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Birth control pills seem to work as well as antibiotics for long-term treatment of acne in women, according to a new review of past clinical trials. After six months, both treatments reduced acne by just over 50 percent, prompting dermatologists to call the Pill a good alternative for some women and a means of avoiding the drawbacks of stronger oral acne medications or long-term antibiotic use. Past research has shown that both antibiotics and birth control pills can improve acne, but the new review compared the two options side-by-side and found antibiotics worked better after three months, but after six months of use, results were about equal. “Oral contraceptives (OCPs) take longer to work because they have a different mechanism of action,” said Dr. Kelly H. Tyler, who was not involved in the new review. “Antibiotics have anti-inflammatory properties, and OCPs do not have those same properties, so the reduction in acne is going to be more gradual and less dramatic in the b

European regulators said on Thursday they have completed their assessment of drug manufacturing violations at Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd's facility in Toansa, class="mandelbrot_refrag"> India , and although deficiencies were found, they pose no risk to public health. The regulators said they were satisfied by corrective measures put in place by the company after U.S. regulators found deviations in January. The assessment stands in stark contrast to the response of U.S. regulators to the deficiencies found at the plant. The Food and Drug Administration barred Ranbaxy from making and selling pharmaceutical ingredients from the Toansa facility "to prevent substandard quality products from reaching U.S. consumers." Ranbaxy is in the process of being acquired by Indian-based Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd for $3.2 billion. In March the FDA banned imports from Sun's plant at Karkhadi. G.N. Singh, the Drugs Controller General of class="mandelbrot_r

A dramatic upward revision in the number of people killed by the MERS virus in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Saudi Arabia may signal a fresh approach from Riyadh, but also raises new questions about how the two-year-old outbreak has been handled. Experts in global health and infectious diseases say transparency with data is critical to learning more about the virus, which until two years ago had never been seen in humans but has now killed more than 300 people worldwide. And while an announcement on Tuesday that a historical review of the outbreak had revealed 113 previously unreported cases, including 92 deaths, suggested greater openness, some scientists said international health authorities may have been kept in the dark.   true       "It really calls into question why these cases weren't reported before - particularly those that are at least two or more months back in time," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Resear

A simulated training program helped adults with autism spectrum disorder improve their job interview skills and confidence in a small new study. "Individuals with autism spectrum disorder are typically (impaired) in their ability to socially communicate, so in the job interview setting, they may have difficulty picking up social cues," lead author Matthew J. Smith told Reuters Health. “They may have difficulty sharing things in a positive way or they may have difficulty coming across as easy to work with,” said Smith, a psychiatry researcher at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. The employment rate for adults with autism is very low and approximately 50,000 people with autism turn 18 each year in the U.S., say the authors. The interactive virtual reality program, which the researchers call Molly, was designed to improve the interview skills of adults with psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, as well as ad

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday ordered farmers to start reporting cases of a deadly pig virus and pledged over $26 million in funding to combat the disease, pushing back against criticism of his handling of a widespread outbreak. _0"> Vilsack, speaking to a roomful of farmers at an industry gathering in Iowa, said they must tell the U.S. Department of Agriculture about outbreaks of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv) effective immediately to help control the spread of the disease. The USDA had said in April it would require reporting of cases of PEDv and Swine Delta Coronavirus, but provided few details. [ID:nL2N0NA0F3] PEDv first appeared in the United States over a year ago and has wiped out an estimated 10 percent of U.S. pigs. The virus causes diarrhea and vomiting and is nearly always lethal to baby piglets. Veterinarians have said the USDA failed to protect the nation from the virus, which had never been in the country before it was found in

Pregnancy outcomes don’t differ among women who use a vaginal hormone gel during in vitro fertilization or a hormone shot, according to a new study. The results may encourage more doctors and women to use the hormone gel, which tends to be much less painful than the shot that’s injected into the muscle, according to the study’s lead author. "Progesterone in oil is much less expensive but it is notoriously painful and usually requires that a second person do the injection, while vaginal gel is more expensive but tolerated much better in most patients who can self-administer the drug," Dr. Daniel B. Shapiro of Reproductive Biology Associates in Atlanta, Georgia, told Reuters Health by email. Progesterone is typically produced by the ovaries to prepare the lining of the uterus to accept an embryo. During IVF, women take pills to stop progesterone production so they do not ovulate. They need to somehow replace the hormone. “The gold standard of care has been intramuscul

The U.S. National Institutes of Health has awarded $25 million to the J. Craig Venter Institute to back an initiative to study infectious diseases like malaria and influenza at the genetic level to help find better treatments and preventive measures. The institute, with offices in Maryland and California, will use the 5-year grant from NIH to establish the Genome Center for Infectious Diseases to study the genetic secrets of a wide range of bacteria, viruses and parasites, officials said on Thursday. The effort will include genetic sequencing of a number of pathogens and research on genetic mechanisms behind the emergence of antibiotic resistance, they said.   true       "It's a pretty big program," said Karen Nelson, president of the non-profit institute, in a telephone interview. Infectious diseases are among the leading causes of death worldwide. Venter, the former NIH researcher who founded the institute, said in a statement that the new work will be aimed at &q