Health News: Peanuts ward off some foodborne illnesses ♦ MDR for vitamin D was miscalculated ♦ Detecting adverse reactions to medications using social media + more

Peanuts may help to ward off some foodborne illnesses  Eating the skinless inner kernels of peanuts may improve a person’s gut flora and its ability to ward off E. coli and Salmonella, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Maryland published in the Journal of Food Science. The findings suggest that skinless peanuts could be a beneficial promoter of gut bacteria that will Continue Reading

Groundbreaking approach to evaluate sleep disorders developed  "We've developed a non-contact 'breathing sound analysis' algorithm that provides a reliable estimation of whole-night sleep evaluation for detection of sleep quality, snoring severity and Obstructive Sleep Apnea," researchers explain of their newly developed diagnostic approach.  Continue Reading

Recommendation for vitamin D intake was miscalculated, is far too low  Researchers are challenging the intake of vitamin D recommended by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine saying their Recommended Dietary Allowance for vitamin D underestimates the need by a factor of ten. Continue Reading

Erectile dysfunction drug relieves nerve damage in diabetic mice   New animal studies found that sildenafil, a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction, may be effective in relieving painful and potentially life-threatening nerve damage in men Continue Reading

New system for detecting adverse effects of medications using social media A new system for detecting adverse effects of pharmaceutical drugs tracks information generated by patients on specialized blogs or social networks such as Twitter in real time. The researchers explain that online health information searches are the third most popular activity in Google, with 170,000 searches performed every 5 seconds. "There is a lot of user-generated information these days, so social networks can be a valuable source of information on adverse effects of pharmaceutical drugs Continue Reading

Antibacterial Drugs Poses Risk of Permanent Nerve Damage

Peripheral neuropathy (a form of nerve damage) has been associated with the use of antibacterial drugs, called fluoroquinolones, used to treat serious bacterial infections. These types of antibacterial drugs are used to treat infections acquired in hospitals or when other antibacterial drugs have failed. The potential damage may occur soon after these drugs are taken and may be permanent. FDA has required that the drug labels and medication guides for all these drugs be updated to better describe this serious side effect.

Risk: The risk of nerve damage occurs only with fluoroquinolones that are taken by mouth or by injection. Approved fluoroquinolone drugs include ciprofloxacin (Cipro), levofloxacin (Levaquin), moxifloxacin (Avelox), norfloxacin (Noroxin), ofloxacin (Floxin) and gemifloxacin (Factive). Nerve damage has a lot of different symptoms depending on which nerves are affected, but pain, numbness and muscle problems are common occurrences.

If Phage Therapy were available we would not have a problem with side effects. Unlike antibiotics phage therapy has no serious side effects.