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When the nations of the world pledged to eradicate poliomyelitis back in 1988, there were an estimated 350,000 cases in 125 endemic countries. Now billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates says we stand on the brink of eradicating the dread disease.
Gates told a lecture in London that ridding the world of polio would be "one of the great moral and practical achievements of our age, and could be accomplished within six years.

Taking bupropion (Zyban), a drug used to help people stop smoking by reducing cravings and other withdrawal effects, did not help smokers quit in the period after a heart attack, a new study finds.

Atrial fibrillation (AF), which is the most common arrhythmia and an independent risk factor for ischemic stroke, is independently associated with increased mortality. Furthermore, nonvalvular AF (that is, AF that doesn t stem from a problem with heart valves) is associated with a nearly five-fold higher risk of ischemic stroke, a risk that progressively increases with age.

California Gov. Jerry Brown is trying to undo furniture fire-safety standards his administration put into place back in 1975. To comply with the regulations, furniture manufacturers added a chemical called polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDE, to finished couches. The governor calls the chemicals toxic, and studies have shown that the Californians have higher concentrations of PBDEs in their bodies than people living elsewhere.

In his latest post on Medical Progress Today, ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom examines a new Food and Drug Administration recommendation that will severely hamper the ability of physicians to prescribe Vicodin. He says that this initiative is a misguided attempt to reign in opiate abuse, which, in reality, will do little to combat drug abuse while doing great harm to patients with legitimate needs for strong painkillers.

Results from the largest-ever observational study of women with early breast cancer suggests that early stage breast cancer survival may be better with lumpectomy plus local radiation than with mastectomy. The news is timely because over the last 10 years, there has been a growing tendency for women diagnosed with breast cancer to opt for mastectomy, even if they have small early cancers.

People are very likely to underestimate their true weight, especially obese individuals, according to a recent study. And their inaccuracy at assessing their own adiposity seems to be getting worse.

Sigh. It s another victory for the scaremongers. PepsiCo. is removing brominated vegetable oil from its citrus-flavored Gatorade drinks after hearing rumblings from consumers concerned about the emulsifier.
PepsiCo. spokeswoman Molly Carter told the Associated Press the change was in the works for a year and was not in response to a recent petition on Change.org by a Mississippi teenager that attracted 200,000 signatures.

Contrary to long-standing belief, a new study published in the British Medical Journal found that higher consumption of eggs up to one egg per day is not associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease or stroke. In fact, eggs are an inexpensive and low calorie source of other nutrients including minerals, proteins and unsaturated fatty acids, which could actually lower the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Britain s senior medical advisor is warning about the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, describing what she calls an "apocalyptic scenario" where, in 20 years time, people going to the hospital for a simple operation die of infections because we have run out of antibiotics.

Were we surprised or even disappointed that the California EPA just ruled that the plastic hardener bisphenol-A (BPA) would be subject to warning labels according to their Prop 65 law, or that the Natural Resources Defense Council would be jumping with joy over it?
Not really given the chemophobia of both of those groups, the surprise is that it took Cal-EPA this long; and that the NRDC is so happy about it is as surprising as the sun rising in the east.

It s a grim, unwelcome milestone for gender equality. Two new studies survey the toll cigarette smoking takes on American lives and it turns out tobacco-related deaths have become as common for women as for men.

Research shows that poor coordination among providers all-too-often leads to patients returning to the hospital within 30 days of being discharged. Readmissions following hospitalizations for heart failure, acute MI (heart attack), and pneumonia are common among Medicare beneficiaries, researchers reported in JAMA .

Mayor Bloomberg s ban on the sale of sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces, scheduled to go into effect in March, will not take hold if the beverage and restaurant industries have their way. They urged a New York City judge to block the ban, calling it an unconstitutional overreach that burdens small businesses and infringes upon personal liberty.

There s another vaccine scare in the news. But is it real? Scientists are linking the Pandemrix H1N1 swine flu vaccine made by GlaxoSmithKline in 2009 with 795 cases of narcolepsy in children in Europe, Reuters reports.
There's no doubt in my mind whatsoever that Pandemrix increased the occurrence of narcolepsy onset in children in some countries and probably in most countries, says Emmanuel Mignot, a Stanford University narcolepsy expert.

Last October, we covered a meta-analysis giving all of us who hate those routine physical exams a good excuse to skip it. The analysis, which looked at 16 clinical trials involving 182,880 patients, revealed that patients who had annual general health checkups died at virtually the same rate as those who didn t.

With countless practitioners and other public health officials endorsing mandatory flu vaccines for health care workers, it is hard to believe that there is so much resistance.
Dr. Evan S. Levine writes in the New York Post that Dr. Steven Safyer, the Montefiore Medical Center president and CEO, told his staff in a Jan. 13 letter that that fewer than 50 percent of our associates have been vaccinated. This means the majority of our associates are at risk for illness.
Too many workers are making the wrong choice, at risk to themselves and their patients, he writes.

You may not be able to trust the labels found on certain foods, according to a new scientific examination conducted by the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention.

For those individuals who suffer from migraines 12 percent of the US population according to the American Migraine Prevalence and Prevention Study a new treatment option has just been approved by the Food and Drug Administration: a patch that attaches to the upper arm or thigh.

As the flu season rages across the U.S., a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine says the flu vaccine does not increase risk of fetal loss. On the contrary, the research found that the vaccination may actually prevent some deaths, because getting the flu while pregnant makes fetal death more likely.

After five days of talks and a marathon negotiating session that stretched well into the night, delegates from 140 countries agreed Saturday on the first legally binding treaty to reduce mercury emissions, which will rewrite rules on how the silvery-white metal can be used around the world.

Our New York readers should be able to catch ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross discussing fracking on WCBS-TV (channel 2) tonight between 5 and 6, and possibly between 6 and 6:30, and maybe even between 11 and 11:30. Also, if you haven t already, please like our Facebook page, Facts about Fracking.

Both New York City and Los Angeles have seen declines in childhood obesity rates, with New York leading the way, according to a new study. The prevalence of obesity peaked in New York around 2003-2004, while in Los Angeles this leveling off did not occur until 2008-2009, with rates beginning to decline in 2010-2011. This may be the result of New York government programs promoting healthy behaviors in low-income kids earlier than in LA.

Amid the most severe influenza season in more than a decade, the FDA approved a next-generation, insect-based flu vaccine the second version that is not grown in eggs, and will therefore be available in a much shorter time enabling better focus on the type of flu in circulation.

An individual diagnosed with an autism disorder during childhood may no longer fall in the autism spectrum as an adult, suggests a new study. As adults, their social functioning is very good, they re all functioning in mainstream education with no support, says study author Deborah Fein, a professor of psychology at the University of Connecticut who studies autism.