Hopkins study focuses on ulcerative colitis

By Carol Sorgen
Posted on December 21, 2018

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic, progressive disease that affects nearly 1 million Americans. Up to one-third of patients with UC will require hospitalization for severe symptoms such as pain and bloody stools, often within the first year after diagnosis. While new therapies have revolutionized the medical care available to patients, offering a greater possibility of achieving... READ MORE

Spinal-cord stimulators help some patients, injure others

By Mitch Weiss and Holbrook Mohr
Posted on December 21, 2018

Desperate for relief after years of agony, Jim Taft listened intently as his pain management doctor described a medical device that could change his life. It wouldn't fix the nerve damage in his mangled right arm, Taft and his wife recalled the doctor saying, but a spinal-cord stimulator would cloak his pain, making him “good as new.” Taft's stimulator failed soon after it was... READ MORE

Insulin pumps have most reported problems in FDA database

By Holbrook Mohr and Mitch Weiss
Posted on December 20, 2018

When Polly Varnado's 9-year-old daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, it didn't take long for the family to hear about insulin pumps. In September 2012, the girl picked out a purple one — her favorite color. Over the next seven months, she proceeded to be hospitalized four times in a McComb, Mississippi medical center with high blood sugar. But when Varnado asked about all... READ MORE

Drug study will try to halt memory loss

By Barbara Ruben
Posted on December 20, 2018

With 5.7 million Americans already living with Alzheimer’s disease — a number that is expected to more than double in 30 years — researchers are racing to find the culprits that lead to the memory loss and confusion Alzheimer’s disease can cause. One suspect is a type of protein in the brain called beta-amyloid. Researchers believe fragments of this protein can accumulate and... READ MORE

At FDA, a new goal, then a push for speedy device reviews

By Matthew Perrone
Posted on December 19, 2018

Dr. Jeffrey Shuren was adamant: The United States would never cut corners to fast-track the approval of medical devices. “We don't use our people as guinea pigs in the U.S.,” Shuren said, holding firm as the new director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's medical devices division. Again and again in 2011 — four times in all — Shuren was summoned before Congress.... READ MORE

New drug shortens, eases flu symptoms

By AP
Posted on December 19, 2018

U.S. health regulators have approved the first new type of flu drug in two decades. The approval of Xofluza for people age 12 and older comes just ahead of the brunt of this winter’s flu season. Xofluza is a pill that can reduce severity and shorten duration of flu symptoms after one just dose. It was developed by the Roche Group and Shionogi & Co. It works about as well as... READ MORE

How to avoid the flu and colds this winter

By Heather Rucker
Posted on December 18, 2018

Q: It seems like everyone I know is getting sick with a cold or the flu recently. How can I protect myself from getting sick too? A: With chilly air and snowy weather come all kinds of conditions — the flu, the common cold and everything in between. However, there are a number of things you can do to keep yourself well and prevent the spread of germs to loved ones. Here are... READ MORE

Breast implants reveal problems in tracking device safety

By Meghan Hoyer
Posted on December 18, 2018

To all the world, it looked like breast implants were safe. From 2008 to 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration publicly reported 200 or so complaints annually — a tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands of implant surgeries performed each year. Then last fall, something strange happened: Thousands of problems with breast implants flooded the FDA's system. More than 4,000... READ MORE

Don’t enable abuse; stand up for yourself

By Helen Oxenberg
Posted on December 17, 2018

Dear Solutions: I hope you can help me find a better way to react to my husband when he blames me for things and yells and screams at me. We went to dinner with two other couples, and I wanted to order a clam appetizer. The other two women wanted to share it, so we ordered it for the three of us. When the other two men saw it, they wanted it also and decided to order it for the three of... READ MORE

Consider adding dandelions to your diet

By Suzy Cohen
Posted on December 17, 2018

You might well consider dandelions to be a pesky weed, but this potent wildflower contains an impressive arsenal of nutritious compounds that you may want to add to your diet. I’m referring to dandelions as in Taraxacum officinale. This notoriously bitter weed is packed with protein, minerals and more vitamin C than spinach. The entire plant is actually edible, though I’ve never... READ MORE