News by Subject Medicine & Health

A new in vitro study by University of California, Davis, researchers indicates that quaternary ammonium compounds, or 'quats,' used as antimicrobial agents in common household products inhibit mitochondria, the powerhouses of the cell, as well as estrogenic functions in cells. Quats are used as antiseptics in toothpastes, mouthwashes, lozenges, nasal sprays, eye drops, shampoos, lotions, intravaginal spermicidal sponges and household cleaners, to name a few.

A first-of-its kind collaborative project is underway to find a non-animal test method to replace the rabbit vaginal irritation test for personal lubricants. The US Food and Drug Administration gave the project a green light as part of the agency's program aimed at modernizing the tests used to develop and evaluate medical devices.

Based on currently available knowledge, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) assumes that illegal applications of products containing fipronil have apparently been carried out over an extended period of time. For this reason, the longer term consumption of foods contaminated with fipronil has to be given due consideration when assessing the risks.

The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment has prepared a health risk assessment based on limited available data on fipronil levels in foods (containing eggs) in Germany.

A recent paper published in Age & Ageing, the scientific journal of the British Geriatrics Society, finds that current smoking in older people increases the risk of developing frailty, though former smokers did not appear to be at higher risk.

Radioactive 129I has traveled the equivalent of a third of the way round the globe, since being released from nuclear fuel reprocessing plants in the UK and France. The iodine's 15,000 km journey begins in the nuclear plants at Sellafield and La Hague and continues via the Arctic Ocean and then southward via the Grand Banks towards Bermuda, where it is found at very low concentrations about 20 years later.

New research has revealed that some of the toxin formaldehyde in our bodies does not come from our environment -- it is a by-product of an essential reaction inside our own cells. This could provide new targets for developing cancer therapies, according to research led by scientists from the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology.