- FDA Warns Pfizer About 'Significant Violations' in Drug Trial
- Singer Urged to Refuse Tobacco Company Sponsorship of Concert
- School Lunches Threaten National Security: Study
- Obesity Gene Variant Linked to Brain Shrinkage
Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:
FDA Warns Pfizer About 'Significant Violations' in Drug Trial
"Significant violations" occurred in a Pfizer Inc.-sponsored clinical trial studying the use of the antipsychotic drug Geodon in children and teens, says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
In a warning letter posted on its Web site Tuesday, the agency said inspections conducted in 2005 and 2006 found "widespread overdosing" of participants at a number of study locations, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The issue "was neither detected nor corrected in a timely manner," the FDA said in the letter dated April 9.
In a news release, Pfizer said it has implemented several new measures to improve the conduct and monitoring of clinical trials, Dow Jones reported.
Geodon is approved to treat adults with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Pfizer has applied to the FDA to approve the drug as a treatment for bipolar disorder in patients ages 10 to 17. Last fall, the FDA turned down the request and asked for additional information.
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Singer Urged to Refuse Tobacco Company Sponsorship of Concert
"American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson is being urged to reject a tobacco company's sponsorship of her concert in Indonesia.
"If Kelly Clarkson goes ahead with the concert, she is by choice being a spokesman for the tobacco industry and helping them to market to children," Matt Myers, president of the U.S.-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, told the Associated Press.
The group has asked Clarkson to drop the sponsorship from Djarum, which is Indonesia's third-largest tobacco company.
"She has the power now to turn this situation around and to send a clear message to Indonesian young people and, frankly, to the young people of the world," Myers said.
A growing number of anti-smoking advocates are lobbying the Grammy-winning pop star on her Facebook page, the AP reported.
Two years ago, Alicia Keys rejected a tobacco company's sponsorship of her concert in Jakarta, Indonesia, and apologized to her fans.
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School Lunches Threaten National Security: Study
High-calorie school lunches are a threat to U.S. national security, according to a study released Tuesday by Mission: Readiness, a group of retired military officers.
Military recruitment is being jeopardized because school lunches are causing many children to become overweight or obese, which means that fewer young people can meet the military's physical fitness requirements, the Associated Press reported.
The study found that 27 percent of Americans ages 17 to 24 are too heavy to join the military.
Mission: Readiness wants Congress to pass a nutrition bill that would make school lunches healthier, the AP reported.
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Obesity Gene Variant Linked to Brain Shrinkage
A variant of the obesity gene puts more than one-third of Americans at risk for Alzheimer's and other brain diseases, according to a new study.
It was already known that people with this common variant of the FTO gene are at increased risk for becoming obese. This new study found that the same FTO variant is also linked to brain shrinkage, United Press International reported.
University of California, Los Angeles researchers studied 206 elderly people and found that those with the FTO variant had up to 12 percent less tissue in some parts of the brain, the news service said.
"If you have the bad FTO gene, your weight affects your brain adversely in terms of tissue loss," senior author Paul Thompson, a professor of neurobiology, said in a news release. "If you don't carry FTO, higher body weight doesn't translate into brain deficits."
The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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