Antidepressant efficacy may be overblown
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Antidepressants, for the most part, do not provide meaningful benefit, two investigators in the UK argue in a report in the British Medical Journal this week, having reviewed published medical evidence on antidepressant efficacy.
Most people with depression are often initially prescribed an antidepressant by their doctor. Prescriptions for these medications have risen dramatically in the last decade.
In an interview with Reuters Health, Dr. Joanna Moncrieff, an author of the report, said, “I do not think there is such a thing as a drug that will specifically relieve depression.
S. Africa police ripped for firing on AIDS activists
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Activists condemned South African police on Thursday for firing rubber bullets and smoke grenades at AIDS protesters marching on a hospital to demand the government improve access to life-prolonging drugs.
Forty people were injured and 10 treated for gunshot wounds after police fired on protesters at a hospital in the Eastern Cape region on Tuesday, said the country’s leading AIDS activist group Treatment Action Campaign, which organised the march.
Climate only partly to blame for Africa food woes
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Africa may seem incapable of growing enough food to feed its starving millions, but in the fields of South Africa’s Free State, farmers are taking in more maize than they know what to do with.
While most African countries run at a substantial food deficit, with millions dependent on food aid and malnutrition rife, South African maize yields per hectare are the highest on record - and farmers say it is not just down to good weather.
Portable oxygen OK for airline passengers-FAA
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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will soon allow passengers who require medical oxygen to use certain portable oxygen concentrators on board for use during air travel.
Previously, airlines were prohibited from allowing passengers to use oxygen because it is typically provided in metal tanks containing the compressed gas, considered a hazardous material.
Unborn babies soaked in chemicals, survey finds
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Unborn U.S. babies are soaking in a stew of chemicals, including mercury, gasoline byproducts and pesticides, according to a report to be released on Thursday.
Although the effects on the babies are not clear, the survey prompted several members of Congress to press for legislation that would strengthen controls on chemicals in the environment.
Bandits make off with truckload of breast implants
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Armed bandits in Brazil robbed a vehicle carrying more than 400 breast implants, officials said on Tuesday.
“It happened last week, but we only learned about it recently as our clients started complaining. It is the hottest period of the year in terms of implant sales,” said Margaret Figueiredo, director of silicone implant manufacturer Silimed.
Conn. wants to weed out marijuana-flavored candy
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Connecticut on Tuesday joined a growing effort to weed out marijuana-flavored candy from store shelves when its attorney general said he would sponsor a statewide ban on “Pot Suckers” lollipops.
Five other states have either banned or are considering a ban on the candy, causing New Jersey distributor ICUP to suspend further sales of the green candy as of June 28.
Church says Mexico’s Fox traitor on day-after pill
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President Vicente Fox, the first devout Roman Catholic to lead Mexico in decades, has been labeled a traitor by the church after his government put “morning-after” contraceptive pills in public clinics this week.
A senior church official said Fox has ignored its concerns that the pill is tantamount to abortion, which is illegal in Mexico. The morning-after pill has been available at pharmacies in Mexico for several years and was added this week to a list of drugs required to be available at public health centers.
UK doctor’s baby death evidence ruled misleading
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A British doctor who testified at the trials of several women wrongly convicted of murdering their babies was found at a medical tribunal on Wednesday to have given “misleading” evidence in one of the cases.
Paediatrician Sir Roy Meadow could be banned from practising if the decision by the General Medical Council in London leads to him being found guilty of serious professional misconduct.
Getting a flu shot may reduce your risk of stroke
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Getting a flu shot may not only protect you from catching the virus, it may also protect you from suffering a stroke, according to a study in which German doctors found an association between influenza vaccination and a reduced risk of stroke.
In a report in the journal Stroke, Dr. Armin J. Grau, of Klinikum der Stadt Ludwigshafen, and colleagues note that hospitalizations for stroke go up during influenza epidemics, so flu vaccination might prevent strokes.
US group calls for health warnings on soft drinks
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A U.S. consumer group on Wednesday called for cigarette-style warnings on soft drinks to alert consumers that too much of the sugary beverages can make them fat and cause other health problems.
People who overindulge in soft drinks are also more likely to develop diabetes and have decaying teeth, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) said in a petition to the Food and Drug Administration.
Killer bird flu virus erupts again in Thailand
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The deadly bird flu virus, which has killed 55 Asians, has erupted again in Thailand despite a major campaign to eradicate it, the government said on Monday.
Infected fowl were found this month in five places of three districts in Suphanburi province, 100 km (60 miles) north of Bangkok, during follow-up inspections of previously affected areas, a senior Agriculture Ministry official said.
Device mechanically removes brain blood clots
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An FDA-approved device, which is threaded into the brain’s arteries, can safely retrieve blood clots and open large vessels that become blocked and lead to stroke, research indicates.
Each year, about 700,000 Americans suffer a stroke and 88 percent of those strokes are caused by a blood clot that blocks the blood supply to the brain—so called ischemic stroke.
Stroke caused by occlusion of large brain blood vessels (greater than 1.5 mm in size) is a particularly “mortal form of stroke,” Dr. Wade S. Smith from the University of California, San Francisco noted in comments to Reuters Health.
Spain to allow therapeutic cloning, minister says
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Spain plans to introduce legislation allowing therapeutic cloning, its Health Minister said on Monday, a decision likely to bring a new clash between the governing Socialists and the Roman Catholic Church.
In an interview in newspaper El Mundo, Elena Salgado said the legislation could be effective by next year.
S. Africa health dept sharply hikes AIDS estimate
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New figures from South Africa suggest that more than 6.5 million of the country’s 47 million people may now be HIV-positive. The figure is a sharp jump on previous estimates and is likely to fuel debate on the extent of the country’s HIV/AIDS pandemic.
The Department of Health, releasing a 2004 study of women at antenatal clinics, said results indicated that between 6.29 and 6.57 million South Africans now carry the HIV virus against 5.6 million at the end of 2003.
