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, April 13 — A new option to repair a difficult-to-manage bulging artery in the brain has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Such a bulge, called an aneurysm, can grow and eventually burst. This can lead to a brain hemorrhage and even death.

Aneurysms larger than 10 millimeters, or those of an odd shape, often are difficult to treat. The cPAX Aneurysm Treatment System uses a special polymer to line the artery around the aneurysm, reducing the risk of rupture, the FDA said in a news release.

The system was approved under the agency’s Humanitarian Device Exemption, which makes devices available for conditions affecting fewer than 4,000 people annually. The system was evaluated in small pair of clinical studies involving 43 people, the FDA said.

The cPAX system was approved for people 22 and older. It shouldn’t be used in people with an active infection or among those who can’t undergo anti-clotting therapy, the agency said.

The system is manufactured by Neurovasx Inc., of Maple Grove, Minn.

More information

The FDA has more about this approval.

TUESDAY, April 12 — Many smokers in western nations still incorrectly believe that certain types of cigarettes, such as “mild” and “low tar” brands, are less of a health risk than others, a new study shows.

Researchers surveyed more than 8,000 smokers in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, and found that about one-fifth of them wrongly believed that “some cigarettes could be less harmful than others.”

The study also found that many smokers incorrectly believed that slim cigarettes are less harmful, smooth-tasting cigarettes are less risky than hard-tasting cigarettes, filters reduce risk, and nicotine is responsible for most of the cancers caused by cigarettes.

The findings were published April 12 in the journal Addiction.

The researchers noted that more than 50 countries have banned the use of labels such as “light,” “mild” and “low tar” on cigarettes. In response, some companies have changed their “light” cigarettes to “silver” and “gold” brands. For example, Marlboro Lights have become Marlboro Gold. A large percentage of smokers now equate those colors with low-risk cigarettes, said the study authors.

“The findings highlight the deceptive potential of ‘slim’ cigarette brands targeted primarily at young women. The findings also support the potential health benefits of plain packaging regulations that will soon take effect in Australia, under which all cigarettes will be sold in packages with the same plain color, without graphics or logos,” study co-author Dr. David Hammond said in a journal news release.

More information

The American Cancer Society has more about smoking, tobacco and health.

Pregnancy Test:

Home pregnancy tests detect a pregnancy by the presence of the Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) hormone ? a glycoprotein hormone that’s produced by the placenta soon after fertilization takes location – in a woman’s urine. The hCG hormone is present in very small and at times undetectable amounts inside the urine in the course of the initial stages of the pregnancy, so in the event you are making use of a residence pregnancy test kit to find out in the event you are pregnant, you should preferably carry out the test at the very least 8 days soon after conception or right after you have missed a period. House pregnancy tests, so lengthy you follow their instructions precisely, might be as much as 99 percent accurate.

False Positive Pregnancy Test:
Sometimes the pregnancy test could come out positive, when, in reality, you aren’t pregnant. This really is what exactly is referred to as a false positive pregnancy test. A false positive pregnancy test just isn’t quite typical, and you’ll find several factors why it may possibly occur.

Causes behind a False Positive Pregnancy Test:

Taking the pregnancy test at the wrong time:
As mentioned, pregnancy is detected by the presence of the Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) hormone and this hormone is present in quite low levels for the duration of the initial stages of pregnancy. So in the event you test too early, the test could fail to detect the hCG and give the wrong result. The hCH hormone may also occasionally be produced by tissues other than the placenta and so a woman who is not pregnant may get a positive result. It’s advisable to wait at least eight days prior to taking a pregnancy test and testing the very first urine of the day, as this has hCG in concentrated amounts. Or you can get a test carried out each and every two days ? if you are pregnant, the hCG level will show a steady enhance.

Improper testing:
It is needed to read ‘how-to’ instructions cautiously when using a house pregnancy test kit and to follow them appropriately. Most tests demand you to read the result only inside a specified time period, and it really is quite crucial which you follow this instruction, making use of a clock to record the time to be absolutely accurate. Not checking within the specified time or checking following the time frame has elapsed can lead to the wrong result.

Evaporation line:
When urine is tested in some property pregnancy tests and the test is positive, the urine typically changes color as well as a colored line shows up within the testing strip area. You need to check for this line in the specified time, which may possibly be around five minutes soon after testing. If you do not check in time, the urine within the test location can dry up and give rise to an evaporation line. Evaporation lines could also arise because of a certain type of urine composition. In any case, the evaporation line shows up as a colorless or perhaps a light grey line that will be observed very faintly or only if held up within the light to be noticed, and is mistakenly taken as a positive test result. If an evaporation line shows with all the test, you ought to retest once more in every day or two days for a correct result.

Chemical Pregnancy:
Many females turn into pregnant and then miscarry extremely early on ? based on investigation, this seems to be a widespread phenomenon with numerous first-time pregnancies. This early miscarriage is named a Chemical Pregnancy. So a woman may get a positive result from her home pregnancy test after which miscarry.

Influence of medication or well being troubles on the property pregnancy test:
If you are on any medication that contains the hCG hormone, it will have an effect on your pregnancy test and give out a false positive pregnancy test result. Women who’re undergoing fertility treatments ought to especially keep this in mind. So it is important to speak to your doctor both just before and right after you do a residence pregnancy test and go for a thorough check-up.

Defective pregnancy test:
Before acquiring a house pregnancy test kit, remember to check the expiration date on the pack. You will not get correct test outcomes from a pack that’s expired, which may possibly sound obvious, but in some situations needs to be stated. There is also a opportunity that the test kit might be a defective one, leading once more to the wrong test outcomes.

If you believe you might have made a mistake inside the testing, you ought to get an additional pregnancy test done following two or much more days. Do not depend wholly on the residence pregnancy test kit outcomes though, whatever the result. Go to your doctor and have a blood test for pregnancy. This is significantly a lot more accurate.

, April 13 — A hormone called ghrelin enhances the nose’s ability to sniff out food, researchers report.

It was already known that ghrelin promotes hunger and fat storage. The new study suggests that the hormone may increase the ability to use smell to detect food and link that input with the body’s natural regulation of metabolism and body weight, said University of Cincinnati scientists.

The study, which included experiments with humans and rats, appears in the April 13 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. It was led by Dr. Jenny Tong and Dr. Matthias Tschop, both of the university’s endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism division.

“Smell is an integral part of feeding, and mammals frequently rely on smell to locate food and discriminate among food sources. Sniffing is the first stage of the smell process and can enhance odor detection and discrimination,” Tong said in a university news release.

“Other studies have shown that hunger can enhance odor detection and sniffing in animals,” Tschop added in the release. “Since ghrelin is a hunger-inducing stomach hormone that is secreted when the stomach is empty, this hormone pathway may also be responsible for the hunger-induced enhancement of sniffing and odor detection.”

The researchers plan further research to identify the exact molecular pathways through which ghrelin affects sniff behavior.

More information

The U.K.-based Social Issues Research Center has more about the sense of smell.

— People who are lactose-intolerant can’t digest a sugar found in milk.

Could your child be among them? The American Academy of Pediatrics says signs of trouble digesting lactose may include:

Having stomach cramps.Feeling bloated.Complaining of gas.Feeling nauseated.Having diarrhea.

Symptoms usually begin within 30 minutes to 2 hours of drinking milk, the academy says.

The human physique is complex, and its working mechanism is much more complex. It’s challenging to know the number of chemical processes taking location inside the body. A lot depends on the timings of what’s happening inside. Especially detection of pregnancy. You’re preparing to raise your family and are eager to know whether or not you will be pregnant or not. You’ll be able to answer your own question by performing a tiny test with all the aid of a pregnancy test kit. Do you know the very best time to take a pregnancy test? If not, then read on.

When may be the Greatest Time to Take a Pregnancy Test?
The very initial indication of pregnancy may be the delay of menstruation. The top time to take a pregnancy test will be the 1st or the second day of the due date of one’s menses. Medical practitioners carry out a blood test for detection. You may also conduct a pregnancy test at home. Residence pregnancy test kits are accessible in medical stores. The test taken using the really very first morning urine provides one of the most accurate result.

Do Pregnancy Test Results Depend on the “Best Time”?
A glycoprotein hormone referred to as human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is produced by the fertilized ovum in the uterus, soon right after conception. The hormone hCG is present within the urine. The detection of the presence of hCG within the urine is the basis of a home pregnancy test (HPT) kit. On an typical, the formation of hCG occurs following six days of conception or sexual intercourse. The number of days is not fixed and varies from woman to woman. For that reason, it truly is advisable to take a pregnancy test following seven to ten days of doable conception. Birth control pills don’t alter the result.

If the result is negative, take an additional test in a week or so. This may confirm the result. Don’t rely totally on the HPT as the results are not 100% accurate. Whatever the result, positive or negative, make it a point to pay a visit to a medical practitioner to obtain it confirmed.

During the first stage of pregnancy, the hCG level rises quite quickly. The hCG quantity nearly doubles each and every day. A greater level of hCG gets detected easily. As a result, as time goes by, the accuracy of the result increases. This was much more true for older test kits. Newly developed HPT kits are sensitive enough to detect even lower hCG concentrations and can supply a positive test really early.

The sensitivity of the HPT differs from kit to kit. HPT kits are designed to detect hCG concentration in urine. Some can show outcomes having a concentration of as low as 20 ml per liter of urine, while some may even want 150 ml per liter of urine to give a result. Certainly, the former one is much more sensitive. Typically, the sensitivity is written on the box of the kit. So the results can vary depending on the kit you might have purchased.

For the majority of the HPT kits, the reliability varies from 95% to 99%. Truly, reliability depends on the regardless of whether or not the test has been performed under ‘optimum circumstances’. The directions are offered on the HPT kit box. Read and follow it cautiously. Make it a point to carry out pregnancy testing with all the very first urine sample within the morning. If you test at any time throughout day, stay away from drinking lots of water ahead of it. Leave the kit once you have put urine into it. Check right after the suggested time period. Do repeat the test right after 3 to five days, just to confirm the result.

Depending upon the working and sensitivity of pregnancy test kits, the very best time to take a pregnancy test is seven to ten days soon after sexual intercourse. It is going to provide you with probably the most accurate result. After learning about hCG production, its concentration, and the detection basis of an HPT, I’m positive you’ve a better notion of when to take a pregnancy test.

— People with diabetes may develop sores (ulcers) on the feet that may not heal quickly or easily.

The American Podiatric Medical Association suggests how to help promote healing and prevent infection of diabetic foot ulcers:

Try to avoid applying pressure to the sore.Have dead skin around the wound removed.Keep the wound clean and apply medication as needed.Control blood glucose levels.Don’t walk barefoot.Protect the ulcer with a dressing or bandage.

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Catherine Zeta-Jones Treated for Bipolar Disorder

Catherine Zeta-Jones, the actress and wife of actor Michael Douglas, was recently treated for bipolar disorder, her publicist said .

“After dealing with the stress of the past year, Catherine made the decision to check in to a mental health facility for a brief stay to treat her Bipolar II disorder,” her publicist said in a statement. “She’s feeling great and looking forward to starting work this week on her two upcoming films.”

Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness marked by dramatic mood swings. People with the disorder can alternate from energetic “highs” to episodes of feeling hopeless and sad, and then back again. They often have normal moods in between. Bipolar disorder can run in families, and it usually starts in late adolescence or early adulthood, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Bipolar II disorder is not as severe as bipolar I.

Zeta-Jones, 41, was outspoken about her anger after Douglas, 66, was diagnosed with throat cancer in August 2010, ABC News reported. “It makes me furious they didn’t detect it earlier,” Zeta-Jones told People magazine. “He sought every option and nothing was found.”

Zeta-Jones and Douglas were married in 2000, and they have two children together, Dylan Michael Douglas and Carys Zeta Douglas, ABC News reported.

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Support for Health Care Law Falls: Poll

Support for the new U.S. health care law is at its lowest level since the law was passed last year, a new poll finds.

Support for expansion of health insurance coverage stands at 35 percent, opposition at 45 percent, and 17 percent are neutral, according to the Associated Press-GfK survey. Among seniors, support dropped below 30 percent for the first time.

Concerns about federal budget deficits caused by high health care costs appear to be a major reason for the drop in support for the health care law, the Associated Press reported.

On Tuesday, Medicare chief Donald Berwick said the health care law requires more time and also said a Republican plan to deal with health care costs is “unfair and harmful.”

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Long-Term Studies of Japanese Public Health Needed: WHO

Public health in Japan may need to be studied for up to 20 years after the catastrophe at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, says the World Health Organization.

But there is no current risk to public health outside the 30-kilometer exclusion zone around the damaged facility, according to Maria Neira, WHO director of public health and environment, Agence France-Presse reported.

“It’s clear that this 30-kilometer area provides the best shield for the protection of the population,” she said, but added that the WHO is also beginning to think about potential future health consequences of the nuclear crisis.

“We need to start to put the basis for the studies that need to be conducted for the next 10 to 20 years,” Neira said. “It may be too early because we are still in the very acute phase of detection for human health but we are discussing with Japan.”

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OHSA Warns of Formaldehyde in Hair Straightening Products

A hair straightening and smoothing product called Brazilian Blowout can release harmful levels of formaldehyde, which was also found in other products labeled “formaldehyde-free,” warns the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

In its hazard alert for hair salon workers and owners, the OSHA said air monitoring tests of salons found high levels of formaldehyde that in some cases exceeded federal standards, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Formaldehyde — a strong smelling gas that is considered a health hazard — can cause allergic reactions in the skin, eyes lungs and has been linked to nose and lung cancer.

A number of countries have pulled Brazilian Blowout off the market. In the U.S., some state agencies have already issued warnings about the product, the Tribune reported.

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FDA Fails to Ensure Safety of Medical Devices: GAO

Dozens of high-risk medical devices that have not undergone rigorous testing are being approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, even though the agency has promised to tighten its regulatory process, the U.S. Government Accountability Office says.

The GAO warned this lack of oversight is putting patients at risk, The New York Times reported. The office is the investigative arm of Congress.

While the FDA has taken some recent measures to establish whether some high-risk medical devices such as artificial hips should have to undergo more testing before being approved for sale in the U.S., the agency continues to approve dozens of such devices every year with limited review, according to the GAO.

The concerns are to be outlined by an GAO official who is scheduled to testify at a hearing before the Senate Special Committee on Aging. The committee will also hear preliminary GAO findings about deficiencies in how the FDA oversees recalls of defective medical devices, The Times reported.

Patient advocates and industry representatives will also testify at the hearing.

FDA officials had not seen the GAO testimony and therefore could not respond directly to it, agency spokeswoman Karen Riley told The Times. FDA officials plan to testify at the hearing, she added.

The Senate committee will look at a number of issues. It’s believed one of them will be the approval and marketing of a now-recalled artificial hip known as the Articular Surface Replacement, sold by Johnson & Johnson.

The FDA approved the artificial hip without requiring Johnson & Johnson to conduct clinical trials of the device. In some cases, the device began disintegrating a few years after implantation, releasing metallic debris that left some patients crippled, The Times reported.

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More Americans Suffering Medicine-Related Illness, Injury: Report

The number of people treated in U.S. hospitals after taking or being given the wrong medicine or dosage rose 52 percent between 2004 and 2008, from 1.2 million to 1.9 million, a federal government report says.

Among the more than 838,000 people who were treated and released from emergency departments after suffering medicine-related illness or injury in 2008, the top five causes were: unspecified medicines (261,600); painkillers (118,100); antibiotics (95,100); tranquilizers and antidepressants (79,300); corticosteroids and other hormones (71,400).

Among patients admitted to hospital for medicine-related illness or injury in 2008, the top five causes were: corticosteroids (283,700); painkillers (269,400); blood-thinners (218,800); drugs for cancer and immune system disorders (234,300) and heart and blood pressure medicines (191,300).

Among hospitalized patients, 53 percent were 65 or older, 30 percent were 45 to 64, 14 percent were 18 to 44, and 3 percent were 18 or younger.

The data appears in the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

, April 13 — A new report suggests that researchers should explore ways to redesign football helmets to reduce the risk of brain hemorrhage after a collision, a rare occurrence but one that could kill a player.

In recent years, football organizations and the media have largely focused on the risk for concussions during games, especially in light of evidence that they can lead to permanent brain damage. Bleeding in the brain has received less attention.

Dr. Jonathan A. Forbes, a resident in neurosurgery at Vanderbilt University and lead author of the new report, said that the research findings suggest that “it’s worth taking a new look at the safety of helmets.”

Since 1945, more than 350 football players wearing helmets have died of bleeding in the brain after collisions, according to the report. However, deaths directly due to incidents on the football field have become rare in recent decades. Four deaths were reported in 2007, according to an annual survey, compared with 36 in 1968, while more than 600 were reported from 1931 to 1965.

For reasons that aren’t clear, the most serious head injuries are about three times more common among high school football players than college athletes. It’s rare to hear about brain bleeding in a pro football player, Forbes said.

Football helmets prevent injury by spreading the force of a collision around the head, Forbes said. In the new study, the researchers looked at something called rotational acceleration, a reference to how a blow pushes the head around, like when a boxer is punched in the side of the face.

Tests of helmet safety focus on something else, known as translational acceleration — a reference to pushing the head back and forth or side to side — because it’s been linked to fractures of the head, Forbes explained. But, he said, research suggests that brain bleeding is significantly linked to rotational acceleration.

The findings “present some evidence that maybe we should start paying more attention to rotational acceleration,” he said. “We’re not trying to say that everything should be changed. We’re saying these events of catastrophic head injury strongly correlate with peak levels of rotational acceleration,” Forbes explained.

“Future research should take that into consideration, and maybe we should consider making sure that helmets prevent these dangerous levels of rotational acceleration,” Forbes said.

The report’s findings were scheduled to be presented in Denver at a meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. Experts note that research presented at meetings has not been subjected to the same type of rigorous scrutiny given to research published in peer-reviewed medical journals.

Dr. Michael L. Levy, a professor of pediatric neurosurgery at the University of California, San Diego, said it’s important to think about improving helmets, “but I don’t know of anybody who has a conception of what you could do to a helmet to make it more protective against these types of injuries.”

Levy, who has treated National Football League players and other athletes with head injuries, asked, “What would you do? What you’re talking is something completely different than what we’re dealing with now: It’s not just increasing the padding or hardening the helmet. There’s something else that needs to be done.”

More information

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons has more on preventing football injuries.

A missed period, was usually considered to be 1 of the earliest signs of pregnancy, but might not be a reliable symptom to confirm pregnancy. Therefore, most females resort to some pregnancy test, just before going to a gynecologist. But compared to the yesteryear, when ladies employed to collect urine samples and method doctors, who had been authorized to utilize the pregnancy kits, which consisted of test tubes, solutions and a lot of other components, the present day home pregnancy tests are far far more advantageous and convenient.

History of Pregnancy Tests

The history of pregnancy tests could be traced back to the period of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The ancient Egyptian women utilised to mix grains of wheat or barley with their urine to detect pregnancy. Pregnancy was confirmed on the germination of the grains. Hippocrates, the renowned ancient Greek physician, advised women to consume a resolution of honey and water at bedtime. Here, ladies who developed cramps had been determined to be pregnant. These strategies evolved through the generations, to the fussy pregnancy kits of the 1970s, which were meant to be used under the supervision of doctors and in laboratories only. But this method was cheaper than the ones utilised throughout the 1960s. The advent of the house pregnancy kits for the duration of the finish of the twentieth century, opened a wide array of testing options to females. Now, most ladies use residence pregnancy tests as their earliest pregnancy test.

Earliest Pregnancy Test

Earliest pregnancy tests include two strategies – 1 employing urine samples as well as the other making use of blood samples. The theory behind each getting the identical, but the mode of testing is different. Both tests are according to the presence of the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), which is secreted by the creating placenta, soon soon after the fertilized egg gets attached to the lining of the uterus. This implantation can occur anytime between six to twelve days of ovulation. The presence of the hormone is detected by these earliest pregnancy tests. While a pregnancy test utilizing blood samples might be done by way of a physician only, house pregnancy kits use urine samples for detecting pregnancy and can be completed at home.

Home Pregnancy Test

Being the most well-liked and widely-used method of earliest pregnancy tests, house pregnancy tests supply the facility of detecting pregnancy at house itself. These kits are very straightforward to operate and all you must do is add a couple of drops of urine to the area supplied in the device for that purpose (the mode of usage also varies with brands) and wait for the stipulated time to obtain the results. The result is displayed with various symbols or color modifications, which may differ with different brands. The latest digital pregnancy tests display the outcomes in writing, like ‘pregnant’ or ‘not pregnant’. But be sure to read the instructions cautiously and follow them for accurate outcomes. It really is always far better to make use of morning urine for this purpose.

The level of hCG increases using the stages of pregnancy and also the early stages are characterized with extremely low levels of hCG. Generally, the majority of the home pregnancy tests display the level of sensitivity of the test. The sensitivity of the test indicates the level of hCG it can detect. This hormone (hCG) is measured in thousandths of International Units, or mIU. Those tests which can detect extremely low levels of hCG (like 20mIU) are regarded as far more sensitive then those which can detect greater levels (50 to 100 mIU) of hCG. If the test is indicated as capable of detecting low levels of hCG, then it can detect pregnancies in the very early stages. One of the most sensitive house pregnancy tests (indicated with lowest level of hCG) can detect pregnancies within eight days of ovulation. The sensitivity of the tests vary with brands. Many of the tests (indicated with greater hCG levels) may possibly not be able to detect early pregnancies and so may provide negative results. In such a case, you may use a high sensitivity residence pregnancy kit or wait for some much more days, just before testing once more.

While property pregnancy tests with urine samples can detect hCG inside a range of 20 mIU to 100 mIU, pregnancy tests with blood samples can detect hCG, at the lowest level of 1 mIU, which makes the blood tests more sensitive, as it can detect pregnancies earlier than the most sensitive property pregnancy test. Apart from these two approaches, earliest pregnancy tests include yet another approach known as rosette inhibition assay for early pregnancy factor (EPF), which can detect pregnancy within 48 hours of fertilization. But this method is really expensive and time-consuming (and it can’t be accomplished at residence).

According to investigation, home pregnancy tests are 97% accurate, if carried out properly. These tests are affordable, simple to use and give quicker results, compared to other methods. Even so, even if your home pregnancy test result is positive, you must method a gynecologist and confirm the pregnancy. If you expertise the symptoms of pregnancy, but if the test outcomes are negative, even after repeated tests, then you ought to seek the suggestions of a physician.