Expert: Diabetes Drug Should Be Pulled

WASHINGTON - The widely used diabetes drug Avandia should be pulled from the market because of heart risks, a federal scientist said Monday.

Those risks, combined with no unique short-term benefits in helping diabetics control blood-sugar levels, fail to justify keeping Avandia on the market, according to a copy of a slide presentation by Food and Drug Administration scientist Dr. David Graham.

The document was distributed at the onset of a daylong meeting of a joint panel of outside experts convened to consider whether the drug should be restricted to use in select patients and branded with prominent warnings or removed altogether from sale. Previously, the FDA said …

No pay - but it's such fun

Jonathan Brecknell and Darren Sheward gave up well-paid jobs toset up their own property development company, Urban Creation. CHLOERIGBY met them a year on.

T Here's one word that comes up again and again when JonathanBrecknell and Darren Sheward talk about their first year runningtheir own business - and that word is "fun".

Whether "great fun", "really fun" or just plain "fun" there's nodoubt the two have enjoyed their first year in business.

And without fun, they say, what would be the point? Sure, therehave been what they call the "pink blousey moments" since they firstset up Urban Creation - the moments when they question what they aredoing and whether …

New iga deficiency immunology study findings have been reported by researchers at University of California.(Clinical report)

New investigation results, 'Selective IgA deficiency,' are detailed in a study published in Journal of Clinical Immunology. "Immunoglobulin A (IgA) deficiency is the most common primary immunodeficiency defined as decreased serum level of IgA in the presence of normal levels of other immunoglobulin isotypes. Most individuals with IgA deficiency are asymptomatic and identified coincidentally," investigators in the United States report (see also IgA Deficiency Immunology).

"However, some patients may present with recurrent infections of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts, allergic disorders, and autoimmune manifestations. IGA AND ITS FUNCTIONS: Although IgA is the most …

Top Fuji executive set to step down.(Stanley Freimuth)(Fuji Photo Film U.S.A. Inc. )(Brief article)

Fuji Photo Film U.S.A. Inc. senior executive vice president and chief administrative officer Stanley Freimuth left the company after 23 years last month to pursue new career opportunities.

Freimuth, who has held a variety of positions with Fujifilm and …

BOSTON POPS PLAY AT PROCTOR'S DEC. 19.(LIFE & LEISURE)

Byline: New York Times

After Thanksgiving turkey, it's on the road for Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. With their guest, the baritone Jubilant Sykes, Lockhart and the musicians will perform Christmas favorites on an 11-city cross-country tour from Saturday through Dec. 11.

With favorites like ``Sleigh Ride,'' a new arrangement of ``Joy to the World'' and selections from …

Implantable chip provides medical information, privacy worries.

2004 NOV 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Medical milestone or privacy invasion? A tiny computer chip approved October 13, 2004, for implantation in a patient's arm can speed vital information about a patient's medical history to doctors and hospitals.

But critics warn that it could imperil the confidentiality of medical records.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that Applied Digital Solutions of Delray Beach, Florida, could market the VeriChip, an implantable computer chip about the size of a grain of rice, for medical purposes.

With the pinch of a syringe, the microchip is inserted under the skin in a procedure that takes less than 20 minutes and leaves no stitches. Silently and invisibly, the dormant chip stores a code that releases patient-specific information when a scanner …

Indonesian lawmaker arrested on suspicion of receiving bribe

Anti-corruption officers arrested an Indonesian lawmaker at a luxury hotel Wednesday after he allegedly accepted a US$174,000 (euro111,000) bribe.

The lawmaker from an Islamic party received the money from someone attempting to gain permission to develop a plot of forest land, said Syamsah Ardisasmita, secretary general of the Corruption Eradication Commission.

The arrest took place at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, he said, declining to give more details or name the alleged bribe-giver.

The suspect, identified as Al Amin Nur Nasution, was not available for comment.

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