Pilots on Prozac? FAA lifts med ban

After extensive study of the medication issue the FAA ended ban on depressed pilots in cockpits.

Pilots taking Prozac will be permitted to fly as U.S. regulators drop a decades-old ban on four antidepressants including the Eli Lilly and Co. drug.

Risks from side effects, such as drowsiness, associated with the medications used to treat depression don’t pose a safety threat, the Federal Aviation Administration said today.

Is it really because the FAA has a better understanding of the drugs or is it because the decades-old drug ban is causing a shortage of pilots?

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Eat well to have a boy. Diet to have a girl

Mom's diet seen as factor in whether her baby will be a boy or girl.

Snips and snails and puppydog tails ... and cereal and bananas?

That could be what little boys are made of, according to surprising new research suggesting that what a woman eats before pregnancy influences the gender of her baby.

It is not proof, but it fits with evidence from test tube fertilization that male embryos thrive best with longer exposure to nutrient-rich lab cultures, said Dr. Tarun Jain. He is a fertility specialist at University of Illinois at Chicago who wasn't involved in the study.

It just might be that it takes more nutrients to build boys than girls, he said.

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Fish oils offer Alzheimer's disease hope

Researchers at Aberdeen University in Scotland found that individuals whose diets are high in omega-3 oils do better in mental tests than those without the oils in their diets.

Is this the breakthrough against Alzheimer's disease that medical experts have been looking for?

The Aberdeen University researchers also found a genetic link that explains why some fish oil studies have been inconclusive in the past.

More here.

Manure reduces development of lung cancer

Scientists have discovered that working with manure drastically reduces the risk of developing lung cancer.

Dairy farmers are five times less likely than the general populace to develop the disease, New Scientist magazine reports.

The study found farmers typically breathed in dust that consisted largely of dried manure, and all the bacteria that grew in it.

New Scientist said adults who had a greater exposure to germs than usual might build up a better resistance to bugs, including cancer.

What about politicians? They should never need to worry about lung cancer.

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Scorpion venom offers improved cancer surgery

An article from Britain in the Independent claims that a substance derived from scorpion venom could be the key to more effective treatment for a wide range of cancers.

Turned into a "paint" which can distinguish even a small number of cancerous cells from healthy tissue, the venom would vastly improve surgeons' accuracy when removing tumors.

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Sleeping pill awakens another patient from coma

This is another story of a sleeping pill bringing a patient in a persistent vegetative state back to full consciousness.

This 23-year-old girl was in a coma unable to eat or breathe for herself since falling unconscious in 2001.

She is one of 360 people taking part as a world-wide trial of Zolpidem as a treatment for people in comas. Sixty per cent of patients taking part in the study have started showing signs of life.

The ability to awaken some patients who have been in a persistent vegetative state is a fortunate side effect of the sleep drug Zolpidem.

The sleeping drug Zolpidem is sold as Ambien in this country.

We reported on this fortunate side effect of Zolpidem (Ambien) two different times. Our postings can be found here and here.

The current story from the Telegraph is here.