The study was published in the journal Psychological Medicine.
"Our study shows that work stress appears to bring on diagnosable forms of depression and anxiety in previously healthy young workers," said study lead author Dr. Maria Melchior, an epidemiologist at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London.
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Tysabri Should be OK'd for Crohn's Patients: FDA Panel
The multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri should be approved to treat patients with Crohn's disease, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel said Tuesday.
The 12-3 vote in favor of this use for the drug came during a joint meeting of the Gastrointestinal Drugs Advisory Committee and the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee, The Boston Globe reported. Two committee members abstained from the vote.
Crohn's is an inflammatory bowel disorder that affects about 600,000 people in the United States. The panel said that Tysabri helps ease the symptoms of the disease in patients who don't respond to steroids or immunosuppressants. Both MS and Crohn's are autoimmune diseases.
The advisory panel recommended that Tysabri be used only for Crohn's patients with moderate to severe symptoms, and that this use be subject to strict controls, The Globe reported. The FDA is not bound to follow the recommendations of advisory panels, but it usually does.
Six weeks ago, European regulators voted against the use of Tysabri to treat Crohn's patients, saying that clinical studies failed to show that the drug's risk outweighed its benefits.
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More Data Needed to Approve Menopause Drug: FDA
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration wants more evidence before it considers approving the nonhormonal drug Pristiq as a treatment for menopause symptoms, but that should not delay FDA approval of the drug as a depression treatment, according to officials with drugmaker Wyeth.
In mid-July, the FDA said it wanted more long-term data on Pristiq's effects on the heart and liver, after studies showed that a small number of women taking the drug for menopause symptoms experienced serious heart or liver complications, the Associated Press reported. The FDA told Wyeth to conduct a new clinical trial of one year or longer. Company officials said Tuesday they'll work closely with the FDA to hasten Pristiq's approval as the first nonhormonal treatment for menopause symptoms such as hot flashes, mood swings, and sleep problems.
Wyeth officials also said the FDA told them the additional safety data required before the company can apply to have the drug approved to treat menopause symptoms will not delay approval of Pristiq as a depression treatment, the AP reported.
That approval could come early next year, according to Wyeth executives.
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U.S. Considers New Alcohol Labeling Rule
A new regulation requiring all alcohol drink packaging to provide information about alcohol content, serving sizes and nutrition is being considered by the U.S. Treasury Department.
The proposal -- which was published Tuesday for public comment -- would require all alcohol product labels to state the drink's percent of alcohol by volume, along with a "serving facts" panel outlining the number of calories, carbohydrates, fat and protein in a standard serving size, the Associated Press reported.
If they choose, companies could also list the amount of pure (ethyl) alcohol per serving.
Under current law, labels on all wine and liquor with more than 14 percent alcohol by volume must list at least the alcohol content, the AP reported. But, with the exception of some states, that information is not required on the labeling of regular beer. However, labels on "light" beer must list caloric content and the percent of alcohol by volume. |
