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AP Health NewsBrief at 5:37 p.m. EDT
(AP Online Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) US panel endorses 2nd vaccine for kids' virusATLANTA (AP) _ A federal advisory panel has endorsed a second vaccine to combat a common and potentially fatal virus that causes diarrhea and vomiting in children. The new two-dose vaccine for infants, made by GlaxoSmithKline, was licensed by the Food and Drug Administration in April. The vaccine advisory committee agreed Wednesday that it should be added to the recommended vaccines for infants, as well as the three-dose vaccine made by Merck & Co. and approved in 2006.
Health insurance lags most in Southwest, CDC saysATLANTA (AP) _ The Southwest has the lowest health insurance coverage in the country, with 30 percent of non-elderly adults and 18 percent of children uninsured, according to a new government study. New England _ with a rate of uninsured people less than half that of the Southwest _ has the largest proportion of its population covered, the study found.
Scientists identify possible Alzheimer's geneNEW YORK (AP) _ Scientists have identified a gene that may raise the risk of getting the most common kind of Alzheimer's disease by about 45 percent in people who inherit a certain form of it. That form of the gene appears to hamper a brain cell's ability to take in calcium, researchers said. If drugs can be found that reverse its effect, they may be useful in fighting Alzheimer's, researchers said.
CDC: About 8 percent of Americans have diabetesATLANTA (AP) _ The number of Americans with diabetes has grown to about 24 million people, or roughly 8 percent of the U.S. population, the government said Tuesday. A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on data from 2007, said the number represents an increase of about 3 million over two years. The CDC estimates another 57 million people have blood sugar abnormalities called pre-diabetes, which puts people at increased risk for the disease.
Wireless hospitals systems can disrupt med devicesCHICAGO (AP) _ Wireless systems used by many hospitals to keep track of medical equipment can cause potentially deadly breakdowns in lifesaving devices such as breathing and dialysis machines, researchers reported Tuesday in a study that warned hospitals to conduct safety tests. Some of the microchip-based "smart" systems are touted as improving patient safety, but a Dutch study of equipment _ without the patients _ suggests the systems could actually cause harm.
Brain injuries cause half of seniors' fall deathsATLANTA (AP) _ The elderly fear breaking a hip when they fall, but a government study indicates that hitting their head can also have deadly consequences: Brain injuries account for half of all deaths from falls. The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the first comprehensive national look at the role brain injuries play in fatal elderly falls. It examined 16,000 deaths in 2005 that listed unintentional falls as an underlying cause of death.
Lack of sunshine vitamin may cloud survival oddsCHICAGO (AP) _ New research linking low vitamin D levels with deaths from heart disease and other causes bolsters mounting evidence about the "sunshine" vitamin's role in good health. Patients with the lowest blood levels of vitamin D were about two times more likely to die from any cause during the next eight years than those with the highest levels, the study found. The link with heart-related deaths was particularly strong in those with low vitamin D levels.
Salmonella can ride water into tomatoesWASHINGTON (AP) _ Pick a tomato in the blazing sun and plunge it straight into cold water. If that happened on the way to market, it might be contaminated. Too big of a temperature difference can make a tomato literally suck water inside the fruit through the scar where its stem used to be. If salmonella happens to be lurking on the skin, that's one way it can penetrate and, if the tomato isn't eaten right away, have time to multiply. That doesn't mean people shouldn't wash their tomatoes _ they should, just probably not in cold water.
New clue to Alzheimer's foundWASHINGTON (AP) _ Researchers have uncovered a new clue to the cause of Alzheimer's disease. The brains of people with the memory-robbing form of dementia are cluttered with a plaque made up of beta-amyloid, a sticky protein. But there long has been a question whether this is a cause of the disease or a side effect. Also involved are tangles of a protein called tau; some scientists suspect this is the cause.
Report compares costs of animal disease outbreakWASHINGTON (AP) _ The government acknowledged that an outbreak of one of the most contagious animal diseases from any of five locations being considered for a new high-security laboratory _ an event it considered highly unlikely _ would be more devastating to the U.S. economy than an outbreak from the isolated island lab where such research is now conducted. The 1,005-page Homeland Security Department study, released Friday, calculated that economic losses in an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease could surpass $4 billion if the lab were built near livestock herds in Kansas or Texas, two options the Bush administration is considering. That would be roughly $1 billion higher than the government's estimate of losses blamed on a hypothetical outbreak from its existing laboratory on Plum Island, N.Y.
Copyright ? 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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