Top medical groups of doctors are now giving advice, on the usage of a drug, to the men who undergo screening for prostate cancer. Finasteride contracts the prostate and curtails testosterone hormone that assists the cancer to grow. It is generally sold for the cure of urinary problems in the consequences of enlarged prostates in men.

Finasteride can minimize the risk of prostate cancer in men who are screened frequently but it has not been usually suggested on prescription to prevent the prostate cancer. Moreover, due to some side effects it is not recommended to those who don’t want screening with PSA blood test for the disease. But the individual, who is more interested to be screened, which is not sure to save life, and he can afford the use of Finasteride, should consult his doctor to take the medicine.

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Researchers find a considerable increase in HIV infection among injecting drug users.

A report that has been published in the British medical journal The Lancet shows that almost 3 million self-injecting drug users in the world are HIV-positive.

More than 40% drug users are infected in nine countries. The authors of the report showed concern about the lack of data from African countries and said the risk factors were greater in the continent. …Click here to read more

According to experts, men and women of certain age can prevent heart attack by taking aspirin daily.

Researchers from Nottingham and Sheffield universities analyzed data on more than 12,000 patients and they found aspirin proved beneficial for men aged 48 and above and women aged 57 and above.

Usually, blood vessel blockage because of some clot causes heart attacks and aspirin helps to avoid the formation of these blood clots.

The British Heart Foundation says that further research is required before the recommendation of “blanket prescribing”

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BUENOS
AIRES, Argentina – Authorities are inquiring a possible association
between the deaths of 14 kids and an experimental vaccine administered
to them in a clinical trial, conducted by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

They are investigating whether the deaths are linked to the
Synflorix vaccine, said an agency official. The drug, made to fight
against pneumonia, ear infections and several other pneumococcal
diseases by the London-based GSK, the world’s second-largest drug maker.

A U.S. spokeswoman for Glaxo, Sarah Alspach, said “the company is
not attributing the deaths to the experimental vaccine, which is being
tested in three Latin American countries and in other countries around
the world.”

“We rely on their safety review,” Alspach said. “Safety is our
primary concern, always, with the development of any new treatment.”

More than 19,000 babies have taken at least one shot of Synflorix, which Glaxo decided to test on 24,000 infants, she said.

Ana
Maria Marchesse witnessed “poor ethical management” of patient
recruitment, a member of national food and drug administration, told
The Associated Press.

“Parents were unaware that this was a trial vaccine, and most of the
parents who signed consent forms were illiterate,” said Marchesse.

“In few cases, they first gave children the vaccine and then gave
parents a 13-page consent form to sign that I had to read three times
to understand,” she added.

Glaxo’s enrolled thousands of babies for trial in Argentina. Alspach
said 12 kids died in Panama, and another two died in Chile. The death
rate in neonates with pneumonia is 4 – 5 out of 1000 births in these
countries.

Data from various studies show the drug is as safe and tolerable as competitor Wyeth’s best-seller Prevnar.

Still, the Argentine province of Santiago del Estero is trying to
find out the reason of the deaths of the seven children there, local
Health Minister Franklin Moyano told state news media.

“While legal authorities investigate, we’re in an observation phase
to see if everything happened as expected, or if there were deviations
that caused damage, in this case the death of seven kids,” he said.

The New York Times Sunday investigated how the Genentech cancer drug Avasting shows both the optimisms and predicaments of modern medication because it offers incremental paybacks for cancer patients, the drug is expensive and concerns have been greater than before about its security and efficacy.

The drug which is observed as a wonder-drug for its knack to stop blood supply to cancers costs as much as $100,000 per annum and had deals of $3.5 billion last year. Research expresses that drug prolongs the lives of victims with colon, lung and breath malignancy. Some patients and physicians say Avastin perks up the quality of life allowing patients to do daily functions devoid of tiredness, but such benefits are not easy to substantiate, reported by Times.
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