LAZARUS SYNDROME

Man comes back to life half an hour after dying-->
Fri, Jun 12 04:20 PM
London, June 12 (ANI): In a rare example of a phenomenon known as Lazarus Syndrome, a 23-year-old man came back to life 30 minutes after doctors pronounced him dead.
ctors at the Royal Preston Hospital declared Michael Wilkinson dead on February 1.
However, half an hour later, doctors realised that his pulse had returned, reports the Telegraph.
Wilkinson survived for two days before being pronounced dead a second time.
An inquest heard that his return to life was known as Lazarus syndrome - the spontaneous return of circulation after attempts to resuscitate fail.
There have only ever been 38 cases recorded worldwide.
The syndrome takes its name from the biblical story of Lazarus, who was raised from the dead by Jesus.
John Whittaker, a consultant at the Royal Preston's accident and emergency department, said it was "not a small thing" to pronounce a patient dead. "You make absolutely certain," he added.
Wilkinson had collapsed after an evening in which he had enjoyed a number of drinks with his family.
However, tests showed that alcohol played no part in the incident.
A post mortem conducted at the Royal Blackburn Hospital found that he had an undiagnosed heart condition in which his left ventricle had become abnormally thickened. (ANI)
ANI

MONTELUKAST SODIUM AGAIN IN NEWS..!

FDA Updates Singulair Label For Neuropsychiatric Events By Jennifer Corbett Dooren
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday it was updating the label of Merck & Co.'s (MRK) Singulair and similar asthma medications to discuss reports of neuropsychiatric events such as agitation, depression, insomnia and suicidal thinking.

The new labeling will apply to Accolate, by AstraZeneca PLC (AZN), and Zyflo, by Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc. (CRTX). All three products fall into a drug class known as leukotriene modifiers. Leukotrienes are chemicals the body releases in response to an inflammatory stimulus such as breathing in an allergen.

The FDA said in a posting on its Web site that "patients and healthcare professionals should be aware of the potential for neuropsychiatric events with these medications."

Singulair, first approved in the U.S. in 1998, is Merck's top-selling product and had $4.3 billion in sales in 2008 and is the dominant drug in its class. The product is approved for use in children and adults as an asthma and allergy treatment. Accolate and Zyflo are approved as asthma treatments.

In a statement, Merck said it was "confident in the efficacy and safety of Singulair" and that it would work with the FDA to revise the label.

Merck noted it previously updated the post-marketing section of Singulair's label to discuss post-marketing reports of neuropsychiatric events.

The FDA said it requested manufacturers to include a precaution in the drug-prescribing information discussing such events, which is considered a strengthening of Singulair's current label and new information on the other two drug labels.

The FDA announced a safety review of Singulair last year after receiving reports of mood and behavior changes in patients who used Singulair. The agency asked Merck and the other two drug makers to submit all available clinical trial information, which the agency reviewed along with post-marketing reports.

The agency said some of the post-marketing reports involving neuropsychiatric events "included clinical details consistent with a drug-induced effect."

The FDA said reported neuropsychiatric events include agitation, aggression, anxiousness, dream abnormalities and hallucinations, depression, insomnia, irritability, restlessness, suicidal thinking and behavior, suicides and tremor. The agency said neuropsychiatric events "were not commonly observed" in the clinical trial data submitted by the manufacturers, but said the studies weren't designed to look for such events. The agency said sleep disorders such as insomnia were reported more frequently in clinical studies of all three drugs compared to patients taking placebos.

-By Jennifer Corbett Dooren, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9294; jennifer.corbett@dowjones.com

Adolescent Obesity Linked To Reduced Sleep Caused By Technology Use And Caffeine

Courtesy: ScienceDaily
June 10, 2009) —
According to a research abstract that will be presented on June 9, at Sleep 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, adolescent obesity is associated with having less sleep. Reduction in sleep could be related to a higher caffeine intake, more hours of technology use and increased symptoms of sleep disorders (such as snoring).

Results indicate that children who slept less consumed more caffeine and had more hours of screen time (use of television, Internet, computer and video games). A higher body mass index (BMI) was also associated with shorter sleep duration. More hours of screen time were also associated with higher caffeine consumption.

According to lead author Amy Drescher, PhD, research specialist at the University of Arizona in Tucson, there are many reasons that kids gain weight, and inadequate sleep is just one of them.

"Boys had significantly more vigorous exercise, recreational activity than girls," said Drescher. "The sleep and obesity connection is not always seen because factors such as exercise may keep weight in check."

The study gathered data from 320 children who completed detailed dietary and physical activity questionnaires. Correlation and regression analysis were used to study the relationships among diet, physical activity and self-reported sleep duration and screen time. Mean age of the sample group was 13.3 years; 51.8 percent of participants were male, 65 percent were Caucasian and 35 percent were Hispanic.

Inadequate sleep combined with increased electronic screen time and caffeine intake may have negative implications for adolescents' health, psychosocial well-being and academic performance.

Abstract Title: Associations Between Sleep, and Dietary, Exercise and Electronic Screen Habits of Adolescents in the Tucson Children's Assessment of Sleep Apnea (TuCASA) study--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adapted from materials provided by American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

A vaccine for Cancer ..Promising Results

Promising Results in Stomach and Breast Cancer Drugs
By ANDREW POLLACK
Published: June 1, 2009
Scientists also announced that a cancer vaccine for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma has had some success in patients who have been in remission for six months or longer.

For more information, kindly cut and paste the URL that follows:P
Courtesy: Newyork Times.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/business/01drug.htmlPromising