Health News

Efficacy Of 2 Common Parkinson's Disease Medications Improved By New Delivery Method

Date: Jun-23-2012
A new delivery method for levodopa/carbidopa, a common dual-drug Parkinson's disease (PD) regimen, significantly improved the duration of the drugs' effectiveness in people with advanced PD, according to research by Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The new method is continuous delivery of an intestinal gel formulation of the therapies, which are traditionally taken orally. The study found that the continuous gel delivery reduced "off" time - when the medicine's effectiveness wears off - by an average of nearly two extra hours per day...

Pfizer Gets A NO From EMA On Taliglucerase Alfa For Gaucher Disease

Date: Jun-22-2012
The European Medicines Agency (EMA)'s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), has recommended against issuing marketing authorization for Taliglucerase Alfa, an enzyme replacement treatment for Gaucher disease. Gaucher disease is estimated to affect some 1 in 50,000 to 1 in 100,000 people in the general population. People from Eastern and Central Europe (Ashkenazi) of Jewish heritage, are at highest risk. In short, it is caused by dysfunctional metabolism of sphingolipids...

Soda Marketing Campaigns Undermine Public Health

Date: Jun-22-2012
In this week's PLoS Medicine series on 'Big Food' US experts call for health advocates to launch strong public health campaigns to educate policymakers and the public regarding the dangers of sugary beverages and to clarify the fact that industry corporate social responsibility campaigns are misleading and distract from their products' health risks...

PTSD Caused By Heart Attack Raises Recurrence And Mortality

Date: Jun-22-2012
According to a meta-analysis of 24 studies, a group of researchers from Columbia University Medical Center found that 1 in 8 people who experience a heart attack or other acute coronary event are more likely to develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The researchers also found that heart patients who experience these symptoms of PTSD have twice the chance of experiencing another cardiac event, or even mortality, within the next one to three years. The results were published and can be found on the online journal PLoS ONE...

Dengue Test Using Flu Diagnostic Equipment Approved, USA

Date: Jun-22-2012
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new diagnostic test, the CDC DENV-1-4 Real Time RT PCR Assay developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to detect the dengue virus in people with symptoms of dengue or dengue hemorrhagic fever. The test is for use in the US and can be conducted by using equipment and supplies that are already in use in many public health laboratories to diagnose influenza. Dengue is caused by one of four dengue viruses that are transmitted through Aedes mosquitoes...

Food Industry Needs Closer Monitoring By Public Health Authorities

Date: Jun-22-2012
Starting on the 19 June 2012, PLoS Medicine will feature a major new series with 7 articles over the next three weeks entitled "Big Food", which examines the impact of the food and beverage industry on public health. A discussion between PLoS and guest editors in the new series editorial launch reports about the fact that multinational food and beverage industry's have never been sufficiently scrutinized or raised skepticism regardless of their growing impact on the global health agenda and their major role in the obesity crisis...

Head And Neck Cancer Patients With Chronic Inflammation More Likely To Be HPV Positive

Date: Jun-22-2012
Researchers have discovered in a study published Online First in JAMA's Archives of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery that patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinomas, who have a history of chronic inflammation, such as periodontitis (gum disease) could be linked to having a higher risk of testing positive for human papillomavirus tumors (HPV). Since 1973, the National Cancer Institute observed a steady increase in oropharyngeal cancers in the US despite the fact that tobacco use has substantially declined since 1965...

Smoking Linked To Skin Cancer Risk

Date: Jun-22-2012
A meta-analysis published Online First in JAMA's Archives of Dermatology shows that smoking seems to be linked to a higher risk of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma skin cancer. Around 97% of skin cancers originate in cell tissue in the skin (epithelial cancer) and are either basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) or squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), which are categorized as non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC). NMSC cases are increasing all over the world. It is estimated that there are 2 to 3 million new NMSC cases every year. The researchers led by Jo Leonardi-Bee, Ph.D...

Pandemic Potential Of H5N1 Bird Flu Revealed

Date: Jun-22-2012
Two papers published this week, and one last month, reveal the pandemic potential of H5N1 "bird flu". One identifies four, another identifies five, genetic changes the virus would have to undergo before it could spread easily in humans, and the third paper suggests some of these changes are already evident in circulating strains. The papers were written last year, but were held back because of international concerns that making such data public would make it easier for terrorists to make bioweapons...

Opioid Pain Killer Side Effects - Which Factors Contribute?

Date: Jun-22-2012
Morphine, methadone and oxycodone are all powerful opioid medications that are prescribed to millions of patients in the United States each year. However, these drugs have severe side effects including addiction, itching, nausea, and the slowing or stopping of breathing. In a study published in the July issue of Anesthesiology, researchers at Stanford University set out to determine why some individuals are more susceptible to these adverse effects than others. Study author Martin S. Angst, M.D...