TUESDAY, Sept. 12, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- For decades, sick people have been taking essentially worthless over-the-counter cold remedies to clear their stuffy noses, a key advisory panel for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday.The panel voted unanimously that nonprescription oral medications containing phenylephrine -- including Sudafed PE, Vicks Sinex and Benadryl Allergy Plus Congestion -- don’t do anything to ease congestion.The committee’s ruling could prompt the FDA to pull all oral decongestants containing phenylephrine from store shelves, leaving cold sufferers with limited options to relieve their misery.“I feel this drug in this oral dose should have been removed from the market a long time ago,” said Jennifer Schwartzott, the patient representative on...

TUESDAY, Sept. 12, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Many Americans are behind on recommended colon cancer screenings -- and their doctors often fail to remind them, a new study suggests.The study, by the American Cancer Society, focused on a nationwide sample of more 5,000 Americans who were overdue for colon cancer screening. All had been to a routine checkup in the past year, but only about one-quarter said their provider had advised them to get screened.And that figure was particularly low among Asian, Black and Hispanic patients, as well as those who lacked insurance or a high school diploma.Experts said the findings were disappointing, given the importance of colon cancer screening.It can catch the disease at its most treatable stages, or -- when screening is done by colonoscopy --...

TUESDAY, Sept. 12, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Bolstering the notion that a strong body equals a strong mind, new research indicates that the more inactive seniors are, the higher their risk for dementia.The finding stems from a look at the onset of dementia among nearly 50,000 Brits.All were at least 60 years old when information about typical daily activity routines was entered into the UK Biobank database at some point between 2006 and 2010.Their risk for dementia was then tracked for an average of about seven years.“We looked into whether sitting too much can increase the risk of getting dementia,” said lead author David Raichlen, a professor of biological sciences and anthropology at the University of Southern California. “Turns out, if you're sedentary for over 10 hours a day,...

TUESDAY, Sept. 12, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- It’s possible that the cause of spontaneous, recurring brain hemorrhages can be passed through blood transfusion, researchers say. The likelihood of this happening is very slim, however.Still, “blood transfusions are relatively common, which makes possible negative effects an important public health issue,” said study co-author Gustaf Edgren, a researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. “However, in this case, it’s very unlikely that you’d suffer a brain hemorrhage from something transmitted through a transfusion,” Edgren added in an institute news release.A vascular disease called cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) involves proteins accumulating along the tiny blood vessels of the brain. Past research has shown that CAA...