An FDA advisory panel has recommended stronger warnings on two influenza drugs after reviewing evidence linking them to neurological and psychiatric problems that have led to deaths in some cases.
The current warning on Roche Laboratories' Tamiflu (generic name oseltamivir) urges close monitoring of flu patients, particularly children, for "increased risk of self injury and confusion shortly after taking Tamiflu." The panel recommended that this warning be strengthened to say that "in some cases, these behaviors resulted in serious injuries, including death, in adult and pediatric patients."
Health & Wellness
A new study just published in the European Heart Journal concludes that eating fatty fish and the marine omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil appears to protect men from heart failure. This is important news because heart failure (also known as congestive heart failure, or CHF) is an enormous health problem in the U.S. According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, approximately five million Americans have the condition and about 300,000 die from heart failure each year.
The human body is made up primarily of water. In fact, approximately 75 percent of your body is water and 25 percent is solid matter. Water is essential for absorbing nutrients, eliminating waste, cellular activity and all of the actions necessary for life. Drinking enough water is vital for preventing disease and enjoying a sense of well being.
Without water, our bodies are unable to remove environmental toxins that most of us are exposed to daily. Generally speaking, people who suffer from chronic diseases are seriously dehydrated since the skin, stomach, liver, kidney, heart and brain rely on proper water intake. Heart disease, obesity, diabetes, chronic pain, headaches, chronic fatigue, high blood pressure, cancer, Alzheimer's, and many other diseases are often preceded by many years of not enough water. Many illnesses could be significantly improved by simply giving the body sufficient amounts of water so that toxins and waste can be removed.
Without water, our bodies are unable to remove environmental toxins that most of us are exposed to daily. Generally speaking, people who suffer from chronic diseases are seriously dehydrated since the skin, stomach, liver, kidney, heart and brain rely on proper water intake. Heart disease, obesity, diabetes, chronic pain, headaches, chronic fatigue, high blood pressure, cancer, Alzheimer's, and many other diseases are often preceded by many years of not enough water. Many illnesses could be significantly improved by simply giving the body sufficient amounts of water so that toxins and waste can be removed.
A report released on March 12, the first of its kind, shows that numerous baby and child-care products contain the chemicals 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde - despite that those substances do not appear on the product labels. Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and the Environmental Working Group assigned an independent laboratory to conduct the tests on 48 different products, which included shampoo, bubble bath, baby lotion, and baby wash.
All 48 products were tested for dioxane, and 67 percent were found to contain the chemical at varying levels - 0.27 parts per million (ppm) up to 35 ppm. 28 of those items were tested for the chemical compound formaldehyde, and 23 (82 percent) tested positive at levels ranging from 79 ppm to 610 ppm. 17 of those 28 items contained both formaldehyde and dioxane.
All 48 products were tested for dioxane, and 67 percent were found to contain the chemical at varying levels - 0.27 parts per million (ppm) up to 35 ppm. 28 of those items were tested for the chemical compound formaldehyde, and 23 (82 percent) tested positive at levels ranging from 79 ppm to 610 ppm. 17 of those 28 items contained both formaldehyde and dioxane.
It is said that each of us marches to the beat of a different drum, but new Stanford University research suggests that brain cells need to follow specific rhythms that must be kept for proper brain functioning. These rhythms don't appear to be working correctly in such diseases as schizophrenia and autism, and now two papers due to be published online this week by the journals Nature and Science demonstrate that precisely tuning the oscillation frequencies of certain neurons can affect how the brain processes information and implements feelings of reward.
Learn the truth about acid reflux and the natural methods you can use to treat it.
Acid reflux is an extremely common health problem. So common in fact, it affects one out of two of you watching this video. Other terms used for this condition are gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD), or peptic ulcer disease. Typically, acid reflux is thought to be caused by having too much acid in your stomach.
This is a serious medical mistake that affects hundreds of millions of people.
Acid reflux is an extremely common health problem. So common in fact, it affects one out of two of you watching this video. Other terms used for this condition are gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD), or peptic ulcer disease. Typically, acid reflux is thought to be caused by having too much acid in your stomach.
This is a serious medical mistake that affects hundreds of millions of people.
© iStockphoto/TommL
People with the worst vitamin D deficiency were 36 percent more likely to suffer respiratory infections than those with sufficient levels, according to the research in this week's Archives of Internal Medicine. Among asthmatics, those who were vitamin D deficient were five times more likely to get sick than their counterparts with healthy levels. And the risk of respiratory infection was twice as high among vitamin D-deficient patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) than in lung patients with normal levels of the vitamin.
© Ranoush via Flickr
But today comes news that one group seems to be at particular risk, doctors report in the journal Endocrine Practice. Arab-American women who wore the hijab (a Koran-derived dress code that includes a scarf or veil over their hair and modest dress) and didn't get enough vitamin D through their diet had half the levels of the vitamin of those who didn't adhere as closely to the dress code. There was no difference in rates of health problems linked to vitamin D deficiency, such as bone or joint pain or breaks, or muscle weakness. The study involved 87 women in Dearborn, Mich., which has a large Arab population.
Several hundred people in Mexico and 20 people in the US have come down with a new kind of swine flu. People are concerned because some of those infected in Mexico have died, and because this is the kind of virus that could become a serious worldwide epidemic.
Should I worry about this flu?
That depends on two things: how severe the flu is, and how far it spreads. Its severity is still unknown. Those who died in Mexico were young adults who don't often die of flu, so we know this virus can be serious. But it isn't always bad: the cases picked up in the US were mild. Outbreak investigators are now trying to find out how many people have had the virus, and how many of those were seriously ill, to get an idea of how bad it is.
Will it spread to where I live?
That depends on two things: whether the virus is transported to where you live, and how efficiently it spreads between people. So many people travel globally now that, as long as this virus keeps infecting people, it is unlikely not to get to where you live. Some countries are already using infrared cameras to spot people with fevers on flights from affected areas. But that won't stop it entirely, since five days can pass before an infected person shows symptoms, and the virus can spread before symptoms start.
Should I worry about this flu?
That depends on two things: how severe the flu is, and how far it spreads. Its severity is still unknown. Those who died in Mexico were young adults who don't often die of flu, so we know this virus can be serious. But it isn't always bad: the cases picked up in the US were mild. Outbreak investigators are now trying to find out how many people have had the virus, and how many of those were seriously ill, to get an idea of how bad it is.
Will it spread to where I live?
That depends on two things: whether the virus is transported to where you live, and how efficiently it spreads between people. So many people travel globally now that, as long as this virus keeps infecting people, it is unlikely not to get to where you live. Some countries are already using infrared cameras to spot people with fevers on flights from affected areas. But that won't stop it entirely, since five days can pass before an infected person shows symptoms, and the virus can spread before symptoms start.
An "Electronic Mosquito" could replace invasive methods of drawing blood samples from diabetics to check glucose levels.
The common method of drawing blood from fingertips and using glucose testing strips and metres can be painful, inconvenient and time-consuming.
Now, electrical engineers at the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary have patented a device called the Electronic Mosquito or e-Mosquito, a patch approximately the size of a deck of cards which contains four micro-needles that "bite" sequentially at programmed intervals.
The needles are electronically controlled to penetrate the skin deep enough to draw blood from a capillary, but not deep enough to hit a nerve, which means patients would experience little or no pain. The patch could be worn anywhere on the body where it could obtain accurate readings of capillary blood.
The common method of drawing blood from fingertips and using glucose testing strips and metres can be painful, inconvenient and time-consuming.
Now, electrical engineers at the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary have patented a device called the Electronic Mosquito or e-Mosquito, a patch approximately the size of a deck of cards which contains four micro-needles that "bite" sequentially at programmed intervals.
The needles are electronically controlled to penetrate the skin deep enough to draw blood from a capillary, but not deep enough to hit a nerve, which means patients would experience little or no pain. The patch could be worn anywhere on the body where it could obtain accurate readings of capillary blood.
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