UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

FDA issues anti-psychotic drug warning

ROCKVILLE, Md., April 11 (UPI) -- U.S. health officials Monday advised physicians not to give elderly patients with dementia anti-psychotic drugs approved for other medical conditions.

The Food and Drug Administration said the drugs included in the warning were Abilify (aripiparozole), Zyprexa (olanzapine), Seroquel (quetiapine), Risperdal (risperidone), Clozaril (clozapine) and Geodon (ziprasidone). All are approved for treatment of schizophrenia and mania but are associated with a higher death rate when given to elderly patients with dementia for behavioral problems.

Symbyax, approved for depression linked to biopolar disorder, also was included in the advisory.

Manufacturers of these drugs must add a boxed warning to their labels, FDA said, describing the risk and noting the drugs are not approved for treatment of behavioral symptoms in elderly patients with dementia.

An analysis of 17 placebo-controlled studies of four drugs in this class found the death rate for elderly patients with dementia was about 1.6 to 1.7 times that of placebo. Causes of death were varied but most seemed to be either heart-related or stem from infections.

Europeans dropping Mediterranean diet

LONDON, April 11 (UPI) -- While the evidence mounts that the Mediterranean diet is the key to long life, some in Europe are abandoning it and as a result are growing fat.

From Greece to Spain, young people and adults are putting on weight faster than those in the north and acquiring the same risk factors for heart disease that afflict the fastfood cultures of the United States, Britain and parts of Europe, the Times of London reported Monday.

In France obesity jumped by 45 percent over six years to 2003, with similar increases in Spain and Portugal and to a lesser extent, Italy. Greek obesity rates are at a level with those of Britain and Belgium, which are among the highest in Europe.

"Cooking with olive oil is not enough. The Mediterranean diet is a combination of things -- fish, cereals that are not highly refined, dry vegetables that are rarely eaten any more and oil sources like walnuts and almonds," said Denis Lairon, director of the nutrition unit at the national medical research institute in Marseilles, France.

Europe plans for second trip to Mars

BRUSSELS, April 11 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency announced it intends to launch a second trip to Mars to search for evidence of life, the BBC reported Monday.

"We know we're going, we want to go and the intention is to go -- but there are an awful lot of steps between now and then and they will be critical," said Dr. Mark Sims of Leicester University, UK. Leicester has been helping to pull the mission together.

The space mission to Mars has a proposed launch date of June 2011. It is expected to arrive at the Red Planet by 2013, equipped with a roving robot. The 500 million-euro mobile laboratory is expected to "sniff" the air for signs of biology and listen to the ground for evidence of Marsquakes.

The first landing attempted by the space agency was Beagle 2, which went missing in 2003.

Suggestions have been made on what will be sent on the mission. One possibility is ExoMars -- a large rover that flies with a relay orbiter. A second possibility would be BeagleNet, a twin lander designed with smaller rovers.