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THURSDAY, April 16, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Weeks after e-cigarette giant Juul voluntarily stopped selling many flavored vaping products popular with U.S. teens, sales rebounded as customers switched to varieties still on the shelves. In fact, sales eventually surpassed previous records, according to new American Cancer Society (ACS) research. "When companies are able to make these decisions for themselves, they are theoretically looking out for consumers, but are really making decisions that are good for the company's bottom line, whereas a regulator is able to make a sweeping decision that can serve the interests of public health," said lead researcher Alex Liber, an ACS senior scientist. In 2018, as vaping surged particularly among American teens, the U.S. Food and Drug...

THURSDAY, April 16, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have come up with a new twist on antibacterial technology. By giving a metal surface a different texture, the team at Purdue University in Indiana said it may be possible to turn that surface into an immediate bacteria killer. The technique won't kill viruses like the one responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, because they are much smaller than bacteria, the researchers noted. But bacteria can live on metal surfaces for days, and keeping doorknobs and other surfaces bacteria-free might help prevent the spread of superbugs like MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), they explained. "We developed a one-step laser-texturing technique that effectively enhances the bacteria-killing properties of copper's surface,"...

THURSDAY, April 16, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Cuts in air pollution from coal plants translated into a drop in both asthma symptoms and asthma-related hospitalization nearby, researchers report. Their new study focused on coal-fired plants around the Louisville, Ky., area. The scientists used computer modeling to determine coal plant emission exposure by zip code, and then gathered information about area residents' use of asthma medicine via digital sensors attached to their inhalers. "A very solid effort," Dr. Juanita Mora, a spokesperson for the American Lung Association, said of the study. She is an allergist/immunologist at Chicago Allergy Center, and was not part of the study. Mora said that particulate pollution from fossil fuel plants affects the health of just over 21 million...

THURSDAY, April 16, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- An experimental drug may ease a range of symptoms that strike people with schizophrenia, without the side effects of existing medications, an early clinical trial suggests. Researchers found that, over one month, the drug helped manage the different ways in which schizophrenia manifests -- from delusions and hallucinations, to flattened emotions and social withdrawal. Among 120 patients who took the drug, 65% were responding by week four. That compared with 44% of patients given a placebo. The drug -- dubbed SEP-363856 -- also appeared to avoid the side effects common with standard antipsychotic medications. Experts were hopeful that the findings, published April 16 in the New England Journal of Medicine, will lead to a new treatment...