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AP Health NewsBrief at 3:21 a.m. EST
(AP Online Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) FTC tosses guidance on tar, nicotine in cigarettesWASHINGTON (AP) _ The cigarette industry for 42 years has made factual claims about tar and nicotine levels based on machine testing blessed by the Federal Trade Commission. Now the FTC has dropped the test, known as the Cambridge Filter Method, like a hot rock.
Calls for national infant formula recall spreadDisclosure that laboratory tests have detected traces of contamination in several major brands of infant formula generated concern and confusion Wednesday, with a national consumer's group and the Illinois attorney general demanding a Food and Drug Administration recall and the federal agency saying it had released inaccurate information on what chemicals were found in which top selling products. As worried parents called manufacturers looking for guidance about the presence of melamine and a key byproduct in U.S.-made formula, the FDA reiterated its position that the baby food is safe and parents should continue feeding it to their babies, contending the extremely low levels of contamination do not present a health danger.
Patient-led drug trials defy medical establishmentCLAREMONT, Calif. (AP) _ Until last year, Alan Felzer was an energetic engineering professor who took the stairs to his classes two steps at a time. Now the 64-year-old grandfather sits strapped to a wheelchair, able to move little but his left hand, his voice a near-whisper. Felzer suffers from ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The fatal neurological disorder steals the body's ability to move, speak and ultimately to breathe. But rather than succumb to despair along with his illness, Felzer turned to the Web to become his own medical researcher _ and his own guinea pig.
Brain scans show root of memory glitch with agingNEW YORK (AP) _ Brain scans of older people in a noisy lab machine give biological backing to the idea that distraction hampers memory with aging, researchers reported Wednesday. The finding bolsters a theory about one reason why memory weakens with age: older people have more trouble remembering some things because they're more easily distracted when they try to learn them.
Encouraging dip in rate of new cancers, deathsWASHINGTON (AP) _ The rate of new cancer cases finally may be inching down _ cautiously optimistic news but a gain that specialists worry could be derailed by economic turmoil. Death rates from cancer have been dropping slowly for years, thanks to earlier detection and better treatments. But preventing cancer is the ultimate goal, and Tuesday's annual "Report to the Nation" on cancer also shows a small but encouraging change: The rate of new diagnoses among men dropped 1.8 percent a year between 2001 and 2005. For women, the dip was just over half a percent a year.
Separation planned for Oklahoma conjoined twinsOKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A set of 1-month-old girls believed to be the first known American Indian conjoined twins are doing well and will be separated, doctors say. Preslee Faith and Kylee Hope Wells were born Oct. 25 and are joined at the liver and rib cage, said David Tuggle, a pediatric surgeon who will be involved in the separation.
Germ alert: Steer clear of flatbed chicken trucksATLANTA (AP) _ You've heard about the chicken that crossed the road. But have you heard the one about the chickens traveling down the road? It's no laughing matter. Crates of chickens being trucked along the highway in the back of an open truck can shoot a bunch of nasty bacteria into the cars behind them, researchers have found. Drivers stuck behind such a truck should "pass them quickly," advised study co-author Ana Rule, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University.
Livers go to sickest, access for blacks improvesCHICAGO (AP) _ Blacks waiting for a liver transplant used to be more likely to die compared to whites. Now they have the same chance of getting a life-saving organ under a nationwide system that puts the sickest patients first, a new study found. Racial differences disappeared when the old system was scrapped in 2002, according to the federally funded study, the first assessment of how blacks fared after the change.
Study says HIV could be eliminated in a decadeLONDON (AP) _ The virus that causes AIDS could theoretically be eliminated in a decade if all people living in countries with high infection rates are regularly tested and treated, according to a new mathematical model. It is an intriguing solution to end the AIDS epidemic. But it is based on assumptions rather than data, and is riddled with logistical problems. The research was published online Tuesday in the medical journal, The Lancet.
To some psychiatric patients, life seems like TVNEW YORK (AP) _ One man showed up at a federal building, asking for release from the reality show he was sure was being made of his life. Another was convinced his every move was secretly being filmed for a TV contest. A third believed everything _ the news, his psychiatrists, the drugs they prescribed _ was part of a phony, stage-set world with him as the involuntary star, like the 1998 movie "The Truman Show." Researchers have begun documenting what they dub the "Truman syndrome," a delusion afflicting people who are convinced that their lives are secretly playing out on a reality TV show. Scientists say the disorder underscores the influence pop culture can have on mental conditions.
Copyright ? 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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