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White House says Obama hasn't smoked for 9 months

White House victories are rare these days, but President Barack Obama can claim solid progress in his lonely battle to quit smoking.

The president has gone a full nine months without sneaking a cigarette, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs reported Thursday.

Every day is a struggle and there's no guarantee the president won't light up tomorrow, it seems. Still, for a president who has been trying to quit for years, the nine-month hiatus is a welcome sign that he's breaking the addiction.

Obama still chews nicotine gum, which his doctors have advised. In a physical he had in March, Obama was pronounced fit but told to "continue smoking cessation efforts." It was around the time of that medical exam that Obama smoked his last cigarette, according to the timetable laid out by Gibbs.

Smoking "is not something that he's proud of," Gibbs said at the daily White House press briefing. "He knows that it's not good for him. ... He doesn't like children to know about it, obviously, including his."

Quitting smoking is tough under any circumstance, but imagine simultaneously leading the free world. Amid North Korean provocations and WikiLeaks document dumps, hardly a day goes by when a smoker might not be tempted to light up.

"I think he would tell you even when in the midst of a tax agreement and a START (nuclear treaty) deal, and all the other things that accumulate, that even where he might have once found some comfort in that, he's pushed it away," Gibbs said.

Few topics at the White House are as verboten as Obama's smoking. Just as senior aides won't reveal the president's golf scores, they are loath to admit they've seen him smoke.

Obama gets irritable when asked. At a news conference last year, the president bristled over what he termed a "cute" question to get him to reveal more about his smoking habits. He then confessed he had fallen off the wagon at times.

10/12/10 · 0 comentarios · Autor: Robert · Más sobre: white , house

Citing liver damage, Pfizer withdraws Thelin

Pfizer Inc. said Friday it is pulling its blood pressure drug Thelin off the market and stopping all clinical trials because the drug can cause fatal liver damage.

Thelin is sold in the European Union, Canada, and Australia as an oral treatment for severe pulmonary arterial hypertension, or high blood pressure in the pulmonary artery. Pfizer said two patients who were taking Thelin died during a clinical trial, and a review of data from clinical studies and post-marketing reports showed a new link to liver injury.

Liver damage was a known side effect of Thelin and similar drugs, the company said, but the review uncovered a link to liver damage that was not tied to identifiable risk factors. It said the problem was unlikely to be detected by routine monitoring, and in some cases, the problems did not go away after patients stopped taking Thelin.
Pfizer said the withdrawal was voluntary and added that it has withdrawn its filing for marketing approval in the U.S.

Since there are other treatment options, Pfizer said the benefits of Thelin don't outweigh the risks. It is stopping all studies of the drug, which Pfizer acquired in 2008 when it bought Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc. Encysive had been trying to win marketing approval for Thelin since 2005, but the Food and Drug Administration said it was not effective enough. Other agencies only approved the drug for hypertension that was so debilitating that patients' physical activity was severely limited.

The New York company said worldwide sales of Thelin, or sitaxsentan, totaled $44.4 million in the first nine months of 2010.

In morning trading, shares of Pfizer shed 3 cents to $16.73.

10/12/10 · 0 comentarios · Autor: Robert · Más sobre: citing , liver , damage , pfizer , withdraws , thelin

Drug combo found to attack breast cancer

A new study finds that using two drugs, Herceptin and Tykerb, more than doubles the number of women with early breast cancer whose tumors disappear before they are scheduled to have surgery to remove them.

These drugs target a protein that is overproduced in about one-fourth of all breast cancers. In the study, about 450 women getting chemotherapy were also given Herceptin or Tykerb or both drugs. Half of the women on the combination saw their tumors disappear versus only 20 percent of those taking either drug alone.

GlaxoSmithKline PLC makes Tykerb. Roche’s Genentech division makes Herceptin. Doctors discussed the study today at a conference in San Antonio.

Soldier-Denouncing Westboro Baptist Church to Protest Elizabeth Edwards Funeral

The Kansas-based church that has made headlines for its controversial picketing of military funerals says it plans to picket Elizabeth Edwards' funeral on Saturday in Raleigh, N.C.

The Westboro Baptist Church released a statement on its website accusing Edwards of "spewing blasphemy."

The statement claims, among other things, that Edwards refused to pray to God to cure her of cancer.

"This witch spent her life in defiance and disobedience to God, and blasphemed Him with her dying breath," the statement reads. "She received multiple warnings and opportunties to repent...Her pride and arrogance is breath-taking!"

Edwards, 61, died Tuesday after a six-year battle with breast cancer.

She was receiving treatment in a hospital after she was admitted over Thanksgiving, but her family announced Monday that she would cease treatment after doctors said it would be "unproductive." Doctors said she was never in pain and never lost consciousness before her death.

With her death, John Edwards becomes the primary caretaker for the younger children. Family friends told ABC News he plans to move back into the 28,000-square-foot mansion the couple had built and once shared.

10/12/10 · 0 comentarios · Autor: Robert · Más sobre: soldier denouncing , westboro , baptist , church , to , protest , elizabeth , edwards , funeral

PM pledges more help for families

David Cameron has promised targeted help for the most dysfunctional families and more support for couples in failing relationships.

Reaffirming his commitment to the family, the Prime Minister signalled a new emphasis on promoting stable relationships between parents.

He acknowledged that some would advise the Government to "stay clear" of the issue. But he insisted it is wrong to ignore something that affects children's life chances and leads to many of the country's social problems.

"The whole country pays the price of failing relationships, so discussing the issue should be part of our politics," he said in a speech to Relate.

Mr Cameron announced that Government spending on relationship support would be increased from £5 million to £7.5 million a year. Organisations such as Relate would also be allowed to use Government buildings for accommodation outside office hours.
The Prime Minister announced that up to 500 of the most troubled families would receive targeted support as part of a trialled approach to be run by entrepreneur Emma Harrison.

"What works is focused, personalised support - someone the family trusts coming into their home to help them improve their lives step-by-step, month-by-month," he said.

The Government would be providing funding for the scheme, designed to "get these families back into work and on their feet". The Government believes about 120,000 struggling families need help with problems such as poor health, drug and alcohol addiction, unemployment and difficulties controlling their children.

The Prime Minister also restated his commitment to introducing tax breaks for married couples - another point of conflict with the Tories' Liberal Democrat coalition partners.

"Of course, I know not everyone agrees with this proposal - and as part of the coalition agreement we have agreed with the Liberal Democrats that they will abstain on any budget resolutions on transferable tax allowances for married couples," he said. "But my view remains that we should recognise and value the commitment that people make to one another."

10/12/10 · 0 comentarios · Autor: Robert · Más sobre: pm , pledges , more , help , for , families

Bone Drug Zometa Flops In Breast Cancer Study

One of the most promising new approaches for fighting breast cancer took a stunning setback Thursday when a major study showed that a bone-building drug did not stop cancer from returning or extend life for most women fighting the disease.

However, the drug Zometa did seem to help certain post-menopausal women. Its maker, Novartis AG, is considering further study, but will suspend plans to expand it beyond its current use as a treatment for patients whose cancer has spread to the bone.

“Ten years of work and to have essentially a negative study is disappointing, particularly on a tremendous wave of enthusiasm for this based on some positive trials in the past,” said the study’s leader, Dr. Robert Coleman of the University of Sheffield in England. He presented results at a cancer conference in San Antonio.

Bone drugs called bisphosphonates, sold as Fosamax, Boniva and Actonel, have long been sold for treating osteoporosis. Those are daily pills; Zometa, sold as Reclast for osteoporosis, is given as an infusion twice a year.

Hopes that these drugs could also prevent cancer soared after a study two years ago found Zometa cut the risk of cancer recurrence by 30 percent in younger women forced into early menopause by hormone treatments they received.

The excitement grew last year, when a large study found that women who were not cancer patients and were taking daily bisphosphonate pills to prevent bone problems were about one-third less likely to develop breast cancer.

The new study was meant to be definitive. It tested Zometa in 3,360 women of all ages in seven countries who had breast cancer that had spread to lymph nodes. All received standard cancer treatments, and half also got periodic infusions of Zometa for five years.

After five years of followup, about 400 women in each group had died or suffered a recurrence.

However, among the roughly 1,100 women who were at least five years past menopause when the study began, Zometa cut the risk of recurrence by about 27 percent and improved survival odds by about 29 percent.

“We don’t believe that’s just a chance finding,” Coleman said. It fits with the benefit seen in the earlier study of younger women. It may be that Zometa works best when no or little estrogen is present, he said.

Side effects are a concern: 26 women on Zometa — 1 to 2 percent of the group — developed confirmed or suspected cases of jawbone decay, a serious problem long linked to bisphosphonates. Blood clots in the lung also were more common among those on Zometa, although not significantly so, Coleman said.

“That makes the case that these drugs should not be given without a clear indication of their value. They’re not totally innocuous,” he said.

The study was sponsored by Switzerland-based Novartis, and Coleman consults for the company. Zometa costs more than $1,000 per infusion.

Herve Hoppenot, president of Novartis Oncology, said the company would withdraw applications in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere to expand Zometa’s use to premenopausal breast cancer patients like those in the earliler successful study.

“We need to decide what to do from here,” he said. The new study’s result “was a surprise, I would say.”

Zometa’s role in cancer prevention remains uncertain, said Dr. Peter Ravdin of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the organizers of the cancer conference.

“There are some indications that in some patients it may still have value,” but the side effect profile “certainly means that this drug shouldn’t be given without confidence that it will cause benefit,” he said.

Studies testing other bisphosphonate drugs for breast cancer will have results in a year or two.

Breast cancer is the most common major cancer in women. About 207,000 new cases and nearly 40,000 deaths from it are expected in the United States this year.

The cancer conference is sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research, Baylor College of Medicine and the UT Health Science Center.

10/12/10 · 0 comentarios · Autor: Robert · Más sobre: bone , drug , zometa , flops , in , breast , cancer , study

Memory Foggy? 5 Signs It's Not Serious

It's natural to feel a little uneasy when you forget something, knowing that Alzheimer's disease now afflicts 5.3 million Americans, many still in their 40s and 50s. It's scary, sure. But many bouts of memory loss are simply the result of much more benign situations.

Memory Loss Causes That Aren't Alzheimer's

How can you tell the difference? The following five situations point toward normal, age-related memory loss. The best rule of thumb: "If you're concerned, see a specialist," says psychiatrist Gary Small, director of the UCLA Center on Aging and author of several books about memory and cognition, including The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head. An evaluation can rule out certain potential causes and often identify reversible ones.

1. Lapses Don't Interfere With Everyday Life

Everybody forgets stuff. The movie title on the tip of your tongue. The name of the dad on the soccer field. The occasional appointment or lunch date. What the heck you just came in the room to get.

Brain Experts' 6 Best Memory Tricks

Slowed recall of information from time to time is normal, caused by the naturally aging brain and other lifestyle factors (like trying to cram too many tasks into one day). What's not normal: When memory impairment interferes with your ability to get through the day. Everyday activities tend to rely on many rote steps and require you to remember basic sequences -- which the healthy brain isn't apt to forget.

So it's a reassuring sign if, despite occasional lapses, you can still work, prepare meals, dress yourself, manage your checkbook, pursue hobbies, and read 900-page novels or pursue your other usual hobbies as well as ever without needing help.

2. You See An Improvement After 'Brain Training'

Dozens of "brain fitness" products now exist, promising to strengthen our synapses and buffer our brainpower. Do they work? So far, there's no evidence that brain games or cognitive training can reverse the memory loss associated with Alzheimer's-related decline, according to a National Institutes of Health panel convened in 2010. But the jury is still out on whether there's a protective effect on healthy brains.

5 Secrets to Aging Well

"Our brains naturally compensate for memory loss, and we can help our brains compensate more by learning memory techniques and cognitive techniques," psychiatrist Gary Small says. "If you do some of these techniques and see an improvement, that's a good sign."

Dementia is not so much a problem of retrieving old memories as it is an inability to form new ones. If you can still learn new things, you're forming new memories.

Among the available brain-strengtheners: Software you run on your home computer, classes offered by memory centers, cognitive therapy directed by trained therapists, and do-it-yourself books offering brain teasers and other games.

3. You've Just Started A New Medication

It's always a good idea to consider what else is going on in your life before you get too worried about a fuzzy brain. Drug side effects happen to be one of the more common, unexpected causes of memory trouble.

How to Live to 100

In fact, among older adults, who are often taking multiple prescriptions and then have an increased risk of dangerous interactions, the problem is so common that some geriatricians believe that any new symptom should be considered a medication side effect until proven otherwise.

Medications known to cause short-term memory loss include antianxiety drugs and sedatives (Xanax, Valium, Ambien), heartburn drugs (Tagamet, Pepcid), incontinence drugs (Detrol or Ditropan), cholesterol drugs (Lipitor) and some statins for high cholesterol, and antidepressants. A complete list numbers in the high dozens; always check with your doctor or pharmacist, especially if you've recently started a new prescription or have had the dosage changed.

4. Nobody Else Seems To Notice Anything's Amiss

It's true that people might be noticing you're slipping but not saying anything to protect your feelings. But usually, there's a lot of family friction around memory loss that predates a diagnosis, says University of Wisconsin geriatric psychiatrist Ken Robbins. You find yourself in arguments over who neglected to do something, missed appointments, forgotten messages, or lost drivers. Family members may criticize or complain about mistakes before there's a diagnosis of something serious like dementia.

Eventually, this adds up to relatives often making a dementia diagnosis informally themselves, and being right. A 2010 study at the University of Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis found that family and friends tend to be able to spot the early warning signs of Alzheimer's disease even better than traditional screening tests and high-tech measures. They notice symptoms like repetitive stories or questions, social apathy, and changes in the person's ability to independently conduct everyday life (work, cooking, money management).

But if you're all still just teasing and joking over occasional slips -- think of Nora Ephron titling her new book I Remember Nothing -- odds are good nobody's alarmed yet.

5. You're Forgetful When Stressed, Sleep Deprived, Or Multitasking

Before you blame the worker (you), consider the workload. A stressed brain is not the same as a demented one.

Five 5-Minute Pick-Me-Ups For Caregivers

Doing two or more things at once taxes the brain. No surprise there. Neuroimaging studies have shown that you're not really attending to several things at once. You're switching your attention from one to another, which means when you're attending to one thing, you're not really attending to the others in bursts lasting milliseconds. Result: short-term memory loss.

The challenge is especially hard if you're using the same part of the brain -- for example, using language centers to talk on the phone, read onscreen, and type at the same time.

Insufficient sleep is another common brain stressor, because that's when the brain processes and organizes memories for later retrieval. General stress, too, affects memory when increased cortisol production temporarily interferes with normal brain cell communication

People with early dementia, on the other hand, tend to forget regardless of whether they're sleeping well or poorly, busy or slow at work, stressed or unstressed.

10/12/10 · 0 comentarios · Autor: Robert · Más sobre: memory , foggy , 5 , signs , it s , not , serious

Algún error encontrado en la Templati

White House says Obama hasn't smoked for 9 months

Citing liver damage, Pfizer withdraws Thelin

Drug combo found to attack breast cancer

Soldier-Denouncing Westboro Baptist Church to Protest Elizabeth Edwards Funeral

PM pledges more help for families

Bone Drug Zometa Flops In Breast Cancer Study

Memory Foggy? 5 Signs It's Not Serious

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