Health Headlines - November 5

Pre-Pregnancy Multivitamins Prevent Prematurity

Women who take multivitamins before becoming pregnant are less likely to give birth to premature babies, new study findings suggest.

U.S. Food Labels Need Calorie Clarity

How much did that afternoon snack cut into your daily allowance of calories?

Diabetic Moms Can Have Normal-Weight Babies

Pregnant women with diabetes tend to have overly large babies, which isn't good for either party. An Israeli team has now shown that the problem can be avoided if mothers strictly control their blood sugar levels during pregnancy.

Preschool Exercise Varies, Influences Kids' Habits

Some preschools encourage more physical activity than others, and all have a strong influence on how active students are in their daily lives, new research reports.

FDA to Review Post-Market Safety Checks

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday asked an outside group to review the way it monitors safety risks associated with medicines already on the market, such as Merck & Co. Inc.'s withdrawn painkiller Vioxx.

Texas Sex-Ed Texts Barely Mention Contraceptives

Texas education officials on Friday approved health textbooks for high school students that extol the virtues of sexual abstinence but only make passing mention of contraceptives, which critics say violates state regulations and endangers the health of teens.

Overweight Women May Have Longer Labor

Women who are overweight or obese before becoming pregnant generally spend a longer time in labor than thinner women do, a new study suggests.

Dopamine Limits Learning in Parkinson's Patients

Dopamine is the mainstay of treatment for people with Parkinson's disease, but it comes with a down side. Dopamine-based therapy impairs the brain's ability to respond quickly to learning challenges, investigators report.

New Measures Aim to Improve Drug Safety

Buffeted by criticism, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday that it would appoint a director of drug safety and take other actions to assure the safety of medications it approves.

Feds: Obesity Raising Airline Fuel Costs

Heavy suitcases aren't the only things weighing down airplanes and requiring them to burn more fuel, pushing up the cost of flights. A new government study reveals that airlines increasingly have to worry more about the weight of their passengers.

Nasal Spray Users Sue Over Side Effect

Nine people have sued the manufacturer of a nasal spray, alleging that the product caused them to permanently lose their sense of smell.

U.S. to Buy 75 Million Anthrax Shot Doses

The government said Thursday it is purchasing 75 million doses of a new generation anthrax vaccine under an $877.5 million contract — the first awarded through a federal program to develop and stockpile antidotes to biological and chemical weapons.

Web Kidney Donor Offers to Take Lie Test

A man who donated his kidney to a dialysis patient he met through the Internet has accepted a television show's offer to take a lie detector test aimed at rebutting claims he was paid.

Kentucky Man With Artificial Heart Dies

A man who lived more than five months with an artificial heart has died of multiple organ failure, the heart manufacturer said Friday.

Study Targets Key to Nicotine Addiction

A single molecule may be partly to blame for nicotine's addictive allure, a finding that researchers say could lead to potential therapies to help millions of smokers quit a life-threatening habit.

Al Roker to Report on Gastric Bypass

NBC's Al Roker reports on his health since his gastric bypass surgery, and the potential dangers and benefits involved in the procedure, in an hour-long special to air Friday night on "Dateline NBC."

Azithromycin Zaps Respiratory Infections

A single dose of the oral antibiotic azithromycin is as effective as multiple doses of other frequently prescribed treatments for respiratory tract infections in adults.

Study Faults Popular Hypertension Drug

Atenolol, a drug commonly prescribed to treat hypertension, doesn't prevent heart attacks or cardiovascular death any better than dummy drugs and is less effective than a wide variety of other blood pressure medications.

Blood Substitute Tested in Trauma Patients

A number of U.S. trauma centers are taking part in a study of an oxygen-carrying blood substitute designed to be used at the scene of accidents or disasters to increase survival of critically injured and bleeding trauma.