Tag Archives: company

Head impact detectors tested at New York high school

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. – & Students at a New York high school are helping to test new technology that could someday alert football coaches that an athlete might have suffered a concussion. The Times Herald-Record, of Middletown, reports that students at Middletown High School wore impact-sensing mouth guards during three days of intramural practices over the past week. The devices are being developed by a Connecticut company, i1 Biometrics. They contain a gyroscope and feed wireless data about jarring head movements to a laptop. The idea is to give coaches a way of detecting dangerous hits while a game is still in progress. The company hopes to use data collected in the Middletown sessions to refine its software. More testing is planned next fall at Purdue University and the University of South Carolina.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/08/head-impact-detectors-tested-at-new-york-high-school/

Company sells breast milk flavored lollipops

Mothers looking to give their children a unique, yet familiar, candy treat are in luck.  A lollipop company based in Austin, Texas called Lollyphile is offering new Breast Milk Lollipops, meant to mimic the flavor of a mother’s milk. According to Lollyphile’s website, numerous mothers shared their breast milk with the company’s “flavor specialists,” until they were able to turn the flavor into a candy. “I don't know if it's because I'm getting older, but it seems like all of my friends are having babies these days,” Jason Darling, the owner of Lollyphile, said in a statement. “Sure, the kids are all crazy cute, but what slowly dawned on me was that my friends were actually producing milk so delicious it could turn a screaming, furious child into a docile, contented one. I knew I had to capture that flavor.” Lollyphile maintains that the lollipops do not contain any actual breast milk, joking that it would require “armies of pumping women.”  Other eccentric lollipops available from Lollyphile include Absinthe Lollipops and Chocolate Bacon Lollipops. “Any company can make up nostalgic flavors,” said Darling of the breast milk lollies. “We'd like to think that we're tapping into a flavor our customers loved before they even knew how to think.” For more information on Lollyphile, visit their website.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/04/company-sells-breast-milk-flavored-lollipops/

Shuttered New Mexico plant resumes making peanut butter

The eastern New Mexico peanut butter plant shuttered eight months ago after a salmonella outbreak is back in production, and company officials say their coveted natural and organic butters could be back on store shelves within a month. Sunland Inc. Vice President Katalin Coburn says the company last week got the go-ahead from the Food and Drug Administration to restart peanut butter operations at its factory in Portales. It is currently in a test phase of production, she said. “The restart of the plant is not as simple as turning on a switch,” Coburn said Thursday. “Hopefully we will be back in full production in the next few days.” The Food and Drug Administration shut the plant in late September after its products were linked to 41 cases in 20 states. Most of those were linked to natural peanut butter the company made for Trader Joe's. The shutdown of the country's largest organic peanut butter processor left many stores scrambling for months to find alternative natural peanut butters. The company processes Valencia peanuts, a sweet variety of peanut that is unique to the region and preferred for natural butters because it is flavorful without additives. It makes peanut butter under a number of different labels for retailers like Costco, Kroger and Trader Joe's. It also makes nut butter products under its own name. When the FDA shuttered the plant, it was the first time it used new authority granted under a 2011 food safety law to shut food operations without a court hearing. Many in the conservative farm town of Portales denounced the FDA's tactics as unfair and unnecessarily heavy-handed. Coburn said consumers and retail partners alike have been supportive throughout the shutdown. “Obviously they were as frustrated as we were with the length of time,” she said. “They were saying, `We want Valencia. We want you guys. We want organic. So hurry up.'”source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/24/shuttered-new-mexico-plant-resumes-making-peanut-butter/

Foster Farms recalls grilled chicken breast strips for containing allergens

SAN FRANCISCO – & California-based chicken producer Foster Farms is recalling about 6,165 pounds of its ready-to-eat grilled chicken breast strips because the strips contain wheat and soy -- known allergens -- which are not listed on the labels of its packages, federal agriculture officials said. The mislabeled packages were discovered when a customer complained, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service said in announcing the recall Tuesday. The problem occurred when labels for another chicken product that does not contain wheat or soy were inadvertently used, food safety inspectors and officials at Foster Farms said. There have been no reports of adverse reactions from the sale of the mislabeled products, officials said. The chicken breast strips being recalled were sold in 4.5-pound cases containing 12, 6-ounce trays of “Foster Farms Grilled Chicken Breast Strips Boneless & Skinless With Rib Meat 97% Fat Free,” with an identifying case code of “000606.” The recalled product bears the establishment number “P-20923” inside the USDA mark of inspection and a use-by date of “JUN 22 2013” printed on each tray. They were produced April 23 and were distributed to retailers in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington. Based in Porterville, Foster Farms is a family-owned company that has been operating since 1939, according to the company's website. In a statement, Fosters Farms spokeswoman Lorna Bush said “food safety is, and always has been, our top priority.”source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/22/foster-farms-recalls-grilled-chicken-breast-strips-for-containing-allergens/

Vocal cord paralysis: Explaining Google CEO Larry Page’s rare condition

Earlier this week, Google CEO Larry Page finally revealed the reason behind his soft, hoarse-sounding voice: he suffers from a rare condition called vocal cord paralysis Though Page was able to speak on Wednesday at Google I/O, the company’s annual developer conference, he recently wrote on his Google Plus profile that he has struggled with vocal cord paralysis for the past 14 years. Page said he was first diagnosed with paralysis in his left vocal cord after a bad cold. However, his condition worsened last summer when his right vocal cord also became paralyzed. Experiencing paralysis in both vocal cords is extremely uncommon, according to Dr. Nicole Maronian, director of the Voice Center at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, who did not treat Page for his condition. “Since I’ve been in practice, since 1998, it’s been one patient. Having it affect both vocal cords, it’s pretty rare,” Maronian told FoxNews.com. Normal vocal cords open and then close completely every time they are stimulated by the nerves. “They have to close in a tight line to get the kind of strong voice out that you and I have today,” Maronian said. But when vocal cords become paralyzed, they are not able to close completely, leaving a gap.  “If there’s a gap, air starts leaking through, and you start sounding breathy, softer,” Maronian explained.   In addition to hoarseness, patients with this paralysis can also experience shortness of breath due to air leaking through the gap between the vocal cords. “They often get a little bit high-pitched, trying to project or pitch the voice. They get short of breath because of all that air leaking out, or have trouble getting full sentences out because of the air leaking out,” Maronian said. Some patients even experience aspiration, when recently swallowed fluids leak through the space in between the vocal cords. Aspiration can lead to coughing symptoms or even “aspiration pneumonia, which has significant morbidity and mortality,” Maronian said. While the paralysis is typically thought to be caused by a viral infection, such as a cold, pneumonia or bronchitis, other factors may be to blame as well.   “Lots of things can affect the nerve: A virus, compression from a thyroid issue, other things like cancer, (or) surgeries where the nerve is ether stretched or pulled,” Maronian said. Page disclosed that he was also diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis in 2008, an inflammation of the thyroid gland, which may or may not affect his vocal cord paralysis. “Sometimes the thyroid gets big which can compress the nerve and push on it. Usually though, the gland burns out and gets small and the nerve compression issue isn’t a piece of it anymore,” Maronian said. Recovery time for vocal cord paralysis can vary. Some patients rebound within months, while others take much longer to heal, Maronian noted. Depending on the needs of the patient, doctors can offer several treatment options for vocal cord paralysis. Patients can wait and see if the condition improves on its own, but many opt for vocal cord injections or surgical procedures to achieve faster relief and recovery. “In the office or operation room, we can (inject) a material next to the vocal cord that pushes it into a more natural position, so it can get closure. (We then) watch and hope it recovers on its own,” Maronian said. Page said in his statement that he plans to “fund a significant research program” through the Vocal Health Institute, led by Dr. Steven Zeitels from the Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital Voice Center.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/16/vocal-cord-paralysis-explaining-google-ceo-larry-pages-rare-condition/

Novartis drug Ilaris approved to treat childhood arthritis

Novartis said on Friday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved its drug Ilaris to treat a serious form of childhood arthritis. Ilaris inhibits interleukin-1 beta, excessive production of which plays a prominent role in certain inflammatory diseases, the company said. …