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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