FDA Approves First Retinal Implant For Rare Eye Disease
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first artificial retina, an implanted device that replicates some of the function of the retina, helping to restore vision to people blinded with a rare genetic disorder, the agency said Thursday.
The device, made by privately held Second Sight Medical Products Inc of Sylmar, California, is intended to replace the function of light-sensing cells in the retina destroyed by retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited degenerative disease that ...
Food Addictions (Part 2)
Last week, we discussed the brain’s role in food addiction. To recap: When people were exposed to their favorite foods but not allowed to eat them, an abundance of dopamine surged through the brain. They “hungered” for their food fixes, yet they weren’t hungry at all. This is frighteningly similar to what occurs in the brain of drug abusers after they watch a video of people using cocaine – or, for that matter, receiving any cue that reminds them of a previous addictive pleasure.
As ...
US Health Advocates Ask Gov't For Safe Sugar Limits In Drinks
Anti-obesity advocates who want to curb Americans' sugar habit on Wednesday asked the government to set a safe level for added sugars in soda and other beverages.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), which is leading the regulatory push, has been urging the government take actions to reduce sugar consumption by Americans since the late 1970s.
The consumer group's 54-page regulatory petition filed with the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday is part of a broad public ...
Need Surgery? Good Luck Getting Hospital Cost Info
Want to know how much a hip replacement will cost? Many hospitals won't be able to tell you, at least not right away — if at all. And if you shop around and find centers that can quote a price, the amounts could vary astronomically, a study found.
Routine hip replacement surgery on a healthy patient without insurance may cost as little as $11,000 — or up to nearly $126,000.
That's what researchers found after calling hospitals in every state, 122 in all, asking what a healthy ...
Food Addictions (Part 1)
Do you find yourself eating when you’re not hungry? Do you sometimes feel sluggish or fatigued after overeating? Do giving in to cravings and eating your favorite foods help you reduce negative emotions and increase pleasurable thoughts? As time goes on, does this not work as well as it use to? If you answered to these questions, you might be food addicted. Recent studies and research have shown that different people have addictions to different foods. The biggest culprits are ...
FDA Warns Of Fake Flu Medicine
There's a warning about scammers looking to profit off of the flu epidemic.
The FDA is warning consumers to avoid fraudulent products that claim to prevent, treat or cure the flu.
They include drugs, dietary supplements, teas and air filters that the FDA has not approved.
It says there are no legally marketed over-the-counter drugs to prevent or cure the flu, only to treat its symptoms.
The best way to avoid it is to get a flu shot.
(Source: WABC)
WHO Issues New Guidelines For Salt, Potassium In Diets
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued new guidelines on Thursday recommending that adults consume less salt and include a minimum of potassium in their daily diets so as to reduce risk of heart disease and stroke.
"Adults should consume less than 2,000 mg (2 grams) of sodium, or (less than) 5 grams of salt, and at least 3,510 mg (3.51 grams) of potassium per day," the U.N. agency said in a statement.
Previously the WHO had recommended 2 grams of sodium but the new guidelines added ...
Analysis: Medicare Premium Support Idea Rising From Ashes?
Just months after President Barack Obama's re-election ended Republican hopes of controlling U.S. healthcare policy, one of the most controversial Republican proposals for Medicare is showing signs of rising from the political ashes.
Premium support, a policy idea that would greatly expand the role of private insurers in providing Medicare coverage for hospital and doctor services, was considered dead soon after Republican Mitt Romney's November loss to Obama, when polls showed registered ...
Bills, Bills, Bills Replace The Co-Pay, Sapping Time And Money
Many Americans who visit the doctor this year are in for some unexpected pain.
A growing number, many of them in employer-sponsored health plans, are enrolled in high-deductible health insurance plans that typically have lower premiums but require consumers to pay thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses before coverage kicks in.
The elderly and the very sick have long battled to have medical procedures and prescriptions covered by private insurers and Medicare. But people in ...
Could An Earlier Lunchtime Help You Lose Weight?
Want to lose weight? Eating lunch earlier rather than later may help you out.
Dieters who ate early lunches tended to lose more weight than those who had their midday meal on the later side, according to a Spanish study published in the International Journal of Obesity.
The finding doesn't prove that bumping up your lunch hour will help you shed that extra weight, but it is possible that eating times play a role in how the body regulates its weight, researchers said.
"We should now ...
CDC: More U.S. Adults Need Vaccines, And Not Just For Flu
The flu isn't the only illness adults should be immunized against, U.S. health officials said on Tuesday, as a new study found current adult vaccination rates in the country "unacceptably low."
The report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concluded that a "substantial increase" in adult vaccinations is needed to prevent diseases including pneumonia, tetanus, diphtheria, hepatitis, shingles and whooping cough.
"Far too few adults are getting vaccinated against these ...
CDC: Flu seems to level off except in the West
New government figures show that flu cases seem to be leveling off nationwide. Flu activity is declining in most regions although still rising in the West.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hospitalizations and deaths spiked again last week, especially among the elderly. The CDC says quick treatment with antiviral medicines is important, in particular for the very young or old. The season's first flu case resistant to treatment with Tamiflu was reported Friday.
Eight ...
U.S. Researchers Tracking Flu Through Twitter
Researchers and computer scientists at Johns Hopkins University have devised a way to track cases of influenza across the United States using the microblogging site Twitter.
Twitter is full of tweets about the flu, which has been severe and reached epidemic proportions this year, but it has been difficult to separate tweets about the flu from actual cases.
"We wanted to separate hype about the flu from messages from people who truly become ill," said Mark Dredze, an assistant research ...
US Mental Health Experts Urge Focus On Early Treatment
The U.S. mental health system has huge gaps that prevent millions of people with psychological problems, including children and teens, from receiving effective treatment that could prevent tragic consequences, experts told U.S. lawmakers on Thursday.
Just over a month after the shooting rampage in Newtown, Connecticut, experts told a Senate hearing that three-quarters of mental illnesses emerge by age 24, but fewer than one in five youths with diagnosable problems receive treatment that ...
Choosing a Doctor
With our constantly changing medical system, how does one choose a primary care physician? What does one take into account when making this very important decision?
44,000 to 98,000 deaths annually from medical errors (Institute of Medicine)
225,000 deaths annually from medical errors including 106,000 deaths due to "nonerror adverse events of medications" (Starfield)
180,000 deaths annually from medication errors and adverse reactions (Holland)
2.9 to 3.7 percent of ...
U.S. Government Investment Gives Flu Vaccines A Shot In The Arm
As early as next year, more modern and more effective vaccines will hit the market, thanks to investments by the U.S. government and pharmaceutical companies. And even bigger scientific advances are expected in the next decade, including a "universal" flu vaccine given every five to 10 years that would fight many strains of a virus, making annual shots all but obsolete.
Experts say it could take eight to 10 more years of testing before a universal flu vaccine would be ready. Meanwhile, they ...
Flu Remains Widespread In US; Eases In Some Areas
Flu remains widespread in the United States and 29 children have died of complications from it, but there are signs the epidemic is easing, U.S. health officials said on Friday.
For the week ended Jan. 12, 48 states reported widespread influenza, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Many parts of the country are still seeing high and in some parts, increasing levels of activity while overall activity is beginning to go down," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the ...
RSS