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Shildt Financial Services hopes that you find the following news items to be helpful and informative.
IN REVIEW: Health News Back To September, 2008
Health Highlights (Oct. 23, 2009 to Oct. 30, 2009) Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay: FDA Warns of Bogus Swine Flu Products Fake Tamiflu is one of many bogus products being sold over the Internet that claim to prevent, treat or diagnose swine flu, says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The agency has issued warnings about fraudulent claims to the Web marketers of more than 140 products, ranging from sprays or devices that supposedly sterilize surfaces or the air to dietary supplements touted for strengthening the immune system, the Associated Press reported. Shortly after swine flu emerged last spring, about 10 bogus products a day were appearing online, according to Alyson Saben, the head of the FDA swine flu consumer fraud team. That rate slowed as the flu abated in the summer, but recently "we are seeing new sites pop up," Saben said. Fake Tamiflu causes the most concern for the FDA. The agency purchased and tested five of the products and found that one contained powdered talc and general Tylenol, but no Tamiflu. Others contained some Tamiflu but weren't approved for sale in the United States, the AP reported. "We have no idea of the conditions under which they were manufactured. They could contain contaminated, counterfeit, impure or subpotent or superpotent ingredients," Saben said. ----- EPA Seeks to Expand Lead Safety Rules An expansion of a rule that requires contractors who renovate, repair or paint older homes to be trained and certified in "lead safe" work practices is being proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Currently, contractors working on homes built before 1978 are required to take precautions to reduce potential paint-associated lead exposure if pregnant women or children under age 6 live in the home. The proposed change would cover most homes built before 1978, regardless of who lives in them, the Wall Street Journal reported. The change would mean a 50 percent increase in the number of contractors who would need to abide by the "lead-safe" rule for older homes, according to EPA spokesman Dale Kemery. The EPA also wants to re-examine the hazard standard for lead in dust and possibly modify the regulatory definition of lead-based paint. Some groups say that current regulations are outdated, the Wall Street Journal reported. Comments on the proposal will be accepted for 30 days and the EPA expects to finalize the changes by April 2010. ----- Cancer Drug Prevents Premature Labor The cancer drug Trichostatin A (TSA) can stop contractions and may point to new ways to prevent premature labor, according to English researchers. They tested the drug on muscle tissue taken from 36 women who had cesarean sections and found that the drug increases levels of a protein that controls muscle relaxation, BBC News reported. Specifically, the Newcastle University team found that TSA reduced contractions for spontaneously contracting tissue by an average of 46 percent and reduced contractions induced by the labor drug oxytocin by an average of 54 percent. The drug works by increasing the levels of a protein that controls muscle relaxation. "We will not give this drug to a patient because it can damage as many as 10% of the genes in a cell," said study leader Professor Nick Europe-Finner, BBC News reported. "But it does show us that other more specific agents that act on the same enzymes but only one at a time are worth investigating." The study appears in the journal Cellular and Molecular Medicine. ---- FDA Lax on Drug Follow-Up Studies The use of several drugs to treat cancer and other conditions has been allowed to continue even though follow-up studies showed they didn't extend patients' lives, says a U.S. Government Accountability Office report to be released Monday. The GAO also said that the Food and Drug Administration has never ordered a company to take a drug off the market because promised follow-up studies about the drug's benefits haven't been completed. In some cases, that follow-up information is more than a decade overdue, the Associated Press reported. The FDA also needs to do more to monitor whether drugs approved under its so-called "accelerated approval" program actually fulfill their promise, the GAO said. The accelerated approval program is designed to speed availability of treatments for the most serious diseases. The GAO said that since 1992, the FDA has requested follow-up 144 studies of drugs approved under the program, but only 64 percent have been completed and more than one-third are still pending, the AP reported. The GAO report presents an overly-negative assessment of the program and there are no plans to get more aggressive about follow-up, according to the FDA. "Millions of patients with serious or life-threatening illnesses have had earlier access to new safe and effective treatments," through the accelerated approval program, the agency said, the AP reported. ----- Cell Phones Linked To Brain Tumors Long-term cell phone users are more likely than other people to develop brain tumors later in life, according to a World Health Organization study that included 12,800 people in 13 countries. People who used cell phones for 10 years or longer had a "significantly increased risk" of brain tumors, study leader Elisabeth Cardis told The Daily Telegraph, United Press International reported. Cardis recommended restricting cell phone use by children, but they shouldn't be banned from using them because they're important in emergencies and for maintaining contact with parents. As for adults, they should moderate their use and reduce direct contact by using wireless ear devices, headsets and other hands-free devices. More than 30 previous studies have found no link between cell phone use and harmful health effects, said a representative of the Mobile Operators Association, UPI reported. ----- Unhealthy Breakfast Cereals Heavily Marketed to Children Breakfast cereals marketed to children contain 85 percent more sugar, 65 percent less fiber, and 60 percent more sodium than those targeted at adults, says a Yale University study. The least nutritious cereals -- such as Reese's Puffs, Lucky Charms and Cap'n Crunch -- are often the most heavily marketed to children, found that researchers at Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, USA Today reported. Among the other findings:
The Yale researchers said cereal company pledges to self-regulate haven't "shielded kids from the barrage of messages" to eat the least healthy cereals, USA Today reported. "Industry regulation is an abject failure," said Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center. "The worst cereals are being marketed very heavily to children." The study is being presented Monday at the annual meeting of the Obesity Society. ----- Antibody May Benefit Trauma Patients An antibody that could help control major internal bleeding in patients with major trauma injuries from car crashes, bullets and other causes has been identified by U.S. researchers. A protein called histone is responsible for much of the internal bleeding in trauma patients, according to the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation team. They also found that a certain type of antibody blocks the ability of histone to cause damage, BBC News reported. In experiments in mice with sepsis, the antibody stopped the toxic effects of histones, and the mice recovered. The findings appear in the journal Nature Medicine. The researchers want to conduct studies in primates and eventually humans. "These findings offer some clues as to why people suffering from one traumatic injury often experience a catastrophic 'cascade' of secondary traumatic events," said Dr. Stephen Prescott, president of OMRF, BBC News reported. "If we can figure out how to control the initial injury, perhaps that will stop the domino effect that so often follows." ----- Enzyme May Be Key in Nerve Fiber Regeneration An enzyme that plays a critical role in regenerating damaged nerve fibers has been identified by U.S. researchers, a finding that could lead to new treatments for brain and spinal cord injuries. In experiments with rats, the team at Children's Hospital Boston found that the enzyme Mst3b appears to be an important regulator of a cell-signaling pathway that controls nerve fiber (axon) growth, United Press International reported. When Mst3b was absent, damaged optic nerves in the rats showed little regeneration, said the study, which appears in the journal Nature Neuroscience. "All the growth factors we've tested -- oncomodulin, inosine, brain-derived neurotropic factor, nerve growth factor -- act through Mst3b," said researcher Larry Benowitz, UPI reported. "In fact, activating Mst3b by itself is enough to cause growth even if there are no growth factors around. In terms of basic understanding of nerve cells, this is a very exciting finding." ----- Cars Big Threat To Trick-or-Treaters The dangers faced by children on Halloween are more pedestrian than supernatural. Safe Kids USA says youngsters are more than twice as likely to be killed by a car while walking on Halloween than on any other night of the year, USA Today reported. An analysis of 2002-06 data showed that an average of 2.2 children are killed in pedestrian accidents between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Halloween, compared with an average of one death during the same time period on every other night of the year. "Halloween is consistently the most dangerous day of the year for kids to walk," Safe Kids spokeswoman Kate Jones told USA Today. There are a number of reasons for this increased risk. Dark costumes can make it hard for drivers to see trick-or-treaters and masks can impair children's ability to see around corners. Many suburbs don't have sidewalks and children are more likely to dart out from between parked cars. "We need to get the message out to drivers," Moira Donahue, director of pedestrian safety at SafeKids, told USA Today. "On Halloween, slow down, turn your lights on and be prepared that there are going to be more kids out." ----- High-Fiber Foods May Protect Against Inflammatory Diseases A high-fiber diet may boost the immune system and help prevent inflammatory diseases such as asthma, diabetes and arthritis, say Australian researchers and their colleagues. In the gut, high-fiber foods are converted by bacteria into short chain fatty acids, which are known to ease some inflammatory diseases in the bowel. This new study identified a molecule that binds to short chain fatty acids and also functions as an anti-inflammatory, Agence France Presse reported. The study appears in the journal Nature. "The important point about our work is that we provide the molecular explanation that links fiber in the diet to the microorganisms in our gut to the effect on the immune response," Professor Charles Mackay told AFP. "We believe that changes in diet, associated with Western lifestyles, contribute to the increasing incidences of asthma, type 1 diabetes and other auto-immune diseases," he said. "Now we have a new molecular mechanism that might explain how diet is affecting our immune systems." ----- Immune-Suppressing Drugs May Boost Bladder Cancer Risk People who take immune-suppressing glucocorticoid drugs may be at increased risk for bladder cancer, according to a U.S. study. Glucocorticoids are used to prevent organ rejection in transplant patients and to treat diseases such as asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. Dartmouth Medical School researchers examined the long-term use of glucocorticoids by 786 bladder cancer patients and 1,083 controls, United Press International reported. The finding that glucocorticoids may increase bladder cancer risk "might indicate the need for closer monitoring of individuals who regularly take glucocorticoids," epidemiologist Margaret Karagas and colleagues said in a news release. The study was published in the British Journal of Cancer. Previous studies found an association between glucocorticoids and increased risk of lymphoma and skin cancer, UPI reported. ----- Curry Spice Chemical Kills Esophageal Cancer Cells A chemical found in the curry spice tumeric kills esophageal cancer cells, according to U.K. researchers. It's long been believed that the chemical curcumin has healing powers and it's being tested as a treatment for conditions such as arthritis and dementia, BBC News reported. In lab tests, researchers at the Cork Cancer Research Center found that curcumin started to kill esophageal cancer cells within 24 hours and that the cancer cells began to digest themselves after curcumin triggered cell death signals. The study appears in the British Journal of Cancer. "Scientists have known for a long time that natural compounds have the potential to treat faulty cells that have become cancerous and we suspected that curcumin might have therapeutic value," said study author Dr. Sharon McKenna, BBC News reported. "This is interesting research which opens up the possibility that natural chemicals found in turmeric could be developed into new treatments for oesophageal cancer," said Dr Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK. ----- Radiation Treatment Required For Fresh Gulf of Mexico Oysters Beginning In 2011Beginning in 2011, raw oysters harvested from the Gulf of Mexico during warm months will have to be treated with low-dose radiation to kill a potentially deadly bacteria, say U.S. health officials. There will be a ban on sales of oysters that aren't treated. Each year in the U.S., about 15 people die after eating fresh oysters infected with Vibrio vulnificus, a bacteria typically found in coastal waters between April and October, the Associated Press reported. Oyster industry officials say the low-dose radiation procedure is too expensive and contend that adequate safety measures are already in place. Two-thirds of oysters consumed in the U.S. come from the Gulf of Mexico, the AP reported. ------ Antibody May Benefit Trauma Patients An antibody that could help control major internal bleeding in patients with major trauma injuries from car crashes, bullets and other causes has been identified by U.S. researchers. A protein called histone is responsible for much of the internal bleeding in trauma patients, according to the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation team. They also found that a certain type of antibody blocks the ability of histone to cause damage, BBC News reported. In experiments in mice with sepsis, the antibody stopped the toxic effects of histones, and the mice recovered. The findings appear in the journal Nature Medicine. The researchers want to conduct studies in primates and eventually humans. "These findings offer some clues as to why people suffering from one traumatic injury often experience a catastrophic 'cascade' of secondary traumatic events," said Dr. Stephen Prescott, president of OMRF, BBC News reported. "If we can figure out how to control the initial injury, perhaps that will stop the domino effect that so often follows." ----- FDA Panel Recommends First Non-Drug Asthma Treatment A new technology from a small California-based company should be approved as the first non-drug treatment for asthma, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended Wednesday. Asthmatx's Alair System employs bronchial thermoplasty, which uses radiofrequency wave-generated heat to burn away lung tissue that impairs breathing and causes wheezing and coughing spasms, the Associated Press reported. The radiofrequency waves are delivered via a catheter controlled by a respiratory specialist. The procedure, performed over three sessions of a half hour each, is appropriate only for adult patients with severe asthma that doesn't respond to drug treatment. The FDA panel voted six to one to recommend approval of the new system under certain conditions, including long-term safety monitoring of patients, the AP reported. The FDA usually follows the advice of its advisory panels. The Alair System is already approved in Europe. If the FDA does approve the system, it may be available in the United States in the first half of 2010. |
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