The rate of brain hemorrhages associated with blood thinning drugs quintupled during the 1990s, according to a study published in the January 9, 2007, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. In people over age 80, the rate increased more than tenfold.
Most of the increase is due to greater use of the drug warfarin, which is commonly prescribed to prevent blood clotting. Blood clots can lead to ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke. An intracerebral brain hemorrhage is a stroke caused by bleeding in the brain.

Higher doses of sildenafil impair olfactory function, which is possibly linked to an impairment in nasal airflow that sildenafil can induce, German researchers report in the January issue of The Journal of Urology.

A team led by Dr. V. Gudziol at the University of Dresden Medical School studied 20 healthy, young male volunteers who received 50 mg, 100 mg and placebo in random order in a double-blind, crossover trial.

خلفية عن الدراسة:

حالات الاكتئاب والإصابة بالكسور الناتجة عن هشاشة العظام تعتبر من الأمراض الشائعة بين كبار السن، وحيث أن مضادات الاكتئاب المانعة لإعادة امتصاص السيروتونين الانتقائية (SSRIs) تستخدم بشكل شائع لعلاج حالات الاكتئاب فإن العلاقة بين استخدامها اليومي وقابلية حدوث الكسور في العظام غير واضحة.

FDA informed consumers and healthcare professionals of the potential hazards of using skin numbing products containing topical anesthetic drugs such as lidocaine, tetracaine, benzocaine, and prilocaine in a cream, ointment, or gel. Numbing products are widely used to numb the skin for medical and cosmetic procedures, and to relieve pain, burning and itching due to a variety of medical conditions. FDA has approved many of these products for these uses. Some of these products must be prescribed by a doctor, others may be purchased without a prescription.

أوقفت وزارة الصحة مستحضري (Pohli) و(Baly) التي تستخدم لتبييض البشرة وأمرت بحصرهما وسحبهما من الصيدليات المحلية و محلات العطارة ومن الوكيل نفسه نظراً لارتفاع نسبة مادة الزئبق السامة في المنتجين حيث وصلت إلى (38796) جزء في المليون لمستحضر Pohli و(3000) الآف جزء في المليون لمستحضر Baly وما تشكله هذه المادة من مخاطر كبيرة على صحة مستخدمي هذين المستحضرين الغير مسجلين لدى الجهات المختصة في وزارة الصحة.

Baxter and FDA notified healthcare professionals of the potential for life threatening medication errors involving two Heparin products, Heparin Sodium Injection 10,000 units/mL, and HEP-LOCK U/P 10 units/mL.
Baxter is aware of fatal medication errors that have occurred when two Heparin products with shades of blue labeling were mistaken for each other. Three infant deaths resulted when the higher dosage Heparin Sodium Injection 10,000 units/mL was inadvertently administered instead of the lower dosage of HEP-LOCK U/P 10 units/mL. The currently marketed

The FDA announced the removal of two indications from the labeling for the antibiotic Ketek (telithromycin), as well as the addition of a black-box warning.

Following the recommendations issued by an advisory panel in December, the FDA removed indications for acute bacterial sinusitis and acute bacterial exacerbation of chronic bronchitis from Ketek's label. The drug's sole remaining indication is for the treatment of mild to moderate community-acquired pneumonia.

Topical high-potency steroid treatment of vitiligo in children is often successful, but may be associated with systemic effects, Canadian and US researchers report in the February issue of the Journal of the American College of Dermatology.

The treatment repertoire for vitiligo is "somewhat limited," Dr. Elena Pope told Reuters Health, but "high-potency steroids are efficacious in repigmentation of the lesions."

FDA notified healthcare professionals of updated labeling for Cialis, Levitra and Viagra to reflect a small number of post-marketing reports of sudden vision loss, attributed to NAION (non arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy), a condition where blood flow is blocked to the optic nerve. FDA advises patients to stop taking these medicines, and call a doctor or healthcare provider right away if they experience sudden or decreased vision loss in one or both eyes.

FDA notified healthcare professionals and patients that companies that manufacture and distribute pergolide have agreed to withdraw the drug from the market. Pergolide is a dopamine agonist (DA) used with levodopa and carbidopa to manage the signs and symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Results of two new studies showed that some patients with Parkinson's disease treated with pergolide had serious damage to their heart valves when compared to patients who did not receive the drug.