Month: February 2014

A public health campaign that appealed to emotions as well as facts was able to boost hand washing in India, a new study reports. The campaign was called SuperAmma (SuperMom). The purpose was to help reduce severe diarrhea caused by germs. Fourteen villages were randomly assigned to receive the campaign or not. Public health workers conducted events in schools and the community. They included animated films and comic skits. At some events, women pledged to wash their hands before preparing food, after using the toilet and after cleaning up a child. They also promised to get their children to wash, too. The campaign appealed to feelings of disgust at contaminated hands and the desire to have healthier children and higher social status. At the beginning of the study, very few people washed their hands. After 6 months, 37% in the participating villages washed hands.

More than 40 medical and consumer groups are seeking to revoke the recent approval of a new narcotic pill. The drug is Zohydro, a long-acting version of the narcotic hydrocodone. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug in October. The decision went against the advice of the FDA’s own advisory committee. These experts had voted 11-2 against allowing sale of Zohydro. The FDA usually follows the advice of its advisory panels. The groups that filed the petition with the FDA said this new painkiller is too dangerous. The dose is high, and so is the potential for abuse, they said. The petition also said there’s no need for another high-dose prescription narcotic. Public Citizen, one of the groups, said in a news release that a single dose of Zohydro could kill a child. The petitioners also include addiction treatment and other consumer watchdog groups.

The risk of a heart attack or stroke doubles for older adults in the month after they lose a spouse or partner, a new study suggests. The study looked at the medical histories of 2 groups of adults, ages 60 through 89. One group included 30,500 men and women who had lost a spouse or partner between 2005 and 2012. The other group included 83,600 people in the same age group who had not lost a partner. In the month after the partner died, the bereaved person was twice as likely to have a fatal or nonfatal heart attack or stroke as someone who did not have such a loss. But the number of these events was small. And after 90 days the heart attack and stroke rates were about the same in both groups. The journal JAMA Internal Medicine published the study. HealthDay News wrote about it February 24.