Selected extendedrelief drugs targeted
Fri, 25 May 2007 18:46:15 GMT
By ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Manufacturers of unapproved extended-release cough and cold drugs that contain an expectorant called guaifenesin have until Nov. 25 to stop shipping the medicines, health officials said Friday.
The
http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/07n-0193-n000001.pdf
FDA study said to show Avandia risk
Fri, 25 May 2007 03:26:06 GMT
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer
The government's own preliminary evaluation of the diabetes pill Avandia confirms the heart risks reported in a study earlier this week and suggests that as many as 60,000 to 100,000 heart attacks might be linked to its use since it came on the market eight years ago, a leading member of Congress said Thursday.
In a floor statement placed in the Senate record, Sen. Charles Grassley also said that safety watchdogs within the federal
http://www.nejm.org
GlaxoSmithKline: http://www.gsk.com
Food and Drug Administration: http:http://www.fda.gov
Avandia's label: http://www.diabetes.org
and http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/
Study More households forbid smoking
Fri, 25 May 2007 00:37:32 GMT
By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer
ATLANTA - Smoking is forbidden in nearly three out of four U.S. households, a dramatic increase from the 43 percent of homes that prohibited smoking a decade ago, the federal government reported Thursday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which conducted the survey in 2003, said it was the first study to offer a state-by-state look at the prevalence of smoking in American homes.
Utah led the nation, with people in nearly nine out of 10 homes saying smoking was never allowed. The state's large population of Mormons, who eschew tobacco, probably contributed to that statistic, the agency said.
Kentucky was in last place, with a little more than half of households sending smokers outside .
But even in Kentucky, smokers found fewer place to light up. Ten years earlier, only a quarter of the state's households barred smoking.
"That really says that people are starting to understand the hazards of secondhand smoke," said Dr. Corinne Husten, co-author of the study and chief of the epidemiology branch of the
CDC's Office on Smoking and Health.
Tobin Hilliard joined the millions of Americans living in smoke-free homes when he moved in with his non-smoking fiancee 10 years ago. He had to abandon the pleasure of smoking a cigarette at the kitchen table, on the living room couch or in the bedroom.
"It was just understood: 'If you're lighting up, you will be stepping out into whatever the weather conditions are,'" said Hilliard, 35, who is still a pack-a-day smoker in Clermont, Fla.
The CDC report was based on a national survey done mostly by telephone every two years. For a household to be included in the results, everyone 15 and older had to respond, and they all had to agree on the smoking rules.
The survey covered 127,000 U.S. households in 2003, the most recent year for which such data was available. The study looked at 900 to 7,000 homes in each state. Similar numbers were surveyed in previous years.
Participants were asked whether smoking was allowed everywhere in the home, only in some places, or not at all.
Among households with at least one smoker, the national prevalence of take-it-outside rules rose from about 10 percent in the early 1990s to 32 percent in 2003. Among households with no smokers, the percentage with such rules rose from 57 percent to almost 84 percent.
The CDC said the increases were driven in part by scientific reports and other information in the last 15 years warning that secondhand smoke causes premature death and disease.
A growing number of state and local smoking bans in restaurants, bars and workplaces may also have been influential at home, Husten said.
Loyd Silberstein, a retired school teacher in California, said he smokes at home — but not when his children or grandchildren come over. On those occasions, he goes out to the backyard or garage.
"My wife says I don't care about her, just the kids," laughed Silberstein, 75, of San Mateo.
The study was published the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
In another MMWR article this week, surveys of nearly 750,000 teens in 137 countries and territories showed that students exposed to smoking at home were most likely to take up the habit themselves.
The study found that more than 71 percent of nonsmoking students surveyed in Europe said they were exposed to cigarette smoke at home. The exposure was much lower in other parts of the world — particularly in Africa, where the statistic was just 23 percent.
Study Cut nicotine in cigarettes
Fri, 25 May 2007 00:04:09 GMT
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The
http://www.iom.edu
American Legacy Foundation: http://www.americanlegacy.org
Overweight people get less out of exercise study
Fri, 25 May 2007 18:21:06 GMT
WASHINGTON - Overweight and obese people get less
out of resistance training than leaner people do, researchers
said on Friday in a study that suggests the overweight may have
to try harder to get results.
But it does not mean they should give up, said the
researchers, who noted the differences were small.
&;People who are overweight and obese experience numerous
health benefits from exercise training programs even in the
absence of significant amounts of weight loss or improvements
in cardiopulmonary physical fitness,&; Linda Pescatello of the
University of Connecticut and colleagues wrote in their report,
published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.
They tested 687 adults aged 18 to 39, measuring their body
fat and using magnetic resonance imaging to look at their
muscles and fat.
The volunteers did 12 weeks of 45- to 60-minute workouts of
their upper arms, working the biceps and triceps.
Everyone gained strength and muscle. But the overweight and
obese volunteers gained 4 percent to 17 percent less than those
of normal weight.
Differences could be genetic, the researchers said.
&;People with overweight and obesity have alterations in
skeletal muscle structure and function compared to those who
are normal weight that could also contribute to variability in
the exercise response,&; they wrote.
In a second study in the same journal, Jacob Baty and
colleagues at the University of Texas found that carbohydrate
and protein supplements prior to and during exercise did not
help people exercise more efficiently.
But their 34 male volunteers who drank a high-protein,
high-carbohydrate supplement did show less muscle damage,
Baty's team reported.
&;By consuming a carbohydrate-protein supplement similar to
the one used in our study at a similar schedule during
exercise, athletes can significantly reduce the amount of
muscle damage produced in a given resistance exercise bout,&;
the researchers said.
That could mean competitive athletes might reduce the time
they must rest between workouts, they added.