Pregnant woman dies after drug packing
Body packing,” the practice of swallowing packets of drugs to traffic across the US border, puts the individual at high risk of a lethal drug overdose if a packet ruptures.
Dr. Dwight R. Cordero and associates at the University of Miami School of Medicine in Florida recently saw a pregnant cocaine body packer in whom a packet ruptured.
The woman died, but the surgeons were able to save the baby.
U.S. panel backs use of Bayer heart surgery drug
Bayer AG’s drug Trasylol provides acceptable safety and effectiveness for preventing blood loss in certain patients undergoing heart bypass surgery, a U.S. advisory panel said on Thursday.
The Food and Drug Administration advisers voted in favor of Trasylol after reviewing data on heart attacks, strokes, kidney damage and allergic reactions in people treated with the drug.
The experts from outside the FDA agreed Trasylol treatment appeared linked to a higher rate of kidney dysfunction but many questioned the validity of research that found a connection to heart attacks and strokes.
Phone-based therapy helpful after miscarriage
Mental health counseling given over the phone may ease some women’s depression symptoms after a miscarriage, a small pilot study suggests.
The therapy was offered to women with “subsyndromal” depression, which is less severe than major clinical depression but still causes significant symptoms—such as sleep disturbances, chronic lack of energy, appetite changes and feelings of hopelessness.
Past studies have shown that women who suffer a miscarriage are at risk not only of major depression, but of the considerably more common subsyndromal depression as well.
