Pill That Would End Periods to Get FDA Blessing
A birth control pill that would eliminate periods completely for women is expected to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported Friday.
Lybrel, which is made by Wyeth, would be the fourth oral contraceptive that doesn't mirror a woman's monthly menstrual cycle. Seasonique, an updated version of Seasonale, limits menstrual periods to four a year, the AP reported.
Almost 50 percent of women surveyed have indicated a desire to eliminate monthly periods, and most would rather have periods less often, the wire service said.
I think it's the beginning of it being very common," Dr. Leslie Miller, a University of Washington-Seattle obstetrician/gynecologist told the AP. "Lybrel says, 'You don't need a period.'"
Lybrel should hit the U.S. market in July, and analysts have predicted that sales could reach $40 million this year and $235 million by 2010, the AP reported.
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Boiling 'Cabbage Family' Veggies Cuts Anti-Cancer Properties
Boiling broccoli and related kinds of vegetables -- including cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts -- reduces their anti-cancer properties, according to a U.K. study in the journal Food Chemistry and Toxicology.
Researchers at the University of Warwick Medical School found that boiling these vegetables causes the loss of a substance called glucosinolate. When consumed, glucosinolate changes into another compound called isothiocyanate, which fights the effects of carcinogens and hastens their removal from the body, Agence France-Presse reported.
The study found that boiling reduced glucosinolate content by 77 percent in broccoli, 58 percent in Brussels sprouts, 75 percent in cauliflower, and 65 percent in green cabbage.
Steaming, stir-frying or microwaving had little effect on these vegetables, however, AFP reported.
There are a number of other related vegetables with anti-cancer properties, including collards, kale, horseradish, radish, watercress, boy choy, rutabaga, kohlrabi, turnips, and Chinese cabbage.
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5% Reduction in Smoking Could Save 100 Million Lives
A 5 percent worldwide reduction in the number of smokers by 2020 would save at least 100 million lives, according to a study by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden.
Currently, about 25 percent of adults (one billion people) in the world are smokers. Reducing that to 20 percent can be achieved by increasing tobacco taxes, expanding smoke-free zones, banning tobacco advertising, and helping people kick the habit, said the study. It noted that a number of countries have already cut adult smoking levels to less than 20 percent, Agence France-Presse reported.
Special focus must be made on educating smokers and would-be smokers in developing nations about the dangers of tobacco, Bloomberg and Frieden said. They pointed out that two-thirds of smokers live in 15 low- or middle-income nations and that 50 percent live in just five countries -- China, India, Russia, Indonesia and Bangladesh.
"Keeping rates low is especially important for the large population of young women in Asia and elsewhere who do not currently smoke but are targeted by the tobacco industry," according to the study, which was published Friday in The Lancet medical journal.
Bloomberg is an ex-smoker who spent $125 million of his own money to start a Worldwide Stop Smoking Initiative last year, AFP reported.
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Blood from Donors With Undiagnosed Cancer No Threat
European researchers say that blood from donors with undiagnosed cancers does not appear to increase the risk of cancer in people who receive it, CBC News reported.
Danish and Swedish researchers analyzed data from a computerized blood bank on 350,000 people who received blood transfusions. Of those, 12,000 received blood products from donors with undiagnosed cancers at the time they gave blood. The recipients were followed for up to 34 years.
"Our data provide no evidence that blood transfusions from precancerous blood donors are associated with increased risk of cancer among recipients compared with transfusions from non-cancerous donors," the study authors wrote.
The study was published this week in The Lancet medical journal.
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Modern Medical Care May Have Been Able to Save Lincoln
Modern medical care may have been able to save Abraham Lincoln's life after he was shot in the head, according to a University of Maryland doctor and historian, the Associated Press reported.
Lincoln died within 10 hours after he was shot while attending a performance at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865. But there's a good chance that he would have survived if he'd received the kind of treatment available in modern trauma facilities, says Dr. Thomas Scalea, physician in chief at the University of Maryland's Shock Trauma Center.
Under that survival scenario, Lincoln may have also retained his cognitive abilities, because the bullet didn't damage his brain's frontal lobes, which handle language, emotion and problem solving, the AP reported. However, Lincoln would have needed months of recovery before he could have returned to office.
Scalea was scheduled to discuss the hypothetical situation Friday at an annual University of Maryland conference that explores the deaths of historic figures.
In related news, researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston say that Lincoln had a potentially fatal case of smallpox when he delivered his Gettysburg Address in November, 1863, the Houston Chronicle reported.
The researchers analyzed descriptions of Lincoln's illness in November and December 1863. He first complained of illness on his way to Gettysburg and was confined to bed for days after he delivered the famous speech.
"By December 7, he could walk around briefly but he was emaciated and sallow-faced," noted lead author Dr. Armond S. Goldman, an emeritus professor in UTMB's pediatrics department. "It wasn't until December 15 that he felt well enough to conduct official business for several hours a day."
He and his co-author say Lincoln had a 30 percent chance of dying from the disease. The report appears in the current issue of the Journal of Medical Biography.
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FDA Panel Supports Smallpox Vaccine
A second-generation smallpox vaccine made by Acambis Plc is effective and safe enough to be used in special circumstances where people may be at high risk for smallpox exposure, a U.S. Food and Drug advisory panel decided in a unanimous vote Thursday.
The U.S. government has already stockpiled 192.5 million doses of the experimental vaccine, the Associated Press reported. But Acambis failed to win a further U.S. government contract last fall and future production of the vaccine may depend in part on whether the FDA approves the vaccine.
While it's not required to follow the recommendations of its advisory panels, the FDA usually does adopt them.
The vaccine can cause serious side effects such as itching, rashes and pain, as well as rare cases of inflammation of the heart and its surrounding sac. Even so, it's believed that the risks are acceptable for people at high risk for exposure to smallpox.
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