Health & Wellness
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Lawyers say the vaccine was administered by a junior doctor
An investigation is under way after a newborn baby was given 10 times the normal dose of a tuberculosis vaccine at Scunthorpe General Hospital.
The boy was injected with 0.5mg of the BCG vaccine instead of the usual 0.05mg dose, lawyers for his family said.
The boy, who was born on 5 February, is now being treated for tuberculosis by immunology specialists at Sheffield Children's Hospital.
The Scunthorpe hospital trust said it had "launched a full investigation".
Law firm Irwin Mitchell, which has been instructed to act on behalf of the baby's parents, said the vaccine was prescribed and administered by a junior doctor.
A hospital in North Lincolnshire, England, says it is launching an investigation of an overdose of a tuberculosis vaccine given to a newborn.
Lawyers for the family of the baby boy, born Feb. 5, say he was injected at Scunthorpe General Hospital with 0.5mg of the BCG vaccine, 10 times the required 0.05mg dose, The Daily Telegraph reported Monday.
The child is being treated with help from an expert in immunology and from the poisons agency at Sheffield Children's Hospital.
Many traditional Chinese herbal medicines can be effective in the prevention of diabetes, a study conducted by researchers from the University of Western Sydney, Australia, and published in the journal Cochrane Library has confirmed.
"There are a lot of herbal medicine products on the shelves, but few have been subjected to a rigorous trial," lead researcher Suzanne J. Grant said.
Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 16 previously published studies conducted on a total of 1,391 adults who suffered from either impaired glucose tolerance or fasting glucose, both of which lead to the mildly elevated blood sugar levels known as pre-diabetes and raise the risk of full-blown diabetes. In most of the studies, participants were assigned to control their blood sugar with either a combination of traditional Chinese herbal remedies and lifestyle changes or with lifestyle changes alone. A total of 15 different herbal mixes were tested, including Jiangtang Bushen, Xiaoke huaya and Tang Kang yin.
A number of recent tests have revealed the astonishing degree to which the non-organic fruits and vegetables on grocery store shelves are contaminated with dangerous pesticides.
A test conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found traces of more than 50 different pesticides on peaches destined for U.S. stores. Five of the compounds were found at levels higher than those considered safe by the Environmental Protection agency, and six of them were chemicals not approved for use in the United States.
The peaches were grown both domestically and overseas.
A Philadelphia jury has found drug giant Pfizer Inc. guilty of deliberately ignoring evidence that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drug Prempro increased women's risk of breast cancer, ordering it to pay unspecified damages to defendant Connie Barton.
Millions of women used Prempro and other HRT drugs up until 2002, when the groundbreaking Women's Health Initiative study found that taking the drugs significantly increased women's risk of breast cancer and death from cardiovascular disease. The risk was so striking that researchers called an early halt to the study out of concern for participants' lives. The drugs were -- and still are -- marketed to relieve the symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes, mood swings and night sweats.
More recent research suggests that HRT drugs also increase women's risk of dying from lung cancer.
Although Prempro was marketed by Wyeth, Pfizer assumed liability for Wyeth's prior actions when it purchased the company in October.
Junk food appears to be almost as addictive as heroin, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Scripps Research Institute and presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.
"This is the most complete evidence to date that suggests obesity and drug addiction have common neuro-biological foundations," researcher Paul Johnson said.
The researchers fed rats one of three diets: a nutritious diet, a healthy diet with restricted access to junk food, or a diet of unlimited junk food. Junk foods included cheesecake, chocolate, sponge cake and fatty meat. Mice in the third group quickly became obese, while the weight of mice in the first two groups did not change.
To test the effects of junk food on the brain's pleasure centers -- the areas affected by drugs -- the researchers electrically stimulated those areas whenever the mice ran on a wheel. The longer a rat ran on the wheel, the more pleasure it would receive.
Research abounds that adequate
vitamin D is essential for good health.
Unfortunately, however, millions of Americans are not getting enough of this so-called "sunshine" vitamin. Now it turns out that one group in particular is almost universally lacking in vitamin D.
According to a study slated for publication in an upcoming issue of the
Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN), kidney disease patients who have low blood protein levels and who start dialysis during the winter are at extremely high risk of being seriously deficient in vitamin D.
Ishir Bhan, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, and his research team studied data from 908 U.S. dialysis patients in the Accelerated Mortality on Renal Replacement (ArMORR) cohort. The scientists' goal was to investigate routinely measured clinical and demographic characteristics to see if they could figure out which patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on dialysis are at increased risk for vitamin D deficiency.
I'd like to shine the spotlight on one of medicine's sacred cows- the belief that lowering cholesterol with drugs protects against heart attacks and premature death. Our obsession with cholesterol began in the 1950s when studies linked high consumption of animal fat with high rates of heart disease. This opened the door for clinical trials that laid the foundation of a new paradigm: the cholesterol theory of cardiovascular disease.
This theory has had profound ramifications. It changed the way we eat (fats bad, carbohydrates good) and contributed to our problems with obesity and diabetes. It wormed its way into "clinical practice guidelines"- cholesterol management has become a "standard of care" that doctors are expected to follow. It spawned the invasive heart surgery industry, based on the presumption that cholesterol-laden blockages must be bypassed or propped open. And it led to the creation of the best-selling class of medications in history: cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, which generate more than $15 billion in worldwide sales every year.
But it's all a house of cards. No matter what you've been led to believe, a high cholesterol level is not a reliable sign of an impending heart attack. In fact, growing numbers of experts question whether cholesterol matters at all. As for statin drugs, for most of the 40-plus million Americans recommended to take them for the rest of their lives, they're an ineffective, expensive, side effect-riddled fraud.
Large numbers of men who undergo treatment for testicular cancer suffer serious and long-term side effects or illness, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Oslo and published in the journal BJUI.
In the past, the rate of long-term side effects has not been well known because doctors are only required to report side effects that require medical intervention or threaten the patient's life.
"Current patients with testicular cancer should be informed about the risk of short-term and particularly long-term side-effects of their highly effective treatment" lead author Sophie D. Fossa said. "It is important to focus on reducing risks through healthy lifestyle choices and consider important issues like preserving future fertility."
A large multinational research effort overseen by the World Health Organization has concluded that heavy mobile phone use significantly increases the risk of brain and salivary gland tumors.
The Interphone studies surveyed 12,800 people in 13 countries between 2000 and 2004. Although the final findings have not yet been released, they have been accepted for publication in a scientific journal and will see print before the end of 2009.
The conclusions are particularly surprising given that the industry-funded effort has been widely criticized for designing its studies to minimize the apparent risks of cell phone use.
The studies examined the relationship between cell phone use and the risk of three different types of brain tumor and one tumor of the salivary gland. They concluded that "use of mobile phones for a period of 10 years or more" was associated with a "significantly increased risk" of the tumors.
Comment: See other articles regarding negative impacts of HRT:
Hormone Replacement Therapy Now Linked to Cataracts
Study Shows HRT Decreases Mortality in Younger Postmenopausal Woman
Hormone Replacement Therapy Leads to Female Brain Shrinkage
Hormone Therapy Skews Breast Cancer Diagnosis