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

FDA Panel Backs Artificial Heart

An expert advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has voted to approve an updated version of the artificial heart that was first used more than 20 years ago, the Washington Post reports.

The CardioWest Total Artificial Heart is the modern version of the Jarvik-7, the mechanical pump implanted in Barney Clark's chest in 1982. Though the concept was first devised with the intention of someday permanently replacing the human heart, the CardioWest device won the panel's backing as a means to sustain patients in the hospital long enough to obtain a human transplant, the newspaper reports. Once it's implanted, patients are tethered to a power generator the size of a washing machine.

The device does have its risks, since implantation involves cutting out the bottom half of the heart, the Associated Press reports. Side effects could include infection, bleeding and stroke.

CardioWest must still win the approval of the entire FDA, which usually follows the recommendations of its expert committees. Approval would grant transplant centers nationwide wider ability to use the device, the Post reports. It would also make insurance companies more likely to cover the device, which costs about $100,000.

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Medicare May Cover Personal Defibrillators

Medicare is considering expanding coverage for stopwatch-sized implanted heart defibrillators that were shown to significantly reduce the risk of death in a recent government study, the Associated Press reports.

Medicare currently pays about $25,000 for each defibrillator that's implanted in the 40,000 patients annually who suffer from congestive heart failure. The government insurer is considering expanding that number to cover people with less severe forms of the disease, the AP reports.

The device is implanted under the skin with wires that attach to the heart. When it senses an irregular heartbeat, it shocks the organ back into a normal rhythm. Vice President Dick Cheney had the device installed in 2001.

A recent National Institutes of Health study involving 2,521 people found a 23 percent reduction in death among heart patients who wore defibrillators, the AP reports. While earlier research focused on the most severe cases of heart disease, the newer trials involved people with more moderate disease -- a category that includes as many as 2 million Americans, the wire service says.

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Osteoporosis Drug's Effects Last at Least a Decade

The beneficial effects of the osteoporosis drug Fosamax (alendronate) last for at least a decade with no untoward side effects, HealthDay reports of one of the longest controlled trials ever performed on the drug.

Once the drug was stopped, the benefits started dissipating, but only gradually.

Experts say the research should allay fears that once stopped, the drug's effects would wear off quickly, leading to bone brittleness and other symptoms of osteoporosis. Results of the research appear in the March 18 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Because osteoporosis is a chronic condition that requires long-term treatment, it is helpful to have long-term data, explains lead author Dr. Henry Bone, director of the Michigan Bone and Mineral Clinic and head of endocrinology at St. John Hospital and Medical Center, both in Detroit.

According to an accompanying report in the journal, osteoporosis is fast becoming an epidemic with the aging of the world's population and the westernization of much of the globe. A 50-year-old woman in the United States now has a 40 percent lifetime risk of suffering an osteoporotic fracture.

Fosamax, sold by Merck & Co. Inc., works by preventing bone resorption, which occurs when bone material is removed from the body naturally without being replaced quickly enough.

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Major League Baseball Bans New Steroid

Major League Baseball has banned the recently uncovered steroid THG, which is at the heart of a scandal involving a San Francisco Bay Area supplement laboratory, the Associated Press reports.

Though the drug may have been used for some time, baseball and other sports didn't know about THG (tetrahydrogestrinone) until last October, so drug testing had been unable to detect it. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has since classified the substance as an illegal drug that can't be sold in the United States.

The personal trainer of San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds is among four men who have been indicted on charges of illegally supplying players with the performance-enhancing drug, produced by the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO). Bonds and fellow pro baseball players Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield, both with the New York Yankees, have been called before a grand jury to testify on the matter. The trio has denied using illegal steroids, the AP reports.

Anabolic steroids are lab-created versions of the male hormone testosterone. Some forms are approved by the FDA as prescription-only drugs to treat certain diseases and conditions.

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Electric Heaters Recalled as Shock Hazards

About 150,000 electric heaters are being recalled because they may contain loose wires that could pose a serious risk of electric shock to consumers, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says. The "Sun-Sational" brand heaters were sold at Sam's Clubs and other retailers nationwide from August 1996 to February 2004 for between $30 and $40. The products have a metallic gray heating element, white base, and red control knobs. A label at the base reads "SUN-Sational" and "Warning: Risk of Fire." The heater's maker, Lakewood Engineering & Manufacturing Co. of Chicago, says consumers should stop using the product immediately, and contact the company for a free repair or replacement. For more information, call 1-888-858-3506.

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