- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments,
compiled by editors of HealthDay:
Baltimore Adopts First-Ever Limit on Single
Cigar Sales
Move over, cigarettes. Make room for limitations on cigar sales… at
least in Baltimore.
According to the Baltimore Sun, the city council has adopted a
proposal that would make Baltimore, Md. the first city in the United
States to limit sales of small, individual cigars known as “blunts” or
“loosies” in neighborhood stores.
The law is specifically aimed at teenagers influenced by popular
hip-hop singers, the Sun reports, and each cigar contains much more
nicotine than a cigarette. In addition to packing more of a nicotine
wallop, the newspaper says, the cigars are artificially sweetened, adding
to their appeal to adolescents.
The sale limitation could be implemented by the city's health
department within days, the Sun reported, and would prohibit
selling the cigars individually, at about 50 cents each. Because the
cigars would have to be sold in minimum packs of five, city officials
theorize the increased cost could reduce the number of teenagers smoking
cigars.
Cigars don't fall under U.S. government regulations against selling
cigarettes to minors, the newspaper reports, and this may have led to a
2007 study by Johns Hopkins University researchers that found nearly 24
percent of Baltimore residents between 18 and 25-years-old had smoked a
small cigar within the past 30 days.
While scientific studies on the impact of long-term cigar smoking
aren't as comprehensive as those that looked at cigarette smoking, the
U.S. government's National cancer Institute says that research “has shown
that cancers of the oral cavity (lip, tongue, mouth, and throat), larynx,
lung, and esophagus are associated with cigar smoking.”
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Indian 'Laugh-In' Has its Serious, Scientific
Side
Once again, an attempt is being made to find out if laughter is indeed
the best medicine.
The Washington Post reports that participants in the
International Laughter Yoga Conference in India are using as many
different types of laughter as their collective imagination can create to
replicate findings from 2006 that showed the cardio-pulmonary system was
positively affected from a good laugh.
The idea, the Post says, is for the laughers to create enough
energy to release endorphins — hormones that elevate the mood and are
often released from rigorous exercise.
In the 2006 study, published in the journal Heart, researchers
at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore collected a
total of 160 measurements of brachial artery flow from the participants a
minute before and after phases of laughter or sadness. The brachial
artery, which runs from the shoulder to the elbow, is a good indicator of
blood flow throughout the body.
According to the researchers, brachial blood flow was reduced in 14 of
the 20 participants after they watched segments from the sad movies. Blood
flow was increased in 19 of the 20 participants after they watched clips
from comedy movies.
Now, those promoting mirth at the Indian yoga conference are attempting
to add to the original research.
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FDA Panel Recommends Drug for Rare Blood
Disorder
Despite reservations by U.S. Food and Drug Administration scientists, a
panel of experts advising the agency has recommended the full agency's
approval of a drug to treat a rare immune system disorder that causes the
body to destroy its own blood platelets.
The advisory panel voted unanimously Friday to recommend Promacta,
produced by GlaxoSmithKline and Ligand Pharmaceuticals, the Associated
Press reported. Earlier in the week, FDA scientists released data that
they suggested found that Promacta was no better than a placebo in
treating chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. Some 60,000 people
in the United States have the disorder, which leads to excessive bleeding
and bruising.
While noting that the drug makers haven't provided long-term data on
the drug's safety and effectiveness, the panel said a pair of six-week
studies indicated Promacta was of significant benefit to people with the
disorder, the AP reported.
The FDA has until June 19 to decide whether to approve the drug. While
it isn't bound by the recommendations of its expert panels, it typically
follows them.
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Facial Features Affect Perception of
Mood
A person's facial expressions and mood can be misperceived due to
differences in facial features such as eyebrow shape, eyelid position and
wrinkles, according to a U.S. study.
It included 20 health care workers who viewed photos that were
digitally altered to change a number of features. The participants were
asked to rate, on a scale of 0 to 5, seven expressions or emotions
conveyed in the photos: tiredness, happiness, surprise, anger, disgust,
fear and sadness, United Press International reported.
Results for the altered photos were compared to the scores from the
original photos. Overall, eyebrow shape was deemed to be the greatest
indicator of mood, drooping of the eyelids was considered the biggest
indicator of tiredness, and raising the lower eyelid and the presence of
crow's feet were associated with happiness.
The study appears in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive
Surgery.
“A key complaint of those seeking facial plastic surgery is that people
always tell them they look tired, even when they do not feel tired,” study
co-author Dr. John Persing said in a prepared statement cited by
UPI. “We found that variations in eyebrow contour, drooping of the
upper eyelid, and wrinkles may be conveying facial expressions that don't
necessarily match how patients are feeling.”
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Recalled Toy Helicopters Pose Fire, Burn
Hazards
About 152,000 Sky Champion wireless indoor helicopters are being
recalled because the rechargeable battery inside the toy can ignite and
pose fire or burn hazards to consumers, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission said.
There have been two reports of the Chinese-made toy helicopters
catching fire but no reports of injuries or property damage, according to
importer/distributor Tradewinds International Enterprises Inc. (TWIE), of
San Francisco, Calif.
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The recalled helicopters have the code BH26047 printed on the tail. The
code WIC 551777 and the UPC code 630990006005 are printed on the
packaging. The toys were sold at Walgreens stores across the United States
from June 2007 through November 2007 for about $20.
Consumers should stop using the toys and contact TWIE at 888-583-4908
for a refund. Walgreens will not accept returns or provide refunds, the
CPSC said.
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Most Children's Caregivers Ignorant About
Household Poisons
Less than one-third of people who cared for children younger than age
six knew the toxicity of common household products, a new U.S. study
found.
“Young children are at risk of household chemical ingestion and their
caretakers often do not have a good understanding of how toxic those
chemical are. Parental education needs to be focused more on younger
caretakers with more children,” study leader Dr. Rika N. O'Malley, of the
Albert Einstein Medical Center, said in a prepared statement.
The researchers screened primary caregivers who visited emergency
departments, asking them to identify toxic items from a list of common
household products. People with a higher level of education,
responsibility for fewer children, and those more than 23 years old were
more likely to have knowledge of household poisons.
The study was presented Friday at a meeting of the Society for Academic
Emergency Medicine.
The researchers said doctors needed to boost efforts to educate primary
caregivers about the risks of household toxins.
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