Reuters Health News Summary

08/09/2016 0:58

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Online marketplace offers cheaper CPAP machines without a prescription

(Reuters Health) - There is a large market for unauthorized online sales of secondhand continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices, which treat obstructive sleep apnea, according to a new study. Purchased from an authorized vendor through a sleep clinic, a CPAP machine can cost $600 to $2,000 for patients with little or no insurance coverage, the authors write.

Mediterranean diet may help maintain brain health

(Reuters Health) - Elderly people who follow a Mediterranean-style diet may benefit from better brain health and a lower risk for cognitive impairment later in life, according to a new U.S. study. "It suggests that a healthy dietary pattern and specific dietary components have impact on biomarkers of brain pathology," senior researcher Rosebud Roberts of the Mayo Clinic's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center in Rochester, Minnesota, told Reuters Health by email.

E-cigarette makers rush new products to market ahead of U.S. rules

The e-cigarette market is suddenly getting more crowded. Makers of the "vaping" devices launched a flood of new products in the United States ahead of new federal regulations, taking effect on Monday, that require companies to submit e-cigarettes for government approval before marketing them, according to company officials and industry experts.

Florida is investigating apparent new case of locally transmitted Zika

Florida health officials are investigating a new case of the Zika virus in Palm Beach County that appears to be a local transmission, Governor Rick Scott said in a statement on Monday. The person recently traveled to Miami-Dade County, though Scott's statement did not specify exactly where.

Mesoblast cell treatment shows promise in rheumatoid arthritis : study

Mesoblast Ltd on Monday said its experimental stem-cell treatment led to significant improvements of symptoms and disease activity in patients whose rheumatoid arthritis had stopped being helped by widely used biotech medicines, according to data from a mid-stage trial. Treatment with the Australian company's mesenchymal precursor cell (MPC) product, MPC-300-IV, was deemed well tolerated with no serious side effects or infusion-related adverse events in the 48-patient, 12-week Phase II study, the company said.

Low cost, flavors, convenience turn teens on to vaping: study

Young people try electronic cigarettes out of curiosity about the devices and alluring flavors that range from cotton candy to pizza, but keep vaping because of their low cost, according to a study released on Monday. The report published in the medical journal Pediatrics found that some of the reasons prompting teenagers to try the battery-operated devices, which heat liquids typically laced with nicotine to deliver vapor, help to predict ongoing use.

Cool temperatures, few mosquitoes make Games Zika-free, so far

So far, at the Olympics many feared would be the Zika Games, so good. With as many as one million people expected to attend the spectacle, half of them foreigners, Rio de Janeiro has not turned out to be the Zika hothouse some athletes and visitors feared as the virus wreaked havoc in Brazil earlier this year.

Compound found to treat three parasitic tropical diseases

Scientists have found a single class of drugs that can kill the parasites responsible for three tropical diseases that affect millions in Africa, Asia and Latin America - Chagas disease, leishmaniasis and sleeping sickness. In a study published in the journal Nature, scientists at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation found the compound can cure all three diseases in mice, and does not harm normal human cells in laboratory tests.

Websites often promote unproven stem cell therapies

Many websites marketing unproven stem cell therapies directly to consumers are popping up even in developed nations where laws have been passed to protect patients from false medical advertising, a new study suggests. Ireland, Singapore, Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.S. have the highest per capita number of clinics engaging in direct-to-consumer marketing of stem cell therapies, according to the study published in Cell Stem Cell.

Air pollution tied to shorter survival with lung cancer

(Reuters Health) - Exposure to air pollution has long been associated with an increased risk of lung cancer, and a new study suggests it might also be tied to a faster death from the disease. Researchers examined cancer registry data on more than 350,000 people diagnosed with lung cancer in California and found patients who lived in communities with higher than average levels of air pollution typically died sooner than their peers who lived in places with cleaner air.

08/09/2016 0:58