Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:
Entertainment Legend Dick Clark Dies at 82
Dick Clark, best known as the longtime host of “American Bandstand” and “Dick Clark’s New
Year’s Rockin’ Eve” passed away Wednesday, his agent Paul Shefrin said in a statement.
Shefrin said that Clark, 82, died Wednesday morning of a “massive heart attack,” ABC News reported.
Clark, whose full name was Richard Wagstaff Clark, was born in 1929 in Mount Vernon, N.Y., and got his start as a teenager working in the mailroom in an upstate New York radio station. He quickly made his way onto the air, and later hosted his own radio show at a station in Philadelphia before taking over as host of “Bandstand.”
“Bandstand” and Clark became synonymous with the promotion of rock’n’roll music and his Dick Clark Productions produced such TV hits as “Pyramid” and the “American Music Awards,” ABC News said.
Clark’s ever-youthful demeanor gained him the nickname “America’s Oldest Teenager,” but in 2004 a stroke left him partially paralyzed. He recovered and within a year was back hosting “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.”
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Breast Cancer 10 Different Diseases: Study
A “landmark” international study says breast cancer should be regarded as 10 completely separate diseases and that this type of categorization could improve treatment by tailoring drugs for a patient’s exact type of breast cancer.
The researchers analyzed breast cancers from 2,000 women and their findings appear in the journal Nature. It will take at least three years for their findings to be used in hospitals, BBC News reported.
The study authors compared breast cancer to a map of the world and said current tests for the disease are quite broad and split breast cancer up into the equivalent of continents instead of countries. These new findings allow doctors to identify individual “countries.”
“Breast cancer is not one disease, but 10 different diseases,” said lead researcher Prof Carlos Caldas, BBC News reported. “Our results will pave the way for doctors in the future to diagnose the type of breast cancer a woman has, the types of drugs that will work and those that won’t, in a much more precise way than is currently possible.”
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J&J Says Some Popular OTC Drugs May Not be Sold Again Until 2013
Some popular over-the-counter products made by Johnson & Johnson may not return to U.S. store shelves until next year because efforts to fix manufacturing problems at three plants are taking longer than expected, according to company officials.
In an agreement reached last year with the Food and Drug Administration, Johnson & Johnson pledged to overhaul operations at the three plants after quality problems forced several OTC products off store shelves, The New York Times reported.
Some of the products are available again while others, including eight-hour Tylenol and Simply Sleep, have not yet returned to the market.
While some products may return to store shelves this year, others likely will not return until 2013, Johnson & Johnson’s chief financial officer Dominic J. Caruso said in a conference call, The Times reported.
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Scientists Grow Hair on Bald Mice
Hairless mice grew hair after they received implants of follicles created from adult stem cells, an achievement that points to a possible cure for baldness.
The Japanese scientists said the hair sprouted by the mice continued regenerating in normal growth cycles after old hairs fell out, Agence France-Presse reported.
The results suggest that it may be possible to use bald people’s own cells for implants that will restore their hair, according to the study published online in the journal Nature Communications.
“We would like to start clinical research within three to five years, so that an actual treatment to general patients can start within a decade,” said researcher Koh-ei Toyoshima of the Tokyo University of Science, AFP reported.
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141 Now Sickened in Tuna-Linked Salmonella Outbreak
A salmonella outbreak linked to a frozen yellowfin tuna product has now sickened 141 people in 20 states and the District of Columbia, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said late Tuesday.
In a statement, the agency said 21 people have been hospitalized but there have been no deaths reported.
On Monday, nearly 59,000 pounds of the product, labeled Nakaochi Scrape AA or AAA, was recalled by Moon Marine USA Corp. of Cupertino, Calif. The product, which is scraped off fish bones, was sold to grocery stores and restaurants to make dishes such as sushi, sashimi and ceviche.
As reported by the Associated Press, many people who became ill reported eating raw tuna in sushi as “spicy tuna.”
As of Tuesday, the CDC said illnesses linked to the recalled product had been reported in: Alabama (2), Arkansas (1), Connecticut (6), District of Columbia (2), Florida (1), Georgia (6), Illinois (13), Louisiana (3), Maryland (14), Massachusetts (9), Mississippi (2), Missouri (4), New Jersey (8), New York (28), North Carolina (2), Pennsylvania (6), Rhode Island (5), South Carolina (3), Texas (4), Virginia (8) and Wisconsin (14).
The CDC noted that salmonella illness is often serious for infants, older adults, pregnant women and persons with impaired immune systems, and these individuals should not eat raw or partially cooked fish or shellfish.
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