FDA: Avandia warning to be revised
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- The diabetes drug Avandia will add information to its warning that the popular drug may increase the risk of heart attack, U.S. regulators said.
People with type 2 diabetes who have underlying heart disease or are at high risk of heart attack should talk with their physician about the revised warning on the anti-diabetic drug, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday in a news release. The FDA advised health care providers to monitor patients who take Avandia to watch for possible cardiovascular risks.
The FDA said it weighed several sources of information, some showing conflicting results, related to the risk of chest pain, heart attacks and heart-related deaths, and deaths from any cause in patients treated with Avandia.
GlaxoSmithKline, which manufactures Avandia, said on its Web site the FDA directed the sentence, "There have been no clinical studies establishing conclusive evidence of macrovascular risk reduction with Avandia or any other oral anti-diabetic drugs," be added as a warning on the labels of all oral anti-diabetic medicines.
Sacred ibis not so sacred in Florida
PALM BEACH, Fla., Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Palm Beach County said it is joining Florida and federal officials to eradicate the sacred ibis, an exotic African bird seen as a threat to local species.
The sacred ibis -- an ancient revered by the Egyptians and depicted in hieroglyphics on their pyramids -- has begun nesting in western Palm Beach County preserves and the Everglades National Park. Researchers said they fear that if the birds multiply unfettered, they'll threaten native species such as the white ibis and the federally endangered wood stork, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Wednesday.
County commissioners voted to join the cooperative effort to remove the birds from South Florida, killing them with gunshots if necessary, despite objections from some local environmentalists, the Fort Lauderdale newspaper reported.
Audubon of Florida, in a letter supporting the eradication effort, said the fear is the sacred ibis, if left unchecked, could devastate the populations of other wading birds by preying on chicks and eggs.
Activist Rosa Durando said it has not been documented that the sacred ibis poses a threat to local birds. She said development posed a greater threat.
She said killing the birds would be similar to "handling a flea with an atom bomb."
Space station achieves permanent Harmony
HOUSTON, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Astronauts used a robotic arm at the International Space Station Wednesday to move a module critical to the base's future assembly, U.S. officials reported.
The operation, the second this week, hoisted the 17-ton Harmony module from a temporary location to a permanent site, the Houston Chronicle reported. The module was delivered to the ISS aboard the Shuttle Discovery last month.
In its permanent home, Harmony will be a gateway from the station's U.S. and Russian segments to the soon-be-launched European Columbus and the Japanese Kibo science modules.
"You guys are really cooking with gas," station communicator Kevin Ford in Mission Control in Houston told the astronauts working the outside arm.
Earlier this week, the robot arm was used to move the station's shuttle docking mechanism from the front of the U.S. lab to the front of Harmony.
Altered corn may affect aquatic ecosystems
CHICAGO, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Corn genetically altered to kill the European corn borer could potentially harm the U.S. Midwest's aquatic ecosystems, researchers said.
Scientists at Loyola University in Chicago established that pollen, leaves and other plant parts from corn -- including genetically modified Bt corn -- are washing into nearby streams, the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday.
When eaten by aquatic insects called caddisflies, these materials can stunt growth and increase mortality, researchers said. Caddisflies, a food for fish and amphibians, are related to the European corn borer, said Emma Rosi-Marshall, the study's lead author and an Biology and Natural Sciences assistant professor at Loyola.
The corn is altered to include a gene from the micro-organism Bacillus thuringiensis, which produces a toxin that kills pests, including the European corn borer. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tested its impact on a crustacean but not on insects more closely related to the target pests.
"When the European corn borer eats (Bt corn) and dies, it reduces the need for pesticides. But these closely related caddisflies might be affected, too," said Rosi-Marshall. "The extent to which aquatic ecosystems are affected depends on lots of factors but we feel these kind of unanticipated effects need to be investigated."
