Previous Medical News
2009/03/21
1. Natasha Richardson Died From Head Trauma: Autopsy (New York City Medical Examiner, 3/19/09)
45-year-old Natasha Richardson died from bleeding in her skull caused by the fall she took on a ski slope, according to an autopsy. The medical examiner ruled her death an accident. She might have survived had she received immediate treatment. However, nearly four hours elapsed between her lethal fall and her admission to a hospital. The Tony-winning actress suffered from an epidural hematoma, which causes bleeding between the skull and the brain's covering.
2. New Food Labeling Policy Takes Effect: Where the foods come from (USDA, 3/16/09)
Labels on most fresh meats, along with some fruits, vegetables and other foods, will now list where the food originated. In the case of meats, some labels will list where the animal was born, raised and slaughtered. The regulations exclude a variety of foods that fall under the labeling requirement, but are considered to be processed, such as roasted peanuts, breaded chicken and bacon.
3. FDA panel backs approval Xarelto: Fist new anti-clotting pill in 55 years (FDA, 3/19/09)
The benefits of the experimental blood-thinning drug rivaroxaban outweigh its risks, an FDA s advisory panel said. Rivaroxaban (Xarelto) could be one of the long-sought alternatives to commonly used blood thinners, particularly for hip- and knee-replacement patients. It is the first available orally active direct inhibitor of coagulation Factor Xa.
4. Experts Revise Guidelines on Daily Aspirin for Heart (Annals of Internal Medicine, 3/17/09)
- Men aged 45 to 79 with heart risk factors should take aspirin 81 mg. if the preventive benefits outweigh the risk of bleeding.
- At-risk women aged 55 to 79 should take aspirin 81.mg. if the odds of reducing a first ischemic stroke outweigh the chance of bleeding.
- Men under the age of 45 and women under 55 who have never had a heart attack or stroke should not take aspirin for prevention.
- At this time, it isn't clear whether patients aged 80 and older should take aspirin.
The task force emphasized that the recommendations only apply to people who have never had a heart attack or stroke.
5. Possible therapy takes bite out of peanut allergy (American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, 3/15/09)
Peanut allergy afflicts 1.8 million people in the United States. Scientists have the first evidence that life-threatening peanut allergies may be cured one day. A few kids now are allergy-free thanks to a scary treatment — tiny amounts of the very food that endangered them. Don’t try this at home. Doctors monitored the youngsters closely in case they needed rescue, and there’s no way to dice a peanut as small as the treatment doses required.
6. 'Smart drug' Provigil may be habit-forming (Journal of the American Medical Association, 3/18/09)
A so-called "smart drug" popular with young people may carry more of an addiction risk than thought. Scans of 10 healthy men showed that the prescription drug Provigil caused changes in the brain's pleasure center, very much like potentially habit-forming classic stimulants. Modafinil, the drug's generic name, is sometimes used as an illegal study aid by college students. The study may bust the myth that the drug is safe for healthy people. Provigil is approved to treat excessive daytime sleepiness caused by narcolepsy.
7. Cholesterol Drugs May Help Asthma Patients (American Academy of Asthma and Immunology Annual Meeting, 3/16/09)
Cholesterol lowering drugs cut the risk of hospitalization and emergency room visits in people with asthma by about one-third.
8. Radio host Don Imus announces on air he has prostate cancer (Don Imus, 3/16/09)
Don Imus announced on the air that he has Stage 2 prostate cancer. Stage 2 indicates the cancer can be detected by physical exam.
9. More babies born in 2007 than any other year (CDC, 3/19/09)
More U.S. babies entered the world in 2007 than any other year in the nation's history, even surpassing the number of deliveries during the height of the baby boom that followed World War II.
10. What is Moderate Exercise (American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 3/09)
100 steps per minute, or 3000 steps per 30 minutes.
11. New test can detect early Alzheimer's (Annals of Neurology, 3/09)
A new test can accurately detect Alzheimer's disease in its earliest stages, before dementia symptoms surface and widespread damage occurs. The test, which measures proteins in spinal fluid that can point to Alzheimer's, was 87 percent accurate at predicting which patients with early memory problems and other symptoms of cognitive impairment would eventually be diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
12. Acupuncture eases pain for women in labor (Birth, 3/09)
Women who have acupuncture during labor and delivery are less likely to need pain medication or invasive pain relief methods such as epidurals.
13. Green tea may help keep gums healthy (Journal of Periodontology, 3/09)
A cup of green tea per day may help keep gum disease at bay. Among middle-aged Japanese, the odds of having gum disease declined as the men's intake of green tea rose.
14. Antidepressant Use Tied to Cardiac Death in Women (Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 3/17/09)
Women who use antidepressants appear to be at heightened risk for sudden cardiac death. The finding doesn't necessarily mean that antidepressant drugs are dangerous. Their use is probably a marker for people with worse depression. Women who had worse depressive symptoms had higher rates of risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes and smoking. Women with clinical depression were more than twice as likely to experience sudden cardiac death.
15. Being obese can take years off your life (Lancet, 3/18/09)
Being obese can take years off your life and in some cases may be as dangerous as smoking.
16. Enough of the puff: tax may cut smoking rates (Washington, 3/15/09)
A big hike in the federal tax on cigarettes taking effect on April 1 may prompt 1 million U.S. smokers to quit. Expansion of the public health insurance program for lower income children is being financed by an increase in the federal excise tax on a pack of cigarettes of about $1.01 per pack, up from the current 39 cents on a $4.35 pack. Higher prices will lead to at least a 10 percent decline in cigarette sales and could put 117,000 people out of work.
17. Cause often not serious when babies cry a lot (Pediatrics, 3/09)
A thorough examination will usually identify an underlying cause when a baby cries excessively for no apparent reason, and the problem is likely to be serious in only about 1 in 20 cases. Infants communicate and express discomfort by crying due to a variety of reasons ranging from hunger or a desire for attention to severe life-threatening illness.
The most common serious diagnosis was urinary tract infection, with infants less than 1 month old having the highest rates of infection.
18. Fish may be brain food for teenage boys (Acta Pediatrica, 3/09)
Teenage boys who regularly eat fish may be doing their brains some good. Those who ate fish more than once per week tended to score higher on intelligence tests three years later.
