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The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it would accept, not appeal, a federal judge’s order that lifts Bush administration restrictions limiting over-the-counter sales of “Plan B” to women 18 and older. U.S. District Judge Edward Korman ruled last month in a lawsuit filed in New York that President George W. Bush’s appointees let politics, not science, drive their decision to restrict over-the-counter access.

It’s known that drinking while pregnant can be harmful to babies, but not all women who drink give birth to children with noticeable deficits, noted Chris Downing, a research associate at the University of Colorado, and his colleagues.
They gave alcohol to five inbred strains of pregnant female mice and found varying degrees of birth defects among the offspring.

That’s good news because it’s believed that increased breast density is associated with a higher risk of breast cancer. A number of studies have suggested that dietary factors, including isoflavones (estrogen-like plant compounds) might increase breast density. However, there have been mixed findings about the link between isoflavone intake and breast density, according to background information in the new study.

Researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine say that because food production is a major contributor to greenhouse gases, a lean population, such as in Vietnam, consumes about 20 percent less food and produces fewer greenhouse gases than a population in which 40 percent of people are obese, a rate close to that of the United States.
Also, less energy is required to transport slim people, say the researchers, Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts, of the school’s Department of Epidemiology and Population Health.

Sydney model Stephanie Naumoska, 19, was one of 32 contestants from more than 7,000 hopefuls to make the glittering final at an event promoting “healthy, proportioned, bodies.”
“Bony or beautiful?” newspaper headlines said over photographs of a gaunt Naumoska posing in a red string bikini.
Health professionals said Naumoska, who is 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) tall and weighs just 49 kg (108 lbs), had a body mass index of just 15.1, well under the official 18 benchmark for malnutrition.

This is in contrast to news earlier this year that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had received reports of 23 patients taking the oral bisphosphonate Fosamax (alendronate), who had been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus.
Bisphosphonates have come under scrutiny in recent years for a variety of other possible problems, including an increased risk of atrial fibrillation (a type of abnormal heart rhythm), unusual fractures of the thigh bone, jaw necrosis and inflammatory eye disease.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will make a single payment to dialysis units to cover both dialysis and injectable medications. These services were previously reimbursed separately.

They said combining vitamin K with the cancer pill Nexavar or sorafenib sold by Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc and German drugmaker Bayer AG helped it kill liver and pancreatic cancer in human cell cultures.
“K vitamins … appear to enhance the effects of sorafenib, thus requiring lower, less-toxic doses,” Dr. Brian Carr of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia said in a statement.