UK docs told to hold antidepressants for teens
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Antidepressants should not be used as first-line treatment in patients younger than 18 years old—even for moderate-to-severe or psychotic Depression—Britain’s health economics watchdog, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, said on Wednesday.
In children (5-11 years old) and young people (12-18) with Depression, psychological therapy such as group cognitive behaviour therapy should be the first-line treatment, backed up by advice on exercise, diet, controlling anxiety and methods of improving sleep.
Early heart-healthy eating urged for kids
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Children as young as age 2 can and should, with the help of their parents, get a jump start on eating behavior that’s healthy for the heart, according to new dietary recommendations released by the American Heart Association (AHA) and endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The new dietary recommendations for infants, children and adolescents update guidelines issued in 1982 on the same topic. Why now? According to the AHA, significant changes have occurred in the prevalence of heart risk factors and nutrition behaviors in children.
US experts weigh guidelines for impotence drug use
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Doctors, drugmakers and health officials should take steps to curb abuse of erectile dysfunction drugs while research continues on whether use of the medicines increase the rate of HIV infections, especially among gay men, experts said in draft guidelines on Tuesday.
Research may suggest a role, but more studies are needed on how the drugs affect transmission of the virus and whether they encourage risky sexual behavior, a group of physicians, drug company representatives and patient advocates said at a government-sponsored conference near Washington.
China sets blueprint for fighting flu pandemic
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China announced colour-coded emergency measures on Wednesday to avert or handle an influenza pandemic amid fears that a deadly strain of bird flu could mutate and infect millions of people around the world.
Millions of Chinese catch flu every winter, while avian influenza, including the deadly H5N1 strain that has killed 65 people in Asia, is believed endemic among the country’s bird population.
LA hospital suspends liver transplants in scandal
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A Los Angeles hospital on Tuesday suspended its liver transplant program after allowing a Saudi patient to jump to the top of the waiting list and falsifying data to cover it up.
St. Vincent Medical Center said that two of its chief liver transplant surgeons had been fired and that it had launched a thorough investigation.
UK announces plans to ban school junk food
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Junk food high in fat, salt or sugar is to be banned in schools across England within a year, Education Secretary Ruth Kelly announced on Wednesday after a high profile campaign by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.
Kelly, speaking to the BBC and Sky News, said she would give details of the ban during her speech at the Labour Party conference in Brighton.
Glaxo adds birth defect caution to Paxil label
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GlaxoSmithKline Plc is alerting physicians about a study suggesting the company’s antidepressant Paxil may be linked more often to birth defects than similar drugs, U.S. regulators said on Tuesday.
The British drug maker, in a letter to physicians, said it was adding the information to the prescribing instructions on Paxil’s label. Glaxo said it was difficult to tell if Paxil caused the defects, most of which were cardiovascular, in infants born to women who took the drug while pregnant.
Weight loss may precede Alzheimer’s, study finds
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Some older people who inexplicably lose weight may be in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.
A study of more than 800 healthy nuns, priests and monks who were slightly overweight on average showed that those who lost about one unit of body mass index a year—a little more than five pounds (2 kg) or so—had a 35 percent greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s than those with no weight change.
Cell Therapeutics lung cancer drug helps women
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Cell Therapeutics Inc. on Tuesday said a mid-stage trial of it experimental lung cancer drug showed a significant survival benefit for women, sending its shares soaring more than 40 percent.
In the recently completed study, Cell Therapeutics said the 35 women with advanced non-small cell lung cancer who received its Xyotax plus the chemotherapy carboplatin had a 36 percent probability of living at least one year.
Cholesterol drug approved for diabetics
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Pfizer Inc. said Tuesday U.S. regulators have approved its blockbuster cholesterol drug Lipitor to reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack in diabetic patients.
Pfizer said the approval is for patients with type 2, or adult onset, diabetes who have no signs of heart disease but with other risk factors for the condition.
GW Pharma says cannabis drug helps MS sufferers
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GW Pharmaceuticals Plc said on Tuesday its cannabis-based medicine Sativex was effective in reducing pain-related problems for patients suffering from multiple sclerosis.
The company said a study based on 66 patients found Sativex was significantly superior to placebo in reducing pain and sleep disturbance.
Surprise vacancy at FDA worries US senators
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The abrupt resignation of U.S. Food and Drug Commissioner Lester Crawford last week—and the news that the man appointed to replace him temporarily plans to also keep his job as head of the National Cancer Institute—has lawmakers who were already unhappy with the agency alarmed.
Crawford, who was confirmed by the Senate only two months ago after a bruising, 5-month process, resigned Friday. In an e-mail to FDA staff, Crawford cited only his age—67—as his reason, although speculation suggests the actual reason is more likely some type of professional misconduct.
Walking improves bowel prep for colonoscopy
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The value of colonoscopy for screening for colon cancer depends a lot on how well the bowel is cleared before the procedure—and now physicians in South Korea have shown that the usual cleansing process is improved by having patients simply walk.
Walking results in better colon cleansing without increasing patient discomfort and should be recommended as part of routine colonoscopic bowel preparation, the team says.
Smoking reduction can lower lung cancer risk
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Even if they can’t quit, heavy smokers can decrease their risk of lung cancer if they cut down the number of cigarettes they smoke per day, investigators report in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
Dr. Nina S. Godtfredsen, from Hvidovre Hospital, and her associates in Denmark conducted a population-based study among 19,714 subjects who were followed for up to 31 years.
Obese women face greater multiple myeloma risk
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The results of a new prospective study provide additional evidence that obesity may increase women’s risk of developing multiple myeloma, a type of bone-marrow cancer.
Results of studies looking into a potential link between excess weight and multiple myeloma have been inconsistent, Cindy K. Blair of the University of Minnesota Cancer Center in Minneapolis and her colleagues note in the medical journal Epidemiology.
