared by the twins. The girls -- who were fused together from the lower chest to the pelvis -- only shared one large intestine, so doctors made the decision to give that organ to Renata. They said it is possible Regina may require a colostomy later in life.
Conjoined twins are extremely rare. In the U.S., experts estimate that such births occur once in every 200,000 live deliveries.
Officials Warn of Medicare Scams
Seniors are falling prey to telephone scams where callers ask for banking information in exchange for enrollment in Medicare's Part D drug plan, officials at the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Friday.
"We are taking further steps to prevent, identify, and help law enforcement officials apprehend these scam artists," CMS head Dr. Mark B. McClellan said in a statement.
Medicare Part D enrollment for 2006 officially closed May 15, and enrollment for 2007 does not begin until the fall.
"Part D enrollment has ended. Unless you've just become eligible for Medicare, you should be leery about people telling you to sign up for a new Medicare drug plan," Vicki Gottlich, senior policy advisor for the Center for Medicare Advocacy in Washington, D.C., told the Boston Globe.
"If someone calls you, don't give them your Social Security number, your credit card number, or bank account number," Gottlich advised. Officials at CMS also noted that it is against Medicare rules for marketers to go into residences uninvited, or ask for bank account numbers or other personal data over the phone. Seniors who suspect fraud can call CMS at 877-772-3379.
Dutch Surgeons Perform New Heartburn Surgery
A team of Dutch surgeons performed a new form of surgery on Friday to ease gastric reflux, the Associated Press reported.
Unlike standard surgeries, the new procedure avoids the need for an external incision in the abdomen. Instead, doctors conducted the camera-guided procedure via a tube threaded down the patient's throat into the stomach.
Tiny, newly developed robotic tools performed the surgery, which involved pulling together part of the stomach lining to form a kind of valve at the bottom of the esophagus.
Gastric reflux, which affects millions of Americans, is caused when stomach acids splash up past a weakened esophageal sphincter into the esophagus.
One expert said it's not clear whether this new surgery -- developed by Seattle-based EndoGastric Solutions, Inc. -- will become the new standard, since other techniques are also being tested.
"What's not clear right now is which of the different approaches - and there are several - will win out," Dr. Larry Brandt, chief of the gastrointestinal department at Montefiore Medical Center, New York City, told the AP.
Iowa Mumps Outbreak Under Control
Health officials in Iowa said on Friday that the number of cases of mumps in the state had dropped considerably in the past few weeks, suggesting that this year's unusual outbreak has been contained.
As of Wednesday, the Iowa Department of Public Health reported 1,938 confirmed or probable cases of mumps in the state, up by just 14 cases from the previous week.
As reported by the Associated Press, Iowa was the worst-hit of a number of 12 Midwest states affected by the mumps outbreak, which together reported 3,200 cases. No deaths and few hospitalizations were reported from the usually mild illness, which hit colleges especially hard.
Experts are blaming the outbreak on the failure of many American children to get booster shots after receiving their first mumps vaccine as babies. To fill that gap, Iowa health officials have offered free vaccination to all 18-to-46-year-olds.
"We had many more people vaccinated, so the number of susceptible people went down," Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, state epidemiologist, told the AP.
Blacks Hear Better Than Whites: Study
Blacks hear better than whites, woman hear better than men, and despite all the ear-blasting devices of modern electronics, hearing levels in the United States are about the same as they were 35 years ago, a government study has found.
The racial and sex differences confirmed earlier studies that had reached the same conclusion, but the new study by scientists with the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health was the largest national sample yet to report such a finding, the Associated Press reported Thursday.
Some scientists believe that higher melanin levels in blacks may play a role in how the body removes harmful chemical compounds caused by damage to the sensitive hair cells in the inner ear. In this way, higher melanin may protect blacks from noise-induced hearing loss as years go by.
Elliott Berger, an Indianapolis-based hearing protection expert, said that genetics or differences in noise exposure may explain the difference between women and men. "Boys have typically done noisier activities," Berger told AP.
The study looked at more than 5,000 people who underwent hearing tests from 1999 through 2004 as part of a comprehensive, annual federal health survey that included physical examinations. The 10- to 20-minute test involved wearing headphones and pressing a button when a tone was heard. Frequency and decibel levels were also measured.
Women were more sensitive to higher frequency tones in the test. They could hear higher tones at 11 to 22 decibels, compared with 19 to 32 decibels for men, AP reported. The results closely followed those collected from hearing tests conducted from 1971 to 1975.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)