RespiteMatch.com Health Blog

- Chronicle staff report
Friday, September 22, 2006

Thursday’s developments:

– The number of people sickened by E. coli climbed to 157. Of those, 83 have been hospitalized and 27 have suffered a form of kidney failure. One person has died.

– Investigators searched three farms in the Salinas Valley for possible contamination and expected to search at least five more over the next several days.

– Growers and processors in the region announced plans to develop their own safety standards to prevent future outbreaks in spinach and other leafy green vegetables.

– The Food and Drug Administration said that depending on results of the investigation, new regulations may be necessary to protect the safety of the food supply.

– The FDA said it continues to work with growers in regions outside the Salinas Valley to get spinach back on the market and convince consumers that it’s safe.

Source: Chronicle staff report

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URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/09/22/MNGHMLAGPT1.DTL

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©2006 San Francisco Chronicle

By Maria Cheng, Associated Press | September 4, 2006

BARCELONA — Specialists expressed concerns yesterday that drug-coated heart stents — metal-mesh tubes used to prop open coronary arteries — might increase the chances of potentially fatal blood clots.

Studies released yesterday at the World Cardiology Congress in Barcelona raised new concerns about the risks that might accompany the drug-coated stents, which were introduced in 2000 as an improvement on bare-metal stents. Read the rest of this entry »

Like stem cells, ‘glial cells’ can transform and reproduce indefinitely
By Ker Than
LiveScience staff writer
LiveScience

Updated: 6:24 p.m. ET Aug 16, 2006
Scientists have found that a common type of human brain cell can transform into other cell types and reproduce indefinitely—tricks once thought exclusive to stem cells.
Read the rest of this entry »

August 18, 2006 11:00 p.m. EST

Yvonne Lee - All Headline News Staff Reporter
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) orders a human tissue-recovery firm, Donor Referral Services (DRS), to immediately cease operations.
Read the rest of this entry »

July 21, 2006

The New York State Legislature has unanimously passed the Palliative Care Education and Training Act, AB11162, S07458A, to improve palliative care and pain management, the first of its kind in the nation. The New York State Legislature is again on the front line to ensure high quality patient centered care. Initiated by Compassion & Choices, the legislation addresses, in a number of meaningful ways, the urgent public health care crisis of the undertreatment of pain. In summary, the legislation will do the following:
Read the rest of this entry »

By Sam Lister, Health Correspondent

HIV can avoid the powerful drugs that sufferers take to destroy it by hiding in their guts, scientists have discovered.

The scientists found that the virus that causes Aids took hold in intestinal tissue of patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (ARV). There it continued to replicate and suppress the immune system even though blood samples showed that the drugs were working. Read the rest of this entry »

July 27, 2006
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(WebMD) A molecular switch turns off chronic pain, Columbia University researchers report.

The switch is an enzyme called protein kinase G or PKG. When PKG gets stuck in the “on” position, nerve cells keep sending pain signals – long after the injury that originally caused the pain has healed. Turning PKG off stops the pain, rats studies show.
Read the rest of this entry »

Cancer lobbyists and patients are crying foul over a Pharmac decision to deny funding for the breast cancer drug Herceptin.

Pharmac claims there is insufficient clinical data to ensure Herceptin’s safety.

But critics say that is just an excuse and are convinced Pharmac has backed away because of the cost.

Pharmac has defended the decision.
Read the rest of this entry »

By JOHN HEILPRIN
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 27, 2006; 8:42 PM

WASHINGTON — Growing scientific evidence suggests the most widespread industrial contaminant in drinking water _ a solvent used in adhesives, paint and spot removers _ can cause cancer in people.

The National Academy of Sciences reported Thursday that a lot more is known about the cancer risks and other health hazards from exposure to trichloroethylene than there was five years ago when the Environmental Protection Agency took steps to regulate it more strictly. Read the rest of this entry »

By JOHN HEILPRIN
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 27, 2006; 8:42 PM

WASHINGTON — Growing scientific evidence suggests the most widespread industrial contaminant in drinking water _ a solvent used in adhesives, paint and spot removers _ can cause cancer in people.

The National Academy of Sciences reported Thursday that a lot more is known about the cancer risks and other health hazards from exposure to trichloroethylene than there was five years ago when the Environmental Protection Agency took steps to regulate it more strictly. Read the rest of this entry »

Scientists have developed a once-a-day pill that they hope could potentially cure Alzheimer’s disease.
Tests in mice have shown the drug, PBT2, prevents build up of the amyloid protein linked to the disease.

Protein levels dropped by 60% within 24 hours of a single dose, and memory performance improved within five days.

A team from Australia’s Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, who are behind the research, hope the drug could be on the market in four years.
Read the rest of this entry »

July 23 (Bloomberg) — Novartis AG’s Gleevec cancer drug may harm patients’ hearts, researchers said after studying the product in mice and a small group of humans.

Gleevec, which can keep a form of the blood cancer leukemia in check, may cause congestive heart failure, the researchers said. Still, the scientists didn’t say patients should stop taking the treatment.

“The message is that patients need to stay on Gleevec,'’ said Thomas Force, the lead researcher and a doctor at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, in a telephone interview.
Read the rest of this entry »

DAVID GOLDSTEINKnight Ridder NewspapersWASHINGTON -

When small amounts of benzene, a known cancer-causing chemical, were found in some soft drinks 16 years ago, the Food and Drug Administration never told the public.
That’s because the beverage industry told the government it would handle the problem and the FDA thought the problem was solved. Read the rest of this entry »

03.03.06, 12:00 AM ET

FRIDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) — Two experts are questioning whether a woman who died of a rare infection after participating in a trial for the multiple sclerosis (MS) drug Tysabri should have been included in the study in the first place.
Read the rest of this entry »

By Val Brickates Kennedy, MarketWatch
Last Update: 11:09 AM ET Mar 1, 2006

BOSTON (MarketWatch) — A group of researchers in New Zealand said Tuesday that a reanalysis of older studies conducted on Pfizer’s pain reliever Celebrex show the drug can raise the risk of suffering a heart attack. Read the rest of this entry »