Sinus infections are miserable. Anyone suffering from one wants relief as soon as possible. The tricky thing is, the overwhelming majority of such infections are caused by viruses; only about 2 percent of sinus infections are bacterial. Since viral infections do not respond to antibiotics, having your doctor prescribe an antibiotic is unlikely to help.
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It seems like a problem that would exist only in the developing world counterfeit drugs making it into the mainstream market. But American consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about counterfeit medications ending up in their own pharmacies: The FDA has confirmed that a fake version of the cancer drug Avastin was sold to at least 19 doctors and clinics.
The good news is that cigarette sales are declining, and the better news is that some of that success may be attributed to a rise in the popularity of smokeless tobacco products. At least that s the hope of Altria Group Inc, a giant tobacco company that has recently cranked up its production of smokeless tobacco products in the U.S. As tobacco-related diseases take their toll on smokers, some have decided to make the switch from cigarettes to other cleaner nicotine delivery systems.
What s the difference between Meryl Streep and a qualified toxicologist? Well, chances are that a toxicologist won t presume to lecture publicly on method acting, but Streep apparently has no qualms about advising us on matters of chemical safety. In 1989 Streep was at the forefront of a contingent that believed the plant growth regulator Alar was turning the nation s apples carcinogenic. ACSH s Dr.
The past 20 years have seen a flurry of new smoking cessation interventions from media campaigns to high taxes to nicotine patches and other pharmaceutical interventions. One would hope that with so many technological and policy advances, smoking cessation rates would be steadily increasing. Not so, suggests a recent study in the journal Tobacco Control. In fact, over the past two decades, there has been no increasing trend in smoking cessation rates in the American population, despite so many new efforts.
It s the scare that keeps on scaring: The dry cleaning chemical PERC (perchloroethylene, also known as tetrachloroethylene) has been a target of activists and the EPA for most of the past decade. In fact, the EPA first began to investigate the solvent s purported adverse health effects in the 1980s. Just last week, an updated health assessment released by the agency categorized PERC as a likely human carcinogen; now environmental activist groups are sounding the alarms with renewed force.
A class of antacids known as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) may increase the risk of severe diarrhea caused by Clostridium difficile bacteria, the FDA has announced. The advisory comes after the agency s review of 28 observational studies, which found that the rate of C. difficile infection was from 1.4 to 2.75 times higher among patients who had been taking PPIs such as Nexium, Dexilant, Prevacid, and Prilosec, among others.
Dark roast aficionados and overworked college students need not fear having a few cups of coffee a day, suggests a new study. Researchers from Germany report that people who drink coffee do not have any increased risk of chronic disease such as heart disease or cancer, compared to those who abstain from the beverage and they may even have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Dr. Gilbert Ross in Forbes, February 17, 2012
How Health Regulators Are Killing American Smokers
ACSH’s Dr. Gilbert Ross is off to Vancouver, where he'll speak at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) on Saturday, February 18. He'll discuss the importance of using tobacco harm reduction methods to save smokers’ lives. By encouraging smokers to switch from cigarettes to much less harmful sources of nicotine, such as certain forms of smokeless tobacco or electronic cigarettes, we can help greatly reduce the over 400,000 tobacco-related deaths that occur each year in the U.S.
While it s a preventive measure we ve recommended for some time, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has now officially recommended that all American seniors age 65 and older receive a vaccination which would likely be a booster shot for whooping cough.
A recent op-ed in The New York Times by Sam Waksal, the founder of the biotech firm ImClone who is probably best remembered for his involvement in a large insider trading scandal in 2002, caught ACSH's Dr. Josh Bloom s attention, largely for its absurdity. In the piece, Waksal argues that individuals and insurers should only pay for drugs that actually work, which he outlines in his "pay-for-response" pricing model.
Recommended guidelines for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) sure have come a long way since the abrupt end of the Women s Health Initiative (WHI) trial in 2002. At that time, researchers became concerned about the increased risk of blood clots and stroke associated with the treatment. Following this trial, HRT use declined precipitously, as women and their doctors became reluctant to use this therapy.
What do healthy bones need? Calcium is most likely the first thing to come to mind. But a new study reinforces the evidence that vitamin D also plays an essential role in bone health. Researchers from the Children s Hospital Boston report that a higher level of vitamin D intake may protect girls against stress fractures.
An article in today s New York Times features a photograph of a tiny child being anesthetized before operation. It also recounts the story of a mother whose three-year-old daughter was strapped down from head to ankle to immobilize her during a procedure. These are unsettling scenes, indeed.
Pharmaceutical sales representatives often get a bad rap, stereotyped as unethical drug peddlers. But in his latest op-ed for Medical Progress Today, ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom points out how important drug reps may be to improving medical care. He observes, for instance, that in the absence of any continuing medical education requirements related to new pharmaceuticals, physicians often rely on these drug reps to keep them informed about new products and drug indications.
Despite the science showing there to be no health risks to genetically engineered (GE) foods, some members of Congress are pressing the FDA to require that all GE foods be labeled as such. The Center for Food Safety filed a legal petition to the FDA, and now 45 U.S. Representatives and 10 U.S. Senators have thrown their support behind the petition in a letter to the FDA.
In a virtually unprecedented decision, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, failed to vote on recommending the use of Pfizer s new vaccine, Prevnar 13, for adults aged 50 and over. This is the third consecutive meeting about Prevnar 13, a vaccine used to prevent streptococcal pneumonia, with this outcome. This story was little-noticed, yet the ensuing delay could lead to many thousands of deaths, says ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom in an op-ed that appears in today s New York Post.
Another study has added to the growing evidence that tranexamic acid, a simple generic drug, is the most effective means thus far of slowing bleeding in hemorrhaging trauma patients. Tranexamic acid in pill form (Lysteda) was first approved in the U.S. in 2009 for excessive menstrual bleeding, but it was not widely marketed; as a generic, it was not perceived to be profitable enough to warrant the extensive trials required for FDA approval of its use for trauma patients.
The obesity epidemic has moved to the forefront of public health concerns, given that it s a major contributor to diabetes, heart disease, and other adverse health conditions. Yet for people who find it impossible to lose their excess weight, there still remains a paucity of successful treatment options, especially in the pharmaceutical sector. That s not to say, however, that drug companies aren t trying to create weight-loss medications in fact, there are currently three such drugs stuck in the all too familiar limbo of the FDA approval process.
Stemmed metal-on-metal (MOM) hip replacements were once hailed as a superior option due to orthopedists belief that the devices had a relatively low risk of dislocation and a high resistance to wear. However, a new study in The Lancet suggests that this type of hip replacement may actually have a higher likelihood of failure than the older standard, ceramic replacement hips and polythene versions.
It s not uncommon for women with breast cancer to receive radiation therapy to prevent relapse, but is this modality beneficial for older women with early-stage breast cancer? Current National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines say opting out of radiation in these patients is okay a recommendation that was issued in 2005, based on a 2004 study that showed radiation therapy following breast-conserving surgery didn t improve survival in older patients with stage I breast cancer.
Timing is crucial in the treatment of most medical conditions and none more so than acute stroke. In such cases, experts urge patients and doctors to heed a narrow window of 4.5 hours. This is the amount of time that can elapse between stroke onset and the administration of a clot-busting medication, such as tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), that can significantly reduce the risk of brain damage.
It s become commonplace when Americans feel the first symptoms of illness, many will check online health sites before heading to see a doctor. But is this ready accessibility of health information from sources valid and not so much actually helpful? In a recent USA Today article, Steve Wood explores the the good and the bad of our habit of Googling our symptoms instead of relying on a visit to the doctor s office.
The incidence of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is raising alarms, not least because of its rapidly increasing rates in affluent Western cities. MDR-TB has been an increasingly serious problem across Asia and Africa for several decades, affecting populations made more susceptible by the greater prevalence of AIDS and poorer health care infrastructure.
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