The FDA is requesting a package change for an anti-diarrhea drug.

The US Food and Drug Administration has announced that it requested a label and package change for products that contain loperamide.

It is doing so to try and prevent substance abuse through opioid health products. This includes Imodium, an over-the-counter (OTC) anti-diarrhea drug, which helps cure short-term symptoms of diarrhea.

Loperamide is an opioid-based substance, which has started and is increasingly more abused in the US, according to the FDA statement.

There are around 11.5 million Americans who took substances with opioid effects this last year alone. About 40 Americans reportedly die every day due to opioid substance abuse.  

Those who suffer from withdrawal symptoms or who are looking for euphoric opioid-effects seemingly use this substance in significant quantities. In fact, Imodium is sometimes also called the poor man’s methadone.

The FDA requests all OTC manufacturers to change the packaging of the anti-diarrhea drug so that it only contains a safe dosage. A single package should hold a maximum of eight 2-milligram capsules in blisters.

Imodium is an FDA-approved product, which can be taken at a maximum dose of 8 milligrams (OTC) or 16 milligrams (prescription) by adults.  When taken in larger doses, it can lead to heart problems and even death.

Context and Prospects of the Anti-Diarrhea Drug Change

This change comes after a warning that the FDA issued back in the spring of 2017. It requested a modification of the product label so that this would now include the risks attached to taking high doses. However, the need for another initiative was imperative.

“Appropriate prescribing practices, better packaging, and education are important steps within our statutory authority to help address the human and financial toll of opioid addiction. They can reduce harm while still providing effective pain management protocols”, declare FDA representatives in the statement.

The package change initiative also targets the online distributors of loperamide. According to experts, they should also take the necessary steps to limit drug abuse. They also want to eliminate large volume containers of this anti-diarrhea substance.

Image source: StaticFlickr

Drinking too much alcohol when you are young can lead to liver diseases later in life.

Drinking too much alcohol during your teen years will increase the risk of developing liver diseases later on, according to a new study.

Researchers from the Karolinska University Hospital of Sweden revealed that men who drank 20 grams or more of alcohol each day during their adolescence are likelier to develop liver diseases, including liver cirrhosis or even liver-related deaths later in life.

The study mainly relied on a retrospective nation-wide study conducted during 1969-1970 of over 49 thousand Swedish young men aged 18 to 20. Scientists wanted to see if there was any correlation between high alcohol consumption during adolescence and liver disease development during adulthood.

39 years later, the researchers did a follow-up on the people involved with the previous study and found that 383 men developed life-threatening liver diseases later in their life, such as decompensated liver disease, liver cirrhosis, liver failure, or were killed by other liver diseases.

Some countries have their recommended cut-off levels for alcohol consumption at 30 grams per day, the equivalent of about three drinks.

“Our study showed that how much you drink in your late teens can predict the risk of developing cirrhosis later in life,” notes Hannes Hagstrom, lead investigator of the study.

Yet, the study suggests that even 20 grams or more of alcohol is a surefire way of increasing the risk of developing liver diseases in adulthood.

According to a 2014 report by the World Health Organization, alcohol is the primary cause of liver cirrhosis. The disease is said to kill aproximatelly 493,300 people each year.

The health risks were only valid for men, however, with further study being required to establish if women develop the same liver diseases later in life.

Dr. Hagstrom believes that current cut-off levels for alcohol consumption are not safe enough to avoid health problems. He hopes that this study will lead to lower cut-off levels so that we may “see a reduced incidence of alcoholic liver disease in the future”.

The study was published in the Journal of Hepatology.

Image Source: Pixabay

People who sleep more tend to eat less sugary foods, a research has found.

The more you sleep, the less likely you’ll feel the urge to eat sugary foods, according to a recent study. We all know that sleep is important but not all of us realize the health benefits that getting those extra Z’s provide. Previous studies have linked lack of sleep with higher risks for obesity and heart failure because it alters the hormones responsible for controlling appetite. The recent findings echo this data and add another benefit to staying a little longer in bed.

Scientists from King’s College London have discovered that adding 90 minutes to sleep sessions causes people to choose healthier foods. More so, people who sleep longer will eat on average 10 grams less of sugar per day.

Dr. Wendy Hall of the Department of Nutritional Sciences and lead researcher of the study explains how extending sleep is a simple change in lifestyle that helps people to consume healthier diets.

Dr. Hall and her team monitored 21 people who had a history of sleeping less than seven hours a night. The participants were sent to counseling in order for them to learn how to change their habits and allow themselves to sleep longer.

Then, the people had to keep a constant hour when they went to bed, stave off from caffeine and food and try to relax in the evenings. Thankfully, the counseling and the self-imposed goals helped add 90 minutes to their sleep sessions. The study lasted for a week.

The participants also had to keep a food diary. In it, researchers noticed that people who slept for longer were naturally inclined to eat less sugary foods and carbohydrates that before their sleep pattern change. Another group of 21 participants who did not receive any intervention in their sleep patterns were put in contrast.

The findings were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Image Source: Pixabay

According to the latest report, the US child mortality rates are worse than in 19 other countries.

A recent report shows that the child mortality rate in the US is the worst compared to other 19 wealthy nations. The OECD or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development conducted this study. Research results were published in the journal Health Affairs earlier this week, on January 08.

US Child Mortality Rates Much Higher than Those of Other Developed Countries

This report monitored child mortality rates starting with 1961 and up to 2010. Both the United States and other 19 comparable nations from the OECD were included.

This group, composed of 35 countries, was founded to improve social well-being and to drive economic development around the globe. However, this latest research shows that the mortality rates are not evenly distributed in these nations.

Germany, Ireland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Spain, the UK, Finland, Australia, and Belgium are some of the other countries targeted by the study.

„Across all ages and in both sexes, children have been dying more often in the US than in similar countries since the 1980s,” mentioned the lead author, Dr. Ashish Thakrar.

Specialists noted that some of the factors that increased the child mortality rate in the US include automobile accidents, firearm assaults, and infant deaths.

As part of their analysis, the researchers looked at the mortality rates of children under the age of 19. The researchers noticed that the childhood mortality rates decreased between 1961 and 2010 in all of the countries.

Despite this, the US had a lower decline rate compared to the other nations. More specifically, between 2001 and 2010, the rate in the US was 75% higher for babies and 50% higher for children between 1 and 19 years old. Another country where the rate was higher than the average child mortality rate was New Zealand.

In contrast, Finland, Spain, Japan, Norway, and Iceland presented lower than average child mortality rates. Overall the lowest child mortality rate for children of all ages was in Sweden. This shows that there are countries where the mortality rate among children is still too high and that some changes are needed to lower their frequency.

Image Source: Wikimedia

According to research, women and men do not receive the same heart attack care.

A recent study focused on heart attack care and the gap between the treatment women and men receive. Researchers observed and claim that fewer women might have died if they had received the same treatment and attention as men.

As part of their research, the team monitored the outcome of 180,368 cases from Sweden. All of these patients had suffered a heart attack sometime in the last ten years.

The Astounding Differences in Heart Attack Care

Researchers observed that women had a three times higher risk of developing heart attacks compared to men. However, the British Heart Foundation mentioned that, in general, males are more likely to have a heart attack. Also, despite this, females are more likely to die from heart diseases.

Karolinska Institute and the University of Leeds researchers are behind this latest study. To conduct their research, they used data from an online cardiac registry in Sweden.

The team noted that women were less likely to receive the necessary heart attack care, at least when compared to the one offered to men. This is meant to lower their risk of death after a heart attack.

A co-author of the study, Chris Gale, mentioned that there is a common misconception about heart attack patients. Most people expect to see an overweight man in his 40s who also smokes and has diabetes. He continued by adding that this is not correct as anyone can suffer such an accident, including non-smokers, or young people.

The study shows that there are gender differences when it comes to the heart attack care. Women, for instance, were 34 percent less likely to undergo a bypass surgery compared to men. Also, they were 24% less likely to receive statin medication.

A standard treatment with statins might help prevent another heart attack. As it is, medical guidelines recommend all of these procedures for both genders. Researchers observed that, when women received these standard heart attack care as well, the gap in mortality between males and females decreased.

Image Source: Wikimedia

Millennials who strive to be perfect are likelier to develop depression and suicidal tendencies.

Humans aren’t perfect but that doesn’t stop them from trying to be. More so, the pursuit perfection can only cause the pursuer to realize that they are trying to reach an unreachable peak. Millennials tend to be more preoccupied with trying to appear flawless and well-adjusted something that eventually would lead them to depression and anxiety. This is what a recent study published in the journal, Psychological Bulletin, claims.

The medical definition of perfectionism as found in the Merriam-Webster dictionary is „the setting of unrealistically demanding goals accompanied by a disposition to regard failure to achieve them as unacceptable and a sign of personal worthlessness.”

Based on this notion, researchers took it upon themselves to explore why and how young people subject themselves to unrealistic goals. The study involved over 40 thousand American, Canadian, and British college students that lasted from 1989 to 2016. Researchers discovered that perfectionism increased over the years with the United States being a hot spot for the mentality.

According to the study, there are three reasons for this increase: anxious and controlling parents, the rise of neoliberalism, and the prevalence of meritocracy.

The authors claim that parents have an additional burden of pushing their children to succeed in life as to not tarnish family reputation. More so, researchers pointed out that college students and young people who are self-oriented perfectionists are prone to clinical depression, anorexia, and even early death.

The study states that there are different types of perfectionism. Self-oriented perfectionism, for example, refers to a person who pressures himself or herself to be perfect. Then there is socially prescribed perfectionism, which is the pressure put on by society to be perfect. Another side to this phenomenon is other-oriented perfectionism, the pressure one puts on others to be perfect.

Socially prescribed perfectionism was linked with social phobia, body dissatisfaction, suicidal tendencies. This type also was found to have the strongest link to depression and anxiety.

Dr. Barbara Greenberg, a clinical psychologist, blames this phenomenon on social media. She points out that millennials are constantly under a „figurative microscope” forcing them to become more self-conscious and set unattainable goals.

Image Source: Flickr

Scientists were able to slow down Alzheimer’s progression in mice with a type 2 diabetes drug.

Developing a cure for any disease is a tedious process that often ends in disappointment or inconclusive results. It is then a rare occurrence when a treatment for a disease is found to be more efficient in treating another ailment. In this case, researchers may have found an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s while conducting test trials for a drug designed to combat type 2 diabetes.

The new study published in the journal, Brain Research, suggests that a new drug created to regulate obesity could also slow down Alzheimer’s development.

Researchers have stated that people who have type 2 diabetes are already prone to contracting Alzheimer’s. More so, those who are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s have brain cells that are unable to use glucose, which is the prime fuel source for all cells. The same inability to manage glucose is present in diabetics. Low insulin levels in diabetics mean that they can’t produce glucose as easily. Researchers thus hope that the new drug will be able to fix the brain’s dysfunction and by association delay Alzheimer’s progression.

The new drug acts by binding to the receptors of three distinct hormones and allowing the body’s cells to take more of each. These hormones are glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1), glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP), and glucagon. The first two hormones allow the body to produce insulin as well as amplify its effects, whereas glucagon is released when blood sugar levels are low. Glucagon essentially acts as an equalizer.

The drug combines all three of the hormones’ effects to curve obesity in diabetic mice by balancing their blood sugar levels and force them to lose weight.

In addition, researchers monitored the effects of this drug on genetically bred mice that have many symptoms of Alzheimer’s including memory loss and damaged nerve cells. The scientists injected the mice with the drug on a daily basis for two months. These mice showed less chronic brain inflammation and even improved neuron growth. More so, the rodents were able to complete maze tests, suggesting that the drug had halted or even reversed the disease.

According to the scientists, the drug “holds clear promise of being developed into a new treatment for chronic neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease,”

Image Source: Pexels

Poor people who enjoy heavy drinking are likelier to die from alcohol-related diseases.

According to a recent study, poor people have a higher risk of dying from heavy drinking as opposed to people who have a disposable income.

Norwegian scientists revealed that people who had two to three drinks per week had a lower risk of dying from alcohol-related diseases if they were rich. People who don’t benefit from a hefty paycheck were also reported to consume alcohol less frequently, however, they have a higher rate of alcohol-related hospitalization and deaths, the study claims.

The team of scientists led by Eirik Degerud, of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Oslo, sifted through the socioeconomic and health survey data of over 200 thousand Norwegian adults. Eligible individuals for the study had to be born before October 15, 1960, and had to complete mandatory censuses in Norway between 1960 and 1990.

The researchers discovered that people who drank 4 to 7 times a week had higher death rates, regardless of how much money they made. However, when Degerud and his team looked at people who consumed alcohol 2 to 3 times a week, the results changed slightly.

The study revealed that people with lower incomes tend to die at higher rates from alcohol-related diseases even if they do not drink that much. More so, people who drank moderately were reported to have a lower chance of developing heart disease than heavy drinkers or those who did not drink at all. The authors noted that moderate drinkers that have a disposable income were the most protected from heart disease risk.

What’s more noteworthy is that people who drank high amounts of alcohol were prone to shorter lives as opposed to wealthy people who had the same behavior.

“Interestingly, episodes of heavy drinking were somewhat more common among individuals with high incomes,” the study’s authors wrote.

The study was published in the journal, PLOS Medicine.

Image Source: Pixabay

Clinical trials for an upcoming male contraceptive are expected to commence in 2018.

A new male contraceptive is expected to begin clinical testing next year. The trials will be held by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

According to the researchers, the potential male contraceptive will be gel-based and is supposed to be applied onto the user’s skin and not place directly on the genitals.

A similar trial was conducted by the same team of researchers in 2012 where they combined the application of two gels designed to block normal sperm secretion. The results revealed that the user’s semen level count dropped to less than 1 million per milliliter. This value is considered below the average 15 to 200 million sperm per milliliter required to be fertile.

For the upcoming trial, which will be held in April, researchers have combined the two gels into one easy to use rub-on contraceptive. The new gel combines two synthetic hormones of progesterone and testosterone. Progesterone’s substitute, nestorone, acts as a progestin which basically blocks the testicles from producing enough testosterone to create normal sperm levels. The testosterone substitute will then counteract the hormone imbalances that progestin causes.

While clinical trial for the new contraceptive is due to start in April next year, the gel won’t arrive at our local pharmacies for at least four years. According to the researchers, 400 couples will be involved in the study. As part of the trial, the men will be asked to take a pump bottle of the contraceptive and apply around half a teaspoon of gel on their upper arms and shoulders every day.

The gel reportedly dries up after approximately one minute and keeps sperm levels low for about three days after using it.

Researchers stressed the need for using the gel on a daily basis, as men who forget to apply it for a couple of days will definitely see an opposite effect. During the trial, the men will use the gel for at least four months while their partners will use female contraception just to be safe.

Image Source: Pexels

People with early-stage of Parkinson’s disease may slow down the affliction with regular exercise.

People with early-stage Parkinson’s disease can decrease the worsening of motor symptoms associated with the illness by doing high-intensity exercises three times a day.

Parkinson’s disease results when the brain cells that are responsible for movement either start to die or become impaired. It is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder next to Alzheimer’s and the most common movement disorder in the US. According to the Parkinson’s foundation, an estimated one million Americans are affected by the ailment.

According to a study conducted by Northwestern Medicine and the University of Colorado School of Medicine,  Parkinson’s disease can be staved off by doing simple exercises each day. It was previously believed that physical exercise would be too stressful for individuals with the ailment, however, those who were in the early phases of Parkinson’s disease saw results after six months.

„The earlier in the disease you intervene, the more likely it is you can prevent the progression of the disease,” notes co-lead author Daniel Corcos, a Northwestern University professor of physical therapy and human movement sciences.

At the moment, Corcos claims the results were restricted to those six months of monitoring Parkinson’s patients. He said that further study is required to see if preventing the development of Parkinson’s disease by way of physical exercise is possible.

The development of Parkinson’s disease usually occurs in people who are 60 or older. Symptoms of the ailment include stiffness, progressive loss of muscle control, trembling, impaired balance, and slowness.

The clinical trial consisted of 128 participants who were between 40 and 80 years old. Those who enrolled in the study were at an early stage of Parkinson’s and were not under any medication associated with the ailment. This meant that the results of the study would not be affected by other factors.

A third of the participants were to do 30 minutes of treadmill exercise for thirty minutes at 80 to 85 percent of their maximum heart rate for four days a week. The other two-thirds were given moderate treadmill exercises and no exercise regimen respectively.

The results revealed that those who underwent high-intensity exercises in six months did not develop Parkinson’s symptoms any further. The third who did not exercise saw their symptoms worsen by 15 percent, while those in-between registered 7 to 8 percent worsening.

While further study is required to see if physical exercise can actually prevent Parkinson’s disease, researchers believe it is a surefire way to at least slow down its development. The study was published in the journal JAMA Neurology.

Image Source: Vimeo

A new flushable pregnancy test will become available next year.

Women will no longer be afraid of their better half finding a pregnancy test in the trash bin as a new flushable version will hit shelves next year. Not only that, but the new product is said to be eco-friendly as well.

A company named Lia Diagnostics developed a flushable pregnancy test which marks the first breakthrough of this kind in nearly thirty years.

“It’s been the same stick test since 1987, and that kind of crazy,” Bethany Edwards, co-founder of Lia Diagnostics explained to the crowd at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin.

The new product is said to be 99 percent accurate on the first day of a woman’s missed period and the results will appear after a few minutes. Lia Diagnostics claims the new pregnancy test will have a wider collection area for peeing as opposed to the usual testing kits. The flushable pregnancy test will be sold by Amazon in mid-2018 at an estimated price of $9 ((£6.70) to $22 (£16.39).

Besides its revolutionary means of disposability, the Lia pregnancy test will also have a lower environmental impact due to its paper composition. The product is made from the same natural plant fibers as toilet paper and is water resistant for the duration of the test. Its biodegradable nature means the pregnancy test can also be added to compost.  Lia Diagnostic’s paper-based pregnancy test will no longer contribute to the two-million pounds of plastic waste that piles up in landfills every year.

The flushable pregnancy test will still rely on urine for determining pregnancy results and will show two lines if positive and one if negative. It basically works the same as a traditional pregnancy test but it’s easier to dispose of and more eco-friendly as the company website reads:

„There’s no trace, no waste, and no pee going anywhere it doesn’t belong.”

Image Source: WikipediaCommons