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Women who smoke cut 10 years off their fertile life

More than a third of British women in their 20s smoke, and the rate, despite aggressive campaigns against smoking, has only decreased slightly in the past five years. One in seven couples experience problems conceiving, and, in cases involving female infertility, no specific cause can be found in 20 per cent of cases.

7 Apr 2005

ARC Pharmaceuticals granted new U.S. patent

ARC Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ARC) announced today that The University of British Columbia (UBC) has been granted a new US patent entitled "Pharmaceutical Compositions and Methods Relating to Fucans, No. 6,812,220.

7 Apr 2005

Pfizer separately agrees to suspend sales of Bextra due to FDA evaluation of risks of rare but serious skin reactions

Pfizer said today it will work with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to add expanded risk information in the Celebrex label following an FDA decision announced this morning to require boxed warnings of potential cardiovascular risk for all COX-2 pain relievers and all NSAIDs, including older non-specific drugs such as ibuprofen and naproxen.

7 Apr 2005

Electronic nose can be used to detect early evidence of lung cancer

The electronic nose, a device long used for safety and quality control in the food, wine and perfume industries, also can be used to detect early evidence of lung cancer, according to research conducted at The Cleveland Clinic.

7 Apr 2005

HHS to tackle obesity among African Americans

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt announced today the award of $1.2 million to improve efforts to reduce obesity among African Americans through a new partnership with national African American organizations.

7 Apr 2005

FDA approves first cranial dural sealant

Confluent Surgical, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the DuraSeal Dural Sealant System as the first and only product indicated as an adjunct to sutured dural repair during cranial surgery to achieve watertight closure. The FDA has approved the DuraSeal Sealant with a condition to conduct a post-approval study.

7 Apr 2005

Animi-3 may offer hope for rheumatoid arthritis

Animi-3, a prescription medication from PBM Pharmaceuticals, Inc., contains ingredients that may have a beneficial, protective effect in inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

7 Apr 2005

Millions of mothers and children are dying unnecessarily

The millions of seemingly preventable deaths of women and children each year has prompted the United Nations to devote this year’s World Health Day to highlighting their plight.

7 Apr 2005

How tobacco industry attempted to influence privatisation plans of state-owned tobacco industry in Moldova

A paper in this week’s issue of The Lancet highlights how two tobacco companies attempted to influence plans to privatise the state-owned tobacco industry in Moldova.

7 Apr 2005

People with a peanut allergy should avoid all products containing lupin flour

A report in this week’s issue of The Lancet concludes that adults and children with an allergy to peanuts could also be allergic to lupin flour—a substance that is used in some European countries as a potential replacement for soya flour.

7 Apr 2005

Belgian doctors treating critically ill infants favour legalising euthanasia

Most paediatricians in Flanders, Belgium, favour the legalisation of lethal drugs to end the life of some critically ill babies and infants, concludes a study in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

7 Apr 2005

Post-traumatic stress disorder common among refugees in western countries

Refugees settled in western countries could be about ten times more likely to have posttraumatic stress disorder than general populations in those countries, suggests a study published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

7 Apr 2005

Mediterranean diet makes you live longer

The Mediterranean diet is associated with longer life expectancy among elderly Europeans, finds a study published online by the BMJ today.

7 Apr 2005

The right to live gives us a right to die

Human beings' inalienable right to life means we also have the right to die, says an editorial in this week's BMJ.

7 Apr 2005

Depression overtakes back pain for incapacity benefit claims

Common mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety, now account for more incapacity benefit claims than musculoskeletal conditions like low back pain, say researchers in this week’s BMJ.

7 Apr 2005

UK approval procedures will drive research overseas

Approval procedures for UK research will “accelerate the migration of clinical studies to other parts of the world,” warn researchers in a letter to this week’s BMJ.

7 Apr 2005

Unchaperoned examinations risk misconduct allegations

Doctors who continue performing intimate examinations unchaperoned risk allegations of misconduct, warn researchers in a letter to this week’s BMJ.

7 Apr 2005

Make room for daddy, say University of Florida autism experts

Autism is a developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and is characterized by problems interacting and communicating with others. Caring for an autistic child can be a relentless and labor-intensive task — one that is overwhelmingly performed by mothers, says UF nursing researcher Jennifer Elder.

7 Apr 2005

Use of smokeless tobacco helped hard-to-quit smokers give up their habit

The study, published in the January-March issue of the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, reports on subjects who were contacted seven years after completion of a smoking cessation program that replaced cigarettes with smokeless tobacco products as a harm-reduction strategy.

7 Apr 2005

Findings will stir new research in bacterial evolution

Bacteria acquired up to 90 percent of their genetic material from distantly related bacteria species, according to new research from The University of Arizona in Tucson.

7 Apr 2005