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A new case report from France offers a reminder of why people who use medical devices like asthma inhalers should take warnings on the product label seriously. A 74-year-old asthmatic man was burning leaves when he heard an explosion and felt something pierce the right side of his chest. At the hospital, doctors found an entry wound between his ribs, but no exit wound. Imaging revealed what appeared to be a nebulizer canister wedged between his liver and diaphragm. Doctors believe the man’s inhaler fell from his pocket into the fire and exploded. Dr. Stanislas Ledochowski of the Hospitalier Universitaire Lyons Sud, who examined the man, told Reuters Health, “Fortunately, it is to be considered as an exceptional event, and since it was the only described case in the medical literature, we thought describing such an occurrence could be of medical interest.” Inhalers, a portable form of nebulizer, turn liquid medication into a fine mist, which is the fastest way for people with

(Story has been refiled to correct the extent of FDA e-cigarette research in paragraph 2) One team of researchers assessing the risks of electronic cigarettes is counting the puffs taken by volunteer "vapers." Another will comb Facebook for posts on how people are tinkering with e-cigarettes to make the devices deliver extra nicotine. A third is building a virtual convenience store for 13-to-17-year-olds, measuring how e-cigarette displays and price promotions influence whether minors buy the increasingly popular devices. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is spending $270 million on these and 45 other research projects to determine the risks of e-cigarettes before millions more Americans become hooked on the devices. "They want data and they want it yesterday," said Dr Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin of Yale University, who is leading four projects. "Yesterday," however, is years away. Final results may not be available before 2018, researchers leading

Congressional Republicans asked the Obama administration on Wednesday to provide documents related to last month's anthrax scare at a U.S. lab facility, where more than 80 people were initially feared to be exposed to the deadly pathogen. _0"> In a series of letters, top Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee asked for the results of several Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lab inspections and audits of potential weaknesses in biosecurity protocols dating back to October 2007. "How many suspected exposures to select agents and/or toxins have been reported at CDC since October 2007? How many actual exposures have been reported," said the July 9 letter to CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden signed by three Republican panel members including Chairman Fred Upton of Michigan. The lawmakers, who also requested information from the inspector general of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said they were gathering information for

A Seattle-based company that makes marijuana-infused drinks and candies has become the first business in Washington approved to make edible pot products for the state's newly opened stores, officials said Wednesday. Db3 Inc, which will trade under the brand name Zoots, received its license on Tuesday, meaning it can begin growing marijuana and using it to make recreational edibles in an approved commercial kitchen. State officials said two other companies were awarded processing licenses, but did not yet have approved kitchens.  "This is a landmark day, not only for Db3 as a company, but also for the consumers facing a potential shortage of edible products at retail outlets," the firm's president, Michael Devlin, said in a statement. It was not immediately clear when pot edibles would hit shelves. The state Liquor Control Board, which regulates the fledgling marijuana sector, is due to consider a proposal next week on packaging and labeling standards for edibles

An experimental drug from Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc significantly reduced skin lesions and itching in adult patients with atopic dermatitis, a chronic form of eczema that is poorly controlled by standard drugs, the companies said on Wednesday. The findings were seen in a Phase IIb, or mid-stage, trial of the injectable drug dupilumab, which is also being tested by the drugmakers against two other allergic conditions: asthma and nasal polyps. Dupilumab was named "clinical advance of the year" in 2013 by industry publication Scrip Intelligence, and some analysts expect it to capture annual sales up to $2 billion if approved. Atopic dermatitis causes patches of dry, red and highly itchy skin on any part of the body. Patients, many of whom also have asthma and hay fever, have compared the sensation to having unending poison ivy. Currently, patients get limited relief from topical steroid creams and oral steroid medicines that are not approved in the United St

A New York-based health insurance company has agreed to reimburse members up to $31 million for previously denied mental health and substance abuse claims, the state attorney general said on Wednesday. As part of a lawsuit settlement, EmblemHealth also will pay a $1.2 million fine for scrutinizing its members' mental health and substance abuse claims more than medical or surgical claims, in violation of local and federal laws, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. "Insurers must comply with the laws – and they must treat people with mental health and substance abuse conditions as they do those with medical conditions," Schneiderman said. Under the settlement, EmblemHealth will conduct an independent review of several thousand claims that were denied between 2011 and 2013 on the grounds they were medically unnecessary. The company also will pay restitution to any of the 15,000 members who were wrongly denied benefits, Schneiderman said. EmblemHealth

A Colorado man diagnosed with pneumonic plague, a rare form of the disease that is also the most life-threatening, is the state's first confirmed human case of the illness in a decade, officials said on Wednesday. The man was found to have the disease after the family dog died unexpectedly, and a necropsy concluded the animal was afflicted with pneumonic plague, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said in a statement. The unidentified man and his dog were believed to have contracted the disease in an eastern Colorado county. There was no word on the man's condition. The bacteria that causes plague occurs naturally in the western United States, particularly in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and California, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The plague is transmitted by fleas to rodents, usually prairie dogs. When an infected animal dies, the disease is spread when the fleas find another host. Pneumonic plague is the same