Here are few brief news related to healthcare & pharmaceutical scenes for your update.
• Anti-Smoking Drug May Pose A Suicide Risk
The FDA is scrutinizing the anti-smoking drug Chantix after some patients taking the medication claim to have suicidal thoughts. The federal agency is investigating about 100 cases of smokers using the treatment who reported having suicidal thoughts. Chantix went on the market in 2006.
As Reported by CBS News / WebMD
• Marijuana Appears to Slow Cancer Growth: Study
In laboratory tests, cannabinoids in marijuana were found to slow the spread of lung and cervical cancer tumors, according to research published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. In addition to suppressing tumor cell invasion, cannabinoids also stimulated the expression of TIMP-1, an inhibitor of a group of enzymes involved in tumor cell invasion. More research is needed to determine if the lab tests will hold true for humans.
As Reported by Fox News
• WHO confirms human-to-human birdflu case
The World Health Organization confirmed on 27-Dec-07 a single case of human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 bird flu virus in a family in Pakistan but said there was no apparent risk of it spreading wider.
A statement from the U.N. agency said tests in its special laboratories in Cairo and London had established the "human infection" through presence of the virus "collected from one case in an affected family."
But it said a WHO team invited to Pakistan to look into an outbreak involving up to nine people, from late October to December 6 had found no evidence of sustained or community human-to-human transmission.
No identified close contacts of the people infected, including health workers and other members of the affected family, had shown any symptoms and they had all been removed from medical observation, the WHO added.
The outbreak followed a culling of infected chickens in the Peshawar region, in which a veterinary doctor was involved. Subsequently he and three of his brothers developed proven or suspected pneumonia.
The brothers cared for one another and had close personal contact both at home and in the hospital, a WHO spokesman in Geneva said. One of them, who was not involved in the culling, died on November 23.
His was the human-to-human transmission case confirmed by the WHO. The others all recovered.It was the first human-to-human case of H5N1 transmission in Pakistan, while others have been confirmed in Indonesia and Thailand in similar circumstances of what the WHO calls close contacts in a very circumscribed area.
Global health experts fear the virus -- which has killed 211 people out of 343 infections reported since 2003 -- could mutate into a form that spreads easily from one person to another, possibly triggering a pandemic that could kill millions.
As Reported by Reuters
• Seven Medical Myths Even Doctors Believe
Seven well-worn theories or "medical myths" are exposed in a paper published in the British Medical Journal, which traditionally carries light-hearted features in its Christmas edition. The common medical myths that were debunked include:
• drinking 8 glasses of water a day,
• reading in dim light ruins your eyesight,
• eating turkey makes you sleepy,
• shaving makes hair grow back faster,
• the belief that humans only use only 10% of their brains,
• hair and nails continue to grow after death, and cell phones are dangerous in hospitals.
As Reported by Fox News
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