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Showing posts with label FDA news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FDA news. Show all posts

14 May 2010

Injuries During Sex, Miracle Baby, Bad Drug Ad Snitches Wanted - Health News Stories - 14 May 2010



Photo by Krikit @ flickr

From Denny: If you missed the story about this miracle baby you just have to watch the video. Because of fluid on his brain this baby's brain had no room to grow and doctors did not give the couple much hope to expect the baby to survive birth or live but a short time if he did make it that far. They chose to continue the pregnancy.

As a journalist, the mother decided she would share what she learned on her journey with her miracle baby. The good news is that the fluid is being managed, his brain has grown dramatically and the physical therapy he's received has helped tremendously. The mother also talks about the high costs of catastrophic health care and wanted to help other families dealing with similar issues for their children.

The next story is about the possibility of injury during the fun of passionate or enthusiastic sex. Few people talk about it but many should go visit a doctor or go to the emergency room for treatment. Sometimes, this is serious injury beyond any embarrassment.

You can tell the Bush years are behind us. The new FDA is starting to act like a real watch dog with teeth. Now they are asking health care professionals to help them identify the crooked drug company sales people. Yep, that means you too can be a professional snitch for the feds. Seriously though, there's a lot of misrepresentation to doctors, nurses and hospitals about the drug company products. It ends up a crap shoot for medical professionals as to who is telling the truth and whether those products are really a good idea for their patients.





Pittsburgh Mom Determined to Help Son (ABC)

Woman Finds Resources to Make Medical Care Affordable

Kelly Frey, an anchor for ABC News affiliate WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh, was 13 weeks pregnant with her son, Bennett, when she got the news that no prospective parent wants to hear.

"What we saw on that screen, the head area had just black," Frey said of the ultrasound.

A routine ultrasound in 2009 revealed a chilling vision: Where there should have been brain tissue, there was nothing, just black. The fetus was suffering from severe hydrocephalus, which is a buildup of fluid on the brain. Most people are born with the ailment or suffer from it after a severe head injury.

The trauma didn't stop there. Bennett was also suffering from Dandy Walker Syndrome, a congenital brain malformation of the cerebellum. The cerebellum controls movement.

The doctors told Frey and her husband, Jason, that their son had little chance of surviving past birth.

"It was the deepest grief we have ever known; they're telling us he is going to die," Frey said of the diagnoses.

The couple decided to continue with their pregnancy. They say that Bennett's birth is a miracle...

Just click on the story title link to read the rest of the article...








Boo Boos in the Bedroom Are More Common Than You Think (ABC)

Don't Let Your Romantic Evening Land You in the ER


Love is a battlefield -- complete with head wounds, broken bones, and the occasional penile fracture.

While most sex-related injuries don't require a trip to the doctor, getting hurt in the heat of passion is a pretty common -- but seldom discussed -- problem, sex experts say.

Julieanne Smolinski, 26, a New Yorker and blogger for Lemondrop.com, had her own brush with carnal catastrophe when she was in college.

"I did a kind of accidental back handspring off my boyfriend and cracked myself on the head," she says.

"My boyfriend got the worst of it and 'fractured' his penis. We didn't seek medical attention, [but] later I read that penile fractures can be really serious," she says, wondering in retrospect if they should have taken him to the hospital.








FDA Wants You... to Snitch on Illegal Drug Ads (ABC)

Federal Agency Is Asking for Public's Help in Rooting Out Bad Drug Ads

A new U.S. Food and Drug Administration program seeks to enlist healthcare professionals in flagging improper sales tactics for prescription drugs.

Although the agency calls the program "Bad Ad," its interest goes beyond broadcast and print advertisements to include misleading in-person presentations.

Housed within the Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising, and Communication (DDMAC), the program is intended to increase the number of eyes and ears available to monitor pharmaceutical companies' promotional activities -- especially speaker presentations and in-person "detailing" that DDMAC enforcement personnel seldom have a chance to see for themselves....


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16 March 2010

First Lady Pushes 4 Healthier Food From Food Companies

From Denny: First Lady Michelle Obama is pushing hard on America's food manufacturers to speed up the effort to lose the excess fat, salt and sugar in foods. "We need you not to just tweak around the edges but entirely rethink the products you are offering," she said.

She's also calling on the nation's grocery store chains to start posting calorie counts and fat levels on all the shelves and deli self-serve areas.

Michelle Obama is committed to conquering childhood obesity in less than a generation. She has talked to schools and nutrition groups, going after junk food and snacks that pack school vending machines and grocery store aisles.

Food manufacturers are on notice from more than the First Lady. There is a child nutrition bill moving through Congress that would throw out junk food from the public school system across the nation. That sure would dig into those companies' profits.

And there is more: The Food and Drug Administration might have been asleep at the switch or held on a short choke chain during the Bush-Cheney years. Not so now. The agency is now cracking down on misleading labeling on food packages.

The First Lady has also called for less confusing food labeling, better portion sizing and increased marketing for healthy foods prepared in healthy ways. Like she said to the manufacturers, "While decreasing fat is good, don't replace it with sugar. This needs to be a serious industry wide commitment to provide healthier foods."

This new Obama campaign is aimed at school vending machines, school lunches and pushing children to exercise more.




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