SEATTLE – The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it is adding warnings to labels on statins over concerns that the popular cholesterol-lowering drug could increase the risk of diabetes.

The agency also says some medicines that may interact with the drug lovastin could increase the risk for muscle injury.

There have also been reports that statin use can affect the brain, including memory loss and confusion. The FDA says the reports generally have not been serious and that the symptoms subsided when the patient stopped using statins.

Statins are mainly prescribed to prevent heart attacks in people with clogged arteries and work by dramatically lowering LDL or “bad cholesterol.” They were the third best-selling drug class in the U.S. f

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A dental student who urged a patient to see a physician for high blood pressure before having a routine dental cleaning in a School of Dentistry clinic has given the patient a new lease on life.

“No question about it, dental student Steve Nichols, saved my life,” patient, Glen Toadvine declared. His wife, Sandy, agreed. “Glen’s supposed to be dead,” she said. “But coming home on Christmas Day, three days after having quadruple bypass surgery, was the best Christmas present ever.”

For more than two years, Toadvine has been traveling from the Jackson area to the School of Dentistry for care. He met Nichol

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If you have trouble managing a few thousand dollars in your bank account, you may be sympathetic to Congressional politicians who finally reached an agreement on the budget minutes (not even hours) before the federal government would have shut down. Congress and the White House agreed to trim $38 billion off of a trillion-plus budget. It may sound like a lot, but there are twelve zeroes in a trillion and nine zeroes in a billion. That puts the percentage of cuts in the single digits. That includes $13 billion in funding for education, health and labor programs.

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Stocks of a vital cancer drug are running low in the US, which could affect children with leukaemia within weeks.

The US Food and Drug Administration says a number of drug manufacturers are flagging up shortages in methotrexate – which slows the growth of white blood cells in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a cancer that typically affects young children.

Manufacturing delays and unexpectedly high levels of demand are blamed for the shortfall, together with the voluntary closure of Ben Venue Laboratories, one of the nation’s largest suppliers of the drug.

Oncologists are concerned supplies could run out in some areas within weeks. R

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