Heart Patients May Have Heart Attack if Stop Aspirin

Lately, in a study conducted in UK has found that heart patients who stop taking aspirin are at greater risk of heart attack than patients who take apirin.

Patients with record of heart disease in recent past are recommended to take lower dose of aspirin. It is found that half of the patients with heart disease stops taking prescribed medicine which are supposed to take for long time. Aspirin prevents clotting of blood in heart arteries which ensures smooth circulation of blood. Study of the records at UK hospitals revealed that not taking aspirin increased the chances of heart disease but nothing was known whether this may lead to heart attack. But latest research study revealed that discontinuing aspirin increases the events of heart attack.

Although aspirin is OTC (Over the Counter) drug, almost 65%-80% patients receive it from prescription. OTC drug can be bought from any local pharmacy store without prescription from doctor.

Heart Disease Patients Study

Data, obtained from UK primary care of The Health Improvement Network, was examined by Dr Luis Garcia and his team members. Data included 39,512 heart patients of aged between 50 and 85. All these patients were prescribed aspirin of strength 75mg to 300mg a day to prevent any future heart disease.

Possibility of heart attack and coronary disease was assessed by a comparison between the patients who continued taking aspirin and those who stopped taking aspirin.

Significantly increased risk

Study revealed that patients who lately stopped aspirin were at higher risk of heart attack than those who stopped long back. This simply means that within a year there were 4 patients, in every 1000 patients, at risk of heart attack. Those who stopped aspirin treatment were at low intensity attack.

New Drug-Resistant Bacteria Discovered

Scientists have discovered new gonorrhoea stain which is believed to be resistant to most of the antibiotics.

Annually millions of people are reported to infected by sexually transmitted disease (STD). Infections by Bactria are most common cause of STD.

Infection of Gonorrhea may lead to HIV, infertility and complex pregnancy.

Resistant Bacteria

What worries experts is the no current antibiotic is able to kill the bactira and the new-strain can pose threat people globally. Dr Unemo led the team of experts which found the said strain.

Anticiotics have been standard treatment for several decades. Several bacterias have developed resistance capacity because of prolong usage of similar antibiotics.

Although it would be too early to assert that new bacteria has spreaded widely, past record shows of any bacteria shows that bacteria with resistance capability spreads rapidly. Dr Unemo underscores the need of developing effective therapy before it becomes world wide threat, it would have been late otherwise.

The report of the finding by Dr Unemo & Team was made public in International Society for Sexually Transmitted Disease Research held in Quebec.

Gonorrhea is treatable with general antibiotics. But, like many other diseases, if left untreated it can lead to other deadly infection such as HIV. Gonorrhea is easy door for HIV. Apart from HIV infection it may lead to life threatening complications in both male and female.

Different antibiotic drugs are being tested against the new bacteria strain.

Last year (2010) 416,678 STD infections were reported in England alone.

Shortages of Drug in hospitals, a serious Concern

A survey has revealed that shortage of medicines is compelling hospitals across the America to shutdown some chemotherapy drugs as well as critical care drugs.

The survey, titled as 'Impact of Drug Shortages on U.S. Health Systems', was conducted by American Hospital Association. As per the data eighty percent cases are being delayed and seventy percent patients are not receiving effective alternate medicine.

Total 820 hospitals participated in survey. The survey was conducted to convince parliament for legislative solution. Another survey, by ASHSP, assumed that shortage is costing about $216 millions per year to cop up the additional labor cost.

These drugs are mostly generic version of brand drug. Because these drugs are used in critical treatment, FDA requires them to be manufactured with stringent precautions (safety guideline for plants). This causes some companies to shutdown manufacturing plants as the plants were found incompatible with guidelines issued by FDA. Other companies are unable to bridge the gap and shortages occur.

FDA has officially reported 175-180 cases of drug shortage in 2010. Number for 2011 is not known, yet it is believed to be higher than 2010 and increasing rapidly.

Shortages are for antibiotics amoxil, drugs used in chemotherapy and nutritional supplements. Most of the drugs injections. Shortages are also there for medicines used in emergency or in intensive-care units. But shortages of antibiotics and chemotherapy drugs are sever as it may cause death.

Shortages are felt for other drugs also. 90% hospitals are facing shortage for anesthetics and drugs used in emergency. 271 hospitals reported for chemotherapy. More than 50% hospitals are facing 21 types of drug shortages.

The pharmacists' survey showed the biggest shortage in 2010 involved the drug succinylcholine, used in procedures to insert a tube into patients' airways to help them breathe.

ASHSP survey denoted succinylcholine drugs on the top of the shortage medicine of year 2010. Succinycholine drugs are used when a tube is inserted in patients' airways for easy breathing.
Survey link

Most Abused Prescription Medicines

Many of the Prescription drugs have been working wonderfully for patients suffering from number of pains, illnesses and diseases.Without these medicines we would have been in trouble, these prescriptions have changed the way medicines have been looked upon. We have to use them wisely as they may be dangerous if overdose is taken. Here are a few most misused and abused prescription drugs:

Anabolic steroids: Its a steroid used to develop the muscle and bone mass. The bodybuilder do misuse this for bodybuilding it has the side effects like aggression, blood pressure rise, it may damage the liver and cause cancer as well.It is used to those patients who develop abnormal low amounts of testosterone, so to avoid delayed puberty

Muscle Relaxers: It is used to treat acute muscle problems and to relax the muscle which are giving pain to the people. It is used to treat severe pain in muscle and also pain from fibromyalgia, some spinal cord injuries. It is misused to enhance alcohol pleasure and a temporary pain relief.It works by reducing the muscle pain by relaxing the muscle over dosing the same may affect skeletal muscle fibers and nerves.Valium sometimes used to muscle relaxing when at pain.There are common prescription like baclofen, tizanindine and zanaflex to reduce the pain in spinal cord.

Fentanyl: It is a very strong opioid same as above painkillers. It is much affective than morphine and it is a powerful synthetic opioid. It is used to cure cancer patients to reduce the pain or some severe pain or chronic. Due to its nature of drowsiness and pleasure which happens as it blocks the perception of pain to the brain's opiate receptors. It is often used to enhance the pleasure by mixing with drug with heroin, cocaine or other illegal drugs. It cause severe damages to heart and respiratory. People with its addiction often end up in coma or unconsciousness.

American Health Care System Truly Works

I have had ankle problems before, but this one isn't good. Today, on my way to work, in the morning, i was walking down an uneven pavement and i rolled my ankle. I was very bad. I have been joking about my ankle in the past saying that i have nothing left in my right ankle to tear, guess i was wrong. I felt that something tear apart and i think i heard it. So here i am sweating and trying not to think negative or pass out, thats what generally happens from pain in our family,trying hard to type. I can feel the ankle swollen and tightened.

Yes, of course, i am very much stressed about how am i gonna pay for this??

I have an Health Insurance that doesn't start until May 1st, which means for now i'm on a catastrophic plan i.e,$220 a month for a several thousand dollar deductible. I dont have that much of money at this moment. The only choice i have is to delay this treatment for a few more weeks, however i am not even sure if my health insurance will cover this treatment under it.( I do know that "Obamacare" is supposed to address this issue, but i have no idea as to where it stands.)

I am aware of the fact that this is just an ankle, not cancer or anything else and until i don't get is x-ray test done i have no idea if it is really that bad. Also, it was my decision to buy the stupid insurance that i currently have. When buying an insurance most of the options dont satisfy all our needs. My situation is not that bad considering what thousands of other Americans are facing today with this typical health care system that's totally ruined everything.

Now, I wish that i would have been in better shape if i would have stepped a couple of inches to the left or if this incident happened just a few weeks later. I am in a complete mess and stress (actually totally screwed).

FDA Approves Development of Drug for Wegener's Granulomatosis

(Weston-Based) and Genentech (California) won an approval from U.S. Food and Drug Administration to develop a drug as a part of a new treatment for Wegener's Granulomatosis and Microscopic Polyangiitis diseases. These are very rare and fatal diseases.

The drug Rituxan (FDA approved) is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This drug can now also be used in combination with corticosteroids - to treat two other diseases - Wegener’s Granulomatosis and Microscopic Polyangiitis. These diseases impact small blood vessels of the lungs, kidneys, sinuses and other organs. There are many people in U.S. afflicted with these diseases.

Rituxan can be used as an alternate treatment for the CYC chemotherapy treatment for the diseases. The CYC chemotherapy and Rituxan have shown similar results at six months. Based on study and results FDA has approved Rituxan to be used for the same.

The FDA had alerted in 2006 informing that two patients taking the drug (Rituxan) to treat systemic lupus erthematosus were not approved to use the drug. Both the patients had died due to an infection of the central nervous system known as Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. Treating Systemic lupus erythematosus with the drug is not appoved use of the drug.

In 2010, a man sued Biogen and Genentech, as he suffered an infection which paralyzed him. He said that Rituxan had made him more prone to such infections. He was under the medication for thrombotic thromboctopenic purpura, a blood disease that is very rarely found. Rituxan is not an approved drug for the same.

FDA says TNF blockers can lead to Blood Cancer

A Rare Blood Cancer is on the rise and it stems from the intake of a certain class of inflammatory drug which are used to combat digestive ailments. This form of cancer is found in young patients and the US health experts are quite concerned about it. The FDA had already issued a warning stating that there is a chance of an increased risk of lymphomas and other types of cancers which are usually related to the prolonged use of TNF blockers in adolescents and children. 2 days back, FDA said that blood cancer often affect young adults and adolescents who were on the prescription of TNF blockers. They also said that medicines like azathioprine have this tendency to suppress our body’s immune system. Mercaptopurine, which is used for leukemia was also named by the FDA with potential harmful effects. Blood cancer is also called as Hepatosplenic T-Cell Lymphoma or HSTCL. Remicade and Humira’s product labels have been duly updated. Same goes for Azathioprine and Mercaptopurine. Their respective product labels have been updated as the warnings about HSTCL have been included in them. Most of the cases were seen in patients who were being for Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. It is being said that these TNF Blockers have the ability to suppress the immune system and this maybe hazardous to the patients. When this happens, there would be inflammation and you could be stricken with various immune system related diseases. The FDA are taken proper preventive measures to avoid its spread.

Research based on Generic Drugs, the formation and Key analysis

In Russia and Ukraine, there has been a new study with an objective of researching and analysis information about the Generic Drugs. As they are considered to be a great innovation it is felt there is a need to study and concentrate on this subject.

This new Research named Generic and Innovative Drug Market in Russia and Ukraine 2011 will concentrate on the study and the assessment of the comparative analysis of both Generic and Innovative drugs trends and developments that have been happening in the past few years. Here there is a mutual comparison carried on where their varied attributes are associated and evaluated.

There were varied topics discussed upon. However the significant subjects include identifying the best drugs in the pharmacy industry of Russia and Ukraine, identifying the counterfeit and the fake drugs that are sold as Generics, the name of the key manufacturers over there. The reimbursement and the pricing policies of the generics and the innovative medications will be discussed too. Besides this they would also have to work on their methodology in which the report will be conducted and the synopsis of this study.

The short synopsis included this chief features that includes giving a brief idea about the data and the statistics of the research, the predictions of the future years regarding this industry, policies and programs etc. also there is a need to illustrate the significant points regarding the leading pharmacy industry.

Basically this study might give an enlightening idea about the future prospects of this pharmacy industry.

Congressmen Says “He didn’t have Sex because he was Almost Impotent”

If you are caught on sex romp and wish to bail out of the situation, then blame it on your decreasing libido. Atleast this is what a Congressman is saying to save his face. He is now behind bars of having sex with a prostitute, but he writes from his prison saying that he did not have sex with her and the Justice department is aware of this fact. He is now ready to challenge the authorities and is ready to prove his point by claiming it was impossible for him to have sex with a prostitute because according to him, his prostate surgery had led to severe erectile failures. He says that after the surgery, he was almost impotent even after taking the pills which are used to counter Erectile Dysfunction such as cialis. He claims that even after a year of taking these medications, he was finding it tough to get a normal erection. Apart from that, he was also charged on allegations of bribery in the form of gift acceptance. But he says that they are all just reimbursements. In 2005, he said he is not guilty of charges of mail fraud and tax evasion. If congressmen started to behave in this way, we don’t know what will happen to the country. Defending his sexcapades and sidelining them saying that he was impotent seems quite absurd.

Indications of Coli form bacteria in Semen

Over a period of time, men undergo a semen test. And many come across observing the indications of coli form bacterial in the substance. People are still confused of the impacts this bacteria may make on their health. Some people doubt of developing erectile dysfunction; whereas others fear of developing any other sexual difficulty.

As per the medical practitioners, there are many such cases linking up the connection of these bacteria from infertility. If this is the scenario then the condition can be easily treated using antibiotic treatments to manage impaired semen parameters. According to experts, in men older than 40, Coli form bacteria is a most common organism responsible for developing epididymis. However, the observance of this bacterium in male genitals is pretty common; age plays a major role, as for men younger than 40 the organism is colonized only in the genital areas and is not responsible for causing any sort of infection.

For elderly with large prostates, there are chances of urine left in the bladder after urinating, this helps the bacteria to grow, and this further is responsible for the bacteria to move through the genital tract and cause infections like epididymis.

Men generally don’t have to worry about this organism, only if you are experiencing any sure fire symptoms like urgency while urinating, hesitancy, nocturia, intermittency there is nothing to worry about the observance of this bacteria.

Escalating drug prices, Time to Revise FDA Approval Process?

Few weeks back, Jim Doyle, the reporter of St Louis Post Dispatch came together with a series of compelling accounts on KV Pharmaceuticals. It had got to do with the mystifying economics of the approval by the FDA and with producers of the drug as well. Doyle has presented the whole thing in a very detailed way, mainly in the first and last installments; he gives you an overview about the whole working of the system, so that the people can understand them in a much better way. One of the first stories to be published proclaimed that the rates of one prenatal drug could increase 16 fold and this would be the result of the approval by the FDA. Due to this, the local pharmaceutical company would end up earning tons of money. The second story published is quite an interesting one. It concerns the criticizing of a former chief of the same company by a US District Judge. The Judge condemned him by accusing him of power abuse, greed and being reckless in his handling of the affairs of the firm.

But he concludes his reports with a stern warning. He is of the opinion that there would huge long terms costs involved because of the quick approval by the FDA. These costs could medical as well as the monetary part. So he is indirectly citing that the fast track approvals of the drugs by KV pharmaceuticals might not be a good move and that it could have some serious implications in the future. The rates of the drugs are reaching its zenith, so its time to a timely check.

Bubble gum with high levels of Lead recalled by FDA

With each passing day, we come across companies recalling their products so that it cannot harm humans in anyway. Now we heard that the Food and Drug Administration of the US have decided to recall Toxic Waste Short Circuits Bubble Gum because according to them, it contains elevated amounts of lead that can affect the health of humans. When the amounts of lead are more, it could harm the health of children, infants and women who are pregnant. This bubble gum is being imported from Pakistan and is being marketed by Candy Dynamics. They themselves have asked for its recall. The FDA recently conducted a test on this gum and they found out that the levels of lead in it are 0.189 parts per million and the FDA tolerates only upto 0.1 ppm. Its size is 32 oz and it was distributed from January this year. So far, no illness has come to the light following the usage of the bubble gum. Candy Dynamics are now urging the people to destroy the product by calling at 317-228-5012. This is certainly a good move by the FDA because they want to risk the lives of the people by approving a gum which has a high concentration of lead. This product is being sold at retailers in Michigan and other parts of the US. It is also available in Canada. The bubble gum was imported through mail order. The company manufacturer’s now have some serious thinking to do about the gum. McNeil Called Off Tylenol, Motrin and Zyrtec; Use Generic FDA Pulls back the Medtronic Pump fill