The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday released a study estimating that 1 in 50 U.S. schoolchildren have autism, surpassing another estimate that 1 in 88 kids do.
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Pharmaceutical companies have long argued that the incentive for creating new drugs is that they retain exclusive rights to sell their inventions for a period of time that s long enough to recover the cost of their investment, and then make a profit off the venture.
It s called the cinnamon challenge a dare popularized by YouTube, in which the hapless victim tries to swallow a spoonful of ground cinnamon in a minute without liquids.
Although it’s common knowledge that the “Mediterranean diet” is supposed to provide heart benefits, it hasn’t been clear how much of its different constituents should be consumed. Now, some preliminary research has provided clues about how much of what product could be effective. The research was presented at the meeting of the European Association for [...]
The post Clarifying the Mediterranean diet appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
Today marks the 7th annual celebration… no, that’s not exactly the best word…the 7th annual official recognition, via World Malaria Day, of the horrendous toll taken by the mosquito-borne infection: Malaria. Historically, malaria has been so severe and widespread as to determine the fates of entire civilizations. A little-known fact is that malaria remained a [...]
The post On World Malaria Day, recognizing its grim toll appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
After the politically-motivated listing of the plastic hardener Bisphenol-A (BPA) was at last squeezed onto California’s nefarious Proposition 65 list of allegedly toxic chemicals, a local Sacramento judge kicked it off, correctly stating that the chemical’s listing flew in the face of scientific and regulatory evidence. A division of California’s environmental agency finally figured out [...]
The post BPA on Prop 65 list: now you see it, now you don’t, thankfully appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
The question of whether or not students should be screened using an electrocardiogram to detect cardiac problems before engaging in sports has come up again. Although the European Society of Cardiology advocates for the use of an ECG, the American Heart Association recommends only taking a history and doing a physical examination without an ECG. [...]
The post ECG as a screening tool for athletes? appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
Fans of irony will be hard-pressed to suppress a smile here. Researchers at The University of Guelph in Ontario are developing a novel vaccine which may help control the gastrointestinal symptoms that are commonly seen in children with autism. The vaccine will have no direct effect on the behavioral aspects of the disease, nor will it in any [...]
The post Irony anyone? A vaccine to help autistic children. appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
The regulators in Europe continue to ban chemicals at the drop of a rat. In the latest instance, the head of the European Commission has decided to take it upon himself to ban a class of pesticide called “neonicotinoids,” on the slimmest evidence that this class of chemicals might have contributed to the loss of [...]
The post More chemophobia from the EU: banning pesticide to save bees? appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
Many teens somehow believe driving under the influence does not affect their safety, according to a survey published by the insurance company Liberty Mutual and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD). Worse still — nearly 25 percent of American teenagers drives under the influence of some drug. Not surprisingly for teenagers, there is a disconnect between [...]
The post Teens and DUI- disturbingly common appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
If you need another reminder about the importance of vaccinations, just look to the events of this past weekend. A Wisconsin college student and a Los Angeles man died of meningitis, and the New York City Department of Health issued an alert stating that five measles cases occurred in Borough Park, Brooklyn this past month in children who had not been vaccinated.
Sure, we could be doing better, but still: the undeniable fact is that the infant mortality rate in America fell by 12 percent between 2005 and 2011, after years of stagnation at an embarrassingly higher rate. This gratifying information was released this week by the CDC . The most impressive declines were noted in those [...]
The post Declining U.S. infant mortality trend continues appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
Today’s announcement by the FDA’s Commissioner Margaret Hamburg approving Plan B One-Step for women and girls age 15 and up, while welcome in the “better late than never” category, does not come close to complying with Federal Judge Ed Korman’s ruling of April 5th. That ruling, finding for the plaintiffs in a 2001 lawsuit against the Bush-II [...]
The post FDA goes almost halfway towards complying with Plan B ruling appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
If you went by the headlines, you’d be sure that the widespread obesity problem is due to consumption of too much sugar — especially from sodas and other sweetened beverages. But according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you’d be wrong. Examination of data on adults’ (20-60+ years) intake [...]
The post Too much sugar—but not just from soda appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
Just a few days ago there were multiple news reports about a study in Nature Medicine by researchers at the Cleveland Clinic that suggested that there was supposedly one more reason not to eat red meat it contains high levels of the amino acid L-carnitine, which is metabolized by bacteria in the gut to give trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), a substance that could play a part in atherosclerosis.
According to new research from the CDC, rates of foodborne illnesses have increased from the period of 2006-2008 and 2012. Specifically, increases occurred in the prevalence of illness from Campylobacter — associated with poultry, raw milk and contaminated water, and Vibrio associated with raw shellfish. Symptoms of illness range from diarrhea, stomach pain and fever [...]
The post Rise in foodborne illness appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
Once again the Environmental Working Group (EWG) seeks to perpetuate its myth of dangerous fruit dangerous, they say, because of trace amounts of pesticides found on them. Although their list of the most dangerous fruits garners wide attention, there seems to be little attention paid to the science or lack thereof in this listing.
The approach to fighting obesity using appetite suppressants came to a screeching halt in 1997, when Wyeth, the maker of the wildly successful diet drug phen-fen, was forced to withdraw the drug after the FDA received numerous reports of heart valve problems and also some cases of pulmonary hypertension, a rare but often fatal lung [...]
The post The diet drug Qsymia is safe and effective-as expected appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
A new study conducted by the National Toxicology Program, an agency that is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, has put yet another dietary supplement in the spotlight.
Last week, the California Senate passed a proposed bill, SB648, by a 21-10 vote, banning the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) anywhere that smoking (of regular tobacco cigarettes) is banned. In essence, if the Assembly joins in and the measure becomes law, in our largest state e-cigs would be treated as equivalent to cigarettes for [...]
The post Cali lawmakers cannot tell smoke from vapor appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
While it will take some time to see if the new bike share system in NYC will be a bust, or a game-changer for transportation in Manhattan (and parts of Brooklyn), ACSH wants to remind everyone to stay safe while cycling through the city — even though the program has worked well in other cities. [...]
The post Bring Your Own Helmet appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
When given the choice of when to have an elective surgery, you may be better off choosing a time earlier in the week, especially as opposed to over the weekend. According to a new study published online in BMJ, opting for surgery on a Friday or over a weekend results in increased rates of 30-day [...]
The post Beware of the “weekend effect” appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
ACSH’s Dr. Josh Bloom has had an op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal, where he considers whether the U.S. government’s unprecedented move to give $200 million over 5 years to GlaxoSmithKline to aid in their antibiotic develop effort is a good idea. In an ideal world, this would be unnecessary, but thanks to misguided and [...]
The post Should the government be subsidizing drug companies? In this case, yes. appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
A new report out of the vast Cochrane Library database reveals that several of the commonly used products to help smokers quit actually do work! Or do they? These results are derived from a huge meta-analysis of 267 trials involving 101,000 study subjects who were given one or more nicotine-replacement treatments (NRTs) and/or drugs such [...]
The post Big (no) news: Cessation products work better than nothing! appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
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