Volunteers Begin Testing Bird Flu Nasal Vaccine
A U.S. team on Thursday began tests in human volunteers on an experimental H5N1 avian flu vaccine. The shot contains live but weakened viruses and is administered through the nose via an inhaler or spray.
Experts hope the new vaccine will afford greater protection than injectable vaccines and do so in smaller doses, although some scientists aren't sure it will induce enough of a protective response in humans to be worthwhile. The vaccine was developed by a team at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Canadian Press reported Friday.
The trial is being conducted by The Center for Immunization Research at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore, Md., in collaboration with the U.S. National Institutes of Health and MedImmune Inc., a Gaithersburg, Md.-based company that makes one of only two live-attenuated influenza vaccines in the world. The other is made by a Russian manufacturer, CP said.
The live-virus vaccine being tested is administered through the nose and replicates the way that regular viruses do. This low-level infection activates the immune system to develop antibodies that could protect against later exposure to a full-strength virus, the researchers explained.
First Drug Regimen Approved for Advanced Cervical Cancer
The first combination of drugs to treat late-stage cervical cancer received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval Thursday.
Hycamtin (topotecan hydrochloride) -- already approved to treat cancers of the ovaries and lung -- is newly sanctioned in combination with cisplatin to treat cervical cancer that's too advanced or is unlikely to respond to treatments including surgery and radiation, the agency said.
Some 10,000 U.S. women are diagnosed annually with cervical cancer, leading to 3,700 deaths each year. In clinical trials involving 293 women, participants who used the combination survived an average of 9.4 months, versus 6.5 months among those who took cisplatin alone, the FDA said
Hycamtin, made by GlaxoSmithKline, was approved in 1996 for ovarian cancer and in 1998 for small-cell lung cancer. People who take it are at risk for neutropenia, a drop in white blood cell count that boosts a person's risk of infections. Users are also at risk for a decrease in blood platelets, which could lead to excessive bleeding and anemia, the FDA said.
Docs Question Merits of Cosmetic Lasers: Newspaper
A growing number of doctors who have used lasers and other technologies to counter drooping skin are questioning whether the devices actually work as touted, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
Body sculpting treatments and related procedures are among the fastest-growing cosmetic procedures, the newspaper said, as the global pricetag in 2005 topped $4.2 billion. But actual results are marginal at best, physicians tell the Journal.
Some dermatologists and plastic surgeons are becoming increasingly critical of what they say are their colleagues' tendencies to show dramatic before-and-after pictures that overstate typical results. Makers of the devices attribute the complaints to the fact that patient results aren't always as dramatic as surgery, the newspaper reported.
There is little documented scientific evidence of the effectiveness of cosmetic lasers and other treatments, the Journal noted. One reason may be that the requirements for approval of these devices by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are much less stringent than evidence required for the FDA's approval of drugs, the newspaper said.
Baseball Wants to Strike Out Prostate Cancer
To raise awareness of the dangers of prostate cancer, Major League Baseball says it will observe Father's Day this Sunday by working with corporate sponsors to donate money to prostate cancer research for every home run hit that day.
In an article on its Web site, Major League Baseball said an informative card would be distributed to fans at all MLB ballparks on Sunday, and that players and coaches would don symbolic wristbands and blue-ribbon uniform decals.
And The New York Times reported that traditional seventh-inning stretch activities would instead be done on Sunday during the sixth inning, symbolizing that one in every six American men will develop prostate cancer during his lifetime.
Many Parents Underestimate Asthma Risk: Study
Nearly half of all parents who participated in a global survey were unaware that a child with a mild form of asthma could still die from an acute attack, European researchers say.
One in three fatal asthma attacks involves a mild form of the disease, the Associated Press reported of data released at a Vienna meeting by the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology.
A survey of nearly 5,500 parents -- primarily in Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States -- found that parents frequently cut back on their children's use of inhalers and other treatments when their children have side effects, the wire service reported.
This exposes these children to a host of potential problems, including worsening asthma symptoms, more frequent attacks, and the need for more trips to the doctor or emergency room, the academy warned.
Some 225,000 people died from asthma last year, according to the World Health Organization, a number that's projected to rise by almost 20 percent in the next decade, the AP reported.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Health Headlines - June 15
First Drug Regimen Approved for Advanced Cervical Cancer
The first combination of drugs to treat late-stage cervical cancer received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval Thursday.
Hycamtin (topotecan hydrochloride) -- already approved to treat cancers of the ovaries and lung -- is newly sanctioned in combination with cisplatin to treat cervical cancer that's too advanced or is unlikely to respond to treatments including surgery and radiation, the agency said.
Some 10,000 U.S. women are diagnosed annually with cervical cancer, leading to 3,700 deaths each year. In clinical trials involving 293 women, participants who used the combination survived an average of 9.4 months, versus 6.5 months among those who took cisplatin alone, the FDA said
Hycamtin, made by GlaxoSmithKline, was approved in 1996 for ovarian cancer and in 1998 for small-cell lung cancer. People who take it are at risk for neutropenia, a drop in white blood cell count that boosts a person's risk of infections. Users are also at risk for a decrease in blood platelets, which could lead to excessive bleeding and anemia, the FDA said.
Many Parents Underestimate Asthma Risk: Study
Nearly half of all parents who participated in a global survey were unaware that a child with a mild form of asthma could still die from an acute attack, European researchers say.
One in three fatal asthma attacks involves a mild form of the disease, the Associated Press reported of data released at a Vienna meeting by the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology.
A survey of nearly 5,500 parents -- primarily in Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States -- found that parents frequently cut back on their children's use of inhalers and other treatments when their children have side effects, the wire service reported.
This exposes these children to a host of potential problems, including worsening asthma symptoms, more frequent attacks, and the need for more trips to the doctor or emergency room, the academy warned.
Some 225,000 people died from asthma last year, according to the World Health Organization, a number that's projected to rise by almost 20 percent in the next decade, the AP reported.
Separated Twins 'Doing Great'
Conjoined twins, attached from the chest to the pelvis and who shared internal organ function, were separated in a daylong operation Wednesday by a surgical team at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.
The twins, 10-month-old Regina and Renata Salinas Fierros, were transferred early Thursday to side-by-side beds in an intensive care unit after their surgeries were complete, hospital spokeswoman Janet Dotson told the Associated Press.
"The girls are doing great," she added.
The AP reported that the twins were finally separated as the pelvic bone was cut shortly before 6:30 p.m. PT.Wednesday night. The procedure had lasted more than 12 hours and was especially difficult, the wire service said, because doctors had to devise a way to separate the liver, bladder and genitalia so that each child could function on her own.
Investigators: NIH Worker Allegedly Profited From Tissue Samples
A senior researcher at the U.S. National Institutes of Health may have profited by at least $285,000 from the transfer of human tissue samples in what appears to be a violation of agency ethics rules, House investigators told the Associated Press.
The investigators said the transfer of the samples to the drug giant Pfizer would not have been approved had agency permission been sought by Dr. Trey Sunderland, an Alzheimer's disease expert at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The arrangement raises questions about lax oversight at the agency, the investigators told the wire service.
Sunderland, chief of the geriatric psychiatry branch at the NIMH, asserted his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination Wednesday by refusing to testify at congressional hearings on the allegations.
He's been under congressional scrutiny before, the AP said. The House Energy and Commerce Committee has investigated allegations that Sunderland received $517,000 since 1999 in consulting fees or expense reimbursements from Pfizer without any record of agency approval for those payments, the wire service reported.
The latest probe centers on investigators' belief that there were "reasonable grounds" that $285,000 of the $517,000 Sunderland received from Pfizer stemmed from giving the company access to spinal fluid and plasma samples in connection with Pfizer's work on an Alzheimer's drug, the AP said.
"Federal laws and policies do not permit NIH scientists to profit personally from their jobs and their patients by providing irreplaceable government assets," Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) told the wire service. Whitfield chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight and investigation subcommittee.
An attorney for Sunderland, Robert Muse, said his client "didn't receive a dime for providing anything to Pfizer. He received fees for consulting as well as for lectures. These were known to NIH and they were permitted under NIH rules," Muse told the AP.
The transfer of tissue samples was done under a 1998 material transfer agreement between the NIMH and Pfizer, the AP reported. A company spokesman could not be reached for immediate comment, the wire service said.
HHS Chief Uses Emergency Jet for Meetings: Newspaper
A private jet reserved for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in cases of emergency has been used by Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to attend news conferences and meetings across the country, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday.
While the CDC says it has used the jet for three emergencies since January, Leavitt has used the Gulfstream III jet on 19 trips to more than 90 cities, his spokeswoman told the newspaper. Most of Leavitt's trips, at a cost to taxpayers of more than $700,000, were to promote the new Medicare prescription drug benefit for seniors, the newspaper said.
In two cases, CDC officials responding to emergencies were forced to use other planes because Leavitt was using the CDC jet, the Journal-Constitution said.
A Leavitt spokeswoman defended his use of the plane, saying the trips complied with federal guidelines. Before 2006, Leavitt typically took commercial jets, as other cabinet members say they do frequently, the newspaper reported.
Last fall, Congress authorized Leavitt to use the jet at his discretion because of the nature of his work during emergencies and "significant events," the newspaper said.
Leavitt was unavailable to respond to the newspaper's story, it said.
The first combination of drugs to treat late-stage cervical cancer received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval Thursday.
Hycamtin (topotecan hydrochloride) -- already approved to treat cancers of the ovaries and lung -- is newly sanctioned in combination with cisplatin to treat cervical cancer that's too advanced or is unlikely to respond to treatments including surgery and radiation, the agency said.
Some 10,000 U.S. women are diagnosed annually with cervical cancer, leading to 3,700 deaths each year. In clinical trials involving 293 women, participants who used the combination survived an average of 9.4 months, versus 6.5 months among those who took cisplatin alone, the FDA said
Hycamtin, made by GlaxoSmithKline, was approved in 1996 for ovarian cancer and in 1998 for small-cell lung cancer. People who take it are at risk for neutropenia, a drop in white blood cell count that boosts a person's risk of infections. Users are also at risk for a decrease in blood platelets, which could lead to excessive bleeding and anemia, the FDA said.
Many Parents Underestimate Asthma Risk: Study
Nearly half of all parents who participated in a global survey were unaware that a child with a mild form of asthma could still die from an acute attack, European researchers say.
One in three fatal asthma attacks involves a mild form of the disease, the Associated Press reported of data released at a Vienna meeting by the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology.
A survey of nearly 5,500 parents -- primarily in Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States -- found that parents frequently cut back on their children's use of inhalers and other treatments when their children have side effects, the wire service reported.
This exposes these children to a host of potential problems, including worsening asthma symptoms, more frequent attacks, and the need for more trips to the doctor or emergency room, the academy warned.
Some 225,000 people died from asthma last year, according to the World Health Organization, a number that's projected to rise by almost 20 percent in the next decade, the AP reported.
Separated Twins 'Doing Great'
Conjoined twins, attached from the chest to the pelvis and who shared internal organ function, were separated in a daylong operation Wednesday by a surgical team at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.
The twins, 10-month-old Regina and Renata Salinas Fierros, were transferred early Thursday to side-by-side beds in an intensive care unit after their surgeries were complete, hospital spokeswoman Janet Dotson told the Associated Press.
"The girls are doing great," she added.
The AP reported that the twins were finally separated as the pelvic bone was cut shortly before 6:30 p.m. PT.Wednesday night. The procedure had lasted more than 12 hours and was especially difficult, the wire service said, because doctors had to devise a way to separate the liver, bladder and genitalia so that each child could function on her own.
Investigators: NIH Worker Allegedly Profited From Tissue Samples
A senior researcher at the U.S. National Institutes of Health may have profited by at least $285,000 from the transfer of human tissue samples in what appears to be a violation of agency ethics rules, House investigators told the Associated Press.
The investigators said the transfer of the samples to the drug giant Pfizer would not have been approved had agency permission been sought by Dr. Trey Sunderland, an Alzheimer's disease expert at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The arrangement raises questions about lax oversight at the agency, the investigators told the wire service.
Sunderland, chief of the geriatric psychiatry branch at the NIMH, asserted his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination Wednesday by refusing to testify at congressional hearings on the allegations.
He's been under congressional scrutiny before, the AP said. The House Energy and Commerce Committee has investigated allegations that Sunderland received $517,000 since 1999 in consulting fees or expense reimbursements from Pfizer without any record of agency approval for those payments, the wire service reported.
The latest probe centers on investigators' belief that there were "reasonable grounds" that $285,000 of the $517,000 Sunderland received from Pfizer stemmed from giving the company access to spinal fluid and plasma samples in connection with Pfizer's work on an Alzheimer's drug, the AP said.
"Federal laws and policies do not permit NIH scientists to profit personally from their jobs and their patients by providing irreplaceable government assets," Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) told the wire service. Whitfield chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight and investigation subcommittee.
An attorney for Sunderland, Robert Muse, said his client "didn't receive a dime for providing anything to Pfizer. He received fees for consulting as well as for lectures. These were known to NIH and they were permitted under NIH rules," Muse told the AP.
The transfer of tissue samples was done under a 1998 material transfer agreement between the NIMH and Pfizer, the AP reported. A company spokesman could not be reached for immediate comment, the wire service said.
HHS Chief Uses Emergency Jet for Meetings: Newspaper
A private jet reserved for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in cases of emergency has been used by Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to attend news conferences and meetings across the country, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday.
While the CDC says it has used the jet for three emergencies since January, Leavitt has used the Gulfstream III jet on 19 trips to more than 90 cities, his spokeswoman told the newspaper. Most of Leavitt's trips, at a cost to taxpayers of more than $700,000, were to promote the new Medicare prescription drug benefit for seniors, the newspaper said.
In two cases, CDC officials responding to emergencies were forced to use other planes because Leavitt was using the CDC jet, the Journal-Constitution said.
A Leavitt spokeswoman defended his use of the plane, saying the trips complied with federal guidelines. Before 2006, Leavitt typically took commercial jets, as other cabinet members say they do frequently, the newspaper reported.
Last fall, Congress authorized Leavitt to use the jet at his discretion because of the nature of his work during emergencies and "significant events," the newspaper said.
Leavitt was unavailable to respond to the newspaper's story, it said.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Health Headlines - June 14
Investigators: NIH Worker Allegedly Profited From Tissue Samples
A senior researcher at the U.S. National Institutes of Health may have profited by at least $285,000 from the transfer of human tissue samples in what appears to be a violation of agency ethics rules, House investigators told the Associated Press.
The investigators said the transfer of the samples to the drug giant Pfizer would not have been approved had agency permission been sought by Dr. Trey Sunderland, an Alzheimer's disease expert at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The arrangement raises questions about lax oversight at the agency, the investigators told the wire service.
Sunderland, chief of the geriatric psychiatry branch at the NIMH, asserted his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination Wednesday by refusing to testify at congressional hearings on the allegations.
He's been under congressional scrutiny before, the AP said. The House Energy and Commerce Committee has investigated allegations that Sunderland received $517,000 since 1999 in consulting fees or expense reimbursements from Pfizer without any record of agency approval for those payments, the wire service reported.
The latest probe centers on investigators' belief that there were "reasonable grounds" that $285,000 of the $517,000 Sunderland received from Pfizer stemmed from giving the company access to spinal fluid and plasma samples in connection with Pfizer's work on an Alzheimer's drug, the AP said.
"Federal laws and policies do not permit NIH scientists to profit personally from their jobs and their patients by providing irreplaceable government assets," Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) told the wire service. Whitfield chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight and investigation subcommittee.
An attorney for Sunderland, Robert Muse, said his client "didn't receive a dime for providing anything to Pfizer. He received fees for consulting as well as for lectures. These were known to NIH and they were permitted under NIH rules," Muse told the AP.
The transfer of tissue samples was done under a 1998 material transfer agreement between the NIMH and Pfizer, the AP reported. A company spokesman could not be reached for immediate comment, the wire service said.
HHS Chief Uses Emergency Jet for Meetings: Newspaper
A private jet reserved for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in cases of emergency has been used by Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to attend news conferences and meetings across the country, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday.
While the CDC says it has used the jet for three emergencies since January, Leavitt has used the Gulfstream III jet on 19 trips to more than 90 cities, his spokeswoman told the newspaper. Most of Leavitt's trips, at a cost to taxpayers of more than $700,000, were to promote the new Medicare prescription drug benefit for seniors, the newspaper said.
In two cases, CDC officials responding to emergencies were forced to use other planes because Leavitt was using the CDC jet, the Journal-Constitution said.
A Leavitt spokeswoman defended his use of the plane, saying the trips complied with federal guidelines. Before 2006, Leavitt typically took commercial jets, as other cabinet members say they do frequently, the newspaper reported.
Last fall, Congress authorized Leavitt to use the jet at his discretion because of the nature of his work during emergencies and "significant events," the newspaper said.
Leavitt was unavailable to respond to the newspaper's story, it said.
Bid to Prevent Hospital Errors Has Saved Thousands, Director Says
More than 122,000 lives have been saved at U.S. acute care facilities in the past 18 months because of a national campaign to prevent hospital errors, the program's director said Wednesday.
Some 3,100 institutions participated in the effort, led by Harvard Professor Dr. Donald Berwick, who announced the results Wednesday at an Atlanta hospital conference. The campaign focused on better protection against drug errors, preventing post-surgical infections, and deployment of emergency rapid-response teams, the Associated Press reported.
Participating hospitals, which represented about three-quarters of the nation's acute care beds, were asked to send Berwick their mortality data for analysis, the AP said.
A widely publicized 1999 report estimated that up to 98,000 Americans die each year due to hospital errors and substandard care, the wire service said.
Separately, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it was launching a new bid to prevent drug errors caused by unclear abbreviations used in doctors' prescriptions. As an example, the agency said the abbreviation for international units (IU) was easily mistaken for the abbreviation for intravenous (IV).
The FDA said it would produce a series of brochures, posters and public service advertisements aimed at doctors. More than 7,000 Americans die each year due to medication errors, the agency said.
KFC Sued Over Trans Fats in Recipes
A public advocacy group is suing KFC over the ongoing use of trans fat-laden partially hydrogenated oils in the company's fried chicken recipes, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest wants to either get a ban on KFC's use of the fatty oils or force the company to tell customers that trans fats can cause heart disease, the newspaper said.
The suit was brought in District of Columbia Superior Court and a decision would be binding only in Washington, the newspaper said.
Scientists consider trans fats among the most unhealthy of all fats. About 80 percent of those found in the average American's diet come from partially hydrogenated oils, the Times said.
KFC issued a statement calling the lawsuit "completely without merit." The firm noted that complete nutrition information for its products was available in its restaurants and on its Web site.
"We have been reviewing alternative oil options, but there are a number of factors to consider including maintaining KFC's unique taste and flavor of Colonel Sanders' Original Recipe," the statement continued.
Jerry Lewis Has Mild Heart Attack
Legendary comedian Jerry Lewis is recovering in a San Diego hospital from what a spokeswoman is calling a mild heart attack, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Lewis, 80, had the heart attack on Sunday and also has "a touch of pneumonia," according to a spokeswoman for a Las Vegas casino where Lewis had been scheduled to perform next month. The engagement has been postponed, the wire service said.
Just last week, Lewis appeared at a Las Vegas news conference to announce his first live performances in five years, following a bout with pulmonary fibrosis, a debilitating lung ailment.
A senior researcher at the U.S. National Institutes of Health may have profited by at least $285,000 from the transfer of human tissue samples in what appears to be a violation of agency ethics rules, House investigators told the Associated Press.
The investigators said the transfer of the samples to the drug giant Pfizer would not have been approved had agency permission been sought by Dr. Trey Sunderland, an Alzheimer's disease expert at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The arrangement raises questions about lax oversight at the agency, the investigators told the wire service.
Sunderland, chief of the geriatric psychiatry branch at the NIMH, asserted his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination Wednesday by refusing to testify at congressional hearings on the allegations.
He's been under congressional scrutiny before, the AP said. The House Energy and Commerce Committee has investigated allegations that Sunderland received $517,000 since 1999 in consulting fees or expense reimbursements from Pfizer without any record of agency approval for those payments, the wire service reported.
The latest probe centers on investigators' belief that there were "reasonable grounds" that $285,000 of the $517,000 Sunderland received from Pfizer stemmed from giving the company access to spinal fluid and plasma samples in connection with Pfizer's work on an Alzheimer's drug, the AP said.
"Federal laws and policies do not permit NIH scientists to profit personally from their jobs and their patients by providing irreplaceable government assets," Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) told the wire service. Whitfield chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight and investigation subcommittee.
An attorney for Sunderland, Robert Muse, said his client "didn't receive a dime for providing anything to Pfizer. He received fees for consulting as well as for lectures. These were known to NIH and they were permitted under NIH rules," Muse told the AP.
The transfer of tissue samples was done under a 1998 material transfer agreement between the NIMH and Pfizer, the AP reported. A company spokesman could not be reached for immediate comment, the wire service said.
HHS Chief Uses Emergency Jet for Meetings: Newspaper
A private jet reserved for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in cases of emergency has been used by Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to attend news conferences and meetings across the country, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday.
While the CDC says it has used the jet for three emergencies since January, Leavitt has used the Gulfstream III jet on 19 trips to more than 90 cities, his spokeswoman told the newspaper. Most of Leavitt's trips, at a cost to taxpayers of more than $700,000, were to promote the new Medicare prescription drug benefit for seniors, the newspaper said.
In two cases, CDC officials responding to emergencies were forced to use other planes because Leavitt was using the CDC jet, the Journal-Constitution said.
A Leavitt spokeswoman defended his use of the plane, saying the trips complied with federal guidelines. Before 2006, Leavitt typically took commercial jets, as other cabinet members say they do frequently, the newspaper reported.
Last fall, Congress authorized Leavitt to use the jet at his discretion because of the nature of his work during emergencies and "significant events," the newspaper said.
Leavitt was unavailable to respond to the newspaper's story, it said.
Bid to Prevent Hospital Errors Has Saved Thousands, Director Says
More than 122,000 lives have been saved at U.S. acute care facilities in the past 18 months because of a national campaign to prevent hospital errors, the program's director said Wednesday.
Some 3,100 institutions participated in the effort, led by Harvard Professor Dr. Donald Berwick, who announced the results Wednesday at an Atlanta hospital conference. The campaign focused on better protection against drug errors, preventing post-surgical infections, and deployment of emergency rapid-response teams, the Associated Press reported.
Participating hospitals, which represented about three-quarters of the nation's acute care beds, were asked to send Berwick their mortality data for analysis, the AP said.
A widely publicized 1999 report estimated that up to 98,000 Americans die each year due to hospital errors and substandard care, the wire service said.
Separately, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it was launching a new bid to prevent drug errors caused by unclear abbreviations used in doctors' prescriptions. As an example, the agency said the abbreviation for international units (IU) was easily mistaken for the abbreviation for intravenous (IV).
The FDA said it would produce a series of brochures, posters and public service advertisements aimed at doctors. More than 7,000 Americans die each year due to medication errors, the agency said.
KFC Sued Over Trans Fats in Recipes
A public advocacy group is suing KFC over the ongoing use of trans fat-laden partially hydrogenated oils in the company's fried chicken recipes, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest wants to either get a ban on KFC's use of the fatty oils or force the company to tell customers that trans fats can cause heart disease, the newspaper said.
The suit was brought in District of Columbia Superior Court and a decision would be binding only in Washington, the newspaper said.
Scientists consider trans fats among the most unhealthy of all fats. About 80 percent of those found in the average American's diet come from partially hydrogenated oils, the Times said.
KFC issued a statement calling the lawsuit "completely without merit." The firm noted that complete nutrition information for its products was available in its restaurants and on its Web site.
"We have been reviewing alternative oil options, but there are a number of factors to consider including maintaining KFC's unique taste and flavor of Colonel Sanders' Original Recipe," the statement continued.
Jerry Lewis Has Mild Heart Attack
Legendary comedian Jerry Lewis is recovering in a San Diego hospital from what a spokeswoman is calling a mild heart attack, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Lewis, 80, had the heart attack on Sunday and also has "a touch of pneumonia," according to a spokeswoman for a Las Vegas casino where Lewis had been scheduled to perform next month. The engagement has been postponed, the wire service said.
Just last week, Lewis appeared at a Las Vegas news conference to announce his first live performances in five years, following a bout with pulmonary fibrosis, a debilitating lung ailment.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Health Headlines - June 13
Doctor Who Sparked Vaccine Controversy Faces Charges
The doctor who sparked a worldwide scare over the safety of the MMR vaccine is expected to be charged with professional misconduct by Great Britain's General Medical Council, the London Independent reported Monday.
Dr. Andrew Wakefield, whose 1998 research paper published in the British medical journal The Lancet purported to show a link between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and autism, is accused in preliminary charges of publishing "inadequately founded" research, failing to obtain ethical committee approval, obtaining funding "improperly," and of subjecting children to "unnecessary and invasive investigations," according to the newspaper.
Detailed charges against Wakefield, 50, are being formulated by the GMC's lawyers and a public hearing is expected next year. If Wakefield is found guilty, he could be struck from the medical register, the Independent reported.
After Wakefield and 12 other doctors published the warning about the combined vaccine, tens of thousands of parents boycotted its use, leading to rising cases of all three illnesses.
The research was said to have done more damage than anything published in a scientific journal in living memory, according to the newspaper.
New Diabetes Drugs Add Double Punch to Older Medications
Two experimental pills seem to pack a one-two punch for older diabetes drugs -- they not only help lower blood sugar levels but also help with weight loss.
The once-a-day medications are the first in a new class of type 2 diabetes drugs that manufacturers Merck & Co. and Novartis AG hope to win U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for and to begin selling by year's end, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Merck's pill, Januvia or sitagliptin, lowered blood sugar levels by 0.67 percent for participants in a yearlong trial, or just as much as another, older drug, glipizide, the AP reported. Novartis' pill, Galvus or vildagliptin, reduced blood sugar levels by 1.9 percent when used with another older drug, pioglitazone, which reduces insulin resistance.
Excess weight is a common problem in type 2 patients. Both experimental pills helped patients maintain or even lose weight in the trials. Side effects of the pills included cold and flu-like symptoms and headaches.
FDA OKs Antidepressant to Treat Winter Blues
Federal regulators on Monday approved GlaxoSmithKline's antidepressant Wellbutrin XL to help treat the estimated half a million people in the United States who suffer from winter depression.
The U.S. Food and Administration said the drug is the first to be approved to treat the condition, which causes bouts of recurrent depression, and is known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. Wellbutrin XL (bupropion HCL extended release tablets) had been previously approved for treatment of major depressive disorder.
"The effectiveness of Wellbutrin XL for the prevention of SAD episodes was established in 3 double-blind, placebo-controlled trials in adults with a history of major depressive disorder in autumn and winter," the FDA said in a prepared statement. "Treatment was initiated prior to the onset of symptoms in the autumn (September to November) and was discontinued following a two-week taper that began the first week of spring (fourth week of March). In these trials, the percentage of patients who were depression-free at the end of treatment was significantly higher for those on Wellbutrin XL than for those on placebo; for all 3 studies combined, the overall rate of patients depression-free at the end of treatment was 84 percent for those on Wellbutrin XL compared to 72 percent for those on placebo."
The drug's label includes a "black box" warning on the increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior in pediatric patients treated with antidepressants.
As sunlight patterns change in autumn and winter, there is a shift in the "biological internal clocks" or circadian rhythms, according to the National Mental Health Association. This can cause your biological clocks to be out of step with normal activities. January and February are the most difficult months for sufferers, and younger persons and women are at higher risk, the association says.
A Better Brew to Fight Prostate Cancer?
That beer you're holding may contain small amounts of a compound thought to prevent prostate cancer and enlargement, according to an Oregon State University study, but you'd have to drink almost a case to activate its benefits.
Researchers said that xanthohumol, which is found in the hops used to brew beer, belongs to a group of plant compounds called flavonoids that can trigger the death of cancer cells along the surface of the prostate gland, the Associated Press reported Monday.
Fred Stevens, an assistant professor of medicinal chemistry at OSU's College of Pharmacy, said it may be possible for drug companies to develop pills containing concentrated doses of the flavonoid and to increase the xanthohumol content of hops. The Oregon study findings were published in a recent issue of Cancer Letters.
German scientists have already developed a beer that contains 10 times the amount of xanthohumol as traditional brews. The drink is being marketed as a healthy beer, the AP said, but research is still under way to determine if it has any effect on cancer.
Still, there should no rush to belly up to the bar, according to the head of the National Prostate Cancer Coalition. "It's every mans dream to hear that beer and pizza can prevent cancer," said Dr. Richard N. Atkins in a prepared statement. "However, the 17 beers and four large pizzas needed to get enough xanthohumol and lycopene to help prevent prostate cancer is unfortunately not advised. Our hope is that men know the facts and get tested for prostate cancer. Food, no matter how helpful it may be, is not a full preventive for prostate cancer."
Diabetes Vision Drug Trials Show Promise
Eli Lilly and Co. says two late-phase trials of its experimental drug Arxxant reduced the risk of vision loss by 42 percent among patients with serious eye problems caused by diabetes. The drug, which is awaiting federal approval, could bring Lilly an estimated $1 billion a year, The Indianapolis Star reported Monday.
Since no drug currently treats the disorder, called diabetic retinopathy, the typical current treatment uses laser surgery in advanced stages of the illness.
Dr. Louis Vignati, medical director for Lilly's Arxxant product team, told the newspaper that stemming vision loss could improve the quality of life for many diabetics, allowing them to keep driving cars or taking part in other everyday activities.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has agreed to speed up its usual one-year review time for Arxxant, since there are no approved treatments for diabetic eye disease.
The drug maker revealed the findings over the weekend at the annual scientific meeting of the American Diabetes Association in Washington, D.C.
The doctor who sparked a worldwide scare over the safety of the MMR vaccine is expected to be charged with professional misconduct by Great Britain's General Medical Council, the London Independent reported Monday.
Dr. Andrew Wakefield, whose 1998 research paper published in the British medical journal The Lancet purported to show a link between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and autism, is accused in preliminary charges of publishing "inadequately founded" research, failing to obtain ethical committee approval, obtaining funding "improperly," and of subjecting children to "unnecessary and invasive investigations," according to the newspaper.
Detailed charges against Wakefield, 50, are being formulated by the GMC's lawyers and a public hearing is expected next year. If Wakefield is found guilty, he could be struck from the medical register, the Independent reported.
After Wakefield and 12 other doctors published the warning about the combined vaccine, tens of thousands of parents boycotted its use, leading to rising cases of all three illnesses.
The research was said to have done more damage than anything published in a scientific journal in living memory, according to the newspaper.
New Diabetes Drugs Add Double Punch to Older Medications
Two experimental pills seem to pack a one-two punch for older diabetes drugs -- they not only help lower blood sugar levels but also help with weight loss.
The once-a-day medications are the first in a new class of type 2 diabetes drugs that manufacturers Merck & Co. and Novartis AG hope to win U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for and to begin selling by year's end, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Merck's pill, Januvia or sitagliptin, lowered blood sugar levels by 0.67 percent for participants in a yearlong trial, or just as much as another, older drug, glipizide, the AP reported. Novartis' pill, Galvus or vildagliptin, reduced blood sugar levels by 1.9 percent when used with another older drug, pioglitazone, which reduces insulin resistance.
Excess weight is a common problem in type 2 patients. Both experimental pills helped patients maintain or even lose weight in the trials. Side effects of the pills included cold and flu-like symptoms and headaches.
FDA OKs Antidepressant to Treat Winter Blues
Federal regulators on Monday approved GlaxoSmithKline's antidepressant Wellbutrin XL to help treat the estimated half a million people in the United States who suffer from winter depression.
The U.S. Food and Administration said the drug is the first to be approved to treat the condition, which causes bouts of recurrent depression, and is known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. Wellbutrin XL (bupropion HCL extended release tablets) had been previously approved for treatment of major depressive disorder.
"The effectiveness of Wellbutrin XL for the prevention of SAD episodes was established in 3 double-blind, placebo-controlled trials in adults with a history of major depressive disorder in autumn and winter," the FDA said in a prepared statement. "Treatment was initiated prior to the onset of symptoms in the autumn (September to November) and was discontinued following a two-week taper that began the first week of spring (fourth week of March). In these trials, the percentage of patients who were depression-free at the end of treatment was significantly higher for those on Wellbutrin XL than for those on placebo; for all 3 studies combined, the overall rate of patients depression-free at the end of treatment was 84 percent for those on Wellbutrin XL compared to 72 percent for those on placebo."
The drug's label includes a "black box" warning on the increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior in pediatric patients treated with antidepressants.
As sunlight patterns change in autumn and winter, there is a shift in the "biological internal clocks" or circadian rhythms, according to the National Mental Health Association. This can cause your biological clocks to be out of step with normal activities. January and February are the most difficult months for sufferers, and younger persons and women are at higher risk, the association says.
A Better Brew to Fight Prostate Cancer?
That beer you're holding may contain small amounts of a compound thought to prevent prostate cancer and enlargement, according to an Oregon State University study, but you'd have to drink almost a case to activate its benefits.
Researchers said that xanthohumol, which is found in the hops used to brew beer, belongs to a group of plant compounds called flavonoids that can trigger the death of cancer cells along the surface of the prostate gland, the Associated Press reported Monday.
Fred Stevens, an assistant professor of medicinal chemistry at OSU's College of Pharmacy, said it may be possible for drug companies to develop pills containing concentrated doses of the flavonoid and to increase the xanthohumol content of hops. The Oregon study findings were published in a recent issue of Cancer Letters.
German scientists have already developed a beer that contains 10 times the amount of xanthohumol as traditional brews. The drink is being marketed as a healthy beer, the AP said, but research is still under way to determine if it has any effect on cancer.
Still, there should no rush to belly up to the bar, according to the head of the National Prostate Cancer Coalition. "It's every mans dream to hear that beer and pizza can prevent cancer," said Dr. Richard N. Atkins in a prepared statement. "However, the 17 beers and four large pizzas needed to get enough xanthohumol and lycopene to help prevent prostate cancer is unfortunately not advised. Our hope is that men know the facts and get tested for prostate cancer. Food, no matter how helpful it may be, is not a full preventive for prostate cancer."
Diabetes Vision Drug Trials Show Promise
Eli Lilly and Co. says two late-phase trials of its experimental drug Arxxant reduced the risk of vision loss by 42 percent among patients with serious eye problems caused by diabetes. The drug, which is awaiting federal approval, could bring Lilly an estimated $1 billion a year, The Indianapolis Star reported Monday.
Since no drug currently treats the disorder, called diabetic retinopathy, the typical current treatment uses laser surgery in advanced stages of the illness.
Dr. Louis Vignati, medical director for Lilly's Arxxant product team, told the newspaper that stemming vision loss could improve the quality of life for many diabetics, allowing them to keep driving cars or taking part in other everyday activities.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has agreed to speed up its usual one-year review time for Arxxant, since there are no approved treatments for diabetic eye disease.
The drug maker revealed the findings over the weekend at the annual scientific meeting of the American Diabetes Association in Washington, D.C.
Monday, June 12, 2006
Health Headlines - June 12
FDA OKs Antidepressant to Treat Winter Blues
Federal regulators on Monday approved GlaxoSmithKline's antidepressant Wellbutrin XL to help treat the estimated half a million people in the United States who suffer from winter depression.
The U.S. Food and Administration said the drug is the first to be approved to treat the condition, which causes bouts of recurrent depression, and is known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. Wellbutrin XL (bupropion HCL extended release tablets) had been previously approved for treatment of major depressive disorder.
"The effectiveness of Wellbutrin XL for the prevention of SAD episodes was established in 3 double-blind, placebo-controlled trials in adults with a history of major depressive disorder in autumn and winter," the FDA said in a prepared statement. "Treatment was initiated prior to the onset of symptoms in the autumn (September to November) and was discontinued following a two-week taper that began the first week of spring (fourth week of March). In these trials, the percentage of patients who were depression-free at the end of treatment was significantly higher for those on Wellbutrin XL than for those on placebo; for all 3 studies combined, the overall rate of patients depression-free at the end of treatment was 84 percent for those on Wellbutrin XL compared to 72 percent for those on placebo."
The drug's label includes a "black box" warning on the increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior in pediatric patients treated with antidepressants.
As sunlight patterns change in autumn and winter, there is a shift in the "biological internal clocks" or circadian rhythms, according to the National Mental Health Association. This can cause your biological clocks to be out of step with normal activities. January and February are the most difficult months for sufferers, and younger persons and women are at higher risk, the association says.
A Better Brew to Fight Prostate Cancer?
That beer you're holding may contain small amounts of a compound thought to prevent prostate cancer and enlargement, according to an Oregon State University study, but you'd have to drink almost a case to activate its benefits.
Researchers said that xanthohumol, which is found in the hops used to brew beer, belongs to a group of plant compounds called flavonoids that can trigger the death of cancer cells along the surface of the prostate gland, the Associated Press reported Monday.
Fred Stevens, an assistant professor of medicinal chemistry at OSU's College of Pharmacy, said it may be possible for drug companies to develop pills containing concentrated doses of the flavonoid and to increase the xanthohumol content of hops. The Oregon study findings were published in a recent issue of Cancer Letters.
German scientists have already developed a beer that contains 10 times the amount of xanthohumol as traditional brews. The drink is being marketed as a healthy beer, the AP said, but research is still under way to determine if it has any effect on cancer.
Still, there should no rush to belly up to the bar, according to the head of the National Prostate Cancer Coalition. "It's every mans dream to hear that beer and pizza can prevent cancer," said Dr. Richard N. Atkins in a prepared statement. "However, the 17 beers and four large pizzas needed to get enough xanthohumol and lycopene to help prevent prostate cancer is unfortunately not advised. Our hope is that men know the facts and get tested for prostate cancer. Food, no matter how helpful it may be, is not a full preventive for prostate cancer."
Diabetes Vision Drug Trials Show Promise
Eli Lilly and Co. says two late-phase trials of its experimental drug Arxxant reduced the risk of vision loss by 42 percent among patients with serious eye problems caused by diabetes. The drug, which is awaiting federal approval, could bring Lilly an estimated $1 billion a year, The Indianapolis Star reported Monday.
Since no drug currently treats the disorder, called diabetic retinopathy, the typical current treatment uses laser surgery in advanced stages of the illness.
Dr. Louis Vignati, medical director for Lilly's Arxxant product team, told the newspaper that stemming vision loss could improve the quality of life for many diabetics, allowing them to keep driving cars or taking part in other everyday activities.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has agreed to speed up its usual one-year review time for Arxxant, since there are no approved treatments for diabetic eye disease.
The drug maker revealed the findings over the weekend at the annual scientific meeting of the American Diabetes Association in Washington, D.C.
Two U.S. Mad Cow Cases May Be a Different Strain
Two cases of mad cow disease in the United States have caused a stir among scientists, because they don't appear to have followed the usual pattern of development, the Associated Press reports.
The disease, discovered in Texas and Alabama, may be a different strain that appears spontaneously, the wire service quotes scientists as saying. Additionally, the dangerous lesions known as prions weren't detected to act the same way in the U.S. cattle. It is these lesions that deposit the plaque that kills brain cells, but this didn't happen with the two test animals.
There have only been a few cases of mad cow disease reported in the United States, leading government officials in late April to issue a statement that testing and control programs for the disease have been successful. This is in contrast to Europe, where thousands of cattle have been destroyed in the past 25 years.
Although the differences in the disease in the cattle have prompted scientific curiosity, the AP says that U.S. government officials aren't changing any procedures. "It's most important right now, till the science tells us otherwise, that we treat this as BSE regardless," the wire service quotes U.S. Agriculture Department chief veterinarian John Clifford as saying.
Study Shows Caffeine May Block Some Pain During Exercise
Can caffeine reduce the pain you feel during exercise?
It's a strong possibility, according to a small experiment from researchers at the University of Georgia, who reported their findings during the recent annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Denver.
The Los Angeles Times reports that 9 "college-age" women who weren't regular coffee drinkers participated in a leg exercise routine using their quadriceps muscles. Some of them were given a pill that contained the equivalent of two or three cups of coffee, while the others were given a placebo.
According to the Times, those who took the caffeine pills felt less pain between 25 percent and 48 percent of the time, all depending on which part of the routine they were doing.
Victor Maridakis, the University of Georgia's lead researcher, told the newspaper he believed that caffeine might block brain pain receptors. "Everyone wants that competitive edge," the Times quotes him as saying, "but it's how much you think you can handle and how your body reacts to it."
Federal regulators on Monday approved GlaxoSmithKline's antidepressant Wellbutrin XL to help treat the estimated half a million people in the United States who suffer from winter depression.
The U.S. Food and Administration said the drug is the first to be approved to treat the condition, which causes bouts of recurrent depression, and is known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. Wellbutrin XL (bupropion HCL extended release tablets) had been previously approved for treatment of major depressive disorder.
"The effectiveness of Wellbutrin XL for the prevention of SAD episodes was established in 3 double-blind, placebo-controlled trials in adults with a history of major depressive disorder in autumn and winter," the FDA said in a prepared statement. "Treatment was initiated prior to the onset of symptoms in the autumn (September to November) and was discontinued following a two-week taper that began the first week of spring (fourth week of March). In these trials, the percentage of patients who were depression-free at the end of treatment was significantly higher for those on Wellbutrin XL than for those on placebo; for all 3 studies combined, the overall rate of patients depression-free at the end of treatment was 84 percent for those on Wellbutrin XL compared to 72 percent for those on placebo."
The drug's label includes a "black box" warning on the increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior in pediatric patients treated with antidepressants.
As sunlight patterns change in autumn and winter, there is a shift in the "biological internal clocks" or circadian rhythms, according to the National Mental Health Association. This can cause your biological clocks to be out of step with normal activities. January and February are the most difficult months for sufferers, and younger persons and women are at higher risk, the association says.
A Better Brew to Fight Prostate Cancer?
That beer you're holding may contain small amounts of a compound thought to prevent prostate cancer and enlargement, according to an Oregon State University study, but you'd have to drink almost a case to activate its benefits.
Researchers said that xanthohumol, which is found in the hops used to brew beer, belongs to a group of plant compounds called flavonoids that can trigger the death of cancer cells along the surface of the prostate gland, the Associated Press reported Monday.
Fred Stevens, an assistant professor of medicinal chemistry at OSU's College of Pharmacy, said it may be possible for drug companies to develop pills containing concentrated doses of the flavonoid and to increase the xanthohumol content of hops. The Oregon study findings were published in a recent issue of Cancer Letters.
German scientists have already developed a beer that contains 10 times the amount of xanthohumol as traditional brews. The drink is being marketed as a healthy beer, the AP said, but research is still under way to determine if it has any effect on cancer.
Still, there should no rush to belly up to the bar, according to the head of the National Prostate Cancer Coalition. "It's every mans dream to hear that beer and pizza can prevent cancer," said Dr. Richard N. Atkins in a prepared statement. "However, the 17 beers and four large pizzas needed to get enough xanthohumol and lycopene to help prevent prostate cancer is unfortunately not advised. Our hope is that men know the facts and get tested for prostate cancer. Food, no matter how helpful it may be, is not a full preventive for prostate cancer."
Diabetes Vision Drug Trials Show Promise
Eli Lilly and Co. says two late-phase trials of its experimental drug Arxxant reduced the risk of vision loss by 42 percent among patients with serious eye problems caused by diabetes. The drug, which is awaiting federal approval, could bring Lilly an estimated $1 billion a year, The Indianapolis Star reported Monday.
Since no drug currently treats the disorder, called diabetic retinopathy, the typical current treatment uses laser surgery in advanced stages of the illness.
Dr. Louis Vignati, medical director for Lilly's Arxxant product team, told the newspaper that stemming vision loss could improve the quality of life for many diabetics, allowing them to keep driving cars or taking part in other everyday activities.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has agreed to speed up its usual one-year review time for Arxxant, since there are no approved treatments for diabetic eye disease.
The drug maker revealed the findings over the weekend at the annual scientific meeting of the American Diabetes Association in Washington, D.C.
Two U.S. Mad Cow Cases May Be a Different Strain
Two cases of mad cow disease in the United States have caused a stir among scientists, because they don't appear to have followed the usual pattern of development, the Associated Press reports.
The disease, discovered in Texas and Alabama, may be a different strain that appears spontaneously, the wire service quotes scientists as saying. Additionally, the dangerous lesions known as prions weren't detected to act the same way in the U.S. cattle. It is these lesions that deposit the plaque that kills brain cells, but this didn't happen with the two test animals.
There have only been a few cases of mad cow disease reported in the United States, leading government officials in late April to issue a statement that testing and control programs for the disease have been successful. This is in contrast to Europe, where thousands of cattle have been destroyed in the past 25 years.
Although the differences in the disease in the cattle have prompted scientific curiosity, the AP says that U.S. government officials aren't changing any procedures. "It's most important right now, till the science tells us otherwise, that we treat this as BSE regardless," the wire service quotes U.S. Agriculture Department chief veterinarian John Clifford as saying.
Study Shows Caffeine May Block Some Pain During Exercise
Can caffeine reduce the pain you feel during exercise?
It's a strong possibility, according to a small experiment from researchers at the University of Georgia, who reported their findings during the recent annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Denver.
The Los Angeles Times reports that 9 "college-age" women who weren't regular coffee drinkers participated in a leg exercise routine using their quadriceps muscles. Some of them were given a pill that contained the equivalent of two or three cups of coffee, while the others were given a placebo.
According to the Times, those who took the caffeine pills felt less pain between 25 percent and 48 percent of the time, all depending on which part of the routine they were doing.
Victor Maridakis, the University of Georgia's lead researcher, told the newspaper he believed that caffeine might block brain pain receptors. "Everyone wants that competitive edge," the Times quotes him as saying, "but it's how much you think you can handle and how your body reacts to it."
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Health Headlines - June 11
Two U.S. Mad Cow Cases May Be a Different Strain
Two cases of mad cow disease in the United States have caused a stir among scientists, because they don't appear to have followed the usual pattern of development, the Associated Press reports.
The disease, discovered in Texas and Alabama, may be a different strain that appears spontaneously, the wire service quotes scientists as saying. Additionally, the dangerous lesions known as prions weren't detected to act the same way in the U.S. cattle. It is these lesions that deposit the plaque that kills brain cells, but this didn't happen with the two test animals.
There have only been a few cases of mad cow disease reported in the United States, leading government officials in late April to issue a statement that testing and control programs for the disease have been successful. This is in contrast to Europe, where thousands of cattle have been destroyed in the past 25 years.
Although the differences in the disease in the cattle have prompted scientific curiosity, the A.P. says that U.S. government officials aren't changing any procedures. "It's most important right now, till the science tells us otherwise, that we treat this as BSE regardless," the wire service quotes U.S. Agriculture Department chief veterinarian John Clifford as saying.
Study Shows Caffeine May Block Some Pain During Exercise
Can caffeine reduce the pain you feel during exercise?
It's a strong possibility, according to a small experiment from researchers at the University of Georgia, who reported their findings during the recent annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Denver.
The Los Angeles Times reports that 9 "college-age" women who weren't regular coffee drinkers participated in a leg exercise routine using their quadriceps muscles. Some of them were given a pill that contained the equivalent of two or three cups of coffee, while the others were given a placebo.
According to the Times, those who took the caffeine pills felt less pain between 25 percent and 48 percent of the time, all depending on which part of the routine they were doing.
Victor Maridakis, the University of Georgia's lead researcher, told the newspaper he believed that caffeine might block brain pain receptors. "Everyone wants that competitive edge," the Times quotes him as saying, "but it's how much you think you can handle and how your body reacts to it."
Survey: Teen Smoking Rate No Longer Declining
Discouraging news about teenage smoking came late in the week from the U.S. government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: The decline in smoking among teenagers, which began in the late 1990s, appears to be over.
The Associated Press reports that two surveys released Thursday and Friday indicate that about one in four teenagers is smoking, and that statistic hasn't changed since 2003.
"We were making good progress, and now it looks like we're not," the wire service quotes Dr. Corinne Husten, the CDC's acting director of the Office on Smoking and Health, as saying. The findings were based on the CDC's National Youth Risk Survey, which has been tracking 14,000 teenagers' lifestyles habits nationwide.
Between 1997 and 2003, the A.P. reported, the percentage of teenagers who said they smoked during the previous 30 days declined from 36 percent to 22 percent. But 23 percent of those surveyed in 2003 through 2005 said they had smoked a cigarette during the past 30 days.
"The fact that youth smoking rates are not declining anymore is a wake-up call," the wire service quotes Vince Willmore, a spokesman for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, as saying.
Genetic 'Shield' Guards Against Damaging Effects of Radiation Therapy
British researchers say they have found a way to shield healthy bone marrow cells from dangerous radiation during cancer treatments, the BBC reports.
Writing in the latest issue of the Journal of Gene Medicine, scientists from Manchester University's Paterson Institute for Cancer Research say they have developed a genetic technique that stimulates bone marrow stem cells to make more of the protein SOD2, which acts as a shield against radiation.
While radiation therapy is very effective in killing cancer cells, it still can't be targeted specifically enough to avoid killing healthy cells as well, the BBC reports.
In the lab study, The Paterson team used a benign virus to insert a copy of the SOD2 gene into bone marrow stem cells. This, in turn, increased production of the shielding protein.
This is the first step in a procedure the scientists say they hope to develop that will lead to a pre-treatment cancer patients can take before undergoing radiation therapy.
FDA Will Track Drugs to Fight Counterfeiting
Federal regulators will begin requiring wholesalers to track who handles the pharmaceuticals they sell, to help combat a rise in counterfeit drugs entering the legitimate market.
The decision Friday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to take effect Dec. 2. In practice, the move could affect the distribution system for medicines, requiring distributors to provide factory-to-pharmacy documentation of the chain of custody of drug products -- its so-called "pedigree" -- throughout the distribution system.
The FDA believes that radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology is the most promising way to track drugs as they move through the supply chain. However, the agency said that it will hold off requiring drug manufacturers and distributors to use the technology, until more businesses adopt the electronic track-and-trace tags, the Associated Press reported Friday.
The FDA urges U.S. consumers to purchase drugs only from state-licensed U.S. pharmacies and to be alert to changes in packaging, labeling, color, taste, pill shape or unanticipated side effects. Before buying drugs over the Internet, consumers should look for the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS) seal on the Web site.
Safety Group Cites Sharp Drop in Firefighter Deaths
The U.S. National Fire Protection Association said Friday that 87 on-duty firefighters died in the United States in 2005, the third lowest toll since the fire-safety group began tracking deaths almost 30 years ago. Sudden cardiac deaths remained the leading cause of fatalities.
For the third straight year, the group said, firefighters were more likely to die responding to or returning from alarms and not at the scene of a fire. Of 26 deaths occurring in transit for 2005, 13 were due to sudden cardiac death and 10 were due to vehicle collisions or rollovers.
Particularly distressing, the group noted, were 11 firefighter deaths that occurred during training activities. The safety organization is conducting a special analysis of 100 training fatalities that occurred between 1996 and 2005.
Factors contributing to the drop in fatalities included decreases in deaths associated with wildland fires and the number of firefighters struck and killed by vehicles, the group said in a statement. It has compiled fatality figures for firefighters since 1977.
Two cases of mad cow disease in the United States have caused a stir among scientists, because they don't appear to have followed the usual pattern of development, the Associated Press reports.
The disease, discovered in Texas and Alabama, may be a different strain that appears spontaneously, the wire service quotes scientists as saying. Additionally, the dangerous lesions known as prions weren't detected to act the same way in the U.S. cattle. It is these lesions that deposit the plaque that kills brain cells, but this didn't happen with the two test animals.
There have only been a few cases of mad cow disease reported in the United States, leading government officials in late April to issue a statement that testing and control programs for the disease have been successful. This is in contrast to Europe, where thousands of cattle have been destroyed in the past 25 years.
Although the differences in the disease in the cattle have prompted scientific curiosity, the A.P. says that U.S. government officials aren't changing any procedures. "It's most important right now, till the science tells us otherwise, that we treat this as BSE regardless," the wire service quotes U.S. Agriculture Department chief veterinarian John Clifford as saying.
Study Shows Caffeine May Block Some Pain During Exercise
Can caffeine reduce the pain you feel during exercise?
It's a strong possibility, according to a small experiment from researchers at the University of Georgia, who reported their findings during the recent annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Denver.
The Los Angeles Times reports that 9 "college-age" women who weren't regular coffee drinkers participated in a leg exercise routine using their quadriceps muscles. Some of them were given a pill that contained the equivalent of two or three cups of coffee, while the others were given a placebo.
According to the Times, those who took the caffeine pills felt less pain between 25 percent and 48 percent of the time, all depending on which part of the routine they were doing.
Victor Maridakis, the University of Georgia's lead researcher, told the newspaper he believed that caffeine might block brain pain receptors. "Everyone wants that competitive edge," the Times quotes him as saying, "but it's how much you think you can handle and how your body reacts to it."
Survey: Teen Smoking Rate No Longer Declining
Discouraging news about teenage smoking came late in the week from the U.S. government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: The decline in smoking among teenagers, which began in the late 1990s, appears to be over.
The Associated Press reports that two surveys released Thursday and Friday indicate that about one in four teenagers is smoking, and that statistic hasn't changed since 2003.
"We were making good progress, and now it looks like we're not," the wire service quotes Dr. Corinne Husten, the CDC's acting director of the Office on Smoking and Health, as saying. The findings were based on the CDC's National Youth Risk Survey, which has been tracking 14,000 teenagers' lifestyles habits nationwide.
Between 1997 and 2003, the A.P. reported, the percentage of teenagers who said they smoked during the previous 30 days declined from 36 percent to 22 percent. But 23 percent of those surveyed in 2003 through 2005 said they had smoked a cigarette during the past 30 days.
"The fact that youth smoking rates are not declining anymore is a wake-up call," the wire service quotes Vince Willmore, a spokesman for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, as saying.
Genetic 'Shield' Guards Against Damaging Effects of Radiation Therapy
British researchers say they have found a way to shield healthy bone marrow cells from dangerous radiation during cancer treatments, the BBC reports.
Writing in the latest issue of the Journal of Gene Medicine, scientists from Manchester University's Paterson Institute for Cancer Research say they have developed a genetic technique that stimulates bone marrow stem cells to make more of the protein SOD2, which acts as a shield against radiation.
While radiation therapy is very effective in killing cancer cells, it still can't be targeted specifically enough to avoid killing healthy cells as well, the BBC reports.
In the lab study, The Paterson team used a benign virus to insert a copy of the SOD2 gene into bone marrow stem cells. This, in turn, increased production of the shielding protein.
This is the first step in a procedure the scientists say they hope to develop that will lead to a pre-treatment cancer patients can take before undergoing radiation therapy.
FDA Will Track Drugs to Fight Counterfeiting
Federal regulators will begin requiring wholesalers to track who handles the pharmaceuticals they sell, to help combat a rise in counterfeit drugs entering the legitimate market.
The decision Friday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to take effect Dec. 2. In practice, the move could affect the distribution system for medicines, requiring distributors to provide factory-to-pharmacy documentation of the chain of custody of drug products -- its so-called "pedigree" -- throughout the distribution system.
The FDA believes that radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology is the most promising way to track drugs as they move through the supply chain. However, the agency said that it will hold off requiring drug manufacturers and distributors to use the technology, until more businesses adopt the electronic track-and-trace tags, the Associated Press reported Friday.
The FDA urges U.S. consumers to purchase drugs only from state-licensed U.S. pharmacies and to be alert to changes in packaging, labeling, color, taste, pill shape or unanticipated side effects. Before buying drugs over the Internet, consumers should look for the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS) seal on the Web site.
Safety Group Cites Sharp Drop in Firefighter Deaths
The U.S. National Fire Protection Association said Friday that 87 on-duty firefighters died in the United States in 2005, the third lowest toll since the fire-safety group began tracking deaths almost 30 years ago. Sudden cardiac deaths remained the leading cause of fatalities.
For the third straight year, the group said, firefighters were more likely to die responding to or returning from alarms and not at the scene of a fire. Of 26 deaths occurring in transit for 2005, 13 were due to sudden cardiac death and 10 were due to vehicle collisions or rollovers.
Particularly distressing, the group noted, were 11 firefighter deaths that occurred during training activities. The safety organization is conducting a special analysis of 100 training fatalities that occurred between 1996 and 2005.
Factors contributing to the drop in fatalities included decreases in deaths associated with wildland fires and the number of firefighters struck and killed by vehicles, the group said in a statement. It has compiled fatality figures for firefighters since 1977.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Health Headlines - June 10
Survey: Teen Smoking Rate No Longer Declining
Discouraging news about teenage smoking came late in the week from the U.S. government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: The decline in smoking among teenagers, which began in the late 1990s, appears to be over.
The Associated Press reports that two surveys released Thursday and Friday indicate that about one in four teenagers is smoking, and that statistic hasn't changed since 2003.
"We were making good progress, and now it looks like we're not," the wire service quotes Dr. Corinne Husten, the CDC's acting director of the Office on Smoking and Health, as saying. The findings were based on the CDC's National Youth Risk Survey, which has been tracking 14,000 teenagers' lifestyles habits nationwide.
Between 1997 and 2003, the A.P. reported, the percentage of teenagers who said they smoked during the previous 30 days declined from 36 percent to 22 percent. But 23 percent of those surveyed in 2003 through 2005 said they had smoked a cigarette during the past 30 days.
"The fact that youth smoking rates are not declining anymore is a wake-up call," the wire service quotes Vince Willmore, a spokesman for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, as saying.
FDA Will Track Drugs to Fight Counterfeiting
Federal regulators will begin requiring wholesalers to track who handles the pharmaceuticals they sell, to help combat a rise in counterfeit drugs entering the legitimate market.
The decision Friday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to take effect Dec. 2. In practice, the move could affect the distribution system for medicines, requiring distributors to provide factory-to-pharmacy documentation of the chain of custody of drug products -- its so-called "pedigree" -- throughout the distribution system.
The FDA believes that radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology is the most promising way to track drugs as they move through the supply chain. However, the agency said that it will hold off requiring drug manufacturers and distributors to use the technology, until more businesses adopt the electronic track-and-trace tags, the Associated Press reported Friday.
The FDA urges U.S. consumers to purchase drugs only from state-licensed U.S. pharmacies and to be alert to changes in packaging, labeling, color, taste, pill shape or unanticipated side effects. Before buying drugs over the Internet, consumers should look for the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS) seal on the Web site.
Safety Group Cites Sharp Drop in Firefighter Deaths
The U.S. National Fire Protection Association said Friday that 87 on-duty firefighters died in the United States in 2005, the third lowest toll since the fire-safety group began tracking deaths almost 30 years ago. Sudden cardiac deaths remained the leading cause of fatalities.
For the third straight year, the group said, firefighters were more likely to die responding to or returning from alarms and not at the scene of a fire. Of 26 deaths occurring in transit for 2005, 13 were due to sudden cardiac death and 10 were due to vehicle collisions or rollovers.
Particularly distressing, the group noted, were 11 firefighter deaths that occurred during training activities. The safety organization is conducting a special analysis of 100 training fatalities that occurred between 1996 and 2005.
Factors contributing to the drop in fatalities included decreases in deaths associated with wildland fires and the number of firefighters struck and killed by vehicles, the group said in a statement. It has compiled fatality figures for firefighters since 1977.
Lawsuits Filed Over Lipitor Side Effects
Two men filed suit in New York State Supreme Court this week against Pfizer Inc., claiming the company didn't issue loud-enough warnings about the potential side effects of its popular anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor.
"It ruined my life," said Michael Mazzariello, a 47-year-old attorney from New York City and one of the plaintiffs. Mazzariello said he couldn't walk without a cane, tend his garden or lift his 1-year-old child.
A second lawsuit was filed by Charles M. Wilson, a former insurance executive from Atlanta, who claimed similar side effects made him ill.
The Associated Press reported Thursday that Mazzariello did manage to stand by himself at a news conference in Manhattan to say that the symptoms subsided once he stopped taking the drug, but that he still felt pain.
Pfizer has vowed to fight the lawsuits, calling them "baseless." A company spokesman said that all potential side effects of the drug are included on its labeling and that research has repeatedly shown that the drug is safe for a vast majority of users.
Lipitor, a type of statin used to lower cholesterol, is the top-selling medication in the world and brings in more than $12 billion a year for Pfizer.
Polio Outbreak in Namibia Puzzles WHO
An polio outbreak that has killed 7 people and paralyzed 33 more in the southern African nation of Namibia has left World Health Organization officials puzzled over its unusual course.
Polio normally attacks infants and young children, not adults, and Namibia had been free of the disease for a decade, The New York Times reported Friday. Vaccine stocks were low only enough for routine vaccination of infants and people were turned away when supplies ran out.
When new vaccine shipments arrive, the outbreak should be brought under control with relative ease, Dr. David L. Heymann, the WHO director general's representative for polio eradication, told the newspaper.
Namibia, home to 2 million people on Africa's southwest coast, has been headlines all week because of the recent birth there of Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, the daughter of actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Acccording to the Times, the baby was born in a coastal resort -- about 150 miles from the capital, Windhoek, where the polio outbreak occurred.
Drug Company Halts Enrollment of Children in Antibiotic Trial
The pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis has stopped enrolling children in clinical trials of an antibiotic that some reports said could cause liver failure in adults.
The drug maker said it halted tests on its own Thursday to ensure that trials of the antibiotic Ketek complied with U.S. Food and Drug Administration requirements, the Associated Press reported Friday.
On Thursday, The New York Times cited internal FDA memorandums that said some safety officials believed the company should remove Ketek from the market, severely restrict its use or add a prominent warning label about its potentially fatal side effects. The company denied the suspension was linked to the newspaper's report.
Ketek is currently approved only for adults and is used to treat sinusitis, bronchitis and pneumonia. The company had been testing the drug as a treatment for ear infections and tonsillitis in nearly 4,000 infants and children in more than a dozen countries, including the United States.
Discouraging news about teenage smoking came late in the week from the U.S. government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: The decline in smoking among teenagers, which began in the late 1990s, appears to be over.
The Associated Press reports that two surveys released Thursday and Friday indicate that about one in four teenagers is smoking, and that statistic hasn't changed since 2003.
"We were making good progress, and now it looks like we're not," the wire service quotes Dr. Corinne Husten, the CDC's acting director of the Office on Smoking and Health, as saying. The findings were based on the CDC's National Youth Risk Survey, which has been tracking 14,000 teenagers' lifestyles habits nationwide.
Between 1997 and 2003, the A.P. reported, the percentage of teenagers who said they smoked during the previous 30 days declined from 36 percent to 22 percent. But 23 percent of those surveyed in 2003 through 2005 said they had smoked a cigarette during the past 30 days.
"The fact that youth smoking rates are not declining anymore is a wake-up call," the wire service quotes Vince Willmore, a spokesman for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, as saying.
FDA Will Track Drugs to Fight Counterfeiting
Federal regulators will begin requiring wholesalers to track who handles the pharmaceuticals they sell, to help combat a rise in counterfeit drugs entering the legitimate market.
The decision Friday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to take effect Dec. 2. In practice, the move could affect the distribution system for medicines, requiring distributors to provide factory-to-pharmacy documentation of the chain of custody of drug products -- its so-called "pedigree" -- throughout the distribution system.
The FDA believes that radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology is the most promising way to track drugs as they move through the supply chain. However, the agency said that it will hold off requiring drug manufacturers and distributors to use the technology, until more businesses adopt the electronic track-and-trace tags, the Associated Press reported Friday.
The FDA urges U.S. consumers to purchase drugs only from state-licensed U.S. pharmacies and to be alert to changes in packaging, labeling, color, taste, pill shape or unanticipated side effects. Before buying drugs over the Internet, consumers should look for the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS) seal on the Web site.
Safety Group Cites Sharp Drop in Firefighter Deaths
The U.S. National Fire Protection Association said Friday that 87 on-duty firefighters died in the United States in 2005, the third lowest toll since the fire-safety group began tracking deaths almost 30 years ago. Sudden cardiac deaths remained the leading cause of fatalities.
For the third straight year, the group said, firefighters were more likely to die responding to or returning from alarms and not at the scene of a fire. Of 26 deaths occurring in transit for 2005, 13 were due to sudden cardiac death and 10 were due to vehicle collisions or rollovers.
Particularly distressing, the group noted, were 11 firefighter deaths that occurred during training activities. The safety organization is conducting a special analysis of 100 training fatalities that occurred between 1996 and 2005.
Factors contributing to the drop in fatalities included decreases in deaths associated with wildland fires and the number of firefighters struck and killed by vehicles, the group said in a statement. It has compiled fatality figures for firefighters since 1977.
Lawsuits Filed Over Lipitor Side Effects
Two men filed suit in New York State Supreme Court this week against Pfizer Inc., claiming the company didn't issue loud-enough warnings about the potential side effects of its popular anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor.
"It ruined my life," said Michael Mazzariello, a 47-year-old attorney from New York City and one of the plaintiffs. Mazzariello said he couldn't walk without a cane, tend his garden or lift his 1-year-old child.
A second lawsuit was filed by Charles M. Wilson, a former insurance executive from Atlanta, who claimed similar side effects made him ill.
The Associated Press reported Thursday that Mazzariello did manage to stand by himself at a news conference in Manhattan to say that the symptoms subsided once he stopped taking the drug, but that he still felt pain.
Pfizer has vowed to fight the lawsuits, calling them "baseless." A company spokesman said that all potential side effects of the drug are included on its labeling and that research has repeatedly shown that the drug is safe for a vast majority of users.
Lipitor, a type of statin used to lower cholesterol, is the top-selling medication in the world and brings in more than $12 billion a year for Pfizer.
Polio Outbreak in Namibia Puzzles WHO
An polio outbreak that has killed 7 people and paralyzed 33 more in the southern African nation of Namibia has left World Health Organization officials puzzled over its unusual course.
Polio normally attacks infants and young children, not adults, and Namibia had been free of the disease for a decade, The New York Times reported Friday. Vaccine stocks were low only enough for routine vaccination of infants and people were turned away when supplies ran out.
When new vaccine shipments arrive, the outbreak should be brought under control with relative ease, Dr. David L. Heymann, the WHO director general's representative for polio eradication, told the newspaper.
Namibia, home to 2 million people on Africa's southwest coast, has been headlines all week because of the recent birth there of Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, the daughter of actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Acccording to the Times, the baby was born in a coastal resort -- about 150 miles from the capital, Windhoek, where the polio outbreak occurred.
Drug Company Halts Enrollment of Children in Antibiotic Trial
The pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis has stopped enrolling children in clinical trials of an antibiotic that some reports said could cause liver failure in adults.
The drug maker said it halted tests on its own Thursday to ensure that trials of the antibiotic Ketek complied with U.S. Food and Drug Administration requirements, the Associated Press reported Friday.
On Thursday, The New York Times cited internal FDA memorandums that said some safety officials believed the company should remove Ketek from the market, severely restrict its use or add a prominent warning label about its potentially fatal side effects. The company denied the suspension was linked to the newspaper's report.
Ketek is currently approved only for adults and is used to treat sinusitis, bronchitis and pneumonia. The company had been testing the drug as a treatment for ear infections and tonsillitis in nearly 4,000 infants and children in more than a dozen countries, including the United States.
Health Headlines - June 9
FDA Will Track Drugs to Fight Counterfeiting
Federal regulators will begin requiring wholesalers to track who handles the pharmaceuticals they sell, to help combat a rise in counterfeit drugs entering the legitimate market.
The decision Friday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to take effect Dec. 2. In practice, the move could affect the distribution system for medicines, requiring distributors to provide factory-to-pharmacy documentation of the chain of custody of drug products -- its so-called "pedigree" -- throughout the distribution system.
The FDA believes that radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology is the most promising way to track drugs as they move through the supply chain. However, the agency said that it will hold off requiring drug manufacturers and distributors to use the technology, until more businesses adopt the electronic track-and-trace tags, the Associated Press reported Friday.
The FDA urges U.S. consumers to purchase drugs only from state-licensed U.S. pharmacies and to be alert to changes in packaging, labeling, color, taste, pill shape or unanticipated side effects. Before buying drugs over the Internet, consumers should look for the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS) seal on the Web site.
Safety Group Cites Sharp Drop in Firefighter Deaths
The U.S. National Fire Protection Association said Friday that 87 on-duty firefighters died in the United States in 2005, the third lowest toll since the fire-safety group began tracking deaths almost 30 years ago. Sudden cardiac deaths remained the leading cause of fatalities.
For the third straight year, the group said, firefighters were more likely to die responding to or returning from alarms and not at the scene of a fire. Of 26 deaths occurring in transit for 2005, 13 were due to sudden cardiac death and 10 were due to vehicle collisions or rollovers.
Particularly distressing, the group noted, were 11 firefighter deaths that occurred during training activities. The safety organization is conducting a special analysis of 100 training fatalities that occurred between 1996 and 2005.
Factors contributing to the drop in fatalities included decreases in deaths associated with wildland fires and the number of firefighters struck and killed by vehicles, the group said in a statement. It has compiled fatality figures for firefighters since 1977.
Lawsuits Filed Over Lipitor Side Effects
Two men filed suit in New York State Supreme Court this week against Pfizer Inc., claiming the company didn't issue loud-enough warnings about the potential side effects of its popular anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor.
"It ruined my life," said Michael Mazzariello, a 47-year-old attorney from New York City and one of the plaintiffs. Mazzariello said he couldn't walk without a cane, tend his garden or lift his 1-year-old child.
A second lawsuit was filed by Charles M. Wilson, a former insurance executive from Atlanta, who claimed similar side effects made him ill.
The Associated Press reported Thursday that Mazzariello did manage to stand by himself at a news conference in Manhattan to say that the symptoms subsided once he stopped taking the drug, but that he still felt pain.
Pfizer has vowed to fight the lawsuits, calling them "baseless." A company spokesman said that all potential side effects of the drug are included on its labeling and that research has repeatedly shown that the drug is safe for a vast majority of users.
Lipitor, a type of statin used to lower cholesterol, is the top-selling medication in the world and brings in more than $12 billion a year for Pfizer.
Polio Outbreak in Namibia Puzzles WHO
An polio outbreak that has killed 7 people and paralyzed 33 more in the southern African nation of Namibia has left World Health Organization officials puzzled over its unusual course.
Polio normally attacks infants and young children, not adults, and Namibia had been free of the disease for a decade, The New York Times reported Friday. Vaccine stocks were low only enough for routine vaccination of infants and people were turned away when supplies ran out.
When new vaccine shipments arrive, the outbreak should be brought under control with relative ease, Dr. David L. Heymann, the WHO director general's representative for polio eradication, told the newspaper.
Namibia, home to 2 million people on Africa's southwest coast, has been headlines all week because of the recent birth there of Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, the daughter of actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Acccording to the Times, the baby was born in a coastal resort -- about 150 miles from the capital, Windhoek, where the polio outbreak occurred.
Drug Company Halts Enrollment of Children in Antibiotic Trial
The pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis has stopped enrolling children in clinical trials of an antibiotic that some reports said could cause liver failure in adults.
The drug maker said it halted tests on its own Thursday to ensure that trials of the antibiotic Ketek complied with U.S. Food and Drug Administration requirements, the Associated Press reported Friday.
On Thursday, The New York Times cited internal FDA memorandums that said some safety officials believed the company should remove Ketek from the market, severely restrict its use or add a prominent warning label about its potentially fatal side effects. The company denied the suspension was linked to the newspaper's report.
Ketek is currently approved only for adults and is used to treat sinusitis, bronchitis and pneumonia. The company had been testing the drug as a treatment for ear infections and tonsillitis in nearly 4,000 infants and children in more than a dozen countries, including the United States.
Amsterdam Opens Clinic for Young Video Game Addicts
The Netherlands is opening Europe's first detox clinic for young video game addicts who've got too much game.
Keith Bakker, director of Amsterdam-based Smith & Jones Addiction Consultants, said video games look innocent enough but compulsive play is as addictive as gambling or taking drugs.
"We have kids who don't know how to communicate with people face-to-face because they've spent the last three years talking to somebody in Korea through a computer," Bakker told the Associated Press. "Their social network has completely disappeared."
The eight-week program will include counseling for gamers and introductions to alternative activities that don't need a mouse-click to enjoy.
A New Twist to the 'Sex and the Headache' Story
Wake Forest University medical researchers say that some headaches may pack more than just a wallop.
Reporting in an upcoming issue of Headache, the team say migraine-headache sufferers reported higher levels of sexual desire than those with other types of headaches.
The researchers said sexual desire and migraine headaches have been linked to levels of serotonin, a brain chemical that also plays a role in depression. An excess of serotonin may be associated with decreased libido, and migraine sufferers are reported to have low system levels of the brain chemical.
Federal regulators will begin requiring wholesalers to track who handles the pharmaceuticals they sell, to help combat a rise in counterfeit drugs entering the legitimate market.
The decision Friday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to take effect Dec. 2. In practice, the move could affect the distribution system for medicines, requiring distributors to provide factory-to-pharmacy documentation of the chain of custody of drug products -- its so-called "pedigree" -- throughout the distribution system.
The FDA believes that radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology is the most promising way to track drugs as they move through the supply chain. However, the agency said that it will hold off requiring drug manufacturers and distributors to use the technology, until more businesses adopt the electronic track-and-trace tags, the Associated Press reported Friday.
The FDA urges U.S. consumers to purchase drugs only from state-licensed U.S. pharmacies and to be alert to changes in packaging, labeling, color, taste, pill shape or unanticipated side effects. Before buying drugs over the Internet, consumers should look for the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS) seal on the Web site.
Safety Group Cites Sharp Drop in Firefighter Deaths
The U.S. National Fire Protection Association said Friday that 87 on-duty firefighters died in the United States in 2005, the third lowest toll since the fire-safety group began tracking deaths almost 30 years ago. Sudden cardiac deaths remained the leading cause of fatalities.
For the third straight year, the group said, firefighters were more likely to die responding to or returning from alarms and not at the scene of a fire. Of 26 deaths occurring in transit for 2005, 13 were due to sudden cardiac death and 10 were due to vehicle collisions or rollovers.
Particularly distressing, the group noted, were 11 firefighter deaths that occurred during training activities. The safety organization is conducting a special analysis of 100 training fatalities that occurred between 1996 and 2005.
Factors contributing to the drop in fatalities included decreases in deaths associated with wildland fires and the number of firefighters struck and killed by vehicles, the group said in a statement. It has compiled fatality figures for firefighters since 1977.
Lawsuits Filed Over Lipitor Side Effects
Two men filed suit in New York State Supreme Court this week against Pfizer Inc., claiming the company didn't issue loud-enough warnings about the potential side effects of its popular anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor.
"It ruined my life," said Michael Mazzariello, a 47-year-old attorney from New York City and one of the plaintiffs. Mazzariello said he couldn't walk without a cane, tend his garden or lift his 1-year-old child.
A second lawsuit was filed by Charles M. Wilson, a former insurance executive from Atlanta, who claimed similar side effects made him ill.
The Associated Press reported Thursday that Mazzariello did manage to stand by himself at a news conference in Manhattan to say that the symptoms subsided once he stopped taking the drug, but that he still felt pain.
Pfizer has vowed to fight the lawsuits, calling them "baseless." A company spokesman said that all potential side effects of the drug are included on its labeling and that research has repeatedly shown that the drug is safe for a vast majority of users.
Lipitor, a type of statin used to lower cholesterol, is the top-selling medication in the world and brings in more than $12 billion a year for Pfizer.
Polio Outbreak in Namibia Puzzles WHO
An polio outbreak that has killed 7 people and paralyzed 33 more in the southern African nation of Namibia has left World Health Organization officials puzzled over its unusual course.
Polio normally attacks infants and young children, not adults, and Namibia had been free of the disease for a decade, The New York Times reported Friday. Vaccine stocks were low only enough for routine vaccination of infants and people were turned away when supplies ran out.
When new vaccine shipments arrive, the outbreak should be brought under control with relative ease, Dr. David L. Heymann, the WHO director general's representative for polio eradication, told the newspaper.
Namibia, home to 2 million people on Africa's southwest coast, has been headlines all week because of the recent birth there of Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, the daughter of actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Acccording to the Times, the baby was born in a coastal resort -- about 150 miles from the capital, Windhoek, where the polio outbreak occurred.
Drug Company Halts Enrollment of Children in Antibiotic Trial
The pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis has stopped enrolling children in clinical trials of an antibiotic that some reports said could cause liver failure in adults.
The drug maker said it halted tests on its own Thursday to ensure that trials of the antibiotic Ketek complied with U.S. Food and Drug Administration requirements, the Associated Press reported Friday.
On Thursday, The New York Times cited internal FDA memorandums that said some safety officials believed the company should remove Ketek from the market, severely restrict its use or add a prominent warning label about its potentially fatal side effects. The company denied the suspension was linked to the newspaper's report.
Ketek is currently approved only for adults and is used to treat sinusitis, bronchitis and pneumonia. The company had been testing the drug as a treatment for ear infections and tonsillitis in nearly 4,000 infants and children in more than a dozen countries, including the United States.
Amsterdam Opens Clinic for Young Video Game Addicts
The Netherlands is opening Europe's first detox clinic for young video game addicts who've got too much game.
Keith Bakker, director of Amsterdam-based Smith & Jones Addiction Consultants, said video games look innocent enough but compulsive play is as addictive as gambling or taking drugs.
"We have kids who don't know how to communicate with people face-to-face because they've spent the last three years talking to somebody in Korea through a computer," Bakker told the Associated Press. "Their social network has completely disappeared."
The eight-week program will include counseling for gamers and introductions to alternative activities that don't need a mouse-click to enjoy.
A New Twist to the 'Sex and the Headache' Story
Wake Forest University medical researchers say that some headaches may pack more than just a wallop.
Reporting in an upcoming issue of Headache, the team say migraine-headache sufferers reported higher levels of sexual desire than those with other types of headaches.
The researchers said sexual desire and migraine headaches have been linked to levels of serotonin, a brain chemical that also plays a role in depression. An excess of serotonin may be associated with decreased libido, and migraine sufferers are reported to have low system levels of the brain chemical.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Health Headlines - June 8
Health Official Urged Halt of Kids' Antibiotic Trial
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration official last month called for a halt in clinical trials of an antibiotic for children because the drug could be deadly, according to internal memorandums from the agency.
The drug, Ketek, made by Sanofi-Aventis, is currently approved only for use in adults as a treatment for sinusitis, bronchitis and pneumonia. The company is testing the drug as treatment for ear infections and tonsillitis in almost 4,000 infants and children in more than a dozen countries, including the United States, The New York Times reported Thursday.
According to a recent review by FDA safety officials, there is growing evidence that Ketek is unusually toxic -- 12 adult patients in the United States have suffered liver failure, including four who died; 23 others suffered serious liver injury. Other antibiotics cause liver failure, but Ketek seems to do so almost four times as often, the officials concluded in the review, the newspaper reported.
"How does one justify balancing the risk of fatal liver failure against one day less of ear pain?" Dr. Rosemary Johann-Liang, an official in the FDA's Office of Drug Safety at the agency, wrote in one of the memorandums obtained by the Times. Other safety officials wrote in their review that the agency should consider forcing Sanofi-Aventis to withdraw Ketek from the market, severely restrict its uses, even in adults, or add a prominent warning to its label about potentially fatal side effects, the paper said.
FDA spokeswoman, Susan Bro, asked about the Johann-Liang memorandum, said that it was "a preliminary, raw assessment" and that "the final decision will be made by experts who have the full benefit of a large section of opinion and scientific fact."
Melissa Feltmann, a spokeswoman for Sanofi-Aventis, said the company was in discussions with the FDA about the drug.
Informed Consent Takes Back Seat in Public Crisis: FDA
Victims of a future terrorist attack or public health emergency would no longer have to give permission before experimental tests could be run to determine why they're sick, under a federal rule published Wednesday. Privacy experts immediately condemned the ruling as unnecessary and ripe for abuse.
The rule, issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, would allow health care workers to run experimental tests on blood and other samples taken from people who have fallen sick as a result of a bioterrorist attack, bird flu outbreak, detonation of a dirty bomb or any other life-threatening public health emergency, the Associated Press reported. In all other cases, the use of an experimental test still requires the informed consent of a patient, as well as the review and approval of an outside panel.
Dr. Deborah Peel, chairwoman of the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation, a watchdog group, told AP, "This sounds like they're taking for themselves the right to test individuals every time they declare a public health emergency. There is no way getting consent would delay testing."
The rule is subject to public comment until Aug. 7. The FDA said it published the rule without first seeking comments because it would hinder the response to an outbreak of bird flu or other public health emergency. The agency said the lack of such an exemption impeded the public health response to the SARS epidemic of 2003, AP reported.
Guidant Considered Warning Docs on Heart-Device Defects: Report
Guidant Corporation, which last year defended its decision not to tell physicians about significant heart-device defects, had drafted a "Dear Doctor" letter to disclose the hazards but decided not to send it, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
The proposed letter and other company records, released this week by a Texas state judge, may have significant legal and financial consequences. Since last fall, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Food and Drug Administration have been conducting an inquiry into Guidant's handling of safety issues affecting several now-recalled defibrillators.
A spokeswoman for the United States attorney's office in Minneapolis that's heading the federal inquiry declined to comment on the investigation, according to the paper's report.
At least seven patients are known to have died in episodes in which Guidant defibrillators failed to work because of an electrical defect. But many experts believe that the number is probably higher because implanted heart devices are rarely examined after a patient's death to see if they were working properly, the newspaper said.
A defibrillator is an implanted device that senses potentially fatal heart rhythms and corrects them with a timed electrical shock to restore a normal heartbeat.
FDA Stands Behind Fish Advisory
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reassuring consumers that its 2004 advisory about what Americans need to know about eating fish remains current, despite fears of mercury contamination in the catch.
In a prepared statement, the agency repeated its advisory recommendations that "fish and shellfish are an important part of a healthy diet and can contribute to heart health and children's proper growth and development. Because of their many healthy benefits we recommend that women and young children include them as a regular part of their diet. However, nearly all fish and shellfish contain traces of mercury."
The agency also repeated that five of the most commonly eaten fish -- shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock and catfish -- have low levels of mercury.
Consumer Reports on Tuesday had warned that pregnant women should not eat canned tuna, because a small percentage contains levels of methyl mercury as high as fish that the FDA said pregnant women should never eat -- shark, swordfish, King Mackerel, or tilefish., according to a report in USA Today.
The FDA said that although some canned tuna may contain higher mercury levels, others are lower, and that scientists took averages into account in the recommendations.
Health experts agree that eating fish is good for most people. But there are concerns that mercury and other pollutants can offset the benefits.
Angolan Cholera Death Toll Tops 1,500
A cholera outbreak in Angola has claimed 1,576 lives since February, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, with 250-300 infections still being reported daily.
The African country, whose health and public infrastructure was torn apart in a 20-year civil war that ended in 2002, reported a total of 41,475 cases in 13 of its 18 provinces as of May 31, according to the Associated Press.
The overall fatality rate stood at 3.8 percent -- above the 1 percent the WHO considers average, the report said. It's estimated that a quarter of the 4 million Angolans in the capital of Luanda live in shantytowns.
Cholera, which can be treated easily but is a major killer in developing countries, is transmitted through contaminated water. It is linked to poor hygiene, overcrowding and inadequate sanitation.
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration official last month called for a halt in clinical trials of an antibiotic for children because the drug could be deadly, according to internal memorandums from the agency.
The drug, Ketek, made by Sanofi-Aventis, is currently approved only for use in adults as a treatment for sinusitis, bronchitis and pneumonia. The company is testing the drug as treatment for ear infections and tonsillitis in almost 4,000 infants and children in more than a dozen countries, including the United States, The New York Times reported Thursday.
According to a recent review by FDA safety officials, there is growing evidence that Ketek is unusually toxic -- 12 adult patients in the United States have suffered liver failure, including four who died; 23 others suffered serious liver injury. Other antibiotics cause liver failure, but Ketek seems to do so almost four times as often, the officials concluded in the review, the newspaper reported.
"How does one justify balancing the risk of fatal liver failure against one day less of ear pain?" Dr. Rosemary Johann-Liang, an official in the FDA's Office of Drug Safety at the agency, wrote in one of the memorandums obtained by the Times. Other safety officials wrote in their review that the agency should consider forcing Sanofi-Aventis to withdraw Ketek from the market, severely restrict its uses, even in adults, or add a prominent warning to its label about potentially fatal side effects, the paper said.
FDA spokeswoman, Susan Bro, asked about the Johann-Liang memorandum, said that it was "a preliminary, raw assessment" and that "the final decision will be made by experts who have the full benefit of a large section of opinion and scientific fact."
Melissa Feltmann, a spokeswoman for Sanofi-Aventis, said the company was in discussions with the FDA about the drug.
Informed Consent Takes Back Seat in Public Crisis: FDA
Victims of a future terrorist attack or public health emergency would no longer have to give permission before experimental tests could be run to determine why they're sick, under a federal rule published Wednesday. Privacy experts immediately condemned the ruling as unnecessary and ripe for abuse.
The rule, issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, would allow health care workers to run experimental tests on blood and other samples taken from people who have fallen sick as a result of a bioterrorist attack, bird flu outbreak, detonation of a dirty bomb or any other life-threatening public health emergency, the Associated Press reported. In all other cases, the use of an experimental test still requires the informed consent of a patient, as well as the review and approval of an outside panel.
Dr. Deborah Peel, chairwoman of the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation, a watchdog group, told AP, "This sounds like they're taking for themselves the right to test individuals every time they declare a public health emergency. There is no way getting consent would delay testing."
The rule is subject to public comment until Aug. 7. The FDA said it published the rule without first seeking comments because it would hinder the response to an outbreak of bird flu or other public health emergency. The agency said the lack of such an exemption impeded the public health response to the SARS epidemic of 2003, AP reported.
Guidant Considered Warning Docs on Heart-Device Defects: Report
Guidant Corporation, which last year defended its decision not to tell physicians about significant heart-device defects, had drafted a "Dear Doctor" letter to disclose the hazards but decided not to send it, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
The proposed letter and other company records, released this week by a Texas state judge, may have significant legal and financial consequences. Since last fall, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Food and Drug Administration have been conducting an inquiry into Guidant's handling of safety issues affecting several now-recalled defibrillators.
A spokeswoman for the United States attorney's office in Minneapolis that's heading the federal inquiry declined to comment on the investigation, according to the paper's report.
At least seven patients are known to have died in episodes in which Guidant defibrillators failed to work because of an electrical defect. But many experts believe that the number is probably higher because implanted heart devices are rarely examined after a patient's death to see if they were working properly, the newspaper said.
A defibrillator is an implanted device that senses potentially fatal heart rhythms and corrects them with a timed electrical shock to restore a normal heartbeat.
FDA Stands Behind Fish Advisory
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reassuring consumers that its 2004 advisory about what Americans need to know about eating fish remains current, despite fears of mercury contamination in the catch.
In a prepared statement, the agency repeated its advisory recommendations that "fish and shellfish are an important part of a healthy diet and can contribute to heart health and children's proper growth and development. Because of their many healthy benefits we recommend that women and young children include them as a regular part of their diet. However, nearly all fish and shellfish contain traces of mercury."
The agency also repeated that five of the most commonly eaten fish -- shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock and catfish -- have low levels of mercury.
Consumer Reports on Tuesday had warned that pregnant women should not eat canned tuna, because a small percentage contains levels of methyl mercury as high as fish that the FDA said pregnant women should never eat -- shark, swordfish, King Mackerel, or tilefish., according to a report in USA Today.
The FDA said that although some canned tuna may contain higher mercury levels, others are lower, and that scientists took averages into account in the recommendations.
Health experts agree that eating fish is good for most people. But there are concerns that mercury and other pollutants can offset the benefits.
Angolan Cholera Death Toll Tops 1,500
A cholera outbreak in Angola has claimed 1,576 lives since February, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, with 250-300 infections still being reported daily.
The African country, whose health and public infrastructure was torn apart in a 20-year civil war that ended in 2002, reported a total of 41,475 cases in 13 of its 18 provinces as of May 31, according to the Associated Press.
The overall fatality rate stood at 3.8 percent -- above the 1 percent the WHO considers average, the report said. It's estimated that a quarter of the 4 million Angolans in the capital of Luanda live in shantytowns.
Cholera, which can be treated easily but is a major killer in developing countries, is transmitted through contaminated water. It is linked to poor hygiene, overcrowding and inadequate sanitation.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Old Wives' Tales
Old wives' tales are perhaps as old as language itself. They're part of our oral tradition, originating long before pen and ink, books and movies, and certainly before the Internet. Why do we cling to such tales about common ailments and our health when we live in a world rich with medical expertise and proven treatments and cures?
Some probably have survived through the ages because they offer comforting advice about experiences we all share, have little control over, and usually worry about, such as birth and sickness.
Many old wives' tales, especially those surrounding pregnancy and childbirth, have been proven false or ineffective by advances in medicine and technology. One example is the use of prenatal ultrasound to detect the sex of a fetus instead of dangling a ring suspended on a string over the expectant woman's belly. According to the tale, if the ring swings from side to side, it's a girl, and if it swings in a circle, it's a boy. An ultrasound reading may not be as much fun, but the test results are certainly more accurate.
Some old wives' tales about health and sickness have some basis in fact, whereas other, newer ones seem to reflect a kind of technophobia, such as those related to watching television. Some old wives' tales are true, most are harmless - and at least one described here is dangerous.
Tales About Pregnancy
If the fetal heart rate is under 140 beats per minute (BPM), it's a boy.
False. A baby girl's heart rate is usually faster than a boy's, but only after the onset of labor. There's no difference between fetal heart rates for boys and girls, but the rate does vary with the age of the fetus. By approximately the fifth week of pregnancy, the fetal heart rate is near the mother's - around 80 to 85 BPM. It continues to accelerate until early in the ninth week, when it reaches 170 to 200 BPM and then decelerates to an average of 120 to 160 BPM by the middle of the pregnancy. Normal fetal heart rate during labor ranges from 120 to 160 BPM for boys and girls.
Extra weight out front means a girl; weight around the hips and bottom indicates a boy.
False. If a woman has a short torso, there's no place for the baby to grow but out. A long torso may mean roomier accommodations for a baby, making it less likely for a woman's belly to bulge outward. And a wide belly may just mean that the baby is sideways.
If a woman's carrying low, it's a boy; if a woman's carrying high, it's a girl.
False. If a woman's carrying high, this may be her first pregnancy or her body's in good shape. Stomach muscles have a tendency to become more elastic with each pregnancy, so a belly that's seen more than one pregnancy may hang a little low.
Dark nipples indicate a boy.
False. This color change has nothing to do with the sex of the child - an increase in progesterone (a steroid hormone secreted by the placenta and ovaries) and the melanocyte-stimulating hormone (which regulates skin pigmentation) causes dark areas of the body to become more pronounced in most pregnant women. Nipples, birthmarks, moles, or beauty marks may appear darker during pregnancy. A dark line also may appear down the middle of the belly. Called the linea nigra (black line), it runs from above the navel to the pubic area. Darkened areas usually fade soon after childbirth.
Don't breastfeed a toddler during pregnancy because the new baby needs all the nourishment it can get.
False. If a woman is healthy, breastfeeding during pregnancy won't harm her, the fetus, or her toddler. (A doctor may recommend that a pregnant woman not breastfeed, though, if she has a nutritional deficiency, is underweight, or is at risk for pre-term labor.)
Tales About Caring for Babies and Toddlers
Wearing shoes will help a baby learn to walk sooner.
False. Just the opposite is true in this case. Keeping a baby barefoot can help strengthen his or her foot muscles and help the child learn to walk earlier. Once a toddler is walking, though, he or she needs comfortable shoes that fit well - they shouldn't be rigid. Shoes should conform to the shape of a child's feet and provide a little extra room for growth.
An infant walker will help a baby learn to walk sooner.
False. Babies who spend their active hours in walkers may learn to sit, crawl, and walk later than children who have to learn these skills on their own if they want to get around. Sitting in an infant walker, with its wide tray and small leg openings, blocks the visual feedback so important to a baby learning about muscle coordination. More significantly, baby walkers are dangerous. Nearly 14,000 injuries are treated in emergency rooms every year as a result of walkers. And thirty-four children have died since 1973 because of baby walkers. Stairway falls in walkers can be especially severe. In a policy statement, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended a ban on the manufacture and sale of mobile infant walkers in the United States.
Cats can steal the air from a baby's mouth.
False. This tale goes back hundreds of years to a time when cats were associated with witchcraft and evil spirits. Cat-lovers, rest easy - it's anatomically impossible for a cat or other animal to suffocate a baby by sealing the baby's mouth with its own. Even so, cats and other pets should be supervised around small children and introduced to a baby gradually. You should also keep cats (just as you should keep other items, like blankets and plush toys) out of your baby's crib or bassinet.
Tales About Foods and Drinks
Feed a cold, starve a fever.
False. Both high fevers and colds can cause fluid loss. Drinking plenty of liquids such as water, fruit juice, and vegetable juice can help prevent dehydration. And with both fevers and colds, it's fine to eat regular meals - missing nutrients may only make a person sicker.
Wait an hour after eating before swimming.
False. According to the American Red Cross, it's usually not necessary for you or your child to wait an hour before going in the water. However, it is recommended that you wait until digestion has begun, especially if you've had a big fatty meal and you plan to swim strenuously. The Red Cross also advises against chewing gum or eating while in the water, both of which could cause choking.
Coffee stunts your growth.
False. Coffee won't affect a child's growth, but too much caffeine doesn't belong in a child's diet. Excess caffeine can prevent the absorption of calcium and other nutrients.
Fish is brain food.
True. Fish is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids that have been found to be very important for brain function. Certain fish, however, have significant levels of mercury. Therefore, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), suggests that pregnant women and women of child bearing age decrease their exposure to mercury by either avoiding eating swordfish, shark, and tuna, or limiting their consumption to these fish to once per month.
Chocolate causes acne.
True ... and false. Studies show that no specific food has been proven to cause acne. However, some people may notice their breakouts are worse after eating certain foods - and these foods are different depending on the person. For example, some people may notice breakouts after eating chocolate, while others are fine with chocolate but notice they get breakouts after drinking too much coffee. If that's the case for your child, it may help to have him or her cut back on that food and see if it makes a difference.
Spicy foods can cause ulcers.
False. Spicy foods may aggravate ulcer symptoms in some people, but they don't bring about ulcers. A bacterial infection or overuse of pain medications such as aspirin or anti-inflammatory drugs is the usual cause.
Eating carrots will improve your eyesight.
False. This tale may have started during World War II, when British intelligence spread a rumor that their pilots had remarkable night vision because they ate lots of carrots. They didn't want the Germans to know they were using radar. Carrots - and many other vegetables high in vitamin A - do help maintain healthy eyesight, but eating more than the recommended daily allowance won't improve vision.
Tales About Health and Medical Conditions
If you go outside with wet hair, you'll catch a cold.
False. Cold weather, wet hair, and chills don't cause colds. Viruses do. People tend to catch colds more often in the winter because these viruses are spread more easily indoors, where there may be more contact with dry air and people with colds. Dry air - indoors or out - can lower a person's resistance to infection.
Reading in dim light will damage your eyes.
False. Although reading in a dimly lit room won't do any harm, good lighting can help prevent eye fatigue and make reading easier.
Too much TV is bad for your eyes.
False. Watching television won't hurt your eyes (no matter how close to the TV you sit), although too much TV can be a bad idea for kids. Research shows that children who consistently spend more than 10 hours a week watching TV are more likely to be overweight, aggressive, and slower to learn in school.
If you cross your eyes, they'll stay that way.
False. Only about 4% of the children in the United States have strabismus, a disorder in which the eyes are misaligned, giving the appearance that they're looking in different directions. Eye crossing does not lead to strabismus.
Thumb sucking causes buck teeth.
True ... and false. Thumb sucking often begins before birth and generally continues until age 5. If a child stops around the ages of 4 to 5, no harm will be done to his or her jaws and teeth. However, parents should discourage thumb sucking after the age of 4, when the gums, jaw, and permanent teeth begin their most significant growth. It is, therefore, after this age that there is a possibility that thumb, finger, or pacifier sucking will contribute to buck teeth.
Cracking knuckles causes arthritis.
False. However, habitual knuckle cracking tends to cause hand swelling, decreased grip strength, and can result in functional hand impairment.
Too much loud noise can cause hearing loss.
True. Just 15 minutes of listening to loud, pounding music; machinery; or other noises can cause temporary loss of hearing and tinnitus, a ringing in the ears. Loud noise causes the eardrum to vibrate excessively and can damage the tiny hairs in the cochlea, a cone-shaped tube in the inner ear that converts sound into electrical signals for the brain to process. Although temporary hearing loss usually disappears within a day or 2, continuous exposure to extreme noise can result in permanent hearing loss. For example, if a child is wearing headphones - and those around him or her can hear the music - the volume is too high.
Some probably have survived through the ages because they offer comforting advice about experiences we all share, have little control over, and usually worry about, such as birth and sickness.
Many old wives' tales, especially those surrounding pregnancy and childbirth, have been proven false or ineffective by advances in medicine and technology. One example is the use of prenatal ultrasound to detect the sex of a fetus instead of dangling a ring suspended on a string over the expectant woman's belly. According to the tale, if the ring swings from side to side, it's a girl, and if it swings in a circle, it's a boy. An ultrasound reading may not be as much fun, but the test results are certainly more accurate.
Some old wives' tales about health and sickness have some basis in fact, whereas other, newer ones seem to reflect a kind of technophobia, such as those related to watching television. Some old wives' tales are true, most are harmless - and at least one described here is dangerous.
Tales About Pregnancy
If the fetal heart rate is under 140 beats per minute (BPM), it's a boy.
False. A baby girl's heart rate is usually faster than a boy's, but only after the onset of labor. There's no difference between fetal heart rates for boys and girls, but the rate does vary with the age of the fetus. By approximately the fifth week of pregnancy, the fetal heart rate is near the mother's - around 80 to 85 BPM. It continues to accelerate until early in the ninth week, when it reaches 170 to 200 BPM and then decelerates to an average of 120 to 160 BPM by the middle of the pregnancy. Normal fetal heart rate during labor ranges from 120 to 160 BPM for boys and girls.
Extra weight out front means a girl; weight around the hips and bottom indicates a boy.
False. If a woman has a short torso, there's no place for the baby to grow but out. A long torso may mean roomier accommodations for a baby, making it less likely for a woman's belly to bulge outward. And a wide belly may just mean that the baby is sideways.
If a woman's carrying low, it's a boy; if a woman's carrying high, it's a girl.
False. If a woman's carrying high, this may be her first pregnancy or her body's in good shape. Stomach muscles have a tendency to become more elastic with each pregnancy, so a belly that's seen more than one pregnancy may hang a little low.
Dark nipples indicate a boy.
False. This color change has nothing to do with the sex of the child - an increase in progesterone (a steroid hormone secreted by the placenta and ovaries) and the melanocyte-stimulating hormone (which regulates skin pigmentation) causes dark areas of the body to become more pronounced in most pregnant women. Nipples, birthmarks, moles, or beauty marks may appear darker during pregnancy. A dark line also may appear down the middle of the belly. Called the linea nigra (black line), it runs from above the navel to the pubic area. Darkened areas usually fade soon after childbirth.
Don't breastfeed a toddler during pregnancy because the new baby needs all the nourishment it can get.
False. If a woman is healthy, breastfeeding during pregnancy won't harm her, the fetus, or her toddler. (A doctor may recommend that a pregnant woman not breastfeed, though, if she has a nutritional deficiency, is underweight, or is at risk for pre-term labor.)
Tales About Caring for Babies and Toddlers
Wearing shoes will help a baby learn to walk sooner.
False. Just the opposite is true in this case. Keeping a baby barefoot can help strengthen his or her foot muscles and help the child learn to walk earlier. Once a toddler is walking, though, he or she needs comfortable shoes that fit well - they shouldn't be rigid. Shoes should conform to the shape of a child's feet and provide a little extra room for growth.
An infant walker will help a baby learn to walk sooner.
False. Babies who spend their active hours in walkers may learn to sit, crawl, and walk later than children who have to learn these skills on their own if they want to get around. Sitting in an infant walker, with its wide tray and small leg openings, blocks the visual feedback so important to a baby learning about muscle coordination. More significantly, baby walkers are dangerous. Nearly 14,000 injuries are treated in emergency rooms every year as a result of walkers. And thirty-four children have died since 1973 because of baby walkers. Stairway falls in walkers can be especially severe. In a policy statement, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended a ban on the manufacture and sale of mobile infant walkers in the United States.
Cats can steal the air from a baby's mouth.
False. This tale goes back hundreds of years to a time when cats were associated with witchcraft and evil spirits. Cat-lovers, rest easy - it's anatomically impossible for a cat or other animal to suffocate a baby by sealing the baby's mouth with its own. Even so, cats and other pets should be supervised around small children and introduced to a baby gradually. You should also keep cats (just as you should keep other items, like blankets and plush toys) out of your baby's crib or bassinet.
Tales About Foods and Drinks
Feed a cold, starve a fever.
False. Both high fevers and colds can cause fluid loss. Drinking plenty of liquids such as water, fruit juice, and vegetable juice can help prevent dehydration. And with both fevers and colds, it's fine to eat regular meals - missing nutrients may only make a person sicker.
Wait an hour after eating before swimming.
False. According to the American Red Cross, it's usually not necessary for you or your child to wait an hour before going in the water. However, it is recommended that you wait until digestion has begun, especially if you've had a big fatty meal and you plan to swim strenuously. The Red Cross also advises against chewing gum or eating while in the water, both of which could cause choking.
Coffee stunts your growth.
False. Coffee won't affect a child's growth, but too much caffeine doesn't belong in a child's diet. Excess caffeine can prevent the absorption of calcium and other nutrients.
Fish is brain food.
True. Fish is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids that have been found to be very important for brain function. Certain fish, however, have significant levels of mercury. Therefore, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), suggests that pregnant women and women of child bearing age decrease their exposure to mercury by either avoiding eating swordfish, shark, and tuna, or limiting their consumption to these fish to once per month.
Chocolate causes acne.
True ... and false. Studies show that no specific food has been proven to cause acne. However, some people may notice their breakouts are worse after eating certain foods - and these foods are different depending on the person. For example, some people may notice breakouts after eating chocolate, while others are fine with chocolate but notice they get breakouts after drinking too much coffee. If that's the case for your child, it may help to have him or her cut back on that food and see if it makes a difference.
Spicy foods can cause ulcers.
False. Spicy foods may aggravate ulcer symptoms in some people, but they don't bring about ulcers. A bacterial infection or overuse of pain medications such as aspirin or anti-inflammatory drugs is the usual cause.
Eating carrots will improve your eyesight.
False. This tale may have started during World War II, when British intelligence spread a rumor that their pilots had remarkable night vision because they ate lots of carrots. They didn't want the Germans to know they were using radar. Carrots - and many other vegetables high in vitamin A - do help maintain healthy eyesight, but eating more than the recommended daily allowance won't improve vision.
Tales About Health and Medical Conditions
If you go outside with wet hair, you'll catch a cold.
False. Cold weather, wet hair, and chills don't cause colds. Viruses do. People tend to catch colds more often in the winter because these viruses are spread more easily indoors, where there may be more contact with dry air and people with colds. Dry air - indoors or out - can lower a person's resistance to infection.
Reading in dim light will damage your eyes.
False. Although reading in a dimly lit room won't do any harm, good lighting can help prevent eye fatigue and make reading easier.
Too much TV is bad for your eyes.
False. Watching television won't hurt your eyes (no matter how close to the TV you sit), although too much TV can be a bad idea for kids. Research shows that children who consistently spend more than 10 hours a week watching TV are more likely to be overweight, aggressive, and slower to learn in school.
If you cross your eyes, they'll stay that way.
False. Only about 4% of the children in the United States have strabismus, a disorder in which the eyes are misaligned, giving the appearance that they're looking in different directions. Eye crossing does not lead to strabismus.
Thumb sucking causes buck teeth.
True ... and false. Thumb sucking often begins before birth and generally continues until age 5. If a child stops around the ages of 4 to 5, no harm will be done to his or her jaws and teeth. However, parents should discourage thumb sucking after the age of 4, when the gums, jaw, and permanent teeth begin their most significant growth. It is, therefore, after this age that there is a possibility that thumb, finger, or pacifier sucking will contribute to buck teeth.
Cracking knuckles causes arthritis.
False. However, habitual knuckle cracking tends to cause hand swelling, decreased grip strength, and can result in functional hand impairment.
Too much loud noise can cause hearing loss.
True. Just 15 minutes of listening to loud, pounding music; machinery; or other noises can cause temporary loss of hearing and tinnitus, a ringing in the ears. Loud noise causes the eardrum to vibrate excessively and can damage the tiny hairs in the cochlea, a cone-shaped tube in the inner ear that converts sound into electrical signals for the brain to process. Although temporary hearing loss usually disappears within a day or 2, continuous exposure to extreme noise can result in permanent hearing loss. For example, if a child is wearing headphones - and those around him or her can hear the music - the volume is too high.
Health Headlines - June 7
Female Hormone May Prevent Type 1 Diabetes
New animal research suggests that a naturally produced estrogen hormone known as estradiol might help protect against diabetes by preventing the death of pancreatic cells critical to the production of insulin.
The findings are based on work with mice and have not yet been tried in a human trial.
"This is the first study that shows that the female hormone estrodial is important to ensuring pancreatic beta-cell survival in both females and males," said study co-author Dr. Franck Mauvais-Jarvis. He is an assistant professor with the department of molecular and cellular biology and the department of medicine in the division of diabetes, endocrinology & metabolism at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Almost 21 million Americans are currently living with diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association.
Most people with diabetes have what's known as the type 2 form of the disease, which results from the body's inability to properly use the naturally produced hormone insulin to regulate blood sugar levels by processing sugars into energy.
However, between 5 percent and 10 percent of diabetics have a version of the disease known as type 1 diabetes, in which the body doesn't produce any insulin.
Focusing on type 1 diabetes, Mauvais-Jarvis and his colleagues noted that the body's inability to produce insulin is driven by the death of insulin-producing pancreatic beta-cells.
In an attempt to isolate estradiol's potential impact on pancreatic beta-cell destruction, the researchers worked with both male and female mice that were either unable to produce estradiol, lacked an estrogen receptor needed for normal estradiol functioning, or were given a compound that prevented the estrogen receptors from working.
Reporting in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers said that both genders of mice experienced severe beta-cell death while demonstrating dramatically lower-than-normal levels of insulin production -- leading to the onset of type 1 diabetes.
However, Mauvais-Jarvis and his team found that after administering targeted doses of estradiol, the pancreatic beta-cells were "rescued" from death, insulin production resumed, and diabetes was averted.
The researchers concluded that -- at least in mice -- estradiol appears to offer protection against the chain of events that lead to type 1 diabetes.
Mauvais-Jarvis was cautiously optimistic that the work with mice might one day translate into a benefit for humans at risk for diabetes.
"One has to be cautious, because this study has been performed in mice, and although the mouse is the best available model to study human diseases, mice are not humans," he said.
Still, Mauvais-Jarvis said the study indicates that estradiol may offer a new clinical route for the prevention of diabetes in women and men.
"That's a novel paradigm," he said. "Thirty years ago, it was believed that sex hormones were involved only in reproduction and sexual behavior. But in the last 10 years, there has been a kind of challenge to this concept, and we have discovered novel functions regarding estrodial -- such as the prevention of beta-cell death -- that have been revealed to be true for both sexes."
Mauvais-Jarvis stressed, however, that offering patients estrogen-replacement therapy wasn't an option, given recent findings that such treatment appears to elevate the risk of breast cancer in women.
Rather, he suggested that "the future is try to dissect the good and the bad uses of estrodial," in an effort to develop medicines that could prevent beta-cell deaths and diabetes without harmful side effects.
Dr. Robert Rizza, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, and president of the American Diabetes Association, called the new findings "intriguing."
"There have been various studies that have shown that estrogen may lower the risk for developing diabetes, and this study shows why this might be the case," he sad. "This could be a mechanism."
"It may or may not be true for humans," Rizza added. "But it will teach us more about how estrogen works. And if it turns out to be the case, this could be used for other novel therapies to prevent diabetes."
Biggest Specialty Drug Spending Increase Found With Anti-Inflammatories
Americans spent 33.9 percent more in 2005 on anti-inflammatories -- the biggest percentage increase in any specialty drug category, a new U.S. report finds.
Drugs used to treat anti-inflammatory diseases -- such as rheumatoid arthritis -- include the injectable brands Enbrel, Humira, Kineret and Remicade. These drugs have an average cost of $1,417 per prescription and comprise more than 19 percent of the yearly total that most patients are allowed to spend on a specialty drug in a drug benefit plan.
The biggest reason for this dramatic increase in spending for these drugs? According to the 2006 Express Scripts Specialty Drug Trend Report, treatments for inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis are beginning earlier in a patient's life and lasting longer. Additional uses for medications -- such as Enbrel being used to treat psoriasis -- are also causing more patients to use these drugs.
Costs seem to be somewhat controlled with a reported increase in specialty pharmacy usage -- up 77 percent in 2005. Home prescription deliveries decreased by 30 percent, while local pharmacy pickups decreased by 2 percent.
"Enhanced patient-care models and management programs offered by specialty pharmacies encourage therapy adherence, helping to improve outcomes while reducing overall treatment costs," Dr. Steve Miller, chief medical officer of Express Script's CuraScript, said in a prepared statement.
Other statistics noted in the report:
After anti-inflammatories, the class of drugs used to treat multiple sclerosis experienced the next largest increase, at 11.7 percent per prescription.
Inflation pushed anti-cancer drugs to an average of almost $1,600 per prescription, and drugs for treating anemia saw a 6 percent increase in spending.
Technology advancements in tests and screenings drove the use of growth hormone replacement drugs to increase by 10 percent.
Anticoagulant usage increased 21.4 percent -- but future generic alternatives to some expensive brands in this category could help curtail these costs.
Reduced utilization caused a decrease in spending for infertility drugs by 3.9 percent, and specialty antiviral drugs saw a decrease of 6.7 percent.
Health Tip: Be Careful About Herbal Supplements
The makers of herbal supplements say they can treat or prevent a host of conditions and symptoms, including arthritis, headaches and colds. But you should do your homework when selecting herbal supplements for what ails you, the American Academy of Family Physicians warns.
Although herbal supplements may contain natural ingredients, the AAFP says some of these products also contain potential allergens and chemicals that can make you sick -- and they aren't necessarily listed on the product's label.
Certain people should be especially careful about taking herbal supplements, including those with diabetes, high blood pressure, epilepsy, blood clotting problems, Parkinson's, heart disease, liver or thyroid problems. People with psychiatric conditions or conditions of the immune system also should be particularly cautious, the academy warns.
Health Tip: Bad Breath Isn't Always a Harmless Problem
Although halitosis (bad breath) usually is nothing more than a harmless reflection of what you've eaten, sometimes it's a sign of a serious dental or medical condition, the American Dental Association says.
Halitosis could indicate chronic bronchitis or sinusitis, postnasal drip, gastrointestinal illness, and liver or kidney disease, the ADA warns.
If watching the foods you eat and brushing and flossing regularly do not control halitosis, the ADA recommends talking to your dentist about any other conditions that may be responsible, including periodontal disease. If your dentist doesn't find a cause, you should talk with your doctor.
Health Tip: Scleroderma Characterized by Hardening of the Skin
Scleroderma, an autoimmune disorder whose primary symptom is hardening of the skin, affects up to four times as many women than men. It also tends to strike people between ages 25 and 55, although it can occur at any age.
The cause of scleroderma is unknown, says the Scleroderma Foundation. The severity of the disease depends on which body parts are affected, and how early and appropriately the condition is treated.
Treatments often are directed at individual symptoms, including gastrointestinal problems, joint pain and high blood pressure.
Scleroderma, affecting about 300,000 people in the United States, isn't infectious, contagious or cancerous, the foundation says.
Health Tip: What to Expect After LASIK
If you're considering LASIK eye surgery, you may be wondering how quickly you'll see the results.
The Eye Surgery Education Council says that although many patients see improved vision immediately or the day after surgery, the full improvement may not be seen for up to a few months.
Side effects -- including dry eyes, blurry vision and reduced night vision -- are not uncommon and are usually temporary after LASIK surgery. Most of these symptoms clear up on their own. If they don't, the eye council recommends talking to your doctor.
New animal research suggests that a naturally produced estrogen hormone known as estradiol might help protect against diabetes by preventing the death of pancreatic cells critical to the production of insulin.
The findings are based on work with mice and have not yet been tried in a human trial.
"This is the first study that shows that the female hormone estrodial is important to ensuring pancreatic beta-cell survival in both females and males," said study co-author Dr. Franck Mauvais-Jarvis. He is an assistant professor with the department of molecular and cellular biology and the department of medicine in the division of diabetes, endocrinology & metabolism at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Almost 21 million Americans are currently living with diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association.
Most people with diabetes have what's known as the type 2 form of the disease, which results from the body's inability to properly use the naturally produced hormone insulin to regulate blood sugar levels by processing sugars into energy.
However, between 5 percent and 10 percent of diabetics have a version of the disease known as type 1 diabetes, in which the body doesn't produce any insulin.
Focusing on type 1 diabetes, Mauvais-Jarvis and his colleagues noted that the body's inability to produce insulin is driven by the death of insulin-producing pancreatic beta-cells.
In an attempt to isolate estradiol's potential impact on pancreatic beta-cell destruction, the researchers worked with both male and female mice that were either unable to produce estradiol, lacked an estrogen receptor needed for normal estradiol functioning, or were given a compound that prevented the estrogen receptors from working.
Reporting in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers said that both genders of mice experienced severe beta-cell death while demonstrating dramatically lower-than-normal levels of insulin production -- leading to the onset of type 1 diabetes.
However, Mauvais-Jarvis and his team found that after administering targeted doses of estradiol, the pancreatic beta-cells were "rescued" from death, insulin production resumed, and diabetes was averted.
The researchers concluded that -- at least in mice -- estradiol appears to offer protection against the chain of events that lead to type 1 diabetes.
Mauvais-Jarvis was cautiously optimistic that the work with mice might one day translate into a benefit for humans at risk for diabetes.
"One has to be cautious, because this study has been performed in mice, and although the mouse is the best available model to study human diseases, mice are not humans," he said.
Still, Mauvais-Jarvis said the study indicates that estradiol may offer a new clinical route for the prevention of diabetes in women and men.
"That's a novel paradigm," he said. "Thirty years ago, it was believed that sex hormones were involved only in reproduction and sexual behavior. But in the last 10 years, there has been a kind of challenge to this concept, and we have discovered novel functions regarding estrodial -- such as the prevention of beta-cell death -- that have been revealed to be true for both sexes."
Mauvais-Jarvis stressed, however, that offering patients estrogen-replacement therapy wasn't an option, given recent findings that such treatment appears to elevate the risk of breast cancer in women.
Rather, he suggested that "the future is try to dissect the good and the bad uses of estrodial," in an effort to develop medicines that could prevent beta-cell deaths and diabetes without harmful side effects.
Dr. Robert Rizza, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, and president of the American Diabetes Association, called the new findings "intriguing."
"There have been various studies that have shown that estrogen may lower the risk for developing diabetes, and this study shows why this might be the case," he sad. "This could be a mechanism."
"It may or may not be true for humans," Rizza added. "But it will teach us more about how estrogen works. And if it turns out to be the case, this could be used for other novel therapies to prevent diabetes."
Biggest Specialty Drug Spending Increase Found With Anti-Inflammatories
Americans spent 33.9 percent more in 2005 on anti-inflammatories -- the biggest percentage increase in any specialty drug category, a new U.S. report finds.
Drugs used to treat anti-inflammatory diseases -- such as rheumatoid arthritis -- include the injectable brands Enbrel, Humira, Kineret and Remicade. These drugs have an average cost of $1,417 per prescription and comprise more than 19 percent of the yearly total that most patients are allowed to spend on a specialty drug in a drug benefit plan.
The biggest reason for this dramatic increase in spending for these drugs? According to the 2006 Express Scripts Specialty Drug Trend Report, treatments for inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis are beginning earlier in a patient's life and lasting longer. Additional uses for medications -- such as Enbrel being used to treat psoriasis -- are also causing more patients to use these drugs.
Costs seem to be somewhat controlled with a reported increase in specialty pharmacy usage -- up 77 percent in 2005. Home prescription deliveries decreased by 30 percent, while local pharmacy pickups decreased by 2 percent.
"Enhanced patient-care models and management programs offered by specialty pharmacies encourage therapy adherence, helping to improve outcomes while reducing overall treatment costs," Dr. Steve Miller, chief medical officer of Express Script's CuraScript, said in a prepared statement.
Other statistics noted in the report:
After anti-inflammatories, the class of drugs used to treat multiple sclerosis experienced the next largest increase, at 11.7 percent per prescription.
Inflation pushed anti-cancer drugs to an average of almost $1,600 per prescription, and drugs for treating anemia saw a 6 percent increase in spending.
Technology advancements in tests and screenings drove the use of growth hormone replacement drugs to increase by 10 percent.
Anticoagulant usage increased 21.4 percent -- but future generic alternatives to some expensive brands in this category could help curtail these costs.
Reduced utilization caused a decrease in spending for infertility drugs by 3.9 percent, and specialty antiviral drugs saw a decrease of 6.7 percent.
Health Tip: Be Careful About Herbal Supplements
The makers of herbal supplements say they can treat or prevent a host of conditions and symptoms, including arthritis, headaches and colds. But you should do your homework when selecting herbal supplements for what ails you, the American Academy of Family Physicians warns.
Although herbal supplements may contain natural ingredients, the AAFP says some of these products also contain potential allergens and chemicals that can make you sick -- and they aren't necessarily listed on the product's label.
Certain people should be especially careful about taking herbal supplements, including those with diabetes, high blood pressure, epilepsy, blood clotting problems, Parkinson's, heart disease, liver or thyroid problems. People with psychiatric conditions or conditions of the immune system also should be particularly cautious, the academy warns.
Health Tip: Bad Breath Isn't Always a Harmless Problem
Although halitosis (bad breath) usually is nothing more than a harmless reflection of what you've eaten, sometimes it's a sign of a serious dental or medical condition, the American Dental Association says.
Halitosis could indicate chronic bronchitis or sinusitis, postnasal drip, gastrointestinal illness, and liver or kidney disease, the ADA warns.
If watching the foods you eat and brushing and flossing regularly do not control halitosis, the ADA recommends talking to your dentist about any other conditions that may be responsible, including periodontal disease. If your dentist doesn't find a cause, you should talk with your doctor.
Health Tip: Scleroderma Characterized by Hardening of the Skin
Scleroderma, an autoimmune disorder whose primary symptom is hardening of the skin, affects up to four times as many women than men. It also tends to strike people between ages 25 and 55, although it can occur at any age.
The cause of scleroderma is unknown, says the Scleroderma Foundation. The severity of the disease depends on which body parts are affected, and how early and appropriately the condition is treated.
Treatments often are directed at individual symptoms, including gastrointestinal problems, joint pain and high blood pressure.
Scleroderma, affecting about 300,000 people in the United States, isn't infectious, contagious or cancerous, the foundation says.
Health Tip: What to Expect After LASIK
If you're considering LASIK eye surgery, you may be wondering how quickly you'll see the results.
The Eye Surgery Education Council says that although many patients see improved vision immediately or the day after surgery, the full improvement may not be seen for up to a few months.
Side effects -- including dry eyes, blurry vision and reduced night vision -- are not uncommon and are usually temporary after LASIK surgery. Most of these symptoms clear up on their own. If they don't, the eye council recommends talking to your doctor.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Health Headlines - June 6
Cancer of the Larynx Linked to Asbestos Exposure
Asbestos, already generally accepted as a cause of a number of respiratory ailments including lung cancer, may also be a source for laryngeal cancer, the U.S. government's Institute of Medicine says.
The Associated Press reports that a series of studies have found that certain cancers of the throat and lungs are similar, so the U.S. Senate asked the institute to investigate a potential link between asbestos and other upper-body cancers.
In addition to lung cancer, asbestos, historically used to insulate buildings, is also linked to mesothelioma, a rare cancer that attacks the lining of the chest.
But the institute said there was not enough evidence of a connection between asbestos and other malignancies, including cancers of the upper throat and esophagus.
Harvard Scientists Begin Experiments to Clone Human Embryos
U.S. scientists said Tuesday they have begun work on cloning human embryos to create stem cells, a goal that some find ethically objectionable, according to the Associated Press.
Dr. George Daley, a leading expert in blood diseases and an executive committee member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, is overseeing the work at Children's Hospital Boston, the main pediatric teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. Daley said he had begun experiments but declined to describe the results, AP reported.
The Children's Hospital team's goal is to create stem cells for treating blood diseases like sickle-cell anemia, leukemia and other blood disorders. Two other researchers, Douglas Melton and Kevin Eggan, have received approval from a series of review boards to begin similar work, the institute said. Melton plans to focus on diabetes. Eggan plans to work on neurodegenerative conditions like Lou Gehrig's disease.
By cloning embryos, scientists hope to produce transplant material to treat a variety of diseases. Stem cells can give rise to more specialized cells and tissues that can be genetically matched to patients, avoiding the problem of rejection.
The University of California, San Francisco, is also pursuing the cloning of human embryos, according to AP, joining the race among a small group of researchers in this controversial pursuit.
Medicaid Recipients Will Need Proof of Citizenship
Starting July 1, millions of low-income Americans will have to show proof of United States citizenship, such as a birth certificate or a U.S. passport, if they seek health care through their state Medicaid programs. The new requirement will apply to all Medicaid applications, as well as all applications to renew Medicaid coverage after that date, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Health analysts and advocacy groups for the poor and mentally ill say they fear the provision, designed to root out cases of illegal immigrants getting their care paid for by the government, could prevent some citizens from getting their own care. The advocates have asked the Bush administration to presume those seeking care are eligible and be given time to get the necessary documentation.
Mark McClellan, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the agency was sensitive to the consumer groups' concerns and was crafting a process for exceptions, according to AP.
Federal law says a person must be a citizen to receive Medicaid benefits; however, emergency care cannot be denied. Forty-six states now can accept a signed declaration as proof of U.S. citizenship, but only Montana, New York, New Hampshire and Texas require applicants to submit documents verifying citizenship, the AP said.
New Test Spots Bird Flu in Birds Within 4 Hours, Official Says
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Tuesday that scientists have a new test that can tell within four hours if a bird is infected with bird flu, but it still will take about a week to know if it has the deadly Asian strain.
Bird flu hasn't yet reached North America, but testing of migrating wild birds has begun in an attempt to catch it early if it does, Johanns told the Associated Press, in a joint interview with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt.
Leavitt added that four hours also is how long it takes to get preliminary results in people infected with the H5N1 virus, too. But if bird flu ever begins spreading easily among people, that's too long, he told the AP. 'If it occurs anywhere in the world, it's just a matter of weeks until it appears in the United States,' Leavitt said.
Bird flu has killed at least 127 people worldwide since it began spreading in Asia in late 2003. Though it is difficult for people to catch the virus, experts fear it could mutate into a form easily spread between people, potentially sparking a worldwide outbreak.
Pot Impairs Learning in Adolescent Rats: Study
The main active ingredient in marijuana leads to short-term impairment of learning in adolescent rats, but doesn't seem to affect adults similarly, Duke University Medical Center researchers report.
Their study compared the effects of delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on the memory ability of adolescent and adult rats to see if the animals, and perhaps humans, are more sensitive to THC at certain stages. Researchers found that chronic exposure to THC during adolescence may not lead to long-term damage persisting into adulthood, but said the finding should be interpreted cautiously, since other studies have suggested the damage may be longer-lasting.
The study tested the effects of THC exposure on memory and learning by dosing rats with varying amounts, training them to navigate a "water maze," and then measuring how well the rats remembered how to get to a stationary platform in the water. After the THC had cleared the rats' systems and the adolescents had reached full maturity, the researchers tested how well they performed in the water maze. The chronic exposure appeared to have no effect on the rats' later learning abilities, the study found.
The findings appear in the March 2006 issue of the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, which is expected to be published June 8.
"There are plenty of good reasons for adolescents to not smoke pot," said H. Scott Swartzwelder, a professor of psychiatry at Duke and the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the senior author on the study. "The teen years require a lot of learning and preparation for adulthood."
Asbestos, already generally accepted as a cause of a number of respiratory ailments including lung cancer, may also be a source for laryngeal cancer, the U.S. government's Institute of Medicine says.
The Associated Press reports that a series of studies have found that certain cancers of the throat and lungs are similar, so the U.S. Senate asked the institute to investigate a potential link between asbestos and other upper-body cancers.
In addition to lung cancer, asbestos, historically used to insulate buildings, is also linked to mesothelioma, a rare cancer that attacks the lining of the chest.
But the institute said there was not enough evidence of a connection between asbestos and other malignancies, including cancers of the upper throat and esophagus.
Harvard Scientists Begin Experiments to Clone Human Embryos
U.S. scientists said Tuesday they have begun work on cloning human embryos to create stem cells, a goal that some find ethically objectionable, according to the Associated Press.
Dr. George Daley, a leading expert in blood diseases and an executive committee member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, is overseeing the work at Children's Hospital Boston, the main pediatric teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. Daley said he had begun experiments but declined to describe the results, AP reported.
The Children's Hospital team's goal is to create stem cells for treating blood diseases like sickle-cell anemia, leukemia and other blood disorders. Two other researchers, Douglas Melton and Kevin Eggan, have received approval from a series of review boards to begin similar work, the institute said. Melton plans to focus on diabetes. Eggan plans to work on neurodegenerative conditions like Lou Gehrig's disease.
By cloning embryos, scientists hope to produce transplant material to treat a variety of diseases. Stem cells can give rise to more specialized cells and tissues that can be genetically matched to patients, avoiding the problem of rejection.
The University of California, San Francisco, is also pursuing the cloning of human embryos, according to AP, joining the race among a small group of researchers in this controversial pursuit.
Medicaid Recipients Will Need Proof of Citizenship
Starting July 1, millions of low-income Americans will have to show proof of United States citizenship, such as a birth certificate or a U.S. passport, if they seek health care through their state Medicaid programs. The new requirement will apply to all Medicaid applications, as well as all applications to renew Medicaid coverage after that date, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Health analysts and advocacy groups for the poor and mentally ill say they fear the provision, designed to root out cases of illegal immigrants getting their care paid for by the government, could prevent some citizens from getting their own care. The advocates have asked the Bush administration to presume those seeking care are eligible and be given time to get the necessary documentation.
Mark McClellan, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the agency was sensitive to the consumer groups' concerns and was crafting a process for exceptions, according to AP.
Federal law says a person must be a citizen to receive Medicaid benefits; however, emergency care cannot be denied. Forty-six states now can accept a signed declaration as proof of U.S. citizenship, but only Montana, New York, New Hampshire and Texas require applicants to submit documents verifying citizenship, the AP said.
New Test Spots Bird Flu in Birds Within 4 Hours, Official Says
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Tuesday that scientists have a new test that can tell within four hours if a bird is infected with bird flu, but it still will take about a week to know if it has the deadly Asian strain.
Bird flu hasn't yet reached North America, but testing of migrating wild birds has begun in an attempt to catch it early if it does, Johanns told the Associated Press, in a joint interview with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt.
Leavitt added that four hours also is how long it takes to get preliminary results in people infected with the H5N1 virus, too. But if bird flu ever begins spreading easily among people, that's too long, he told the AP. 'If it occurs anywhere in the world, it's just a matter of weeks until it appears in the United States,' Leavitt said.
Bird flu has killed at least 127 people worldwide since it began spreading in Asia in late 2003. Though it is difficult for people to catch the virus, experts fear it could mutate into a form easily spread between people, potentially sparking a worldwide outbreak.
Pot Impairs Learning in Adolescent Rats: Study
The main active ingredient in marijuana leads to short-term impairment of learning in adolescent rats, but doesn't seem to affect adults similarly, Duke University Medical Center researchers report.
Their study compared the effects of delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on the memory ability of adolescent and adult rats to see if the animals, and perhaps humans, are more sensitive to THC at certain stages. Researchers found that chronic exposure to THC during adolescence may not lead to long-term damage persisting into adulthood, but said the finding should be interpreted cautiously, since other studies have suggested the damage may be longer-lasting.
The study tested the effects of THC exposure on memory and learning by dosing rats with varying amounts, training them to navigate a "water maze," and then measuring how well the rats remembered how to get to a stationary platform in the water. After the THC had cleared the rats' systems and the adolescents had reached full maturity, the researchers tested how well they performed in the water maze. The chronic exposure appeared to have no effect on the rats' later learning abilities, the study found.
The findings appear in the March 2006 issue of the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, which is expected to be published June 8.
"There are plenty of good reasons for adolescents to not smoke pot," said H. Scott Swartzwelder, a professor of psychiatry at Duke and the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the senior author on the study. "The teen years require a lot of learning and preparation for adulthood."
Monday, June 05, 2006
Health Headlines - June 5
FDA Panel Backs New Leukemia Drug
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel on Friday recommended approval of a new drug that treats certain leukemias when other treatments have failed, the Associated Press reported.
The drug, known as Sprycel, would be used to treat chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in patients who have developed a resistance or intolerance to Gleevec. CML represents 14 percent of all adult leukemias, according to the FDA.
Bristol-Myers Squibb, which makes Sprycel, also got the panel's blessing to use the drug to treat Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the AP reported.
The FDA is expected to decide whether to approve Sprycel by June 28; the advisory panel met in Atlanta to coincide with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, which is being held in that same city.
Vets May Have Been Exposed to Virus
Improperly sterilized equipment might have exposed more than 22,000 veterans who underwent prostate biopsies to deadly viruses, federal officials have warned.
The Associated Press reported Saturday that U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs officials said it was unlikely someone could get infected, and no patient is known to have fallen ill yet.
Regardless, the agency is offering free blood tests as a precaution. Maine officials were the first to question whether the cleaning procedure for prostate biopsy equipment was sufficient, VA spokesman Jim Benson told the wire service. The equipment contains a probe that could hold traces of fluids that might harbor the viruses that cause AIDS or hepatitis.
Since April, the VA has alerted 21 medical centers in 18 states, including Puerto Rico, about the possibility of contamination. About 7,000 veterans have contacted the federal agency, and 2,000 have been tested.
"It's too soon to have any information on their test results because each of the potential diseases we might be worried about require not only initial tests but confirmatory tests as well," Benson told the AP. "Right now, our first priority is getting information out to every veteran."
Experts Question High Cost of Cancer Care
Cancer treatments are the most expensive medical therapies in the United States, and a panel of experts said Friday it is time to rethink the cost of drugs that only add a few months to a patient's life.
Convening at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Atlanta this weekend, the six doctors on the panel noted that physicians and ethicists alike are struggling with the dilemma, according to Newsday. The cancer treatment industry is a $210 billion annual enterprise, the paper reported.
A steady stream of highly priced drugs has been pumped out by the pharmaceutical industry in recent years, and these medications tend to cost insurers and patients $2,000 to $5,000 a month, the panel said. However, these treatments have captured both headlines and the attention of patients desperate for a few more months of life.
"Everybody is affected," said Dr. Neal Meropol, of the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. ""The doctors, patients, insurers, entire economies."
Scios to Conduct Safety Review of Heart Drug Natrecor
Scios Inc., a division of Johnson & Johnson, said Thursday that it would spend more than $100 million to conduct a safety study of its controversial heart-failure drug, Natrecor.
The trial seeks to address safety issues concerning the drug since last year. Other studies had suggested that Natrecor, an intravenous drug approved in 2001 that was designed to treat breathing problems that can accompany heart failure, could lead to increased risk of kidney problems and a higher risk of mortality within the first month of treatment, the Associated Press reported.
Patient enrollment is expected to begin early next year and involve 7,000 people in the United States, Canada and Europe, according to Scios. The company has yet to select the lead researchers, and said it doesn't know how long the trial will take to complete, AP reported.
Clot-Busting Drug Helps Revive Cardiac-Arrest Patients
Emergency room doctors were able to double the number of patients who could be revived from cardiac arrest after using a "clot buster" drug normally reserved for treating patients during a heart attack, according to a study in the June issue of Resuscitation.
The pilot study involved patients with cardiac arrest who didn't respond to standard therapy. Of 50 patients who received the clot-buster tenecteplase, known medically as a fibrinolytic agent therapy, 26 percent were revived, compared to 12 percent of patients who got standard therapy alone. However, not all patients who were revived lived long enough to be discharged from the hospital, according to the study.
Sudden loss of heart function occurs in more than 260,000 people a year nationwide and at least 93 percent of them die, according to the report. Standard treatment for cardiac arrest is Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) measures, which include cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), drugs such as adrenaline, and defibrillation, an electric shock to the heart.
"Clot-busting agents show promise as a new therapy for this abrupt and catastrophic loss of heart function," said study author Dr. William P. Bozeman, an emergency medicine specialist at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. "We are in dire need of additional treatment options for sudden cardiac arrest, because there is only a 5 percent to 7 percent survival rate using interventions we now have."
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel on Friday recommended approval of a new drug that treats certain leukemias when other treatments have failed, the Associated Press reported.
The drug, known as Sprycel, would be used to treat chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in patients who have developed a resistance or intolerance to Gleevec. CML represents 14 percent of all adult leukemias, according to the FDA.
Bristol-Myers Squibb, which makes Sprycel, also got the panel's blessing to use the drug to treat Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the AP reported.
The FDA is expected to decide whether to approve Sprycel by June 28; the advisory panel met in Atlanta to coincide with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, which is being held in that same city.
Vets May Have Been Exposed to Virus
Improperly sterilized equipment might have exposed more than 22,000 veterans who underwent prostate biopsies to deadly viruses, federal officials have warned.
The Associated Press reported Saturday that U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs officials said it was unlikely someone could get infected, and no patient is known to have fallen ill yet.
Regardless, the agency is offering free blood tests as a precaution. Maine officials were the first to question whether the cleaning procedure for prostate biopsy equipment was sufficient, VA spokesman Jim Benson told the wire service. The equipment contains a probe that could hold traces of fluids that might harbor the viruses that cause AIDS or hepatitis.
Since April, the VA has alerted 21 medical centers in 18 states, including Puerto Rico, about the possibility of contamination. About 7,000 veterans have contacted the federal agency, and 2,000 have been tested.
"It's too soon to have any information on their test results because each of the potential diseases we might be worried about require not only initial tests but confirmatory tests as well," Benson told the AP. "Right now, our first priority is getting information out to every veteran."
Experts Question High Cost of Cancer Care
Cancer treatments are the most expensive medical therapies in the United States, and a panel of experts said Friday it is time to rethink the cost of drugs that only add a few months to a patient's life.
Convening at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Atlanta this weekend, the six doctors on the panel noted that physicians and ethicists alike are struggling with the dilemma, according to Newsday. The cancer treatment industry is a $210 billion annual enterprise, the paper reported.
A steady stream of highly priced drugs has been pumped out by the pharmaceutical industry in recent years, and these medications tend to cost insurers and patients $2,000 to $5,000 a month, the panel said. However, these treatments have captured both headlines and the attention of patients desperate for a few more months of life.
"Everybody is affected," said Dr. Neal Meropol, of the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. ""The doctors, patients, insurers, entire economies."
Scios to Conduct Safety Review of Heart Drug Natrecor
Scios Inc., a division of Johnson & Johnson, said Thursday that it would spend more than $100 million to conduct a safety study of its controversial heart-failure drug, Natrecor.
The trial seeks to address safety issues concerning the drug since last year. Other studies had suggested that Natrecor, an intravenous drug approved in 2001 that was designed to treat breathing problems that can accompany heart failure, could lead to increased risk of kidney problems and a higher risk of mortality within the first month of treatment, the Associated Press reported.
Patient enrollment is expected to begin early next year and involve 7,000 people in the United States, Canada and Europe, according to Scios. The company has yet to select the lead researchers, and said it doesn't know how long the trial will take to complete, AP reported.
Clot-Busting Drug Helps Revive Cardiac-Arrest Patients
Emergency room doctors were able to double the number of patients who could be revived from cardiac arrest after using a "clot buster" drug normally reserved for treating patients during a heart attack, according to a study in the June issue of Resuscitation.
The pilot study involved patients with cardiac arrest who didn't respond to standard therapy. Of 50 patients who received the clot-buster tenecteplase, known medically as a fibrinolytic agent therapy, 26 percent were revived, compared to 12 percent of patients who got standard therapy alone. However, not all patients who were revived lived long enough to be discharged from the hospital, according to the study.
Sudden loss of heart function occurs in more than 260,000 people a year nationwide and at least 93 percent of them die, according to the report. Standard treatment for cardiac arrest is Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) measures, which include cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), drugs such as adrenaline, and defibrillation, an electric shock to the heart.
"Clot-busting agents show promise as a new therapy for this abrupt and catastrophic loss of heart function," said study author Dr. William P. Bozeman, an emergency medicine specialist at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. "We are in dire need of additional treatment options for sudden cardiac arrest, because there is only a 5 percent to 7 percent survival rate using interventions we now have."
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