National Office Of Drug Safety Is Needed, Experts Say In JAMA
...or job of thenew national office, the authors say, should be first to develop "reliableestimates of deaths a...els have little effect. "Safety monitoring should include surveillance of the most importantknown and expected risks and regular public reporting on t...Dermatologists Recommend Raising Age for Insurance Coverage for Acne Drugs to Age 40 -- or Beyond
...cher said, "We concluded that the cut-off, ifused, should be at least 40 years." The study was published in the February issue of the Journal of theAmerican Academy of Dermatology. In a follow-up study now under way, Feldman andFleischer are hoping to identify the most cost-effective cut-off age bas...How Can Parents Treat Colic In Their Babies?
...ands report that attempts to treat infantile colic should begin by substituting cow's milk with hypoallergenic formula milks. This combined with behavioural interventions, such as teaching parents to be more appropriately responsive to their infants and more effectively soothing, may help reduce crying. T...Drug's Effect On Chromosomes May Explain Second Cancers
... researcherspredicted that most topo-II inhibitors should cause breaks in telomeres.To test their prediction, they constructed fragments of DNA that ended withtelomeres of different lengths. They then incubated the fragments with onetopo-II inhibiting drug after another. Initially, the results were negative...Wistar Scientist Awarded American Cancer Society Grant For Study Of Tumor Suppressor Proteins
...s that the P16INK4 protein does notinterfere as it should with tumor growth. "Because of its key role in the development of tumors," explains Dr.Marmorstein, "the CDK4 protein is an excellent target for anti-cancertherapies." His laboratory's findings on the structural properties of theP16INK4 protein ar...Products For Weight Loss Or Increased Energy Can Be Deadly, Warn Poison Control Experts
...d the SFVeterans Affairs Medical Center. "People should not assume that any dietary supplement is safe jus... Any person consideringusing one of these products should consult a physician first." Since January 1, CPCS has been monitoring its calls about adverse reacti...New Radiation Procedure Targets Liver Malignancies
...e. For each patient a dose is then selected which should maximize the potential benefit of radiation without exceeding an estimated 10 percent chance of developing radiation-induced liver disease. At this point, 21 patients have been treated this way. The average radiation dose was significantly higher th...Health Risk To "Cigarette Babies" Is Neglected, Duke Scientist Charges
...suade pregnant women to quitsmoking. That campaign should concentrate on counseling, although it can include...n the rest of the body," said Slotkin. Nor should the medical community or the public blindly accept thepopular myth that crack cocaine causes more se...States Must Be Held Accountable For New Health Plans For Children
...how to evaluate the results. Performance measures should be establishedby HHS to provide comparable informa...measures, thecommittee said. Moreover, the agency should develop systems to improve theavailability of information on the national and state levels about how...Teen Marijuana Use Is Fueled By Change In Attitudes
...n," Bachman concludes, "is that prevention efforts should includerealistic information about the risks and consequences of marijuana use andshould present this kind of information not just once but repeatedly."...UCSF Study Finds Popular Blood Thinner Does Not Weaken Bones
...er women, regardless of whether they takewarfarin, should be concerned about osteoporosis. Because post-menopausal women produce substantially less estrogen - whichprotects bones from weakening - most older women are at risk of bone loss andfractures, she said. In fact, one in ten white, post-menopausal w...New Data Show Dangerous Interaction Between Blood Pressure Drugs
...of takingmibefradil suggests that this combination should be avoided." The researcherscontinue that the long half-life of mibefradil (17 to 25 hours) may require aprolonged 'washout' period before starting therapy with antihypertensive drugs,as well as the at least 26 other medications metabolized by the l...Stopping High Blood Pressure Drugs May Start A Stroke
...viduals taking drugs to control high bloodpressure should be warned not to stop treatment without a doctor's orders. Thepenalty may be a stroke, researchers report in this month's Hypertension:Journal of the American Heart Association. The study offers the first evidence of a link between disconti...About The Care Of Patients Before They Are Admitted To Intensive Care
...per cent since 1984, but this increase in quantity should not be at the expense of quality, say Dr Peter Mc...atively, they suggest that medical emergency teams should be formed and that their role should be educational as well as troubleshooting. Contact: Dr Peter ...Antidepressants Can Lead To Mouth Infections
... of poor oral hygiene. Patients, they say, should be told about the dental risks involved inusing an...rs and his colleagues also recommend: "Prevention should beincorporated in the clinical management of depressed patients. Clinically,complaints of oral dryn...Study Finds St. John's Wort Can Cut Alcohol Consumption
...are optimistic," he said. "Since it is an herb, it should have no sideeffects or fewer side effects than synthetic drugs. One of the major problemswith alcoholics is that they don't like to take medications that have sideeffects. St. John's wort might be different in that it would just reduce theirdesire fo...International Panel Evaluates Testing For Drug Resistance In HIV
...f drug treatment and changes in treatment regimens should beguided by standard measures of the progress of i...ation of resistant strains. Therefore all patients should receive potent combination drug therapy regimensthat have the best chance of keeping viral replicati...Voluntary HIV Counseling And Testing Reduce Risk Behavior In Developing Countries
...portthem. "But this study shows that such services should be routine and availableeverywhere," he said. Coates was a principal investigator on "The Voluntary HIV Counseling and TestingEfficacy Study," the basis of several presentations here at the 12th World AIDSConference. The largest study of its kind, t...Extreme Prematurity Brings Two-Fold Increase In Risk Of Repeating A Grade, Needing Special Education
...ases, the parents, not the school, decided a child should repeat a grade because of social immaturity or other reasons not linked to academic failure per se. The premature children were twice as likely to need special education and three times as likely to need the school's resource room than the co...Timing Of Breast Cancer Surgery Doesn't Appear To Influence Survival Anymore
...arlap. But she is mystified why the menstrualcycle should have any relationship to this benefit. "I am curious, and wouldlike to understand this phenomenon a lot better." Has the controversy over the timing of breast cancer surgery ended? Dr.Harlap says that the new study does not end the controver...