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PPA A six-year study showed that the amphetamine-like stimulant phenyl-propanolamine (PPA), despite decades of use as a decongestant and a weight-loss drug, increases the risk of hemorrhagic stroke, especially in young women. The FDA subsequently deemed it unsafe and asked manufacturers to pull medications containing PPA off pharmacy shelves. PPA has been on the market since the mid-1930s, and consumers take 6 billion doses of it annually, in such products as Alka-Seltzer, Robitussin, Dexatrim and Tavist-D. Though PPA is widely used in many popular cold and diet pills, medications with the safer alternative pseudoephedrine are easy to find.
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RITALIN For millions of children who suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), drugs like Ritalin have been a godsend. Yet at the same time there is real concern that the use of Ritalin to curb all manner of fidgety behavior has become too casual and that the drug is actually being abused as a performance booster. A Duke University study suggested that the drug is, in fact, both over- and underprescribed. The Duke team found that 25% of kids with confirmable ADHD are not getting the drug, while more than half the kids who take the drug should not.
RU-486 It was a long time coming, but finally, 12 years after its debut in France, RU-486 (mifepristone) was approved by the FDA, and the controversial "abortion pill" hit American shores. Did it change our world? Not yet. Abortion foes are campaigning against physicians who prescribe it, and even some doctors point out that an RU-486-induced abortion is expensive (the pills alone cost $240) and not as effective as the surgical procedure. Still, expect the drug to have a growing, if gradual, impact.
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STEM CELLS With their uncanny ability to morph into any type of cell--from skin to bone and everything in between--stem cells cast a mighty spell on medical researchers who dream of using them to treat a whole range of intractable diseases. But because of religious opposition and fears that embryos--the best source of stem cells--could become a kind of cash crop, U.S. scientists have been largely shut out of this promising field. New nih guidelines, however, have reversed the earlier ban and now allow federally funded researchers to use embryonic stem cells as long as they are not sold for profit and come from such sources as embryos discarded from in vitro fertility treatments.
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TESTOSTERONE It puts hair on your chest and a rocket in your pocket and is credited--and blamed--for everything from rape to the urge to explore new worlds. Four million men in the U.S. with clinically low levels take suppplements. Lately testosterone has gained popularity as a youth boost for both men and women. A new topical formulation, marketed as AndroGel, will make it easier for legitimate users to take the hormone. AndroGel may also expand its use for medically dubious reasons.
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