FDA Says Stop Using GSK's Rotavirus Vaccine
Officials from the Food and Drug Administration are advising doctors to stop vaccinating with Rotarix, one of two vaccines available to protect kids against the diarrhea-causing rotavirus, HealthDay reports. Researchers found that Rotarix, which is made by GlaxoSmithKline, contained pig virus. But FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said that the virus is probably harmless and that the vaccine appears to be safe, according to HealthDay. The recommendation will stand until the agency discovers how porcine circovirus 1 (PCV1) got into the vaccine, which came on the market in 2008, and assesses its effects.
[Read 4 Common Diarrhea Causes—and What to Do if You Get Sick and 7 Common Digestive Problems and How to End Them.]
Memory Loss With Age: Not Necessarily Normal
As people grow older, memory and thinking skills decline relatively rapidly in those who end up with later dementia compared with folks who are aging normally—even before dementia or Alzheimer's disease is officially diagnosed, U.S. News's Sarah Baldauf reports. That's according to a study published yesterday in the journal Neurology. As part of a longitudinal aging study of older people living in a Chicago community, researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago tested participants' memory and thinking skills every three years for up to 11 years. (The subjects' average age at the beginning of the study was 79.)
The findings suggested that the memory and thinking abilities of subjects who had mild cognitive impairment, the precursor to Alzheimer's disease, declined two times as fast every year as the abilities of those without any cognitive problems at the beginning of the study. Likewise, thinking ability and memory in subjects with Alzheimer's disease declined four times as fast as in those without any cognitive problems.
These results, says Robert Wilson, the lead study author and senior neuropsychologist at the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, suggests that by the time of an actual diagnosis, Alzheimer's disease or another dementia is probably already in its final stages. The disease has probably been present for many years, though in a far less debilitating form. "There persists the idea that some decline in memory is typical" with age, but that may not be entirely accurate, he explains. Read more.
[Slide Show: 6 Ways to Protect Yourself Against Alzheimer's and Dementia.] [Read 10 Things You Should Know About Alzheimer's Disease.]
Calorie Counts on Restaurant Menus as Part of Health Reform
Coming to chain restaurants nationwide, courtesy of Congress (or at least 219 House Democrats): calorie counts on menus and menu boards. Health reform legislation passed Sunday includes provisions to require restaurants with more than 20 outlets to post calorie information for all of their regular menu items, U.S. News's Katherine Hobson reports.
Whether the move, which some cities have already instituted, will actually work to change purchases or reduce waistlines is still a matter of debate. A working paper released in January by the Stanford Graduate School of Business looked at Starbucks. It found that the calorie posting mandated in New York City was linked with a 6 percent reduction in calories per transaction—though beverage purchases weren't affected. Read more.
[Read 'Stuffed' Suggests How the Food Industry Can Battle Obesity and 6 Ways Restaurants Could Market Good Health.]
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