Reuters – The Dutch government wants to sell 21 million unused H1N1 flu vaccine doses back to their manufacturers after they proved unnecessary and no other country wanted to buy them, the Health Ministry said on Saturday. Read article
ScienceDaily — Some anti-depressant drugs are associated with an increased chance of developing cataracts, according to a new statistical study by researchers at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and McGill University. The study, … showed statistical relationships between a diagnosis of cataracts or cataract surgery and the class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), as well as between cataracts and specific drugs within that class. Read article
The Australian – PHARMACEUTICAL giant Merck is being urged to settle with hundreds of Australian heart attack victims after a Federal Court judge found the company’s blockbuster drug Vioxx doubled the risk of cardiac arrest. In a landmark decision with international ramifications, judge Christopher Jessup ruled the anti-inflammatory drug was not “reasonably fit” to be on the market and the selling of it by Merck’s Australian subsidiary breached the Trade Practices Act. Read Article
ABC – SHANE MCLEOD: Some believe the structure of the modern pharmaceutical industry means cases like Vioxx are inevitable. Dr Peter Mansfield is a GP (general practitioner) who founded the group Healthy Skepticism that campaigns for changes to the way drugs are marketed. He’s also a visiting research fellow at the University of Adelaide. He joins me on the line now. Read transcript/listen to audio.
Daily Telegraph – Millions of people take a low dose of aspirin daily, as it is known to reduce the risk of having a heart attack or stroke in people who have already had one attack. It is seen as a ‘just in case’ measure and, because aspirin has been available for around 100 years, it is considered safe by the majority of people. However, aspirin increases the likelihood of major bleeding, in the brain, stomach or elsewhere in the body, and experts warned that the beneficial effects must be weighed against the risk of harm. Read Article
Daily Telegraph – Regular use of common painkillers like aspirin and paracetamol can significantly increase the risk of hearing loss, according to a new study. Millions of Britons are thought to take aspirin every day in the hope of warding off a heart attack, because of its blood thinning properties. Men below 60 were a third more likely to have hearing problems if they regularly took aspirin, the study found. Read article
Dialy Mail – Do you live surrounded by clutter – ancient copies of magazines, your children’s old toys, articles you’ve clipped out of newspapers over the years? If you find it hard to throw out things of limited or no value, you could be suffering from hoarding disorder. ‘Hoarding’ is just one of the new mental conditions being added to the psychiatrists’ bible, or the Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders (DSM), to give it its proper name. Read article
ScienceDaily — A group led by Dr. James M. Musser at the Center for Molecular and Translational Human Infectious Diseases Research of The Methodist Hospital Research Institute in Houston, Texas has demonstrated that the cytotoxin Paton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) does not affect methicillin-resistant Staphlococcus aureus (MRSA)-induced pneumonia. Read Article
Nature – Treating HIV infection aggressively before symptoms appear could help to control the spread of the disease, according to data presented at a retroviral conference last week. Independent studies in Canada, the United States and Africa support the strategy in both the developed and developing world. However, the studies are not definitive and some scientists argue that improperly expanding treatment could cause problems. Read article
Ed. – “improperly expanding treatment could cause problems”:- Pathogens develop resistance to drugs by the mere ACTION of the drugs, leaving resistant organisms to reproduce (they get flushed down the loo, etc), which makes the drugs less effective in the pathogen’s next host. Tamiflu and Relenza were already in this category before the SFlu epidemic. Widespread use of drugs would only exacerbate this process; giving only a temporary dent in the numbers of cases. Then what’ll we use?
The Times – If your dog is barking mad, help is at hand. You can give it some Prozac. A dog version of the anti-depressant drug has been launched in America and will soon be available in Britain. Read article
New Scientist – When Carolyn Riley was convicted of killing her 4-year-old daughter Rebecca by overdosing her with psychotropic drugs prescribed for the child, some jurors reportedly felt that the psychiatrist who wrote the prescriptions should also have been on trial. That will not happen: the doctor was granted immunity when agreeing to testify in the case. But the validity of the condition for which Rebecca was being treated is being questioned by psychiatrists. Read article
Ed. – Related Articles: antidepressants risks; ADHD meds/ psychosis; FDA/ antidepressants/bribery.
The Australian – CHILDREN with ADHD who use prescription drugs to manage their condition are 10 times more likely to perform poorly at school than ADHD kids who avoid medication, a new report reveals.
The report also finds stimulant drugs such as Ritalin and dexamphetamine make no significant difference to the level of depression, self-perception and social functioning of a 14-year-old with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Read Article
Newsweek – Paralyzing the “frown” muscles also inhibits the ability to understand anger and sadness. And here I thought my Botoxed friends were happy, mellow, and sweet-tempered because a couple of injections of a neurotoxin had eliminated their frown lines, knocked years off their apparent age, and made them no longer look “tired and unapproachable,” as the company’s Web site cheerfully puts it. (If someone starts selling makeup named “Unapproachable,” send me a case. But I digress.) But no! According to an amusing little study, by paralyzing the frown muscles that ordinarily are engaged when we feel angry, Botox short-circuits the emotion itself. Read article
Daily Telegraph – It’s been a good week for drug companies and an even better one for conspiracy theorists. Last Tuesday, angered by the bumper rise in profits being reported by vaccine manufacturers as the incidence of swine flu plummets, the former head of health at the Council for Europe accused the World Health Organization of “faking” the pandemic. Read Article
Ed. – Dr Wodarg would (hopefully) have been chosen for his intelligence and wisdom and ability to lead people; for the position of head of health at the Council for Europe. This man isn’t just any ‘conspiracy theorist’. He doesn’t seem to be benefiting from making this stance, which is widely unpopular, particularly among his peers. It makes sense that he has thought this through carefully and come to this conclusion, and is sharing that with the world – for the world’s benefit.
ScienceDaily — Experts from GA2LEN, the Global Allergy and Asthma European Network, and EAACI, the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, warn that the older antihistamines in over-the-counter allergy medications — the most common form of self-medication in allergic rhinitis — may be hazardous to our health. A joint report to be published in Allergy reviews new data on the treatment of allergies with older antihistamines compared with newer, second-generation H1-antihistamines. The research was funded by GA2LEN, an EU-funded Network of Excellence. Read Article
Toronto Sun – Just before Christmas, Stephanie Willette went from being a healthy nursing student to suddenly being a helpless patient paralyzed from the neck down with a tracheotomy so she could breathe. Today the 20-year-old is slowly recovering in a Kingston rehab hospital, still unable to sit up, but hoping that she’ll eventually walk again. Read Article
Ed. – Adjuvants are thought to be responsible for Guillian-Barre synddrome, as they are used in small quantaties (cheap) to enhance the immune response. The trouble seems to be when the immune response goes into hyperdrive in response to the adjuvant.
The Local.de – Medical experts warned of grave health danger to children on Monday following weekend reports that many important infant vaccinations have not been delivered to German hospitals since late January. “Particularly dangerous for infants are the Hib infections and whooping cough, which can cause difficult complications leading to death,” president of the BVKJ professional association of paediatricians Wolfram Hartmann said. Read Article
Physorg.com – High-coverage human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations among adolescents and young women may result in a rapid reduction of genital warts, cervical cell abnormalities, and diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, researchers report in a new study published online February 5 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Some of these genital abnormalities are precursors of cervical, vulvar, and vaginal cancers. Read article
Ed. – HPV strains 16 and 18 account for more than 70% of cervical cancers. 4 things required for the effective reduction of the medical condtitions that this article talks about: 1. The conditions mentioned in this article are associated with the particular strains (there are over 100 strains of HPV) covered by the particular HPV vaccine used. 2. The vaccination is offered to women ages ~18+. 3. At the time of their first inoculation, they should test -ve for the presence of HPV in their system. 4. There are few adverse reactions to the vaccine. Sources: www.webmd.com and Curezone link
The Australian – LONDON: Herbal remedies taken by millions of people can pose a serious risk to health by interfering with medicines commonly prescribed for heart disease, doctors say. Warnings that supplements such as St John’s wort, ginkgo biloba and garlic can diminish the effectiveness of drugs or cause dangerous side-effects have been restated by researchers in the US. Interactions with medicines could cause “devastating effects” in vulnerable patients such as the elderly, people with liver or kidney problems or those at greater risk of bleeding, they said.
Ed. – FACTS: The media has taken the most dramatic (over)statement to head their article; Other drugs ALSO interact (with any drugs a person is taking) in a dangerous way – potentially worse than most herbal preparations. Herbs are where a LOT of our medicine CAME FROM. //Use commonsense re what you’re ingesting. People: TELL your Health Professionals (Doctors OR Naturopaths) everything you are taking! Doctors & Naturopaths – *** ASK people; if not sufficent consulting time – CHANGE it.
Digital Journal – Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca will cut its workforce by 16 percent by 2014, even as it continues to show strong growth in its profits. The company reported $31.6 billion in profits last year, an increase of 6.9 percent over last year. Read Article
The Huffington Post – Antidepressants are supposed to be the magic bullet for curing depression. But are they? I used to think so. As a clinical psychologist, I used to refer depressed clients to psychiatric colleagues to have them prescribed. But over the past decade, researchers have uncovered mounting evidence that they are not. It seems that we have been misled. Depression is not a brain disease, and chemicals don’t cure it. Read Article
Ed. – Remember, there are no ’side-effects’ – only effects – other than the one that the compound was chosen for.
Deutsche welle – European authorities have withdrawn a patent granted to a German firm on an anti-bronchitis drug derived from a South African medicinal plant. Activists say it marks a success in the fight against biopiracy. Spokesman for the European Patent Office in Munich said this week that the patent granted in 2007 to German pharmaceutical company Schwabe to develop the drug did not amount to “a discovery.” The spokesman said the techniques used by the company to extract ingredients from the roots of the Pelargonium sidoides plant native to South Africa to develop a product called umckaloabo were “sufficiently known in advance.” Read Article
The Council of Europe is set to decide whether the World Health Organization colluded with drug companies to exaggerate the threat from swine flu. Propeller The WHO declared the disease a “pandemic”, allegedly after advice from doctors with close links to pharmaceutical companies. Read article
Ed. – Let’s not forget that they changed the (WHO) definition of Pandemic – and most of the world were still using the ‘old’ meaing.
Daily Telegraph – We’ve all known mothers who can whip out a breast, whip on a baby, and lactate like mad – without effort, embarrassment or, in some cases, embonpoint. For me, breastfeeding was a slog: six months of broken nights, screaming and tears (mine, mostly). But I don’t regret a moment. Breastfeeding – if you can – is the cheapest, cleanest and healthiest way to nurture a baby. That’s not just my opinion or that of the World Health Organisation (which recommends breastfeeding for the first six months) – it’s common sense, isn’t it? Read Article
Ed. – So, breast is best. It makes sense. That’s no reason for mums who can’t breastfeed to feel bad: happy, contented Mum => happy, contented baby also makes sense. Living through tortuous breastfeeding, over a sense of guilt, makes no sense at all. Reasons women don’t breastfeed include: 1. health issues/illness/medication, 2. poor role models, lack of support => lack of confidence. Bonding? - you can bond just as well when bottle-feeding your baby, and you can put your feet up too!
Bloomberg — Gilead Sciences Inc. said fourth- quarter profit jumped 43 percent on demand for AIDS drugs and surging royalties from the anti-flu treatment Tamiflu. Net income increased to $802 million, or 87 cents a share, from $560 million, or 59 cents, a year ago. Read Article
Ed – It is in the interests of a corporation to do whatever it must to increase return for shareholders. If that means doing its public relations bit to hype up the swine flu scare, for example, then so be it. Do not be shocked by this psychology, however be aware of it and its influence on the world around you.
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