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A kinder, more thoughtful workplace can lead to better heart health among older employees, a new study finds. Older workers’ heart health risk factors decreased significantly when their office employed interventions designed to reduce work-family conflicts, researchers report in the Nov. 8 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Specifically, their heart risk factors reflected those of people 5 to 10 years younger when their workplace culture provided them better flexibility and support. “The study illustrates how working conditions are important social determinants of health,” said co-lead researcher Lisa Berkman, director of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. “When stressful workplace conditions and work-family conflict were mitigated, we saw a reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease among more vulnerable employees, without any negative impact on their productivity,” Berkman added in a Harvard news release. “These findings could be particularly consequential for low- and middle-wage workers who traditionally have less control over their schedules and job demands and are subject to greater health inequities.” For the study, researchers worked with two companies — an IT company with 555 participating employees and a long-term care company with 973 participating employees. The researchers trained company supervisors on strategies that support employees’ personal and family lives. Teams of supervisors and employees also attended hands-on trainings to identify new ways to increase employees’ control over their… read on > read on >

THURSDAY, Nov. 9, 2023 (HealthDay) — There’s good news for people with diabetes who are turning to drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy to treat their disease and lose weight: The drugs probably will not harm their vision. Semaglutide (the generic name for both medicines) can trigger rapid drops in blood sugar. Prior research had linked these types of blood sugar changes with a worsening of a common diabetes complication called diabetic retinopathy, which can threaten vision. So, could people taking Ozempic and Wegovy experience any new-onset diabetic retinopathy, or a worsening of existing retinopathy? To find out, a team led by Dr. Zeeshan Haq, of Retina Consultants of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, tracked outcomes for more than 48,000 adults with type 2 diabetes. The participants ranged in age from 51 to 75, and all had been treated with injectable semaglutide. Haq’s team found that within two years of starting the treatment, only 2.2% of patients went on to develop a new retinopathy or showed a worsening of existing retinopathy. Focusing on a subset of patients who’d already been diagnosed with early-stage retinopathy, the Minneapolis researchers found that just 3.5% showed any worsening of their disease. And among those who’d had an advanced form of diabetic retinopathy at the start of the study, 60% actually saw an improvement in their eye illness, the researchers noted. Although more… read on > read on >

Eczema can be a burden on the mind as well the body, a new survey shows. People with eczema are more likely to experience depression and anxiety, and it worsens when additional allergic symptoms occur, according to a study to be presented Thursday at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif. Nearly three out of four (72%) patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) — the medical term for eczema — report having symptoms of poor mental health for up to 10 days during the previous month, results show. About one in five (17%) said they had symptoms of poor mental health for 11 or more days. “People who don’t have AD don’t understand how debilitating it can be,” said lead study author Allison Loiselle, senior manager of data science and research with the National Eczema Association. “As well as the terrible itching and dry, cracked skin, there are often disruptions to sleep and wider effects on quality of life and general well-being,” Loiselle said in an ACAAI news release. “Depression and anxiety are among the symptoms of those who have AD and deal with the chronic and unpredictable nature of this condition.” For the study, researchers surveyed nearly 1,000 people with eczema. About a third of the patients (36%) reported their current eczema as mild. Despite the toll eczema… read on > read on >

A second injectable diabetes drug has been approved for weight loss in overweight and obese adults, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday. The weight-loss drug Zepbound contains the same active ingredient, tirzepatide, as the diabetes drug Mounjaro. Both medications are made by Eli Lilly and Co. “Obesity and overweight are serious conditions that can be associated with some of the leading causes of death such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes,” Dr. John Sharretts, director of the Division of Diabetes, Lipid Disorders, and Obesity in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in an agency news release. “In light of increasing rates of both obesity and overweight in the United States, today’s approval addresses an unmet medical need.” The approval mirrors the FDA’s earlier approval of Wegovy to treat obesity. That blockbuster drug contains the same active ingredient as the diabetes drug Ozempic. About 7 in 10 American adults are overweight or obese, the FDA said, and many of those folks have at least one weight-related health risk, such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes or elevated cholesterol levels. Losing 5% to 10% of body weight has been associated with a reduced risk of heart disease in adults carrying excess weight, the FDA added. Zepbound works by activating hormone receptors in the body to reduce appetite and food intake, the… read on > read on >

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 8, 2023 (Healthday News) — A new drug to treat postpartum depression will cost nearly $16,000 for a 14-day course of treatment, a price tag that has doctors worried that some patients won’t be able to afford the medication. Zurzuvae (zuranolone) was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration back in August, and it carried the distinction of being the first postpartum depression (PPD) drug that can be taken as a pill. Despite Zurzuvae’s high cost, drugmaker Sage Therapeutics said Tuesday that the drug should hit the market by December, and that it and partner Biogen are now talking with insurers about coverage of the medication. The companies’ goal is “to enable broad and equitable access for women with PPD who are prescribed this drug,” Sage Chief Executive Officer Barry Greene said in a company news release. The hope is for patients to be able to get the medicine, “where possible, with little to no co-pay regardless of financial means.” He added that the two companies will also help cover costs or provide the drug free to certain patients. Mental health experts have welcomed the drug’s approval, not just because it presents a new way to treat postpartum depression but also because it “appears to be fast-acting,” Dr. Catherine Monk, chief of the Division of Women’s Mental Health in the Department of… read on > read on >

Everyone knows smoking to be a major cause of cancer. Now, exactly how tobacco smoke triggers tumor development just got a bit clearer, thanks to new Canadian research. According to a team at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) in Toronto, smoking appears to prevent the formation of proteins that work to keep runaway cell development in check. According to Nina Adler, a University of Toronto PhD student who led the study, smoking gives rise to what are known as “stop-gain” mutations in cellular DNA. In essence, the mutations tell the body to stop making these protective proteins. Without these proteins, tumors are more likely to occur. “Our study showed that smoking is associated with changes to DNA that disrupt the formation of tumor suppressors,” said Adler, who led the study during her postgraduate research in Dr. Jüri Reimand’s lab at OICR. “Without them, abnormal cells are allowed to keep growing unchecked by the cell’s defenses and cancer can develop more easily,” she explained in an OICR news release. The Toronto team already knew that a history of smoking leaves a unique imprint in a smoker’s DNA. In their research, they compared that genetic legacy to DNA collected from 12,000 tumor samples across 18 different types of cancer. They found that smoking appeared strongly connected to stop-gain mutations that leave people more vulnerable to… read on > read on >

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 8, 2023 (Healthday News) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it plans to pull a veterinary drug used commonly in the pork industry because it might pose a cancer risk to humans who eat pig products. The antimicrobial, carbadox (Mecadox), is typically added to pig feed to fight infections and fatten up the animals. But pork contaminated with “carcinogenic residues” from the drug could wind up in foods like hot dogs and cold cuts, though the agency stressed in its notice that it isn’t telling people to change their food choices at the moment. The FDA’s concerns with carbadox date back decades: When it was first approved in 1998, the agency’s worries were abated by a strategy that involved testing edible parts of pigs that had been given carbadox. According to the agency, data now shows that those testing methods do not adequately measure the cancer risk posed by pork produced while using the drug. After issuing its first warning about pulling the drug in 2016, it isn’t clear why the agency didn’t move sooner to actually do so, CBS News reported. “This action itself arrived long overdue. The European Union and Canada prohibited use of carbadox in 1999 and 2006, respectively, due to concerns about residues and the safety of workers handling the drug,” advocacy groups wrote in… read on > read on >

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received at least three reports of people being hospitalized after taking counterfeit versions of the wildly popular weight-loss drugs known as semaglutides. At least one of these reports includes mention of a counterfeit version of the Novo Nordisk medication Ozempic, CBS News reported. Ozempic and Wegovy, another semaglutide medication made by Novo Nordisk, have been tough to find for months as millions of Americans turn to them for weight loss. In total, 42 reports that mention the use of counterfeit semaglutide were submitted to the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System through the end of September, CBS News reported. Of those, 28 were classified as “serious,” with outcomes that included deaths. All were submitted to the FDA by Novo Nordisk. However, the records do not prove the counterfeits directly caused the adverse events. An FDA spokesperson told CBS News that the agency has “no new information to share regarding reports of adverse events” linked to semaglutide counterfeits. “The FDA will investigate any report of suspect counterfeit drugs to determine the public health risks and the appropriate regulatory response. The FDA remains vigilant in protecting the U.S. drug supply from these threats,” agency spokesperson Jeremy Kahn told CBS News. Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk has said that it is working with the FDA to make consumers aware of the counterfeits and how they differ… read on > read on >

California banned menthol cigarettes and flavored vaping products in late 2022, based on concerns the flavors encouraged teens to get hooked on nicotine. But a new study finds many smokers simply shrugged and turned to online shopping for their flavored vapes. Online shopping for flavored cigarettes and vapes increased significantly in the weeks following the implementation of the ban, according to findings published Nov. 7 in the journal Tobacco Control. Researchers discovered that shopping queries were 194% higher than expected for cigarettes and 162% higher than expected for vape products after the law went into effect. “Retailer licensing programs have proven to be effective in enforcing tobacco control laws. However, the exclusion of e-commerce retailers from these programs can undermine their impact,” said lead researcher Eric Leas, an assistant professor at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at the University of California, San Diego, and director of the Tobacco E-commerce Lab. Web searches revealed that at least two and as many as 36 online retailers continue to offer access to flavored vapes or menthol cigarettes, researchers found. “The absence of explicit regulations on e-commerce sales can create loopholes in enforcing tobacco control laws, allowing consumers to easily access restricted products online,” Leas explained in a university news release. “By including e-commerce in the definition of ‘tobacco retailer’ and ensuring strict… read on > read on >

Forget “Jaws”: The remarkable wound-healing power of shark skin could end up helping humans, new research claims. Shark skin is coated with a special film of mucus that more closely resembles mucus generated by people than that generated by other types of fish, noted researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, in Stockholm. They conducted their investigation at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Wood’s Hole, Mass., and reported their findings recently in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. It’s long been known that sharks have an unusual ability to quickly heal and recover from wounds, explained researchers Jakob Wikström, an associate professor of dermatology and principal investigator at Karolinska, and his colleague, senior study author Etty Bachar-Wikström. However, “much more is known about fish biology than shark biology, for obvious reasons,” Wikström explained in an MBL news release. “Fish are easier to handle, and there’s a bigger commercial interest in them.” Sharks are cartilaginous and, along with skates, make up just 1% of fish species, while bony fishes comprise the other 99%. “Our aim in this paper was to characterize shark skin at the molecular level, which hasn’t been done in depth,” Bachar-Wikström said. How do sharks heal so quickly from wounds? To try to find out, the researchers focused on the thin layer of mucus that overlies a shark’s rough-textured skin. They found its chemical… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

People’s Heart Health Improves in More ‘Flexible’ Workplaces

Wegovy, Ozempic Probably Won’t Harm Vision in People With Diabetes, Study Finds

Eczema Takes Big Toll on Mental Health, Survey Finds

FDA Approves New Diet Drug Zepbound, a Version of the Diabetes Med Mounjaro

New Postpartum Depression Drug Comes With Hefty Price Tag

Smoking Undermines Human DNA That Would Normally Prevent Cancer

FDA Will Pull Vet Drug Used in Pork Industry Over Cancer Concerns for Humans

FDA Investigating Hospitalizations Linked to Counterfeit Ozempic

When California Banned Flavored Vapes, Many Just Shopped Online

Sharks’ Amazing Ability to Heal From Wounds Might Help Humans