Year: 2014

NEW YORK (AP) — Can natural sweeteners that taste good rescue diet sodas from their decline?

In what is shaping up to be a tough and widespread flu season in the United States, one of the leading medicines used to treat children with the sometimes deadly virus is in short supply. "There has been strong and early demand for Tamiflu Oral Suspension (OS) and we are experiencing a temporary delay in the packaging of Tamiflu OS," said Tara Iannuccillo, a spokeswoman for Roche Holding AG's Genentech unit which manufactures the drug and uses distributors to supply retail pharmacies with the product. Tamiflu is used to reduce the severity of the flu when taken at the outset of symptoms. The oral suspension of the drug is primarily prescribed for children under the age of 13 and for people who have difficulty swallowing.

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) – Patients with potentially fatal “superbug” forms of tuberculosis (TB) could in future be treated using stem cells taken from their own bone marrow, according to the results of an early-stage trial of the technique. In a study in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal on Thursday, researchers said more than half of 30 drug-resistant TB patients treated with a transfusion of their own bone marrow stem cells were cured of the disease after six months. “The results … show that the current challenges and difficulties of treating MDR-TB are not insurmountable, and they bring a unique opportunity with a fresh solution to treat hundreds of thousands of people who die unnecessarily,” said TB expert Alimuddin Zumla at University College London, who co-led the study. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in Eastern Europe, Asia and South Africa 450,000 people have MDR-TB, and around half of these will fail to respond to existing treatments.

Health officials are reporting a drop in the rate of new lung cancer cases.

Florida researchers have identified cells with a potential role in the development of Crohn’s disease, as well as resistance to steroids used to treat the disorder. The possible culprits are a subset of immune cells. The scientists, representing the Florida campus of the Scripps Research Institute, focused on TH17 cells, according to ScienceDaily. These cells are part of a group of white blood cells associated with a variety of autoimmune disorders, including Crohn’s disease.

Celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito's “The Pound A Day Diet” recently hit … The accelerated weight–loss program is designed to help you shed up to 5 lbs. … eating your favorite foods, but just how exactly does DiSpirito's diet help you … Diet (VLCD) — which can have several health implications on the body.