Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:
Viagra Ad Failed to Mention Risks: FDA
Pfizer Inc. was told by U.S. officials to discontinue a 30-second online video ad for Viagra that doesn't mention the risks associated with the drug. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warning letter was issued last week and posted online Monday.
The FDA letter said the ad "raises public health and safety concerns through its complete omission of risk information for Viagra," the Associated Press reported. Federal law requires negative side effects to be mentioned in any ad that highlights a drug's benefits.
The video ad on CNN.com featured a group of Nashville musicians singing the refrain "Viva Viagra." In a statement, Pfizer said a technical issue with CNN's Web site prevented the risk information from appearing on a banner accompanying the video. The company has pulled the ad, the AP reported.
Viagra's label warns users of potential risks to patients with existing heart conditions, and possible side effects including headaches and abnormal vision.
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Beco Baby Carriers Recalled Due to Fall Hazard
About 2,000 "Beco Baby Carrier Butterfly" infant carriers are being recalled because the buckles on the shoulder straps can suddenly release tension, causing the strap to slip through and posing a fall hazard to the infant.
The manufacturer, Beco Baby Carrier Inc., of Newport Beach, Calif., has received eight reports of straps slipping through the shoulder buckles, but there have been no reports of injures, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The following styles are included in the recall: Mia, Pony Express, Carnival, Addison, Ethan, Sophia, Cameron, Ava and Joshua.
The carriers were sold at specialty retail stores and through the Internet from January 2008 through February 2008 for about $140.
Consumers should stop using the carriers and contact Beco at 888-943-8232 for information on how to return them for repair.
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Mundane Tasks Numb the Brain
Monotonous tasks really do numb the brain, according to researchers who used MRI scans to monitor blood flow in the brains of volunteers. The results showed that the brain will shift to an at-rest mode when a person is doing something mundane, even if the person doesn't want it to, Agence France-Presse reported.
"There's this thing that's probably intrinsic where your brain says I do need to take a little break here and there's nothing you can do about it," said study author Tom Eichele of the University of Bergen in Norway. "Probably everyone knows that feeling that sometimes your brain is not as receptive or as well performing and you didn't do anything to actually induce that."
Eichele and his colleagues also found that this shift to at-rest mode begins about 30 seconds before a person makes a mistake. This finding suggests it may be possible to develop an early warning system to keep people more focused and careful in order to improve workplace safety and performance in certain jobs, such as airport security screening.
"We might be able to build a device (that could be placed) on the heads of people that make these easy decisions," Eichele told AFP.
The study appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Low Vitamin D Levels May Increase Breast Cancer Risk
Women with low blood levels of a marker for vitamin D have an increased risk of breast cancer, German researchers say.
They studied levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in 1,394 breast cancer patients and an equal number of healthy postmenopausal women, finding that those with a very low blood level of 25(OH)D were much more likely to develop breast cancer, United Press International reported.
The link between low levels of 25(OH)D and increased breast cancer risk was strongest among women who didn't take hormones for relief of menopausal symptoms. The researchers did note that chemotherapy or lack of sunlight during prolonged hospital stays may have contributed to low vitamin D levels in breast cancer patients.
The body produces vitamin D in response to sunlight, and the vitamin is present in certain foods.
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Drug Effective in Shrinking Breast Tumors: Study
A drug called lapatinib may shrink breast cancer tumors within six weeks and could prove to be a valuable pre-surgery treatment, according to researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who studied 45 patients with locally advanced breast cancer in which the HER-2 gene was overexpressed.
The women received lapatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targets cell surface receptors, for six weeks. That was followed by a combination of weekly trastuzumab and three-times-a-week docetaxel for 12 weeks before primary surgery, United Press International reported.
Tests conducted before and after lapatinib treatment showed "significant tumor regression after six weeks of single-agent lapatinib," said study author Dr. Angel Rodriguez.
The study was to be presented at the European Breast Cancer Conference in Berlin.
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FDA OKs Compact Heart Assist Device
A compact heart assist device designed to fit women and smaller men has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Heart assist devices are implanted mechanical devices that help weakened hearts pump blood while heart failure patients await a heart transplant. Previous models were too large to fit the upper abdomen of women and men of smaller stature, the FDA said.
The HeartMate II Left Ventricular Assist System is just 3 inches in length and weighs about 1 pound. A cable that powers the device passes through the patient's skin to an external controller, allowing the device to be powered either by battery or while connected to an electrical outlet.
In clinical testing on 126 people, 57 percent survived to undergo a heart transplant, which the FDA said is comparable to larger heart assist devices.
The manufacturer, Pleasanton, Calif.-based Thoratec Corp., will be required to conduct a post-approval study of the device's performance, the agency said.
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Inhibition Strong Predictor of Sexual Problems in Women
Among women, sexual inhibition is the strongest predictor of sexual problems such as low sexual interest and arousal difficulty, says a U.S. study that included 540 women.
Researchers found that the ease with which arousal can be disrupted by situational factors (arousal contingency) and concerns about sexual function can predict sexual problems, United Press International reported.
The findings appear in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.
"Although further research is needed to confirm these findings with other samples, particularly clinical samples of women seeking help for sexual problems, these findings suggest that high scores on sexual inhibition may help predict which women are vulnerable to experience sexual problems," according to a statement from study co-author Cynthia Graham, a research fellow at Indiana University's Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.
