A task force review of 310 osteoporosis patients with a rare femur fracture found 94 percent had taken bisphosphonates, with a stronger link among long-term users. The group says it cannot confirm the drugs caused the fractures, which occur in under 0.1 percent of patients taking them.
Laura Lamp King
Avoiding Illness
Superbug Has Arrived in the US
Hospitals in Massachusetts, Illinois and California have treated three patients carrying NDM-1, a resistance mechanism traced to India; all three had undergone medical procedures there. A CDC epidemiologist notes that carbapenem-resistant bacteria already spread in US hospitals and nursing homes.
Heart & Blood
Angioplasty vs Coronary Artery Bypass: Choose Wisely
Data from a European-American study may shift severe heart disease treatment back toward bypass surgery. The piece traces angioplasty from 1977 through the 1994 stent approval, noting elastic recoil in 5-10% of patients and restenosis in 40-50% within three to six months of balloon angioplasty.
Cancer
Pediatric Cancer: Cure Desperately Needed
Neuroblastoma, the most common cancer in infancy, accounts for about 650 of the more than 12,000 pediatric cancers diagnosed in the U.S. each year. It usually starts in an adrenal gland, its early symptoms are vague, and 50-60 percent have already spread by diagnosis.
Other Diseases
Do Cockroaches Hold the Key to MRSA Treatment?
University of Nottingham researchers found nine molecules in the brain and nervous tissue of cockroaches and locusts that killed 90 percent of E. coli and MRSA bacteria without harming human cells. Simon Lee presented the work to the Society for General Microbiology.
Cancer
Pediatric Cancer: Who Will Look for a Cure?
About 46 U.S. children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer each day, more than 12,000 a year. Marking Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month, the piece follows Sam Bish, an Ohio 8-year-old who died a year after an osteosarcoma diagnosis, and the Pediatric Cancer Foundation's research funding.
Avoiding Illness
The C8 Health Project:What Have We Learned?
The C8 Health Project tested blood from more than 12,000 children aged 1 to 18 exposed for at least a year to PFOA-contaminated drinking water in the mid-Ohio River Valley. PFOA and PFOS concentrations averaged 69.2 and 22.7 ng/mL, well above the national median.
Avoiding Illness
Home Cooked Meal with a Side of Food Poisoning?
In a Los Angeles County study where about 13,000 adults completed an online food safety self-assessment, roughly one in seven home kitchens would fail a restaurant-style health inspection. Some 27 percent did not refrigerate partially cooked food held for later, and 28 percent kept jewelry on.
Agriculture
In the Battle of the Strawberries, Did Organic Win
John Reganold's Washington State University team compared 13 organic and 13 conventional California strawberry fields, testing 31 soil properties, soil DNA, and the taste, nutrition and quality of three varieties. The conventional farms used the fumigant methyl bromide.
Miscellaneous
Osteoporosis: Is Treatment Worse than the Disease?
Long-term use of oral bisphosphonates such as Actonel, Boniva and Fosamax may double esophageal cancer risk, though a second analysis of the same British database found no increase. Jane Green's team attributes the discrepancy to their longer observation period and greater statistical power.
Lifestyle
Too Sexy Too Soon: Media's Dangerous Impact on Teens
Cited surveys put 46% of high school seniors as having had intercourse and one in four teens with an STI. Teens spend about seven hours a day with media; more than 75% of prime-time programs carry sexual content, while only about 14% mention risk, responsibility or consequences.
Miscellaneous
Sports Related Concussions Increase Among Children
A Pediatrics study led by Dr. Lisa Bakhos found emergency visits for sports-related injuries among children more than doubled from 2001 to 2005, with 502,000 concussions recorded in 8- to 19-year-olds, about half from sports and a third in children aged 8 to 13.
Cancer
Breast Cancer Survivors Carry on - Despite TDM1 Hault
Roche says the FDA found its Phase II data for T-DM1, a conjugated antibody that shrank tumors in HER2-positive breast cancer, did not meet the standard for accelerated approval because other treatments had not been exhausted. Roche plans a submission from the Phase III EMILIA study in mid-2012.
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