Tornado damage to a Pfizer drug-making plant in North Carolina is unlikely to trigger drug shortages across the country, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says. “We do not expect there to be any immediate significant impacts on supply, given the products are currently at hospitals and in the distribution system,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in an agency news release posted Friday. “Our initial analysis has identified less than 10 drugs for which Pfizer’s North Carolina plant is the sole source for the U.S. market, however, a number of these are specific formulations for which there should be substitutes or for which many weeks’ worth of stock should be available in Pfizer’s other warehouses,” Califf explained. “Notably, while Pfizer has one third of the total sterile injectable drug market for hospitals in the U.S., this facility only makes 25% of Pfizer’s total product for this market – not the entire market,” Califf added. “This means 8% of U.S. consumption is supplied by this site.” Meanwhile, Pfizer officials said the company is working to repair the damage and mitigate any shortage of drugs made at the facility. “Clearly nature is strong. So, too, is ingenuity and the human spirit. A great deal of work needs to be done, but I assure everyone, most importantly the people of the Rocky Mount community, that we will put…  read on >  read on >

Women who have survived breast cancer age faster than women who have never had to survive the disease. The treatment they received impacted their aging rates, according to a new study from Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla. “Breast cancer survivors have higher rates of various age-related diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, and experience faster physical and cognitive decline than women without a history of breast cancer. In this study, we wanted to explore the biology behind this and examine whether certain cancer therapies had a greater long-term impact on survivors,” said study author Jacob Kresovich, an assistant professor at Moffitt. His team used data from the Sister Study, which identified environmental and biological factors that contribute to breast cancer risk and survival. More than 50,000 women aged 34 to 74 in the study had a sister diagnosed with breast cancer but had not been diagnosed themselves. The women were enrolled in the study between 2003 and 2009, and then contacted annually to provide health updates. The United States has nearly 4 million breast cancer survivors. Participants provided a blood sample at enrollment. Some provided another sample five or 10 years later. Among the 417 patients included in the study, 190 were selected because they were diagnosed and treated for breast cancer between their first and second blood draws. The researchers analyzed each blood sample…  read on >  read on >

Scientists have reported a link between air pollution and dementia risk, but they haven’t had a good understanding of the mechanisms behind this association. Now, a new study provides some answers. “In this study, we found that two types of vitamin B-related amino acids played a role in increasing or decreasing the risk of dementia caused by air pollution,” said Dr. Giulia Grande, co-author of the report recently published in the journal Neurology. She is a postdoctoral researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. The study found that higher levels of these vitamin B-related amino acids may be linked to the risk of dementia associated with air pollutants called fine particulate matter, or PM2.5. Researchers looked at this fine particulate matter and two amino acids, methionine and homocysteine. Methionine is an essential amino acid involved in normal brain functions. It is found in foods such as meat, fish, dairy, beans and eggs. Homocysteine is an amino acid produced in the cells that can be transformed to methionine through a reaction that requires vitamin B12 and folate. It is important for red blood cell formation and for healthy cell growth and function. The study included more than 2,500 adults, average age 73, living in central Stockholm. Researchers followed them for up to 12 years using interviews, questionnaires and blood tests. A total of 376 people…  read on >  read on >

It’s not only a mother’s mental health that is tied to the risk for preterm birth — the father’s matters, too. New research found that the risk of premature birth was higher for infants whose mothers or fathers had a psychiatric diagnosis than for those whose parents did not. Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden analyzed data on all live births to Nordic parents in Sweden between 1997 and 2016. The study findings were published July 20 in PLOS Medicine. Of 1.5 million babies, 15% were born to parents with a mental health diagnosis. For parents without a diagnosis, 5.8% of babies were born preterm. Paternal diagnosis increased the risk to 6.3% of births, and maternal diagnosis increased the risk to 7.3%. If both parents had a mental health diagnosis, the risk of preterm birth was greatest — affecting 8.3% of births. The researchers also found that the risk grew even more for parents with several co-existing psychiatric disorders. “Children of parents with mental illness are at increased risk of being born too early — both the mothers’ and fathers’ are important,” study author Weiyao Yin, a postdoctoral researcher, said in a journal news release. Preterm birth is associated with negative health consequences for babies, including anemia, jaundice, immune system problems and cerebral palsy, as well as a higher risk for sudden infant death…  read on >  read on >