Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments,
compiled by editors of HealthDay:
Obesity Cited as Elementary School Absenteeism Predictor
It's not illness that keeps elementary school children away from the classroom most often.
It's obesity, say University of Pennsylvania and Temple University researchers in a study released Aug. 10, the Associated Press reports. In fact, obesity is the best predictor of school absenteeism, the scientists say.
According to Andrew B. Geier, the study's lead author and a doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania, obese elementary school children, on average, miss a couple more school days each year, and that's a prediction for possible major problems down the road. "It's clear in all the literature that the more days of school you miss, it really sets you up for such negative outcomes: drugs and AIDS and (teen) pregnancy," Geier told the wire service.
"At this early age to show that already they're missing school, and missing school is such a major setup for big-time problems, that's something school policy people have to know," Geier said. The study was confined to the schools in the poorest areas of Philadelphia in order to keep the test group as homogeneous as possible, the A.P. reports.
The study didn't examine physical health issues associated with being overweight, the wire service reports. Rather, it dealt with emotional or psychological reasons behind the absenteeism. "They're missing school because they don't want to be bullied and called names," the A.P. quotes Geier as saying.
The study can be found in the latest issue of the journal Obesity.
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Don't Eat Certain Raw Oysters From Washington State, FDA Says
Consumers should not eat raw oysters harvested from the southern tip of Hood Canal in Washington state, because they may be contaminated with Vibrio parahaemolyticus bacteria, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned Friday.
Raw oysters harvested from "growing area 6" in Hood Canal since July 3 have caused at least six people to become sick in California and in Washington state, the agency said. Records indicate the oysters were shipped to California, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, New York, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Vibrio parahaemolyticus bacteria can cause an illness called vibriosis, with symptoms including watery diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, fever, and chills. Symptoms usually begin within 24 hours of eating the tainted food and normally last no more than three days.
The most severe symptoms are rare and most frequently affect people with weakened immune systems, including young children, the elderly, and people with AIDS or other conditions that compromise the immune system, the FDA said.
Washington state has closed the area associated with the contaminated oysters and has asked harvesters and distributors to recall any raw oysters obtained from the area.
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L.A. Hospital Loses Federal Funding, Closes Emergency Room and Inpatient Care
A Los Angeles hospital built after the 1965 Watts riots to bring better health care to the poor has lost its federal funding and has already eliminated some of its most essential services.
Regulators who oversee Medicare payments announced at a news conference Friday that L.A. county-run Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital failed two federal inspections and would no longer be eligible for $200 million in federal funding, according to the Associated Press.
In effect, the loss of the money will cause the hospital to close, local health officials told the wire service. The hospital's emergency room, which is often the first place sick or injured people from the neighborhood go, shut down Friday night.
"We brought every resource to bear, but in the end it just wasn't enough, fast enough," Dr. Bruce Chernof told the A.P. King-Harbor will remain open as an outpatient clinic to treat people with routine illness or injury, he added.
The problem with the hospital has festered for years. Herb Kuhn, acting deputy administrator for the U.S. Centers of Medicare and Medical Services, told the A.P. that an inspection last month found "conditions at the facility have placed the health and safety of patients at great risk."
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More American Seniors Have Drug Coverage
Many more American seniors now have prescription drug coverage, according to a University of Michigan (U-M) study that also found that poor seniors are as likely to have coverage as rich seniors.
The study found that more than 90 percent of people age 65 and older had drug prescription coverage in 2006, compared with 75 percent in 2004, The Ann Arbor News reported.
The findings are based on data from interviews with a nationally representative sample of 10,175 older adults.
Some critics have said the U.S. Medicare Part D prescription drug plan is confusing. But the authors of this study said the plan, introduced in 2006, has increased drug coverage for seniors, especially for those who most needed help, The Ann Arbor News reported.
The study was presented Thursday in Washington, D.C. at a conference sponsored by the Social Security Administration and the Retirement Research Consortium.
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Iowa Dairy Sold Cows With High Levels of Antibiotics: FDA
An Iowa dairy faces legal action by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for allegedly selling cows for meat processing even though they had excessive levels of antibiotics, the Associated Press reported.
Following an investigation, the FDA filed a complaint in federal court against Rock Valley-based Ysselstein Dairy and its owner Sjerp Ysselstein.
Animals with high levels of drugs are not allowed to be sold for human consumption, the AP reported. In order to ensure that meat is safe for humans, the FDA requires that no drugs are given to animals for a specified period of time before they're slaughtered.
Sjerp Ysselstein said he's agreed to comply with FDA requirements and that the problem has been solved, the AP reported.
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California Farming Town Has Most Polluted Air in U.S.
The central California farming town of Arvin has the worst air pollution in the United States, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
The town itself produces little air pollution but is surrounded by mountains that trap pollutants blown in from large cities, the Associated Press reported.
Many Arvin residents say the air in their town smells toxic and, on hot summer days, airborne particles coat homes and streets and obscure the view of the nearby Tehachapi mountain range.
Between 2004 and 2006, ozone in Arvin exceeded acceptable levels an average of 73 days a year. Ozone is the primary component of smog. By comparison, there were an average of four days per year of unacceptable ozone levels in the San Francisco Bay Area over the same period, the AP reported.
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