Health News: This and That

Lights! Camera! Accutane! Roche Versus Hollywood
By Ed Silverman // February 11th, 2011 // 10:38 am
"The usual interplay between Hollywood and drugmakers occurs when a celebrity endorses a drug. Now, though, Roche is about to encounter a Hollywood experience of an entirely different sort - James Marshall, who played a US Marine in the 1992 hit film ‘A Few Good Men,’ claims his acting career was derailed after he used the Accutane acne pill and developed inflammatory bowel disease. His colon was subsequently removed and he is suing the drugmaker for $30 million $11 million in lost earnings." ... Continue Reading.............

Pfizer to evaluate Resonance Health's liver fibrosis diagnostic
Published 9:22 AM, 14 Feb 2011
Source: News Bites
Resonance Health Ltd announced on February 11 that it had signed an agreement with Pfizer to evaluate the company's MRI based product for assessing liver fibrosis, a major international health problem caused primarily by hepatitis C infection, excessive alcohol consumption and fatty liver disease.
The recognised gold standard for assessing liver fibrosis involves a liver biopsy, a technique presenting risk to the patient and inaccuracies due to sampling error.
Resonance says it has developed an MRI-based diagnostic product for liver fibrosis that has had promising results.
The agreement with Pfizer involves a clinical study in collaboration with Prof Peter Angus, medical director Liver Transplant Unit at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne.
Results of the study are expected in the first quarter of 2012.


Pfizer, EPA working to clean up contaminated site
The pharmaceutical firm that inherited decades of pollution at a former chemical company site beside the Raritan River is working with the federal Environmental Protection Agency on a new plan to clean up the remaining contaminants.
The public will have an opportunity to review and comment on the proposals after they've been given preliminary approval by the EPA, which could happen as early as this spring..Continue Reading...

Doctors Don't Enroll Patients in Clinical Trials
Physicians may be part of the reason why patient participation in clinical trials for cancer is low, researchers said...Continue reading...


From Grand Rounds.....

Marshall Scott, Episcopal Chaplain at the Bedside, shares reflections in light of the ethical principles of the "Georgetown Mantra" on the recent case of two sisters imprisoned in Mississippi whose sentences would be suspended if one sister donated a kidney to the other.


Valentine’s Day may not be a happy one when illness enters into the couple relationship, things change, often drastically. If the demands of illness make it difficult for the partners to connect with and be supportive of each other, should they consider divorce? Barbara
In Sickness and In Health, discusses these changes in her post: Divorce and Chronic Illness: One Woman's Story.

Allergy Notes gives us 7 Tips for Allergy-free Winter. Included is a mini map diagram of the most effective methods for control of the most common indoor allergen - the mighty dust mite.

Philip Hickey, Behaviorism and Mental Health, discusses The Drugging of Children. He feels children with behavioral problems are increasingly being prescribed anti-psychotic drugs. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with these children. They simply haven’t been adequately trained and disciplined.

Read all contributions........


Next week’s Grand Rounds host will be Grunt Doc.