EPA steps up study of Teflon chemical risk to humans Planet Ark - 15 Apr 2003 An unregulated chemical used in furniture, carpet and Teflon could be a serious health risk to the public, prompting the Environmental Protection Agency this week to launch an in-depth assessment to determine its safety.

Sunlight Converts Common Anti-bacterial Agent To Dioxin Science Daily - 15 Apr 2003 Sunlight can convert triclosan, a common disinfectant used in anti-bacterial soaps, into a form of dioxin, and this process may produce some of the dioxin found in the environment, according to research at ...

Anti-bacterial ingredient can become toxic: study CBC News

Adult stem cells tackle multiple sclerosis New Scientist - 16 Apr 2003

Cancer survivors' heart risk BBC

Exposure to Pesticides Is Lowered When Young Children Go Organic New York Times, By CAROL KAESUK YOON

Bill extending limitations on breast implant suits dead

Sector Standout: Health Care

Mickey Rourke Is Sorry. Very, Very, Very Sorry.

American Society of Plastic Surgeons Reports 2002 Statistics

CDC Tries New Strategies In HIV Battle ATLANTA (AP) -- Saying AIDS prevention efforts have "stalled," the government announced a new strategy Thursday it hopes will sharply increase routine testing of people at risk for the disease.

BOSTON (Harvard School of Public Health) -- A new study by the Harvard School of Public Health Project on the Public and Biological Security finds that although most Americans (73%) knew that the nation was on a high level of alert (orange) against a terrorist attack few developed evacuation plans or made arrangements for "sheltering in place" as recommended by government officials.

35 Probable U.S. SARS Cases, CDC Says ATLANTA (AP) -- About three dozen Americans have probable cases of SARS using the definition of the deadly flu-like disease followed by the rest of the world, federal officials said Thursday.

An Aetna InteliHealth/Harvard Medical School Look At The News -- Adverse Drug Events (Cox News Service) -- Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital have found that adverse drug events occur frequently in adult primary care practices and an estimated 39 percent are preventable or could have been made less serious through proper intervention.

An Aetna InteliHealth/Harvard Medical School Look At The News --- The Death Of Dr. Atkins NEW YORK (AP) -- Robert C. Atkins, the doctor whose best-selling low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet was dismissed as nutritional folly for years but was recently validated in some research, died Thursday, his spokesman said. He was 72. Read the story and comments from a Harvard physician.

Gene Found For Aging Disease In Children WASHINGTON (AP) -- For more than 100 years, scientists have een fascinated and puzzled by a very rare disorder that turns children into old people and causes them to die as teenagers of diseases that usually affect only the elderly.

Study Finds Spike In Sepsis Deaths (Cox News Service) -- The rate of sepsis, an often-fatal immune system reaction to infection, nearly tripled over the past two decades, making it the 10th leading cause of death in the United States, new research finds.

Report: SARS Likely Spread Through Pipes HONG KONG (AP) -- A SARS patient with diarrhea infected other people in a Hong Kong apartment complex as the disease apparently spread into homes through a sewage pipe linked to poorly sealed water drains, an official report said Thursday.

New Virus Confirmed As Source Of SARS LONDON (AP) -- Scientists have confirmed the identity of the virus that causes the lethal new disease known as severe acute respiratory syndrome, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

Accidents With Medication Frequent; Many Preventable (Cox News Service) -- Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital have found that adverse drug events occur frequently in adult primary care practices and an estimated 39 percent are preventable or could have been made less serious through proper intervention.

Study Finds Benefits In Home Care Hiring WASHINGTON (AP) -- People with disabilities who rely on medicaid to pay for help bathing, eating and housecleaning were much happier under an experimental program that let them hire the helpers, a study concludes.

Officials Still Puzzle Over SARS' Source ATLANTA (AP) -- Because the newly revealed genetic code of the suspected SARS virus doesn't have all the answers, health officials said they will have to investigate the flu-like illness the old-fashioned way.

Sudden Death Not Surprising In Many Women DALLAS (American Heart Association) -- Most women who die from an abrupt loss of heart function (called sudden cardiac death) have no prior history of heart disease. However, 94 percent of these women have at least one cardiac risk factor such as smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes or obesity, according to a report.

Hong Kong Officials Launch Investigation After SARS Kills Younger, Fitter Patients HONG KONG (AP) -- Doctors in Hong Kong on Monday started prescribing heavier doses of medicine during the early stages of SARS after the surprise deaths of six relatively young patients with no other illnesses.

Scientists Report Human Genome Progress WASHINGTON (AP) -- Scientists who three years ago said they had virtually completed a map of the human genetic code now report progress in understanding the last few pieces of one of the world's most complex puzzles.

Doctors See Ominous Rise In Adult Form Of Diabetes In Children BOSTON (AP) -- Once a true medical oddity, children with adult diabetes are becoming commonplace in the United States. Doctors blame the twin evils of too much food and too little exercise and fear a tragic upswing in disastrous diabetic complications as this overweight generation reaches adulthood.

Link On Hard Arteries, Vein Clots Found (The Associated Press) -- A study has found a link between hardening of the arteries and blood clots in veins, a discovery that could spur new research on ways to prevent the life- threatening blockages.

Clues Found To Cocaine's Hold On Addicts (The Associated Press) -- Cocaine-addicted rats experience bursts of brain chemical activity just before seeking out their next fix, scientists report in a finding that could open a new avenue for treating human addicts.

An Aetna InteliHealth/Harvard Medical School Look At The News -- The Contraceptive Sponge (USA TODAY) -- Apparently, many men are sponge-worthy, but few, at least for now, will be chosen. Read the story and comments from a Harvard physician.

It's Not The Carbs, It's The Calories, Atkins Plan Analysis Shows (USA TODAY) -- People on low-carb, high-fat diets, such as the popular but controversial Atkins plan, lose weight because they slash calories, not because there's anything miraculous about cutting carbohydrates, according to an analysis out today.

Kids Not The Only Ones Getting Fat From Watching TV (INTELIHEALTH) -- It's not just children who are getting fat by watching a lot of television. A Harvard-based study of more than 50,000 women has found that those who watch the most TV are also most likely to become obese and to develop diabetes.

Over-The-Counter Pain Relievers Effective In Protecting Against Breast Cancer PHILADELPHIA (American Association for Cancer Research) -- Regular use of ibuprofen and aspirin inhibits the formation and growth of breast cancer, according to data published in the Proceedings for the 94th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). The data, taken from the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study, concluded that weekly doses of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) had a significant effect in reducing the risk of breast cancer.

Study: Weight Watchers Dieters Did Best Of All (INTELIHEALTH) -- People who followed the Weight Watchers program lost more weight and kept it off better than participants in a study who received only counseling, researchers reported.

Underactive Thyroid Appears To Reduce Breast Cancer Risk (The Houston Chronicle) -- Houston scientists have found that an underactive thyroid may reduce a woman's chance of developing breast cancer, a discovery that ultimately should lead to new treatment for the disease.

Vaccine For Mystery Illness To Take Years (Cox News Service) -- On a day when cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome climbed to more than 2,600 around the world, U.S. officials said achieving a vaccine against the disease will take several years.

Cases Of SARS May Be Slowing In Guangdong, But No Sign Of Letup In Hong Kong HONG KONG (AP) -- China claimed cases of a mystery flu-like illness were declining in the southern province of Guangdong, the virus' likely birthplace. But infection numbers climbed steadily elsewhere and some Hong Kong experts on Tuesday feared the crisis will only worsen.

CDC Looks To Prod Americans To Exercise WASHINGTON (AP) -- Try to take 10,000 steps a day, Dr. Julie Gerberding advised the congressmen, a mostly graying bunch with a bit of paunch who curiously fingered the beeper-sized step-counters she'd brought them.

New TB Blood Test Shows Promise LONDON (AP) -- Scientists have developed a new diagnostic test for tuberculosis that experts say could help control the disease in the developed world by more accurately detecting infections before people get sick.

WHO: Children's Health Threatened By Environmental Hazards COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) -- The health of the world's children is threatened by environmental hazards, the World Health Organization said Friday.

WHO Scientists Look At Early SARS Cases FOSHAN, China (AP) -- Targeting the origins of a lethal mystery illness, an international medical team reviewed some of the earliest cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome on Friday in hopes of determining how it first spread.

CDC: Mosquito Foggers Don't Up Pesticides ATLANTA (AP) -- A mosquito spraying method that health officials say is central to fighting West Nile virus does not increase pesticide levels in humans, federal officials said.

New TB Blood Test Shows Promise LONDON (AP) -- Scientists have developed a new diagnostic test for tuberculosis that experts say could help control the disease in the developed world by more accurately detecting infections before people get sick.

Drug Found To Delay Alzheimer's Deterioration (The Houston Chronicle) -- A drug that delays mental deterioration in Alzheimer's patients would be the first effective treatment for advanced stages of the brain-robbing disease, according to a study conducted at Houston's Baylor College of Medicine and other centers.

CDC Has Test To Confirm Mystery Illness ATLANTA (AP) -- U.S. health officials said Wednesday they now have a test to determine whether coughing, feverish patients have the mystery illness from Asia.

An Aetna InteliHealth/Harvard Medical School Look At The News -- Another View: Antibiotic Use PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Doctors are being more careful about prescribing antibiotics for common ailments, but when they do, they are turning too often to powerful new superdrugs, a new study says. Read the story and comments from a Harvard physician.

An Aetna InteliHealth/Harvard Medical School Look At The News -- Food Allergies (Journal of Clinical Investigation) -- Food allergies are common in infants in the first 3 years of life, but often decrease in prevalence in older children and adults. One exception is peanut allergy, which affects up to 1.5 million Americans and accounts for nearly 30,000 food-induced allergic reactions documented in emergency departments annually. Read the story and comments from a Harvard physician.

Drug Found To Delay Alzheimer's Deterioration (The Houston Chronicle) -- A drug that delays mental deterioration in Alzheimer's patients would be the first effective treatment for advanced stages of the brain-robbing disease, according to a study conducted at Houston's Baylor College of Medicine and other centers.

CDC Has Test To Confirm Mystery Illness ATLANTA (AP) -- U.S. health officials said Wednesday they now have a test to determine whether coughing, feverish patients have the mystery illness from Asia.

An Aetna InteliHealth/Harvard Medical School Look At The News -- Another View: Antibiotic Use PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Doctors are being more careful about prescribing antibiotics for common ailments, but when they do, they are turning too often to powerful new superdrugs, a new study says. Read the story and comments from a Harvard physician.

An Aetna InteliHealth/Harvard Medical School Look At The News -- Food Allergies (Journal of Clinical Investigation) -- Food allergies are common in infants in the first 3 years of life, but often decrease in prevalence in older children and adults. One exception is peanut allergy, which affects up to 1.5 million Americans and accounts for nearly 30,000 food-induced allergic reactions documented in emergency departments annually. Read the story and comments from a Harvard physician.

Report: City's Heart Attacks Dropped 60 Percent After Public Smoking Ban (INTELIHEALTH) -- Hospital admissions for heart attacks dropped 60 percent for residents of Helena, Mont., after the city banned smoking in public places, one of Helena's two cardiologists reported at a medical conference.

Study: Tamoxifen Could Benefit 2 Million Women WASHINGTON (AP) -- Using tamoxifen in hopes of reventing breast cancer would benefit more than 2.4 million women, the vast majority middle-aged and white, despite the drug's serious side effects, federal researchers reported Tuesday.

Protein May Aid In Diagnosis Of Other Heart Problems (INTELIHEALTH) -- A protein used in the diagnosis of heart failure also may help doctors to identify the highest risk of heart attack, stroke or death in patients with a variety of heart problems -- including those who may need a transplant.

Cancer Drug May Help Sickle Cell Patients CHICAGO (AP) -- A drug that reduces the disabling pain of sickle cell anemia can also significantly lower death rates and should be used by many more patients with the blood disorder, researchers say.

Warning Signs Different For Heart Disease In Women (Cox News Service) -- Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, but many women still don't know this, despite efforts to get the word out.

Cervical Cancer Test May Be Widely Used WASHINGTON (AP) -- Millions more women may soon be tested for the virus that causes most cases of cervical cancer, after a government ruling Monday that allows testing for the virus to become part of every regular Pap smear for women over age 30.

Scientists Alter Smallpox Vaccine To Fight Cancer WASHINGTON (AP) -- The smallpox vaccine may be reborn - as a cancer treatment.

Unusual Nerve Symptoms May Mean West Nile CHICAGO (AP) -- Vision loss, muscle tremors and numbness may be symptoms of the West Nile virus, according to researchers who are warning doctors and patients to be on the lookout as warmer weather and mosquito season approach.

Study: Doctors Overprescribing Superdrugs PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Doctors are being more careful about prescribing antibiotics for common ailments, but when they do, they are turning too often to powerful new superdrugs, a new study says.

Cervical Cancer Test May Be Widely Used WASHINGTON (AP) -- Millions more women may soon be tested for the virus that causes most cases of cervical cancer, after a government ruling Monday that allows testing for the virus to become part of every regular Pap smear for women over age 30.

Scientists Alter Smallpox Vaccine To Fight Cancer WASHINGTON (AP) -- The smallpox vaccine may be reborn - as a cancer treatment.

Unusual Nerve Symptoms May Mean West Nile CHICAGO (AP) -- Vision loss, muscle tremors and numbness may be symptoms of the West Nile virus, according to researchers who are warning doctors and patients to be on the lookout as warmer weather and mosquito season approach.

Study: Doctors Overprescribing Superdrugs PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Doctors are being more careful about prescribing antibiotics for common ailments, but when they do, they are turning too often to powerful new superdrugs, a new study says.

Parkinson's Drug Shows Surprising Results WASHINGTON (AP) -- A preliminary trial to test the safety of a drug in people with Parkinson's disease surprised scientists when all five patients showed measurable improvement.

Expensive New Stents May Save Money CHICAGO (AP) -- Much-anticipated new drug-covered stents, expected to cost three times more than the standard variety, could actually save money in the long run by reducing heart patients' need for expensive repeat angioplasty and bypass surgery, according to a new analysis.

Report: C8 Poses Risk To Women, Girls CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- A common industrial chemical used to produce Teflon and other products may be hazardous to young girls and women of childbearing age, according to an Environmental Protection Agency report obtained and released by an environmental advocacy group.

No Drugs Treat Mystery Illness, U.S. Says ATLANTA (AP) -- U.S. health officials said Saturday that none of the antiviral drugs and other treatment they have tested are effective against a flu-like disease that has killed at least 54 people and sickened nearly 1,500 others around the world.

Experimental Implant Under The Scalp Zaps Away Crippling Headaches WASHINGTON (AP) -- An estimated 20 million Americans suffer severe headaches, and as many as 10 percent of them have intractable head or facial pain. Now a few doctors are exploring how well nerve stimulators implanted in different spots along the head could rid some of that crippling, nerve-caused pain.

Women With Rheumatoid Arthritis Have Marked Risk For Heart Attack DALLAS (American Heart Association) -- Women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have a higher risk of heart attack compared with those without arthritis, according to a study.

Poll Suggests Most Americans Feel No Extra Anxiety Because Of Terror Threat WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than seven in 10 Americans say the threat of terrorism has brought no extra stress or anxiety to their lives, according to a new poll taken after the United States was put on a heightened state of terrorism alert.

Researcher: Innocuous Anthrax From Colorado Used In 1993 Cult Attack In Tokyo DENVER (AP) -- A Japanese cult attacked Tokyo in 1993 with an

innocuous, readily available strain of anthrax sold by a Colorado animal vaccine company, an Arizona researcher said.

Ibuprofen Could Be Bad For Heart Patients LONDON (AP) -- Fresh evidence adds to suspicions that ibuprofen could be dangerous for most heart patients because it can block the blood-thinning benefits of aspirin.

Terror Alerts Bring Parents Anxiety (The Associated Press) -- Parents or not, many Americans have been wondering how to respond to the upgraded alert, which for the first time included detailed emergency-response advice from federal officials. But mothers and fathers say that having responsibility for young children brings a sharp focus to their planning.

An Aetna InteliHealth/Harvard Medical School Look At The News -- Ibuprofen And Heart Patients LONDON (AP) -- Fresh evidence adds to suspicions that ibuprofen could be dangerous for most heart patients because it can block the blood-thinning benefits of aspirin. Read the story and comments from a Harvard physician.

An Aetna InteliHealth/Harvard Medical School Look At The News -- Diuretics And High Blood Pressure (The Associated Press) -- New research appears to contradict a widely publicized study that concluded that cheap, old-fashioned diuretics should be the first drug given to people with high blood pressure. Read the story and comments from a Harvard physician.

New Study Stokes Blood Pressure Debate (The Associated Press) -- New research appears to contradict a widely publicized study that concluded that cheap, old-fashioned diuretics should be the first drug given to people with high blood pressure.

NHLBI Study Finds Possible New Indicator Of Heart Disease Risk BETHESDA, MD (NIH) -- Levels of a type of adult stem cell in the bloodstream may indicate a person's risk of developing cardiovascular disease, according to a study supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD.

An Aetna InteliHealth/Harvard Medical School Look At The News -- Special Pacemakers May Extend Lives CHICAGO (AP) -- Special pacemakers designed to correct a defect that affects close to 2 million heart failure patients in the United States can also prolong their lives, an analysis found. Read the story and comments from a Harvard physician.

Poll: Majority Would Get Smallpox Vaccine WASHINGTON (AP) -- Public anxiety about a possible smallpox attack has not diminished in the past year since the mail attacks with another deadly substance, anthrax, put the nation on edge, an Associated Press poll indicates.

Study: Preemies Intelligence May Improve CHICAGO (AP) -- Neurological damage in very small premature babies may decrease over time, according to research that tracked children through age 8 and found substantial mental gains.

Special Pacemakers May Extend Lives CHICAGO (AP) -- Special pacemakers designed to correct a defect that affects close to 2 million heart failure patients in the United States can also prolong their lives, an analysis found.

Many Promising New AIDS Drugs On The Horizon BOSTON (AP) -- A variety of highly effective new AIDS drugs are on the horizon, experts say, easing worries that the fast- mutating virus will outstrip doctors' ability to treat it.

Once Stable, HIV Infection Rates Appear To Be Rising In USA BOSTON (USA TODAY) -- HIV infection rates in the USA that have remained stable for years now appear to be rising, researchers here reported Tuesday.