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WEDNESDAY, May 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- VESIcare LS (solifenacin succinate) oral suspension is now approved to treat neurogenic detrusor overactivity (NDO) in children 2 years and older, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday. VESIcare (solifenacin succinate) tablets were approved in 2004 to treat overactive bladder in patients 18 years and older. VESIcare LS is the first FDA-approved treatment for NDO in patients as young as 2 years and requires only once-daily dosing as opposed to the current standard treatment, which requires dosing up to three times a day, according to Christine P. Nguyen, M.D., acting director of the FDA Division of Urology, Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Office of Rare Diseases, Pediatrics, Urologic and Reproductive Medicine in the Center...

WEDNESDAY, May 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Intravenous (IV) artesunate received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat adults and children with severe malaria, the agency announced Tuesday. This approval marks the first for severe malaria since the marketing of quinine was discontinued in early 2019. Before the current approval, U.S. patients with severe malaria and those with uncomplicated malaria who were not able to take oral medications were treated with IV artesunate under an investigational new drug protocol through the FDA Expanded Access program. About 2,000 cases of malaria are diagnosed in the United States each year, and about 300 of those cases are severe, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The FDA notes...

WEDNESDAY, May 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Fatter wallets lead to fatter people, according to a new study. Researchers examined the link between nations' wealth and their obesity rates. They discovered citizens get plumper as their country gets richer. "As most people currently live in low- and middle-income countries with rising incomes, our findings underscore the urgent need for effective policies to break -- or at least weaken -- the relationship between income growth and obesity," said study co-author Debabrata Talukdar. He's a professor of marketing at the University at Buffalo School of Management, in New York. His team analyzed 40 years of data from 147 countries. They found that a 1% increase in per capita income is associated with a 1.23% rise in obesity among men and a...

WEDNESDAY, May 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Spring showers bring … pollen. That's the surprising discovery made by researchers when they measured tree pollen fragment concentrations during and after spring rains of varying intensity in Iowa City between April 17 and May 31, 2019. Rain fell on 28 days of the study period, which is prime tree pollen season. There were light rains, thunderstorms, and a severe storm that spawned a tornado. The researchers found that pollen fragments can hang in the air for as long as 11 hours after heavy rains, and can get deep into the lungs and worsen spring allergies. "Our results show that while pollen grains decrease substantially during rain, peak concentrations of submicron pollen fragments occur during rain events and then persist for several...