Food News and Research

RSS

Shipment of Fabrazyme commences from Genzyme's FDA-and-EMA-approved Framingham plant

Genzyme, a Sanofi company, today announced that it has begun shipping Fabrazyme (agalsidase beta) produced at its newly approved plant in Framingham, Massachusetts. As previously communicated, patients in the U.S. are now able to return to full dosing in March. In addition, all new patients in the U.S. are eligible to begin Fabrazyme treatment, at full dosing levels.

2 Mar 2012

Bisphosphonates improve fixation of dental impants in human bones

Millions of people have bad teeth replaced with implants. Often following the procedure, they are unable to chew food for up to six months, until the implant has become fixated in the bone. Now, for the first time, a drug coating that has been tested on humans allows titanium screws to adhere to the bone better and faster. The Link-ping researchers behind the method report that the results are good.

2 Mar 2012

Researchers confirm how food poisoning bacteria hijack cell's sense of direction

Working in the emerging field of systems biology, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers mathematically predicted how bacteria that cause food poisoning hijack a cell's sense of direction and then confirmed those predictions in living cells.

2 Mar 2012

RUB experiment: Consequences of light stimulation

Whenever we are doing something, one of our brain hemispheres is more active than the other one. However, some tasks are only solvable with both sides working together. PD Dr. Martina Manns and Juliane R-mling of the Ruhr-Universit-t Bochum are investigating, how such specializations and co-operations arise.

2 Mar 2012

Novel way to promote vegetable consumption in children

Pass the peas please! How often do we hear our children say this? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System survey of adolescents, only 21% of our children eat the recommended 5 or more fruits and vegetables per day. So not very many children are asking their parents to "pass the peas," and parents are resorting to other methods to get their children to eat their vegetables.

2 Mar 2012

Leicester study to focus on impact of food-based culture on children's life

They will examine the social and behavioural aspects of dining and their potential impact on school attendance and attitudes to learning.

2 Mar 2012

Longer looks: Romney's evolution on abortion; The birth of the HIV epidemic

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney began his political career as a pro-choicer. In the story he tells, he had an epiphany, a flash of insight, and committed himself thereafter to protecting life. But that isn't what happened. The real story of Romney's conversion - a series of tentative, equivocal, and confused shifts, accompanied by a constant rewriting of his past - paints a more accurate picture of who he is.

2 Mar 2012

Robotic surgery effective in treating oropharyngeal cancer in patients with HPV

Over the past few decades, doctors have noted a surprising trend in cancer of the tonsils and base of the tongue. Though oral cancer previously appeared predominantly in elderly patients with a history of tobacco and alcohol use, it's increasing in younger patients: 30- to 50-year-old nonsmokers with the human papillomavirus.

2 Mar 2012

Aid agencies must implement long-term solutions in Horn of Africa to 'banish hunger'

With each of the three droughts in the Horn of Africa over the last decade, "the international community agreed that long-term measures were needed to prevent another tragedy. But each time, when the rains finally came, the world's good intentions melted away," Jose Graziano de Silva, director-general of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) writes in a Project Syndicate opinion piece.

2 Mar 2012

U.S. to send food aid to North Korea after it agrees to suspend nuclear weapons tests

"North Korea announced on Wednesday that it would suspend its nuclear weapons tests and uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors to monitor activities at its main nuclear complex," a move "signaling that North Korea's new leader, Kim Jong-un, is at least willing to consider a return to negotiations and to engage with the United States, which pledged in exchange to ship tons of food aid to the isolated, impoverished nation," the New York Times reports.

2 Mar 2012

Radio health-related product ads infringe the current law

Spanish consumers are defenceless against deceptive advertising broadcasted on the radio in areas that could affect their health, according to a study carried out by two lecturers at the Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid. The project reports that this infringement of law takes place specifically in health-related advertisements.

2 Mar 2012

Serum taurine may protect against CHD in women with high cholesterol

A nutrient found in the dark meat of poultry may provide protection against coronary heart disease (CHD) in women with high cholesterol, according to a study by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center.

2 Mar 2012

ER docs Medicaid complaint: Some patients denied coverage if diagnosis doesn't merit their care

Some states are not considering the symptoms that brought the patients to the hospital, the doctors charge. In other Medicaid news, Texas is looking at several options for Medicaid reform, Pennsylvania looks at human service program cuts, Wisconsin Democrats seek to stop reductions there and Minnesota officials respond to criticism from Sen. Charles Grassley.

2 Mar 2012

Four leading organizations release recommendations to ensure optimal care of TAVR patients

Four leading heart organizations representing cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons released initial recommendations today for creating and maintaining transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) programs.

2 Mar 2012

Metal hip implants need monitoring annually: MHRA issues guidelines

The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency advised that patients with certain artificial hips need annual tests to check for metal ions and MRIs if they show symptoms. The new guidelines follow reports from doctors of swelling and tissue damage in some patients with metal-on-metal hip implants. The update applies to those in Britain with a hip replacement with a head diameter of 36 millimetres or more. The MHRA said on Tuesday that around 49,000 UK patients with large-head hip implants out of 65,000 with all-metal hips were in a high-risk category.

1 Mar 2012

Patients worried about statin use after label warnings from FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's announcement Tuesday stated that it would require additional safety warnings on the labels of the cholesterol-lowering drugs. Doctors have said that while the benefits of statins outweigh their potential harm, some patients are alarmed by the new announcement.

1 Mar 2012

Judge overrules proposed graphic cigarette labels

A Washington judge overruled the federal mandate requiring tobacco companies to place graphic images on their products warning of the dangers of smoking. The judge said the requirements were a violation of free speech.

1 Mar 2012

Children consuming too much sugar: Report

According to new data children are consuming too much sugar than they should, and processed and packaged foods, not beverages, are the leading source in their diets.

1 Mar 2012

La Selva geothermal system contaminated with arsenic

Monitoring the construction of wells, avoid over-exploiting cold groundwater close to hot groundwater, and controlling mineral water extraction. These are the recommendations from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and the University of Barcelona, after analysing the contamination of La Selva geothermal system, above all by arsenic pollution.

1 Mar 2012

Study to make pesticide, methyl iodide safer

In 2007, a controversial pesticide was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use on fruit and vegetable crops, mainly in California and Florida. Farm workers and scientists protested the approval of the pesticide because its active ingredient, methyl iodide, is a known carcinogen.

1 Mar 2012