The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first combination vaccine that provides a booster immunization against pertussis (whooping cough) in combination with tetanus and diphtheria for adolescents. The vaccine will be marketed as Boostrix by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in Philadelphia, Pa.
The poor are most likely to be fat, but the more affluent are closing the gap. Obesity is growing fastest among Americans who make more than $60,000 a year, researchers reported.
The U.S. Agriculture Department will discard its nearly 15-year-old Food Guide Pyramid, blamed by some nutritionists for the country’s growing childhood obesity problem, and unveil a new food guide symbol to encourage healthy eating.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new prescription treatment for gingivitis, a common gum disease that affects most adults at some point in their lives. The Decapinol Oral Rinse treats gingivitis by reducing the number of bacteria that attach to tooth surfaces and cause dental plaque. Decapinol is approved for use in persons 12 years of age or older when routine oral hygiene is not adequate to prevent gingivitis. Decapinol is not recommended for use by pregnant women.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today issued a public health advisory to alert health care providers, patients, and patient caregivers to new safety information concerning an unapproved (i.e., off-label) use of certain drugs called atypical antipsychotic drugs. These drugs are approved for the treatment of schizophrenia and mania, but clinical studies of these drugs to treat behavioral disorders in elderly patients with dementia have shown a higher death rate associated with their use compared to patients receiving a placebo (sugar pill).
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new product to protect against leakage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) after brain surgery.
Telemedicine is composed of the Greek word teae (tele) meaning distance and the Latin word mederi meaning healing and literally meaning distance healing. It is therefore the delivery of Medicine at a distance.
Guillian Barre syndrome (GBS) is the commonest acute polyneuropathy. GBS is an acute, frequently severe, and fulminant polyradiculoneuropathy that is autoimmune in nature. It occurs year-round at a rate of about one case per million per month .It develops 1- 4 weeks after viral infection in 70% patients and more rarely follows surgery or immunisation. Pathologically there is demyelination of spinal roots or peripheral nerves which is certainly immunologically mediated.
A treatment called deep brain stimulation has proven effective in controlling Parkinson’s disease symptoms, but doctors have long debated which areas of the brain should be stimulated to produce the best results.
Biotech company Genentech Inc. and Swiss drug maker Roche Holding AG said that an interim analysis of clinical trial data showed that cancer treatment Avastin met its primary endpoint of increasing survival rates in breast cancer patients.