Health Highlights: May 13, 2008

• 'CFC-Free' Asthma Inhalers Proving Difficult for Millions
• Sleep Problems Plague Many U.S. College Students
• Minority-Tailored Asthma Education Programs Benefit Patients
• Scientists Closer to Developing Botulinum Toxin Antidote
• Munchkin Baby Bottle and Food Warmers Recalled
• Nickel in Cheap Earrings Common Cause of Earlobe Dermatitis

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

'CFC-Free' Asthma Inhalers Proving Difficult for Millions

The U.S. government-mandated switch to CFC-free inhalers is causing problems for millions of people with asthma and other lung diseases, according to The New York Times. CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), used as propellants in the inhalers, damage the Earth's ozone layer.

As of Jan. 1, 2009, CFC inhalers will have to be replaced with inhalers that use propellants called HFAs (hydrofluoroalkanes). But HFA inhalers cost much more than CRC inhalers and the new and old inhalers differ in feel, force and taste, and in how they're primed and cleaned, the Times said.

Many asthma patients and doctors haven't been educated about the changes, which has resulted in ungrounded fears about the new inhalers, preventable trips to emergency rooms, and even hoarding of CFC inhalers, the newspaper reported.

"What the government failed to do is to mandate anyone to tell patients and physicians this transition was happening. There is no education, no monitoring of patients, no financial assistance to patients who have to pay higher prices for the new drugs," said Nancy Sander, president of the Allergy and Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics.

CFC-free inhalers have been available for more than a decade but four to five million inhaler users have yet to switch to them, the group said.

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Sleep Problems Plague Many U.S. College Students

Many American college students have sleep patterns that may harm their education, driving abilities and health, according to researchers who also found that white noise may help improve students' sleep.

The researchers surveyed more than 300 college students and found that one-third took more than 30 minutes to fall asleep and 43 percent woke more than once per night, United Press International reported.

The findings are published in the Journal of American College Health.

In another study, the same researchers concluded that the use of continuous white noise may help improve college students' sleep. White noise decreased difficulty falling asleep and reduced night wakings in students who'd reported sleep problems, UPI reported.

That study was published in the journal Sleep and Hypnosis.

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Minority-Tailored Asthma Education Programs Benefit Patients

Tailoring asthma education programs to minorities can improve patients' quality of life, according to Australian researchers who reviewed three studies that included 396 asthma patients, ages 7 to 59, from ethnic minority groups.

All the studies compared the use of culture-specific asthma education programs to general education programs or usual care, United Press International reported.

Culture-specific programs were more effective in improving asthma quality of life scores in adults than general programs or usual care, the review authors concluded. But there wasn't enough data to determine whether the culture-specific programs had any effect on asthma-related hospitalizations.

The review was published in The Cochrane Library journal.

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Scientists Closer to Developing Botulinum Toxin Antidote

U.S. scientists say they've made a breakthrough in efforts to develop an effective antidote for botulinum toxin, which is a common cause of food poisoning and a potentially devastating biological weapon. One gram of the poison can kill hundreds of thousands of people, according to defense experts, BBC News reported.

The Clostridium botulinum bacterium produces seven different neurotoxins that can block the chemicals nerve cells use to communicate with each other and with muscles. This can paralyze the breathing muscles and cause suffocation.