80% of the population will suffer significant back pain at some time in their lives. With an ageing workforce, increase in obesity and less active lifestyles, the incidence of back pain is likely to increase. Commenting on the theme of this year’s BackCare Awareness Week ‘Keep Moving Keep Living’, General Osteopathic Council Chief Executive & Registrar, Madeleine Craggs, said: “Early intervention is key to preventing and managing back pain. [click link for full article]

The American Red Cross urges families to prepare for and take action to prevent home fires during National Fire Prevention Week-Practice Your Escape Plan, October 7-13. Home fires are not only the most common disaster that the Red Cross responds to but also the most preventable. Nationally, the number of home fires the Red Cross responds to is up 10 percent since the year 2000. [click link for full article]

Mothers with low serum cholesterol levels are significantly more likely to deliver premature babies, or full-term babies with lower weight, according to the study, “Adverse Birth Outcomes Among Mothers With Low Serum Cholesterol.” Researchers studied 118 women with low total cholesterol (less than the 10th percentile) and 940 women with mid-range cholesterol levels. [click link for full article]

Parents who have e-mail access to their child’s physician report improved communication and care. In a new study, “Patient-Physician E-mail: An Opportunity to Transform Pediatric Health Care Delivery,” 121 families in a pediatric rheumatology practice used a physician e-mail service over a two-year period. During that time, data was recorded on each message, including its level of urgency, subject, volume, time received, and physician time spent responding to the e-mail. [click link for full article]

Consistent, heavy television viewing (more than two hours a day) throughout early childhood can cause behavior, sleep and attention problems. In the new study, “Children’s Television Exposure and Behavioral and Social Outcomes at 5.5 Years: Does Timing of Exposure Matter?” researchers assessed data from the Healthy Steps for Young Children national evaluation effort pertaining to the effects of early, concurrent and sustained television exposure at age 2.5 years, and again at age 5.5 years. [click link for full article]

Halloween can be frightening, from the haunted houses to the trick-or-treating ghosts and goblins. But for some, there is something that is much scarier than Halloween: diabetes in the bedroom. Sexual dysfunction is a diabetes complication for both men and women. According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), fluctuation in hormone and blood glucose levels, depression, and nerve damage all contribute to sexual dysfunction. [click link for full article]

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) announced that the Dignity Memorial network, North America’s largest funeral and cemetery services provider, is committed to fighting diabetes as the ADA’s new National Strategic Partner (NSP). Diabetes is the nation’s fifth-leading cause of death by disease. [click link for full article]

The sale of Prexige (lumiracoxib) has been stopped in Canada. Health Canada advises that it will cancel the medication’s market authorization because of potential for serious liver-related adverse events. Prexige is a Cox-2 selective inhibitor non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. It has been on the market in Canada since November 2006. The drug is used for treating adult patients with the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis - maximum dose 100 mg (daily). [click link for full article]

CANCIDAS (caspofungin acetate), given once daily, was evaluated as a treatment for patients 3 months to 17 years of age with documented or suspected fungal infections. The use of CANCIDAS in pediatric patients is investigational. [click link for full article]

The favorable safety profile of the investigational enhanced potency anti-respiratory synctial virus (RSV) monoclonal antibody (MAb) motavizumab, when given for a second consecutive season in high-risk children, is consistent with that seen during the first season, new data indicate. [click link for full article]