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FDA finalizes new food safety rule to prevent wide-scale public health harm

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today finalized a new food safety rule under the landmark, bipartisan FDA Food Safety Modernization Act that will help to prevent wide-scale public health harm by requiring companies in the United States and abroad to take steps to prevent intentional adulteration of the food supply.

27 May 2016

First buprenorphine implant for opioid dependence treatment gets FDA approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Probuphine, the first buprenorphine implant for the maintenance treatment of opioid dependence. Probuphine is designed to provide a constant, low-level dose of buprenorphine for six months in patients who are already stable on low-to-moderate doses of other forms of buprenorphine, as part of a complete treatment program.

27 May 2016

Integrative Body-Mind Training helps reduce smoking

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday that 15.1 percent of American adults smoked cigarettes in 2015, down almost 2 percent from the year before. This is the lowest recorded smoking rate in the country's history.

26 May 2016

Hospital-initiated smoking cessation interventions may improve patient outcomes, decrease re-hospitalization

A new study from the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, in collaboration with the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, has established that greater adoption of hospital-initiated tobacco cessation interventions improve patient outcomes and decrease further healthcare utilization.

25 May 2016

Researchers emphasize need to rethink tobacco control strategies

The tobacco product landscape has changed significantly with the introduction of alternatives that are much less harmful than traditional cigarettes.

25 May 2016

Exposure to e-cigarette marketing messages may lead to e-cigarette use among students

Exposure to e-cigarette marketing messages is significantly associated with e-cigarette use among middle school and high school students, according to researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

24 May 2016

Text messaging intervention may help smokers abstain from smoking relative to controls

A new study from The Miriam Hospital's Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine found that smokers who received a text messaging intervention were more likely to abstain from smoking relative to controls. The paper is published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research mHealth and uHealth.

24 May 2016

Global life expectancy on the rise, but major health inequalities persist

Dramatic gains in life expectancy have been made globally since 2000, but major inequalities persist within and among countries, according to this year’s “World Health Statistics: Monitoring Health for the SDGs”.

20 May 2016

Standardised packaging of tobacco products encounter comprehensive defeat in court

Today, in the Royal Court of Justice in London, the tobacco industry’s challenge to the introduction of standardised packaging of tobacco products was overwhelmingly and comprehensively defeated.

20 May 2016

Study shows impact of reducing nicotine doses on body weight

A study published today in Nicotine & Tobacco Research demonstrates in a carefully controlled series of studies that the self-administration of nicotine by rats suppresses body weight gain independent of food intake.

19 May 2016

Tecentriq drug gets FDA approval to treat urothelial carcinoma

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Tecentriq (atezolizumab) to treat the most common type of bladder cancer, called urothelial carcinoma. This is the first product in its class (PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors) approved to treat this type of cancer.

19 May 2016

Smokers who use novel nicotine inhaler twice as likely to quit smoking

A study by researchers at New Zealand's University of Otago, Wellington shows that smokers who used a nicotine inhaler were twice as likely to quit smoking as smokers using a placebo inhaler.

17 May 2016

Study shows half of smokers experience respiratory symptoms similar to COPD

A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that smokers, who wouldn't typically be diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, are still showing symptoms consistent with the diagnosis.

17 May 2016

Rural children have high rates of medical complexity

Children in rural areas have high rates of medical complexity and often reside in low-income and medically underserved areas, according to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

13 May 2016

Adolescent behavior expert suggests early screening to assess teenagers at vaping risk

During a checkup, physicians and nurses often ask about drinking habits, safe sex practice or cigarette use. Vaping is rarely mentioned.

9 May 2016

FDA issues formal request to pharmacies to recall all drugs intended to be sterile from Medaus

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reminding health care professionals and patients not to use drugs intended to be sterile that were produced by Medaus Inc., due to lack of sterility assurance. The FDA has issued a formal request to the Birmingham, Alabama, compounding pharmacy to recall all non-expired lots of drug products intended to be sterile.

8 May 2016

Drinking tart Montmorency cherry juice can reduce early signs of hypertension

Drinking tart Montmorency cherry juice significantly reduces high blood pressure at a level comparable to that achieved by medication, according to new research from Northumbria University, Newcastle.

6 May 2016

Hepatitis B virus screening for Asian American adults can help prevent onset of liver diseases

A community-based hepatitis B virus screening effort led by UC Davis researchers found that targeted outreach to Asian American populations can identify groups at high risk for infection and direct them to appropriate follow-up care to help prevent the onset of liver diseases, including cancer.

3 May 2016

FDA’s new education campaign for LGBT young adults aims to prevent, reduce tobacco use

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced the launch of a historic public education campaign aimed at preventing and reducing tobacco use among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) young adults ages 18-24. Of the more than 2 million LGBT young adults in the U.S., more than 800,000 smoke occasionally. The "This Free Life" campaign is designed to specifically reach the occasional or "social" smokers in the LGBT community to help prevent tobacco-related disease and the loss of tens of thousands LGBT lives to tobacco use each year.