Home > News

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Aspirin May Lower Prostate Cancer Risk

A daily dose of aspirin may have a moderate effect in lowering a man's risk of prostate cancer, according to a new study.

Authors of the research -- involving 30,000 American men ages 55 to 74 -- found that participants who took a daily aspirin had a 15 percent lower risk of developing prostate cancer than non-users; those who took two aspirin a day had a 20 percent lower risk, according to an account from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Aspirin is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that blocks an inflammation-triggering substance called COX-2. Past research has shown several links between the substance and the formation and spread of various cancers.

The research was funded by the National Cancer Institute as part of its Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial being conducted at 10 sites around the country, the newspaper said.

About 230,900 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the United States this year, according to the American Cancer Society.

-----

First Child to Get Heart Pump Dies

A 6-year-old Houston girl has died after becoming the first child to receive the just-approved DeBakey child heart pump, the Associated Press reported.

Anna Grudziecke died Sunday while awaiting a heart transplant. At the end of March, she became the world's first child to receive a scaled-down version of the DeBakey pump, which since 1998 has been used in some 240 adults to keep them alive while they were awaiting donor organs. The pump is not meant to function as a permanent heart replacement.

The DeBakey ventricular assist device, named for its famous heart surgeon inventor, helps weak hearts pump blood throughout the body, assisting the left ventricle. Patients have survived more than a year with the adult version of the device, which weighs less than four ounces. The child version was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration at the beginning of March.

Grudziecke's doctor said that despite her death, the device holds much promise for children like Anna, whose heart had already suffered significant stiffening and deterioration, the wire service reported.

-----

Toy Trucks May Overheat, Ignite

Texas-based Nikko America Inc. is recalling 287,000 radio-control toy trucks because defective circuit boards may overheat, posing fire and burn hazards. The company has five reports of the toys overheating, resulting in no injuries but in minor property damage caused by fire and smoke, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Manufactured from April 2003 through January 2004, the trucks are 1/10 scale models of the Chevy Avalanche (model 100021A), the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon (100022A and 100022B), the Hummer Wagon (100023A and 100023B) and the Ford F150 (100024A and 100024B). Model numbers can be found on the bodies of the trucks.

Toy and discount department stores nationwide sold the trucks from July 2003 through February 2004 for about $60. Consumers should stop using the products immediately and contact the company for instructions on obtaining a free circuit board replacement. The toll-free number is: 1-866-232-6013.

-----

U.S. Passenger Jets Must Carry Defibrillators

U.S. airlines must now carry cardiac equipment called defibrillators that can help people who suffer a heart attack.

The rule, issued by the Federal Aviation Administration and mandated by Congress, applies to U.S. airlines' domestic and international flights, according to CNN.

Defibrillators provide an electric shock to the heart. This helps reestablish normal contraction rhythms in a heart with dangerous arrhythmia or in cardiac arrest. In the most common form of cardiac arrest, chances of survival can be as high as 90 percent if defibrillation is provided during the first few minutes, according to the news agency.

The American Heart Association recommends that defibrillators should be available wherever large numbers of people gather. Such places include convention centers, sports stadiums and arenas, high-rise offices, and large health fitness facilities, to name a few.

-----

Ephedra Sales Banned in United States

Sales of the herbal stimulant ephedra became illegal in the United States on Monday. The ban took effect after a federal judge refused to grant a temporary restraining order sought by two manufacturers that would have blocked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from outlawing products containing the substance.

The FDA announced the ban in December and urged consumers to stay away from ephedra, which the agency said was linked to 155 deaths and numerous heart attacks and strokes.

The FDA has a higher standard to meet for supplements than it has for drugs. Drugs must be shown to be safe and effective before they are approved, while the government must show that supplements are dangerous before they can be removed from the market.

The maker of one ephedra supplement called Stacker 2, NVE Pharmaceuticals of New Jersey, filed a lawsuit last month seeking to overturn the ban, at least temporarily. The company claimed the FDA lacked proof that the stimulant is dangerous when used as directed, according to the Associated Press.

-----

America Faces an Epidemic of Vision-Loss Problems

Aging Americans are facing a health crisis that has nothing to do with heart disease, cancer or depression -- and everything to do with vision loss.

An estimated 28 million people over age 40 have eye ailments that leave them at risk for vision loss and blindness. And those numbers will spike up as the population ages, according to researchers cited by the Associated Press.

Cataracts affect an estimated 20.5 million U.S. adults, and that number is expected rise to 30.1 million in the next 20 years. Other leading causes of vision loss include macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. All are strongly linked with aging, according to research published Monday in the April issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.

The figures provide the most accurate estimates yet on the prevalence of major causes of vision loss in the United States, said Dr. Frederick Ferris III of the National Eye Institute, which helped fund the research.

And they will prove invaluable in pointing where research dollars should be spent to avoid a "tidal wave of chronic ocular disease over the next few decades," Ferris and Johns Hopkins University researcher James Tielsch wrote in an accompanying editorial, the AP said.

Copyright © 2004 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.