Grape tomato products recalled for salmonella risk
|
|
A supplier of grape tomatoes for Taylor Farms Pacific, Inc. has recalled the product for possible salmonella contamination, the government said late on Monday.
Products using the recalled tomatoes were sold in Albertsons, Raley’s, Safeway, Savemart, Sam’s Club and Walmart stores in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Utah, according to a statement from the Food and Drug Administration.
The recalled tomatoes were used in a variety of products from prepared and packaged salads, to products sold at the stores’ deli counters. The products have sell-by dates between April 27 and May 9.
Colorectal Cancer Screening Rates on Rise Among Medicare Beneficiaries Due to Expansion of Coverage
|
|
Colorectal cancer screening rates increased for Medicare beneficiaries when coverage was expanded to average-risk individuals, but racial disparities still exist, according to researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).
“Despite the expansion of Medicare coverage for colorectal cancer screening, disparities persisted among the ethnic groups we examined,” said Arica White, Ph.D., M.P.H., former doctoral student at The University of Texas School of Public Health, part of UTHealth. In 1998, Medicare began covering fecal occult blood test (FOBT) annually and sigmoidoscopy coverage every 4 years for average-risk beneficiaries and in July 2001 coverage was expanded to include colonoscopy for average-risk beneficiaries every 10 years.
The research is published in the May issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.
Rare deep-sea starfish stuck in juvenile body plan
|
|
Columbus, OH – A team of scientists has combined embryological observations, genetic sequencing, and supercomputing to determine that a group of small disk-shaped animals that were once thought to represent a new class of animals are actually starfish that have lost the large star-shaped, adult body from their life cycle.
In a paper for the journal Systematic Biology (sysbio.oxfordjournals.org), Daniel Janies, Ph.D., a computational biologist in the department of Biomedical Informatics at The Ohio State University (OSU), leveraged computer systems at the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) to help support his contention that class-level status of Xyloplax does not reflect their evolutionary history.
“Although Xyloplax does not represent a new class, it an even more interesting animal now because it represents a rare example of how natural selection can shape the whole the life cycle,” he explained. “By omitting the large adult stage, Xylopax found how to make a living in the nooks and crannies of sunken timbers on the deep-sea floor.”
Little fingers, big trouble: Yale study sheds light on child self-unbuckling
|
|
It can be quite jarring for a parent or caregiver to look in the rearview mirror while driving and see their child roaming around the backseat free of their safety restraints. A study on child self-unbuckling by Yale School of Medicine researchers reveals that most children who first unbuckle were age three and under and that many children unbuckle while the vehicle is in motion—putting them at a 3.5-fold increased risk for serious injuries.
“We found that young children might acquire the motor skills to unbuckle from restraints before developing the cognitive ability to understand the necessity of automotive restraints,” said Lilia Reyes, M.D., clinical fellow in Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics, Section of Emergency Medicine, who will present the results of the study at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting in Denver, Colo. on May 1.
“This pilot study elucidates a potential safety hazard in child motor vehicle restraint that needs to be addressed,” said Reyes, who points to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data showing that motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause of death among 4- to 8-year-olds.
Movement + academics = success
|
|
When schools cut physical education programs so students can spend more time in the classroom, they may be missing a golden opportunity to promote learning, according to research to be presented Sunday, May 1, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Denver.
The study adds to growing evidence that exercise is good not only for the body but also the mind. It also shows that physical education and academic instruction need not be mutually exclusive.
Researchers Kathryn L. King, MD, and Carly J. Scahill, DO, pediatric residents at the Medical University of South Carolina Children’s Hospital, led by William S. Randazzo, MD, FAAP, and James T. McElligott, MD, sought to determine how implementing a daily physical activity program that incorporated classroom lessons would affect student achievement. First- through sixth-graders at an academically low-scoring elementary school in Charleston, S.C., took part in the program 40 minutes a day, five days a week. Prior to initiation of the program, students spent 40 minutes per week in physical education classes.
Washington governor vetoes medical pot licensing bill
|
|
Washington’s governor on Friday vetoed most provisions of bill to establish state licensing for cultivation and distribution of medical marijuana, saying she did not want to put state employees at risk of federal prosecution.
Governor Christine Gregoire said she was swayed by a legal opinion issued earlier this month by federal prosecutors threatening to crack down not only on dispensary owners and growers but on state regulators enforcing the proposed law.
The Democratic-controlled legislature passed the bill in response to a recent proliferation of storefront dispensaries that are neither explicitly permitted nor banned under the 1998 voter-approved state law legalizing pot for medical purposes.
U.S. envoy: Gaddafi troops raping, issued Viagra
|
|
The U.S. envoy to the United Nations told the Security Council on Thursday that troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi were increasingly engaging in sexual violence and some had been issued the impotency drug Viagra, diplomats said.
Several U.N. diplomats who attended a closed-door Security Council meeting on Libya told Reuters that U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice raised the Viagra issue in the context of increasing reports of sexual violence by Gaddafi’s troops.
“Rice raised that in the meeting but no one responded,” a diplomat said on condition of anonymity. The allegation was first reported by a British newspaper.
Lawmakers in 2 states pass new abortion restrictions
|
|
Legislators in both Indiana and Florida passed sweeping abortion restrictions on Wednesday.
The Indiana House passed a bill, already approved by the Senate, that would ban abortions after 20 weeks and cut funding to Planned Parenthood of Indiana.
If the bill is signed by Governor Mitch Daniels, Indiana will become the fifth state to ban late-term abortions based on the contested idea that a fetus feels pain at this point.
New Gene Therapy Technique on Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Holds Promise in Treating Immune System Disease
|
|
Researchers have developed an effective technique that uses gene therapy on stem cells to correct chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) in cell culture, which could eventually serve as a treatment for this rare, inherited immune disorder, according to a study published in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology.
CGD prevents neutrophils, a type of white blood cell of the immune system, from making hydrogen peroxide, an essential defense against life-threatening bacterial and fungal infections. Most cases of CGD are a result of a mutation on the X chromosome, a type of CGD that is called “X-linked” (X-CGD).
While antibiotics can treat infections caused by X-CGD, they do not cure the disease itself. Patients with X-CGD can be cured with a hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplant from healthy bone marrow; however, finding a compatible donor is difficult. Even with a suitable donor, patients are at risk of developing graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a serious and often deadly post-transplant complication that occurs when newly transplanted donor cells recognize a recipient’s own cells as foreign and attack the patient’s body.
Vitamin E helps diminish a type of fatty liver disease in children
|
|
A specific form of vitamin E improved the most severe form of fatty liver disease in some children, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Results appear in the April 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. A previous study found vitamin E effective in some adults with the disease.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease among U.S. children. NAFLD ranges in severity from steatosis (fat in the liver without injury) to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH (fat, inflammation, and liver damage). Fatty liver increases a child’s risk of developing heart disease and liver cirrhosis. The only way to distinguish NASH from other forms of fatty liver disease is with a liver biopsy. Weight loss may reverse the disease in some children, but other than dietary advice, there are no specific treatments. Excess fat in the liver is believed to cause injury by increasing levels of oxidants, compounds that damage cells.
Most children with fatty liver disease are overweight and resistant to insulin, a critical hormone that regulates energy. Boys are more likely affected than girls, as are Hispanic children compared to African-Americans and whites.
Report names U.S. cities with foulest, cleanest air
|
|
The nation’s 25 most smoggy cities improved air quality over the last year, but half the nation’s residents still live with unhealthy levels of air pollution, according to an American Lung Association report released on Wednesday.
Weighing the pluses and minuses in U.S. air quality over the past year, the “State of the Air 2011” report concluded that the U.S. Clean Air Act, the federal law aimed at limiting pollution in the nation’s skies, is working.
“The progress the nation has made cleaning up coal-fired power plants, diesel emissions and other pollution sources has drastically cut dangerous pollution from the air we breathe,” Lung Association President Charles Connor said in a statement.
The most dramatic improvement has been controlling ozone, commonly known as smog. The report found all 25 cities most polluted by ozone had cleaner air than they did last year.
Low Health Literacy Associated with Higher Rate of Death Among Heart Failure Patients
|
|
An examination of health literacy (such as understanding basic health information) among managed care patients with heart failure, a condition that requires self-management, found that nearly one in five have low health literacy, which was associated with a higher all-cause risk of death, according to a study in the April 27 issue of JAMA.
Health literacy is the degree to which individuals can obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions, as defined by the Institute of Medicine. According to background information in the article, many U.S. citizens and as many as 1 in 3 Medicare enrollees have low health literacy. Heart failure is a common and complex chronic disease with a high risk of illness and death. “Although patients with heart failure are frequently hospitalized, much care for heart failure is performed on a daily basis by individual patients outside of the hospital. This self-care requires integration and application of knowledge and skills. Therefore, an adequate level of health literacy is likely critical in ensuring patient compliance and proficiency in self-management. Little is known about the association between health literacy and outcomes among patients with heart failure,” the authors write.
Pamela N. Peterson, M.D., M.S.P.H., of the Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, and colleagues evaluated the association between low health literacy and all-cause mortality and hospitalization among a population of outpatients with heart failure.
Topical treatment may prevent melanoma
|
|
While incidents of melanoma continue to increase despite the use of sunscreen and skin screenings, a topical compound called ISC-4 may prevent melanoma lesion formation, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers.
“The steady increase in melanoma incidence suggests that additional preventive approaches are needed to complement these existing strategies,” said Gavin Robertson, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology, pathology, dermatology and surgery, and director of Penn State Hershey Melanoma Center.
Researchers targeted the protein Akt3, which plays a central role in 70 percent of melanoma by preventing cell death and has the potential to prevent early stages of melanoma.
Unique AED pads give hearts a second chance
|
|
An invention by Rice University bioengineering students in collaboration with the Texas Heart Institute (THI) is geared toward giving immediate second chances to arrhythmia victims headed toward cardiac arrest.
For their capstone design project, a team of Rice seniors created a unique pad system for automated external defibrillators (AEDs), common devices that can shock a victim’s heart back into a proper rhythm in an emergency.
Often, the first shock doesn’t reset a heart and the procedure must be repeated, but the sticky pads on the chest must first be repositioned. The pads need to be in the right location to send current through the heart, and someone with no experience who tries to provide aid might miss the first time.
Do painkillers interfere with antidepressants?
|
|
Certain types of antidepressants may not work as well in people that take painkillers such as ibuprofen and aspirin, suggests a new study.
The findings can’t prove that the painkillers, called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, stop antidepressants from working, the authors said. But the possible link is something for patients with depression - and the doctors treating them - to think about when treating pain and inflammation, researchers report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, or PNAS.
“This is certainly something that clinicians and individuals should be keeping in mind,” Jennifer Warner-Schmidt, the study’s lead author from The Rockefeller University in New York City, told Reuters Health.
