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MONDAY, Aug. 14, 2023 (HealthDay News) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned that consumers should not use certain pregnancy, ovulation, urine, UTI and breast milk test kits over concerns that the tests may not be safe and effective. The tests in question were manufactured by Universal Meditech Inc. (UMI), though they were branded under several names and may not include information about UMI on their packaging, the agency said in a news release. The known distributors are AC&C Distribution LLC; HealthyWiser; Home Health US Inc. and Prestige Biotech Inc. The tests were sold under those brand names. UMI has notified the FDA that it has stopped all operations and is no longer providing support for its tests, the agency added. The FDA could not confirm the performance of the company’s tests, which were sold online by at least these four distributors. The tests may also have been sold under other brand names by other distributors. UMI recalled undistributed tests, but did not seek to recall tests that were already purchased. Some of the names the tests were sold under include: One Step Pregnancy Test DiagnosUS One Step Ovulation Test HealthyWiser UriTest 10 Parameter Reagent Test Strips for Urinalysis HealthyWiser UriTest UTI Test Strips HealthyWiser KetoFast Ketone Test Strips HealthyWiser pH-Aware pH Test Strips To Life hCG Pregnancy Urine Test Am I Pregnant… read on > read on >

The federal government recently stopped pandemic-related emergency food aid, leaving perhaps 2 million more Americans without enough to eat. Emergency allotments in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, ended in March in all states that hadn’t already cut them. After this temporary increase in SNAP benefits ended, recipients experienced a 21% relative increase in food insufficiency, according to research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Food insufficiency means more than just not having enough food; it also means a poor quality diet. “To our knowledge, this is one of the first studies to evaluate the association between changes in SNAP benefit amounts and food insufficiency,” said lead author Dr. Aaron Richterman, an instructor in the division of infectious diseases at the university. “This study shows the severe consequences of reducing SNAP benefit amounts at a time when inflation was causing rapid rises in food prices, and is especially important because of upcoming federal negotiations surrounding SNAP’s renewal in the Farm Bill at the end of September,” he explained in a school news release. SNAP distributes benefits to low-income families to buy food. About 10% of U.S. households may not have enough to eat without these benefits. To study what happened when federal officials ended the emergency allotments, researchers compared trends in states that ended them… read on > read on >

Some menstrual products — pads, tampons, cups and underwear — contain harmful “forever chemicals,” according to new research into the contents of these essential items. Researchers analyzed more than 100 period products looking for fluorinated compounds, an indicator of potentially harmful per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. The products typically don’t list ingredients on their packaging. PFAS include more than 12,000 compounds that can resist water, stains and sticking. They don’t break down easily in the environment or the human body, but instead accumulate. While exposure to these compounds has been linked to some cancers and immune suppression, there are few regulatory limits on PFAS or period products in the United States or Europe. Researchers presented their findings Sunday at a meeting of the American Chemical Society, in San Francisco. “Of course, you’re concerned for the wearer, but we’re also concerned about the ecological impact because PFAS are ‘forever chemicals,’” said principal investigator Graham Peaslee, a professor of physics at the University of Notre Dame. “Once these products are thrown away, they go to landfills and decay, releasing PFAS into groundwater,” he said in a meeting news release. “And we, or later generations, could end up inadvertently ingesting them.” How much PFAS can pass from materials to skin is unknown. For this study, researchers analyzed a variety of period products, from single-use to reusable products.… read on > read on >

If you’re moving into a home where smokers lived, the first thing you should do to protect your lungs is rip out any old carpeting, new research suggests. Scientists found that tobacco smoke clings to carpet fibers long after smoking has stopped, and ozone generators that purify the air and surfaces can’t remove it completely. This leftover residue, also known as “thirdhand smoke,” can pollute indoor spaces for an extended period of time, according to investigators from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif. “Because it does not reach deeply into materials, ozone [purification] has a limited ability to ‘clean’ permanently,” study lead author and researcher Xiaochen Tang said in a lab news release. “In the case of carpet, the best solution may be replacing it with a new one.” This thirdhand smoke reenters the air, rather than just settling into surfaces, and can sometimes transform into a new type of contaminant, the research found. To study this, researchers gathered old smoke-contaminated carpet from homes in the San Diego area, along with new carpet exposed to fresh smoke in the lab. Ozone generators partially removed a group of compounds named polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from both types of carpet samples. However, it was relatively ineffective at removing deeply embedded nicotine. Ozone generators work by releasing ozone gas that can react with… read on > read on >

Heading back to school requires supplies and planning for all, but if you’re a parent of a child with allergies or asthma then you have even more to consider. “The start of a new school year is exciting for some, but for parents of children with allergies and asthma, their thoughts are probably on keeping their child free from triggers that can cause allergic reactions,” said allergist Dr. Kathleen May, president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI). “Allergies and asthma can significantly impact a child’s well-being and academic performance, but with proper preparation and management, they can thrive in the school environment,” May said in an ACAAI news release. ACAAI offers four tips to help parents get their child off to a smart start to the school year. Identify allergy triggers: Find out what’s causing your child’s allergic symptoms, such as pollen, mold, dust mites, pet dander or certain foods. Work with your child’s allergist to make sure you have the right treatments in place, including getting the proper prescriptions for their weight and age. Share your action plan: Your child’s management plan should outline symptoms, medications, emergency contacts and what to do in the event of flare-ups. Be sure the school nurse, teachers and other staff are familiar with the plan and are prepared to respond effectively in case of… read on > read on >

The link between pro football and the risk for a neurodegenerative disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is well known, and now a new study suggests that football may also up the risk for Parkinson’s disease, even among past high school and college players. “Parkinson’s disease has been commonly reported in boxers, but we have not explored this link in great detail in football,” said study author Michael Alosco, an associate professor of neurology at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. “This is additional evidence that shows a link between football and later-in-life neurologic problems.” The common denominator is likely blows to the head. Parkinsonism is an umbrella term for a group of neurological disorders that result in movement problems. Parkinson’s disease is the most common cause. Symptoms include tremors, stiffness, a shuffling gait and slow movement. Exactly what causes Parkinson’s disease is not fully understood, but a combination of genetic and environmental factors likely play a role, according to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. For the study, researchers evaluated 1,875 athletes, including 729 men who played football, predominantly at the amateur level, and 1,146 men who played other sports. All of the participants were enrolled in Fox Insight, an online study of people with and without Parkinson’s disease sponsored by the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Participants who did not… read on > read on >

A single hardwired brain circuit might be responsible for male sexual drive, a new mouse study reports. Researchers have singled out in lab mice a brain region that controls sexual interest, libido, mating behavior and pleasure, said senior researcher Dr. Nirao Shah, a professor of psychiatry and neurobiology at Stanford University School of Medicine, in California. This region uses sensory input from the environment to recognize the sex of another mouse — “Aha, this is a female, maybe I can mate if she’s willing,” Shah said. “That recognition is then transformed into the desire to mate and the act of mating by this circuit,” he added. “Also, the circuit enables the behavior to be pleasurable so animals will seek to do it again, which is very important, because for a species to survive, animals need to reproduce.” While this study was in mice, Shah said similar brain structures have been found in other mammals — and perhaps even humans. “There are analogous anatomical counterparts we think in the human brain, but of course their function in the human brain remains to be determined,” he noted. For their experiments, Shah’s team used adult virgin male mice that had not seen a female mouse after being weaned at about 3 weeks of age. That way, the brain activity and behavior they observed would not have been shaped… read on > read on >

FRIDAY, Aug. 11, 2023 (HealthDay News) – As demand for the wildly popular weight-loss drug Wegovy continues to climb, drug maker Novo Nordisk said Thursday that it will continue restrictions on starter doses of the medication into 2024. The new plan extends by months existing restrictions and means patients who are not already taking the medication will have to wait to start. “We are going to continue to supply the market, but it’s just going to be on a limited form so we can have that continuity of care,” Doug Langa, executive vice president of North America Operations for Novo Nordisk, told CNN. “We’re still producing all strengths and we’re still supplying all strengths to the market,” Langa said. The company had previously expected the restriction to last through September. Eli Lilly is also struggling with supply and demand issues for its type 2 diabetes medication Mounjaro. That medication does not yet have U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval as a weight-loss drug. “Supply will likely remain tight in the coming months and quarters due to significant demand,” Eli Lilly Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi told CNN. Mounjaro targets a hormone known as GLP-1 and another called GIP, while Wegovy is a GLP-1 agonist, using semaglutide as its key ingredient. Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug Ozempic also uses semaglutide, but in a smaller dose. Prescriptions for… read on > read on >

The mental health crisis hitting Americans shows no sign of abating, with provisional numbers for 2022 showing suicides rose by another 2.6% last year. That follows on an overall 5% increase in suicides in 2021, noted officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which on Thursday released the early data for 2022. Overall, 49,449 Americans lost their lives to suicide last year, up from 48,183 deaths in 2021, the agency reported. “Today’s report underscores the depths of the devastating mental health crisis in America,” U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said in a CDC news release. “Mental health has become the defining public health and societal challenge of our time. Far too many people and their families are suffering and feeling alone.” The ongoing rise in mental health issues spurred the launch a year ago of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which is available 24/7 to anyone who feels they are in crisis. According to the latest CDC data, there was one glimmer of hope in the new statistics: An 8.4% drop in 2022 for suicides among the very young (ages 10 to 24), and a 6.1% drop among one group hit particularly hard by mental health issues and suicide, American Indian/Alaska Native people. Still, most demographics saw a rise in suicide rates. “The troubling increase in suicides requires immediate action… read on > read on >

People with autism are over three times more likely than their peers without the developmental disorder to experience self-injury, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, or death by suicide, new research shows. “In general, I think there needs to be more support for individuals with autism. And this shows that there are life-threatening consequences in terms of suicide and self-harm,” said Alycia Halladay, chief science officer for the Autism Science Foundation. She was not involved in the study. The researchers agreed. “The presence of psychiatric illnesses substantially accounts for these increased risks,” said lead study author Dr. Meng-Chuan Lai, staff psychiatrist and clinician scientist with the Child and Youth Mental Health Collaborative at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) at the University of Toronto. “We know that many self-harm and suicide-related events could be prevented when people have access to tailored mental health supports and services, and this is crucial for autistic people,” he said in a CAMH news release. Megan Pilatzke is an advocate and a woman living with autism. ”Autistic people are continually forced to mask and hide who we are to accommodate a world that generally does not accept our traits,” Pilatzke said in the release. “I want people to understand that autistic people are struggling because our needs are just not being met throughout society.” Broken down by gender, females with… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Don’t Use Certain Tests for Pregnancy, Ovulation, UTIs, FDA Warns

Post-Pandemic End to Food Assistance Programs Meant 2 Million More Americans Went Hungry

PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ Found in Some Period Products

Moving Into a Smoker’s Former Home? You May Need to Toss the Carpet

Back-to-School Tips on Preventing Asthma, Allergy Flares in Kids

Playing Football Might Raise Parkinson’s Risk

Is Science Getting Closer to the Brain Center for Male Libido?

Amid Shortages, Maker Says Restrictions on Wegovy Will Continue Into 2024

Suicide Rates Continue to Rise Among Americans

People With Autism Face Much Higher Risk for Self-Harm, Suicide