News Archive
Scientists, physicians, consumers and environmental health advocates today responded to an FDA staff presentation on progress of their review of bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic sex hormone linked to cancer, diabetes, heart problems and other illness. Congressmen Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak asked for FDA to review their evaluation of BPA.
A new study shows that postmenopausal women with a history of smoking who take heartburn drugs called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for two years or longer may be more likely to sustain a hip fracture. The risk rises with longer use say researchers. But the risk does disappear after women stop taking these drugs for two years. Further women who never smoked were not at increased risk for hip fracture even if they took PPIs regularly, the study showed. The new findings appear in the journal BMJ.
Thirty-two previously unidentified genetic regions associated with osteoporosis and fracture have been identified by a large, worldwide consortium of researchers, including Stanford Prevention Research Center chief John Ioannidis, MD, DSc. Variations in the DNA sequences in these regions confer either risk or protection from the bone-weakening disease. Many, but not all, of the regions encode proteins involved in pathways known to involve bone health.
Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the U.S. say immigrants coming into the country from Africa and Southeast Asia should be tested and treated for tuberculosis (TB) before they arrive in order to prevent the importation of the disease.
Thirteen people including three doctors have been indicted for conspiracy to commit health care fraud, according to a statement Thursday from the U.S. Attorney's Office. The first indictment accuses Jose Lopez Diaz of charging Medicare more than half a million dollars for services never rendered at a medical center where he never worked. Lopez also is accused of billing Medicare for a procedure he claimed he performed on female patients that can only be done on men, prosecutors say.
› Verified 9 days ago