Herbal, nutritional supplements linked to ocular side effects

An estimated 42 percent of Americans use herbal medicines or nutritional supplements. Many people taking these products and their physicians are unaware of the adverse reactions they can cause. An Oregon Health & Science University researcher reviewed reported cases of ocular side effects associated with these products. His findings are published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology this month.

Source:MedicalNewsToday

Many Make Mistakes with Asthma Medication

MONDAY, Oct. 11 (HealthDayNews) -- Many children with asthma and their parents may be incorrectly assessing asthma inhaler medication levels, says a study in the October issue of Chest.

Source:Yahoo!News

Acing Alzheimer's with ACE Inhibitors

A small but very provocative and exciting clinical trial has been done in Alzheimer's disease. The trial was based on the novel idea that there is an alteration in ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) in Alzheimer's disease. And the results look remarkable.

Source: MedicineNet

Vioxx Alternatives:

Should You Go With Your Heart or Your Gut?

Many people say they feel disconnected from the news. But last week's news that the pain reliever Vioxx had been voluntarily pulled off the market because of studies showing it increases the risk of heart attack and stroke hit home with millions of Americans who had a bottle of this popular medication in their medicine cabinet or on their bedside table. Today, many of the estimated 1.3 million Americans who are taking Vioxx, most commonly to relieve arthritis pain and stiffness, are wondering how they should treat their symptoms now that doctors are recommending they stop taking the drug, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1999.

Source: ScienceDaily

High folate intake equals lower risk of high blood pressure for women

12 Oct 2004 - If you are a woman and consume 800 micrograms or more of folate per day you are much less likely to be at risk of having high blood pressure, says a new study. Having a high folate intake already benefits women when they want to have a baby as it reduces the chances of the baby being born with spina bifida. The benefits for blood pressure were presented at the American Heart Association's annual conference, Chicago, USA.

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=14827

Flu Vaccines Limited To High-Risk Residents

Regulators Freeze Shipments By Supplier

October 13, 2004 BOSTON -- State health officials are limiting flu vaccines to those who are considered to be high risk. Wednesday's announcement by state health Commissioner Christine Ferguson comes after British regulators last week froze shipments by a major supplier of the vaccine.

Source: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/3807828/detail.html

U.S./Canadian Price Comparisons

October 2004 - U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently detained more than 400 packages containing prescription drug products at the Miami mail facility. FDA reviewed a list of the drugs contained in these packages and observed that about half of the drugs were foreign generic drugs or drugs for which there were generic versions available in the United States. The detained packages were apparently being sent to U.S. addresses from a source in the Bahamas by a Canadian pharmacy, Kohler's Drugstore of Hamilton, Ontario, which recently set up an internet operation (www.canadarx.net) to do business with American consumers. FDA analyzed the prices actually charged on customer invoices for a sample of the detained foreign generic medications encountered in the shipments. FDA converted the price paid to U.S. dollars and checked the prices at four U.S. pharmacies. In every instance, a U.S pharmacy price for the FDA-approved generic drug was less than what consumers had paid for the foreign generic drug ordered from Kohler's Drugstore in Canada.

[See price comparison chart in the source document]

Source: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/importdrugs/canadarx.html

FTC Targets Products Claiming to Affect the Stress Hormone Cortisol

Agency Alleges That Marketers of CortiSlim and CortiStress Made False or Unsubstantiated Claims

October 5, 2004 - The Federal Trade Commission has charged marketers of two dietary supplements with claiming, falsely and without substantiation, that their products can cause weight loss and reduce the risk of, or prevent, serious health conditions. According to the FTC’s complaint, Los Angeles-area marketers Window Rock Enterprises, Inc. and Infinity Advertising, Inc., their principals, Stephen Cheng and Gregory Cynaumon, and business partner and product formulator Shawn Talbott have sold “CortiSlim” and “CortiStress” through a number of widely aired infomercials and short TV commercials, as well as radio and print advertisements and Internet Web sites. “The Window Rock defendants’ weight-loss and disease-prevention claims fly in the face of reality,” said Lydia B. Parnes, Acting Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “No pill can replace a healthy program of diet and exercise.”

Source: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/10/windowrock.htm

Interim Influenza Vaccination Recommendations: 2004-05

On October 5, 2004, CDC was notified by Chiron Corporation that none of its influenza vaccine (Fluvirin®) would be available for distribution in the United States for the 2004-05 influenza season. The company indicated that the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the United Kingdom, where Chiron's Fluvirin vaccine is produced, has suspended the company's license to manufacture Fluvirin vaccine in its Liverpool facility for 3 months, preventing any release of this vaccine for this influenza season. This action will reduce by approximately one half the expected supply of trivalent inactivated vaccine (flu shot) available in the United States for the 2004-05 influenza season.

Source: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20041005b.html

Some Anti-Psychotic Medications May Trigger Diabetes

New Haven, Conn. -- The rate of diabetes among persons taking certain newer anti-psychotic medications is higher than that found in the general population, Yale researchers report in a study in the American Journal of Psychiatry. The study followed patients with schizophrenia and no history of diabetes who used four of six new atypical medications or conventional anti-psychotic medications. The atypical medications - clozapine, risperidone, olanzapine, quetiapine - are considered to cause fewer severe side effects. Two atypical medications were not included because they had just been approved at the time the study began. Of the 56,849 patients in the sample, 7.3 percent of patients were diagnosed with diabetes mellitus during the one- to two-year follow up period, corresponding to an annual incidence rate of 4.4 percent. The rate was higher for patients taking clozapine and olanzapine. "The rate is five to 10 times higher than the estimated rate of 6.3 cases per 1,000 in the general U.S. population," said Douglas Leslie, first author of the paper and assistant professor of psychiatry and epidemiology and public health.

Source: http://www.yale.edu/opa/newsr/04-10-04-02.all.html

Study Identifies Genetics Of Fat Metabolism, Red Wine Link

CORVALLIS, Ore. - A new study has found that a gene called SIRT1 can reduce the development of new fat cells and increase the metabolism or use of fat within existing fat cells. SIRT1 is the topic of considerable recent research, and other studies have also shown that its activity level can be significantly increased by the presence of a compound found in red wine. The new research, done by scientists from Oregon State University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Ottawa, was recently published in the journal Nature. It may help explain, researchers say, why moderate consumption of red wine appears to reduce deaths from heart disease, as has been suggested by some demographic studies.

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2004/Jul04/wine.htm