Silicone breast implants given the OK by the FDA
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. has lifted a ban on the use of silicone breast implants.
But the removal of the 14 year ban carries the proviso that the implants be studied for side effects on 40,000 women for a 10 year period.
The FDA says a number of independent studies have failed to find evidence that the silicone breast implants caused tissue damage or cancer, but nevertheless safety concerns continue to worry some.
Studies fault hospital procedures in infections
Hospital practices are more to blame than how sick a person is for infections acquired by patients while they are in the hospital; researchers reported on Monday, urging medical centers to do more to curb these infections.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month estimated that infections acquired inside U.S. hospitals kill 90,000 people annually and urges hospitals to do more to track and prevent the infections.
Jury out on weight loss effects of dance game
A dance video game can help overweight kids burn calories and get their hearts pumping faster, but it’s not clear that this sort of workout is enough to help them lose weight and become more fit.
The popular video game, Dance Dance Revolution, consists of a game pad with sensor arrows, which the player child stands on while the screen gives instructions on where to step, in rhythm with the music.
Dr. V. B. Unnithan of Liverpool Hope University in Liverpool, UK and colleagues set out to determine whether playing the dance video game would be beneficial to obese and normal-weight children, especially given that heaver and less-fit kids expend more energy when they do weight-bearing exercise than their normal weight, more active peers.
Free Viagra spices up small town life
The mayor of a small Brazilian town has begun handing out free Viagra, spicing up the sex lives of dozens of elderly men and their partners.
“Since we started the free distribution of sexual stimulants, our elderly population changed. They’re much happier,” said Joao de Souza Luz, the mayor of Novo Santo Antonio, a small town in the central state of Mato Grosso.
