Identical twins share many things but the last thing they likely expect to share is a diagnosis of breast cancer. But that’s what happened to Leigh Baker and her sister Nicola, now 27 years old.

Leigh was the first twin to be diagnosed, at 25, with breast cancer. Weeks later, Nicola received the same news.

Studies have been done of twins and health. It’s particularly interesting if researchers find twins who grew up separately but ended up developing similar illnesses. To read more about Leigh and Nicola, you can go to the article, Identical Twins Who Got Breast Cancer At The Same Time .

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Image courtesy PhotoXpress.com

Science proves what many of you may already know: some people are just not cut out to be morning folks. There is a definite set of the population that can be classified as “night owls.” And it isn’t because we’re lazy. (Notice I say “we.” Yes, I’m a night owl, too!)

Being a night owl works out fine for the job I currently have. But when I worked in a traditional 9-5 office setting, it wasn’t always so. That’s not unusual, because morning people have the distinct advantage when it comes to work today. Research shows that, in terms of physical strength, morning people “remain constant throughout the day, but night owls have peak performance in the evening” because they had “maximal central nervous system drive” at about 9:00 p.m. So if you’ve ever had a burst of energy at 9:00 p.m., now you know why.

The interesting thing is that while night owls had this burst of energy, morning people didn’t. Their brains and bodies worked best at 9:00 a.m. but then went down throughout the day from there.

Image: sxc.hu.

Poor Rupert Grint! (He’s the cutie that plays “Ron” in the Harry Potter films.) He’s just getting over a bout with the swine flu. Yes, even the stars can catch this disease.

Rupert’s case was mild, however, and luckily the crew was able to shoot around him during filming of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. No production days were lost. Rupert was also able to attend the London premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Price on Tuesday. What a trooper!

Image: Zuma Press

The first women-only pharmacy in North America has opened in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The pharmacy, called Lu’s: A Pharmacy for Women, is located in a notoriously tough part of Vancouver, the downtown East side.

Why a pharmacy for women only?

The person who came up with the idea of the pharmacy, Vancouver Women’s Health Collective’s executive Caryn Duncan, is quoted in a Canada.com article as saying that many women feel threatened in a traditional pharmacy in tough neighborhoods.

There are plans to make this more than a pharmacy though - the idea is to make it a center where women may go to ask for medical help, work with support groups, and more.

Let’s see if this works.

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The pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc, has issued a statement stating that they will no longer produce the acne medication, Accutane, which they had developed and brought to the U.S. market in 1982.

Accutane, otherwise known by its generic name, isotretinoin, will still be available by other drug makers, but not by HL and not under the name of Accutane. The press release issued by the pharmaceutical states that this is a business decision, due to declining profit from the drug.

When Accutane became available, it was widely used for recalcitrant acne , or acne that didn’t respond to any other treatments. The problem with Accutane, however, is that its potency makes it dangerous for certain people to take it, such as pregnant women. Doctors have also been finding an increase levels of cholesterol, liver enzymes and triglyceride, which could lead to further disease.

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Image: Hoffman-La Roche, Inc

We seem to be hearing more and more about blood clots these days, particularly associated with warnings when traveling. But what is it you need to be aware of?

Blood clots, called deep vein thrombosis (DVT) are clots that form deep in veins, most often in the legs. These clots sit along side of the vein, slowing down blood flow as the blood passes, but more dangerous - they can break off the wall and follow the blood to your heart and lungs. Read more

After debate as to whether medications like Darvocet and Darvon (which contain propoxyphene) should stay on the market, available to U.S. consumers, the FDA has decided to leave them available by prescription, as before. The only changes to be made are that the manufacturers are to add a boxed warning, which warns users of the potential side effects and complications from using the medications.

Interestingly, countries in the European Union will be banning these medications and they have already been banned in the United Kingdom.

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Do you like to use a medicinal rub to soothe those aching muscles or sore joints? If so, you could be wasting your money, according to a review of studies that looked at the rubs’ effectiveness.

Muscle rubs and ointments are sold on the basis that rubbing them over the sore areas help relieve the aching from overuse. Some smell very strongly, while others claim to be more discreet. These are called rubefacients , which cause local irritation and redness, as blood flow increases to the skin surface.

The study review looked at rubs that contained salicylates , a pain-killing substance. Some are available over-the-counter and others are obtained by prescription.

The researchers found 16 studies of 1,276 people total with either acute or chronic pain. According to a press release issued by the publisher Wiley-Blackwell ,

Results from four studies showed topical salicylates performed better than placebos against acute pain, but excluding lower quality studies meant the results were not statistically significant. When used for chronic conditions, salicylates performed better than placebos. However, only one in six patients with chronic pain benefited substantially from using the muscle rubs compared to one in three using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

More studies are needed to look into this type of treatment though.

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The FDA has issued the following press release regarding to liquid “energy” drinks: New Whey liquid products and Hardcore Energize Bullet liquid products.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned consumers not to buy or use two liquid products that have been recalled due to suspected product tampering.

The products are

• New Whey liquid products
• Hardcore Energize Bullet liquid products

The products are sold in vials that look similar to test tubes.

The suspected tampering involved a utility knife blade found in one vial of Hardcore Energize Bullet drink and another blade in one vial of New Whey liquid products. No one is known to have been hurt.

The manufacturer of both products, Protica Inc., of Whitehall, Pa., is investigating these incidents.

About the Recalled Products

New Whey liquid products are being recalled by IDS of Oviedo, Fla. The products

• were sold at various retail stores in the United States
• are packaged in 2.9-ounce clear, test-tube-like vials
• come in two flavors: New Whey Fruit Punch 25g (the affected lot is 1960), and New Whey Blue Raspberry 42g (the affected lot is 1944)

Hardcore Energize Bullet liquid products are being recalled by iSatori Technologies of Golden, Colo. The products

• were sold in the United States and Canada
• are packaged in 2.9-ounce clear, test-tube-like vials
• come in two flavors: Blue Rage (the affected lots are 1961, 1962, and 1794), and Black Rush (the affected lot is 1963)

Advice for Consumers

• Do not buy or consume New Whey or Hardcore Energize Bullet liquid products.
• Report serious side effects or product quality problems with the use of these products to FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program online, by regular mail, fax or phone.
  • Online
  • Regular Mail: Use FDA postage paid form 3500 and mail to MedWatch, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852-9787
  • Fax: 800-FDA-0178
  • Phone: 800-FDA-1088

This article appears on FDA’s Consumer Updates page , which features the latest on all FDA-regulated products.

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Image: Newscom.com

Are you ready for this? With the warnings we’ve all received over the last few months about swine flu, medical professionals are now saying that the disease might not be as lethal as originally thought. In fact, it may be up to 40 times less fatal.

The latest figures show that “probability of dying from the pandemic flu strain may be 1 in 10,000 cases and possibly as low as 1 in 100,000.” It’s still a dangerous disease, to be sure, but probably not as deadly as the medical world once believed.

Whenever I hear reports like this (that conflict), I basically try to take the whole of the information with a grain of salt. It seems as if with swine flu we need to take care of ourselves at the first sign of symptoms, but also enjoy our lives and not panic. (I think many of us were doing this anyways.)

Image: sxc.hu.