Mental ills impede smoking cessation in pregnancy
Depression and other psychiatric problems may make it tougher for women to quit smoking during pregnancy, according to a new study.
About one in four women stop smoking on their own when they find they’re pregnant. For the rest, some respond to help with quitting, but most do not, Dr. Louise H. Flick of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and colleagues note in the American Journal of Public Health.
People with mental health problems are known to be more likely to smoke, they add, and recent research suggests that cigarette smoking may be a form of self-medication.
Whole grains cut diabetes risk for black women
Black women who eat plenty of magnesium-rich foods, especially whole grains, may lower their risk of developing type 2 diabetes, new research shows.
African Americans are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than whites, Dr. Rob M. van Dam of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and colleagues note in their report in Diabetes Care. Some studies suggest, they add, that calcium and magnesium may help lower type 2 diabetes risk, but this research has been done in predominantly white populations.
To investigate whether intake of these minerals might be tied to diabetes risk among black individuals as well, the researchers looked at 41,186 women participating in the Black Women’s Health Study. None of them had diabetes at the study’s outset, but 1,964 developed type 2 diabetes during eight years of follow-up.
U.S. OKs use of Genentech’s Avastin in lung cancer
U.S. regulators agreed to expand the use of Genentech Inc.’s drug Avastin, now used against colon cancer, to include treatment of the most common type of lung cancer, the company said on Wednesday.
Avastin, the first drug designed to starve tumors of blood and nutrients, was approved as an initial treatment, in combination with chemotherapy, for patients with non-small cell lung cancer.
The FDA nod, while expected, “is a billion-dollar-plus opportunity for Genentech,” said Mike King, an analyst at Rodman & Renshaw.
Aggression drugs little help in Alzheimer’s: study
Antipsychotic drugs commonly used to treat Alzheimer’s patients with delusions, aggression and other symptoms may help some patients but cause too many side effects to be truly useful, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.
The drugs are given to quiet agitated and hard-to-handle Alzheimer’s patients and include olanzapine, made by Eli Lilly and Co. under the brand name Zyprexa, quetiapine, made by AstraZeneca under the brand name Seroquel, and Johnson & Johnson’s risperidone, sold as Risperdal.
“The antipsychotic medications may be effective against some symptoms in Alzheimer’s patients compared to placebo, but their tendency to cause intolerable adverse side effects in this vulnerable population offsets their benefits,” said Dr. Lon Schneider of the University of Southern California, who led the study.
U.S. weighs emergency research without consent
Emergency medical research without patient consent should be allowed in some cases where quick treatment is critical and getting permission is difficult or impossible, researchers on Wednesday told U.S. officials who are reconsidering the rules for such studies.
The issue gained new attention this year when the Food and Drug Administration was criticized for letting Northfield Laboratories Inc. study an experimental blood substitute, PolyHeme, in trauma patients without getting their permission first.
Several emergency medicine and trauma specialists, who dominated the speakers at an FDA public meeting on the issue, said waiving the consent requirement was needed in some cases.
Early lead exposure linked to teens’ injury risk
Teenagers whose blood levels of lead were relatively high as children may be more prone to falls and injuries, a preliminary study suggests.
The findings, reported in the Journal of Adolescent Health, may add to the list of health consequences of childhood lead exposure. The toxic metal is already known to be particularly dangerous for young children and fetuses, as even low-level exposure can damage the developing brain and cause learning and behavioral problems.
Based on what’s known about the metal’s effects on the nervous system, it’s possible that lead exposure could affect children’s long-term injury risk by harming their balance, coordination and other neuromuscular skills, according to the authors of the new study.
