Here are some of the latest health and medical news
developments, compiled by editors of
HealthDay:
Aspirin Use Effective in Preventing Colon Cancer in Men, Latest
Study Confirms
If you're a man and take at least two standard 325 milligram
(mg) aspirin tablets weekly, you may be able to reduce your chances
of getting colon cancer by more than 20 percent, the
New York Times reports.
Reporting on a study in the January 2008 issue of the journal
Gastroenterology, the newspaper said that the latest study,
led by Harvard assistant professor of medicine Dr,. Howard T. Chan,
confirmed earlier randomized studies indicating that prolonged
aspirin use can act as a deterrent to colorectal cancer.
Men who took between 6 and 14 standard aspirin pills weekly
decreased their colon cancer risk by 28 percent, and those who took
more than 14 pills a week had a 70 percent decline in risk, the
Times reported.
However, two cautions are important, the newspaper added. First,
aspirin can be very difficult on some stomachs and can even cause
intestinal bleeding. Second, the results were measured on a test
group of 47,000 men over a very long time -- 18 years. The
effectiveness of aspirin use occurs only after continuous use for
five years or more, the
Times reported.
"The results provide additional proof that a simple drug like
aspirin can help prevent colon cancer," Chan told the
newspaper.
-----
Not 'Buckling Up' More Prevalent Among the Very Obese
The more a person weighs, the less likely he or she is to wear a
car seat belt, increasing the possibility of injury or death,
according to a story by the
Associated Press.
Led by Vanderbilt University psychologist David Schlundt,
researchers from Meharry Medical College in Nashville studied 2002
information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and found a direct relationship between obesity and not
buckling up when getting into the car.
"They really have a hard time getting that belt buckle over
them," Schlundt told the wire service. "They have to stretch it out
and then over and then some can't see the buckle."
According to the
A.P., deciding not to wear a seat belt because of being
overweight is more than a lifestyle decision. Schlundt's group
found that only 70 percent of the very obese reported always
wearing a seat belt, compared to 83 percent of those who fell into
normal-weight categories.
And the latest U.S. government statistic show that more than
half the people killed in automobile accidents weren't wearing
their seat belts, the
A.P. reports.
The research was recently published in the journal
Obesity.
-----
Sad Shoppers Often Regret Purchases
Sad and self-focused people who attempt to increase their
self-esteem by shopping tend to spend more for the same item than
other people and often end up regretting their purchases, according
to a U.S. study released Friday at the annual meeting of the
Society for Social and Personality Psychology.
"What we think is going on is that sad and self-focused people
are feeling pretty bad about themselves and have a decreased
valuation of themselves. They want to enhance this valuation, and
one way to do this is be acquiring material goods," said study
co-author Cynthia Cryder, a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon
University,
Agence France-Presse reported.
These people may be seeking to boost their self-esteem by
transferring the value of items to themselves. But this kind of
purchase often results in later regret.
"A huge key to avoiding decision-effects like this is being
aware that you're sad in the first place. But that's rather hard to
do," Cryder said. "Participants in studies such as ours usually
have no idea that their feelings influence their decisions, so it's
impossible to correct."
She suggested people "always re-evaluate major purchases one day
or one week after you make them so that you can make sure that
whatever you bought is still attractive to you,"
AFP reported. "That lowers the probability that you'll have
an over-priced mistake due to some fleeting influence that you
didn't know about and still don't know about. You just know,
'Wow... why did I pay so much for that?'"
-----
Trek Recalls Girls' Bicycles
U.S. bicycle maker Trek has recalled about 49,000 MT220 girls'
bicycles due to a risk of frame failure during use, which can cause
riders to lose control and suffer injuries, said the U.S. Consumer
Product Safety Commission.
The company has received 13 reports of frames breaking,
including four incidents that resulted in minor injuries. The
recall covers MT220 bicycles from model years 2005 (light metallic
blue), 2006 (metallic silver and metallic purple or pink and pearl
white), and 2007 (pink and white pearl or metallic purple). The
model name is printed on the frame of the bicycle. MT220 bicycles
from model year 2008 are not included in the recall.
The recalled bikes were sold from April 2004 through June 2007
for about $300. Consumers should take these bicycles away from
children immediately and return them to a Trek dealer for a free
replacement bicycle or a $100 discount on a different size Trek
bicycle.
For more information, contact Trek Bicycle Corp., of Waterloo,
Wis., at (800) 373-4594.
-----
Merck to Pay More Than $650 Million to Settle Drug Pricing Fraud
Charges
In one of the largest-ever healthcare fraud settlements, New
Jersey-based Merck & Co. agreed Thursday to pay more than $650
million to resolve charges that it cheated Medicaid out of millions
of dollars in discounts over eight years through routine
overbilling for the arthritis drug Vioxx and the cholesterol drug
Zocor, the
Washington Post reported.
According to U.S. prosecutors, Merck gave the drug to hospitals
at low cost in order to get poor patients used to the expensive
pills. When these patients were discharged from hospital, many kept
taking the drugs and the government had to pay the higher
costs.
The investigation began in 2000 after a Merck district sales
manager alerted federal authorities about what he believed were
questionable sales tactics by the company, the
Post reported.
Merck did not admit wrongdoing. It stood by its pricing
strategies, but wanted to resolve the matter, according to a
statement released by executives of the United States'
third-largest drug maker.
As part of the settlement, the company agreed to heightened
oversight by regulators for five years. Merck remains the subject
of a separate grand jury investigation related to Vioxx marketing.
It's also trying to reach another multibillion-dollar settlement of
thousands of lawsuits filed by people who had heart attacks after
taking Vioxx.
-----
Expanded Recall of New Era Canned Vegetables
A nationwide recall of canned vegetable products made by the New
Era Canning Company of Michigan is being expanded for a third time,
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday. The recalled
products may be contaminated with
Clostridium botulinum, which produces the toxin that causes
botulism. Infection with the toxin can cause life-threatening
illness or death.
The recalled New Era products are large institutional-sized
cans, weighing between six and seven pounds, of various types of
beans, blackeye peas, and asparagus. They're marketed under ten
different brand names: Classic Sysco; Code; Frosty Acres
Restaurant's Pride Preferred; GFS; Kitchen Essentials; Monarch
Heritage; Necco; New Era; Nugget; and Reliance Sysco.
To date, no illnesses have been reported to the FDA. Consumers
should not consume these products, even if they appear to be
normal, because of the potential serious risk to health. Consumers
who have the affected products, or who have used them in recipes,
should immediately throw the cans and food away, the FDA said.
A complete list of specific brands, products, and lot codes
subject to the New Era recalls can be found at the FDA Web site.
Consumers with questions can call the FDA at 1-888-SAFEFOOD.
-----
