Reuters reports that counterfeit versions of Roche’s multi-billion cancer drug Avastin have been distributed in the United States, the Swiss drugmaker and its U.S. biotech unit Genentech revealed today.

According to Roche, they were contacted about the fake Avastin by a health authority outside the United States and was informed that the counterfeit drug in the United States came from another country.

Roche and Genentech said in a statement: “We are working with the FDA and law enforcement to aid their evaluations, determine the source of the counterfeit drug, and prevent its further distribution.”

The FDA said it has sent letters to 19 medical practices informing them about counterfeit 400mg/16ml doses of Avastin.

Avastin is given intravenously, and while Roche and the FDA may not know how much counterfeit Avastin is out in the market, there are tell-tale signs in spotting the counterfeit versions.

The genuine version of Avastin, known chemically as bevacizumab, has Genentech on the label, which is all in English. The counterfeit says Roche and the label is in French.

Lot numbers of actual Avastin are comprised of six digits with no letters, while the counterfeit lot number begins with a letter. And the counterfeit bottles of Avastin are missing information on the label, such as “for intravenous use.”

When should my child first see a dentist, and why?

The ideal time as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the American Dental Association and the Academy of General Dentistry is at approximately one year of age. This is an ideal time for the dentist to carefully examine the development of your child’s mouth. Because dental problems often start early, the sooner the visit the better. To safeguard against problems such as baby bottle tooth decay, teething irritations, gum disease, and prolonged thumb-sucking, the dentist can provide or recommend special preventive care.

How do I prepare my child and myself for the visit?

Before the visit, ask the dentist about the procedures of the first appointment so there are no surprises. plan a course of action for either reaction your child may exhibit- cooperative or non-cooperative. Very young children may be fussy and not sit still. Talk to your child about what to expect, and build excitement as well as understanding about the upcoming visit. Bring with you to the appointment any records of your child’s complete medical history.

What will happen on the first visit?

Many first visits are nothing more than introductory ice-breakers to acquaint your child with the dentist and the practice. If the child is frightened, uncomfortable or non-cooperative a rescheduling may be necessary. Patience and calm on the part of the parent and reassuring communication with your child are very important in these instances. Short, successive visits are meant to build the child’s trust in the dentist and the dental office, and can prove invaluable if your child needs to be treated later for any dental problem.

Appointments for children should always be scheduled earlier in the day, when your child is alert and fresh. For children under 2years of age the parent may have to sit in the dental chair and hold the child during the examination. Also, parents may be asked to wait in the reception area so a relationship can be built between your child and the dentist.

If the child is compliant, the first session often lasts between 15-30 minutes and may include the following, depending on age:

• A gentle but thorough examination of the teeth, jaw, bite, gums and oral tissues to monitor growth and development and observe any problem areas.

• If indicated, a gently cleaning which includes polishing teeth and removing any plaque, tartar build-up and stains; X-rays; a demonstration of proper home cleaning; assessment of the need for fluoride.

• The dentist should be able to answer any questions you have and try to make you and your child fee comfortable throughout the visit. The entire dental team and the office should provide a relaxed, non-threatening environment for your child.

When should the next visit be?

Children, like adults should see the dentist every six months. Some dentists may schedule interim visits for every three months when the child is very young to build up a comfort and confidence level, or to treat a developing problem.

How do I find a good dentist for my child?

Many general dentists treat children. If yours does not, ask for a referral to a good dentist in your area, or read dentist reviews online. A word-of-mouth recommendation from a friend or family member can also yield the name of a quality dentist.

According to reports, women who become pregnant after taking the defective birth control pills Pfizer recalled on February 1 could sue the drug company for unwanted pregnancies.

On February 1, 2012 Pfizer announced the recall of one million packets of birth control pills because there was some packaging error that rendered them useless as contraceptives.

Pfizer has recalled 14 lots of Lo/Ovral-28 tablets and 14 lots of generic Norgestrel and Ethinyl Estradiol tablets, when it was discovered that the pills were packed wrongly. The error showed that some packets had too many active tablets and some had less than the desired number. The use of packets with the wrong number of active tablets can lead to women becoming unwittingly pregnant.

Glenn Cohen, assistant professor and co-director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School, laid it out in detail in the words, “Similar cases have allowed people to sue for things like unwanted pregnancies after botched vasectomies. In the past, there has even been a case in which a woman successfully sued a pharmacist for a pregnancy that resulted from errors in filling the woman’s birth control prescriptions. I’m sure some enterprising lawyer is already thinking of bringing a class-action lawsuit…against the company”

Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, added, “The best chance for a case, however, would be for affected women with unwanted pregnancies to band together and bring a class-action lawsuit against Pfizer. Such a case could ask for considerably more money than an individual case, and would be more attractive to lawyers.”

The cost of raising a child in the US has been calculated to be $226,920, and experts claim it is unlikely an amount that Pfizer can be sued for and gained in settlement for such a lawsuit.

Reports show that Asher Stewardson, a 14-pound baby boy, was born on Thursday, January 26, 2012 at the Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa.

Asher, measures 23 inches long and weighs about 13 pounds and 13 ounces, was delivered normally by Kendall Stewardson. The Iowa woman labored for six hours without an epidural injection.

The 14-pound baby boy’s mother reportedly gave birth to his brother Judah, a 12-pound and an ounce baby boy, about 15 months ago.

Reports say, that statistics from the Mercy Medical Center indicates that only a tenth of one percent of all newborns weigh more than 11 pounds at birth.

Legendary Joe Paterno, the former Penn State football coach of 62 years just died of lung cancer complications. For the last 46 years, he was head football coach.

According to Yahoo news, “Joe Paterno died Sunday at a State College, Pennsylvania hospital, suffering in his final days from lung cancer, broken bones and the fallout of a horrific scandal that not only cost him his job, but also his trademark vigor and a portion of his good name.”

While his last days at Penn State was tainted by a child sex-abuse scandal, he was undoubtedly one of the best football coaches in history. It is sad that his former assistant Jerry Sandusky tainted his name, even though he really did nothing wrong, but should have reported the child rape incidents to the police.

Joe Paterno’s personal life included service in the Army, an English degree from Brown University, a marriage that lasted more than half a century, and a football team’s worth of children and grandchildren.

Paterno’s family said in a statement: “He died as he lived. He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. His ambitions were far reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them. He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community.”

One of Joe Paterno’s lasting legacy is his dedication to his players to achieve better grades in the classroom, and this statement personified that belief, in which he said in a 1973 commencement speech to Penn State graduates, that “Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will satisfy your hunger but it won’t taste good.”

According to reports, The American Psychiatric Association is moving a step closer to overhauling the criteria for diagnosing autism after two just-completed field studies found the new definition won’t exclude patients who need treatment.

Some believe that getting an autism diagnosis could be more difficult in 2013 when a revised diagnostic definition goes into effect. The proposed changes may affect the proportion of individuals who qualify for a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, according to preliminary data presented by Yale School of Medicine researchers at a meeting of the Icelandic Medical Association.

Yale Child Study Center (CSC) director Fred Volkmar, M.D., said: “Given the potential implications of these findings for service eligibility, our findings offer important information for consideration by the task force finalizing DSM-5 diagnostic criteria.”

Dr. Fred Volkmar conducted the study with CSC colleagues Brian Reichow and James McPartland.

Volkmar and his team found that in a group of individuals without intellectual disabilities who were evaluated during the 1994 DSM-IV field trial, it was estimated that approximately half might not qualify for a diagnosis of autism under the proposed new definition.

The proposed changes to the diagnostic definition would be published in the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).”

The psychiatric association, based in Arlington, Virginia, is scheduled in May 2013 to publish its fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the definitive resource used by doctors to diagnose, study and treat illnesses. The autism change, first proposed in February, 2010, would be included in that edition, if it is approved. Look for more proposed changes before then.

64-year old Paula Deen who built her empire on good ole Southern home cooking with all the fried foods, is reported to be suffering from type 2 diabetes.

Paula Deen revealed on The Today Show, saying: “I was diagnosed three years ago during a regular physical exam with my doctor. I’m here today to let the world know that it is not a death sentence.”

Deen, a Food Network star, also said: “People are not going to quit eating. We quit eating, we’re all out of here. I wanted to bring something to the table when I came forward, and I’ve always been one to think that I bring hope, because I’ve had lots of obstacles in my life, y’all.”

The moral of her story is that one should eat in moderation, fried or not fried, even though some of her yummy recipes would make a die-hard healthy lifestyle fanatic stop in his or her tracks.

If you think broken heart syndrome is just fiction, you may want to think again. According to the Mayo Clinic:

“Broken heart syndrome is a temporary heart condition brought on by stressful situations, such as the death of a loved one. People with broken heart syndrome may have sudden chest pain or think they’re having a heart attack. These broken heart syndrome symptoms may be brought on by the heart’s reaction to a surge of stress hormones. In broken heart syndrome, a part of your heart temporarily enlarges and doesn’t pump well, while the remainder of the heart functions normally or with even more forceful contractions.”

Broken heart syndrome was originally called takotsubo cardiomyopathy, but today it is also referred to as stress cardiomyopathy, stress-induced cardiomyopathy or apical ballooning syndrome.

Older women are most vulnerable, but the vast majority who go to a hospital for treatment survive. Women are 7.5 times more likely than men to get the syndrome. Women older than 55 have three times greater risk than those younger.

Japanese physicians identified the syndrome in 1990, but it did not gain widespread attention in the U.S. until 2005, when a study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Broken Heart Syndrome Symptoms

Common broken heart syndrome symptoms include:

• Chest pain
• Shortness of breath
• An irregular heartbeat
• A generalized weakness

Broken Heart Syndrome Treatment and Drugs

As of now, there are no standard treatment guidelines for treating broken heart syndrome. Treatment is similar to treatment for a heart attack until the diagnosis is clear.

News is that adults on ADHD medication, in which more than 1.5 million adults take these drugs, some experts are concerned that they could put adults at risk of heart attacks and strokes.

In a new study, in which researchers included more than 150,000 adults who took common ADHD medications, they found that the adults who took these medications weren’t more likely to have a heart attack, stroke, or sudden heart-related death than the non-users.

However, consult your doctor regarding your ADHD medications, especially if you are taking other medications, especially for high blood pressure, diabetes, and depression or anxiety.

A new study found that women with high levels of a hormone called adiponectin, a hormone found in body fat, were at an increased risk of developing dementia. Scientists say the findings reflect the complicated and still unclear relationships between metabolism, hormones and the brain degeneration that occurs in dementia.

The large Framingham Heart Study which studied frozen blood samples from 840 participants and monitored for 13 years, showed that 159 people who developed dementia had high levels of adiponectin.

Adiponectin helps the body use insulin to deliver fuels like glucose to different cells, such as the neurons in the brain.

Study author Dr. Ernst Schaefer, a professor of medicine and nutrition at Tufts University, said: “Adiponectin is supposed to be beneficial. It’s supposed to decrease your risk of diabetes, supposed to decrease the risk of heart disease. But in this particular study, to our surprise, it increased the risk of dementia.”

Previous studies have connected diabetes and dementia, suggesting that the condition’s characteristic cognitive decline may be the result of malfunctions in the way the brain’s cells respond to insulin.

Dr. Roger Brumback, a neurologist at the Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, said: “This study just reinforces our need for much more research on the relationship of insulin signaling to brain function and then its relationship to dementing illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease.”

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Recently Written

• Counterfeit Avastin: Fake Cancer Drug in U.S. Circulation
• Your Child’s First Dental Visit Exam: Baby Age to See Dentist
• Pfizer Birth Control Recall
• 14-Pound Baby Boy Asher Stewardson Born Naturally in Iowa Without Epidural Injection
• Joe Paterno Dead: Ex-Penn State coach Died of Lung Cancer at 85
• Autism Diagnosis: New Autism Diagnostic Criteria Coming Soon
• Paula Deen Diabetes: Has Type 2 Diabetes and Moderation is Key
• Broken Heart Syndrome Symptoms and Treatment
• Adults and ADHD Medication
• Hormone Adiponectin in Women Linked to Dementia According to Study

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