Industry funded studies don't find sweet drinks linked to obesity, diabetes

By Andrew M. Seaman (Reuters Health) - Do sugar-sweetened beverages like soda and fruit drinks cause obesity and diabetes? An analysis of 60 studies found 26 out of 26 papers that failed to find a link between sugar-sweetened beverages and obesity or diabetes were funded by industry sources, compared to one industry-funded study out of the 34 that did find a connection. Regulations, taxes and nutrition guidance hinge on whether these drinks cause health problems, but opponents of those initiatives continue to question whether the drinks are to blame, the study team writes in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Ultrasound Helps Diagnose Gout, Rule Out Pseudogout (CME/CE)

(MedPage Today) -- Specificity was more than 90% for some individual gout features

1st Zika Microcephaly Baby Born in Puerto Rico

1st Zika Microcephaly Baby Born in Puerto Rico

Surge in prescription opioid poisoning among U.S. youth

By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) - The number of children and teens hospitalized for prescription opioid poisonings has more than doubled in recent years, with both accidental overdoses and suicide attempts on the rise, a U.S. study suggests. Annually, the rate of these opioid poisonings among youth up to 19 years old surged from 1.4 per 100,000 children in 1997 to 3.71 per 100,000 kids by 2012, the study found. “I believe that the two-fold increase in hospitalization rates over time for opioid poisonings in children are a direct consequence of the increasing reliance in the U.S. on opioid analgesics to treat acute and chronic pain,” said lead study author Dr. Julie Gaither, a public health researcher at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

White House condemns Syrian government forces use of toxic gas

The White House on Saturday condemned the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government after an international inquiry found its forces responsible for a third toxic gas attack in Syria's civil war. The fourth report from the 13-month-long inquiry by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the global chemical weapons watchdog, blamed Syrian government forces for a toxic gas attack in Qmenas in Idlib governorate on March 16, 2015, according to a text of the report seen by Reuters. In August, the third report by the inquiry blamed the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for two chlorine attacks - in Talmenes on April 21, 2014 and Sarmin on March 16, 2015 - and said Islamic State fighters had used sulfur mustard gas.

ANA: Brain Features Tied to Personality in Chronic Daily Headache (CME/CE)

(MedPage Today) -- Is personality a modifiable risk factor for CDH?

Burning sulfur near Mosul sends hundreds to hospital, U.S. troops don masks

By Babak Dehghanpisheh QAYYARA, Iraq (Reuters) - Up to 1,000 people have been treated for breathing problems linked to fumes from a sulfur plant set ablaze during fighting with Islamic State in northern Iraq and U.S. officials say U.S. forces at a nearby airfield are wearing protective masks. A cloud of white smoke blanketed the area around the Mishraq sulfur plant, near Mosul, mingling with black fumes from oil wells that the militants torched to cover their moves. Local residents and the U.S. military said Islamic State militants deliberately set the sulfur plant ablaze as they strive to repel an offensive by Iraqi government forces to drive them from Mosul, their last major stronghold in the country.