The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed recommendations to Congress for the next reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee program which, if adopted, would significantly broaden and upgrade the agency’s drug safety program, increase resources for review of television drug advertising, and facilitate more efficient development of safe and effective new medications for the American public.
Tests on volunteers showed that black tea significantly improves the ability of the arteries to relax and expand, but adding milk completely blunts the effect. Supporting tests on rat aortas (aortic rings) and endothelial (lining) cells showed that tea relaxed the aortic rings by producing nitric oxide, which promotes dilation of blood vessels. But, again, adding milk blocked the effect.
Breast cancer patients who pray in online support groups can obtain mental health benefits, according to a new study conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center of Excellence in Cancer Communications Research that was funded by the National Cancer Institute.
The New York City trans fat ban is a step in the right direction, but the regulation that requires some restaurants to display calories as prominently as price is just as important. Also missing in the discussion? Replacing trans fat will saturated fat would be problematic.
Survey Finds Federal Workers Share Poor Retirement Planning With All Workers, but Have More Savings:
A study published in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society finds that moderate alcohol intake (1-2 drinks/day for 3-6 days/week, depending on alcoholic content) may lead to increased quality of life and survival in older women. The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health followed nearly 12,000 women in their 70’s over a six-year period. The group was comprised of non-drinkers, occasional drinkers and moderate drinkers.
A University of Illinois at Chicago study has been stopped early due to dramatic preliminary results indicating that medical circumcision reduces the risk of acquiring HIV during heterosexual intercourse by 53 percent.
In a study to be published in the January 2007 issue of the FASEB Journal, scientists from Europe countries describe how the anti-cancer effects of olive oil may account for the significant difference in cancer rates among Northern and Southern Europeans. This conclusion is based on the outcomes of volunteers from Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy and Spain, who consumed 25 milliliters (a little less than a quarter cup) of olive oil every day for three weeks.
Running and jumping during childhood is more than child’s play, it provides lifelong benefits for future bone health and appears to reduce the risk of fractures later in life according to a Journal of Bone and Mineral Research study by Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) researchers.
Differential cost-sharing approaches in employee health benefits encourage use of preventive care services while controlling a firm?s overall health-care costs, according to a study published recently in Health Affairs by researchers at Yale School of Medicine.