Drug Recalls 2012: Popular OTC products recalled

Novartis Consumer Health, Inc. (NCH) on Sunday issued a US-wide recall of certain bottled versions of its four over-the-counter products.

NCH said it is voluntarily recalling all lots of select bottle packaging configurations of Excedrin® and NoDoz® products with expiry dates of December 20, 2014 or earlier as well as Bufferin® and Gas-X Prevention® products with expiry dates of December 20, 2013 or earlier, in the United States.

The recall is being conducted as a precautionary measure since the products may contain stray tablets, capsules, or caplets from other Novartis products, or contain broken or chipped tablets.

According to NCH, mixing of different products in the same bottle could result in consumers taking the incorrect product and receiving a higher or lower strength than intended or receiving an unintended ingredient. This could potentially result in overdose, interaction with other medications a consumer may be taking, or an allergic reaction if the consumer is allergic to the unintended ingredient. NCH is not aware of adverse events reported with the issues leading to the recall.

The company said it has notified its distributors and retailers. It has also voluntarily suspended operations and shipments from its Lincoln, Nebraska, facility to rectify the problems at the site.

Consumers that have the product(s) being recalled should stop using the product(s) and contact the Novartis Consumer Relationship Center at 1-888-477-2403 (available Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time) for information on how to return the affected products and receive a full refund, NCH continued.

Consumers can find more information on the website http://www.novartis-otc.com/otc/index.html.

Geminid meteor shower in 2009 | Courtesy of Shusaku Tago

If you missed the total lunar eclipse last Saturday, here's a consolation for you. Another celestial phenomenon is set to peak on December 14, 2011 which is tonight. It is the annual Geminid meteor shower which reportedly will produce 40 shooting stars an hour.

Tonight's meteor shower will start at around 9:30 p.m. (Philippine Standard Time) till the early hours of the following morning. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, however, warned that a "waning gibbous moon" will interfere with the show.

The Geminid meteor shower is visible to the naked eye under a dark and cloudless sky. It could be observed initially in the eastern sky, then overhead, and in the western sky.

According to a Wikipedia article, the Geminid meteor shower is thought to be intensifying every year and recent showers have seen 120–160 meteors per hour under optimal conditions, generally around 2am to 3am local time. The meteors from this shower are slow moving, Wikipedia added.

Lunar Eclipse on December 10, 2011*

It has been raining the whole week in many parts of the country but on Saturday evening the rain clouds suddenly just dispersed to pave way to a rare celestial phenomenon, a total lunar eclipse. The clear skies gave sky gazers a good view of the last total lunar eclipse for three years - the next one will be on April 15, 2014.

Last Saturday's lunar eclipse started at around 7:33 p.m. (Philippine Standard Time) and ended at 1:30 a.m. on the following day - reportedly longer than the last lunar eclipse witnessed in June 2011.

The spectacular colors the moon emitted as it went through the different phases of the eclipse amazed observers from around the globe.

"The moon took on a reddish glow, as some indirect sunlight continued to reach it after passing through the Earth’s atmosphere. Since the atmosphere scatters blue light, only red light strikes the moon, giving it an eerie crimson hue." Suntimes reported.

The eclipse also gave skywatchers an extra special treat when it appeared to be inflated and supersized - which was just a neat illusion since the moon is not actually any wider.

A total lunar eclipse takes places when the Earth passes between the sun and the moon, casting the moon in shadow.

*Photo courtesy of  Silvia Kikuchi

Lunar eclipse 2011

A total lunar eclipse can be observed starting at around 7:33 p.m. (Philippine Standard Time) today, December 10, 2011, until 1:30 a.m. on the following day, according to the Philippine Astronomic, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

PAGASA said the lunar eclipse will also be visible from North America except the eastern part, the Hawaiian Island, Oceania, Australasia, Asia, eastern Africa, and eastern europe.

The Phases of the said eclipse will occur at the following time:

***Penumbral eclipse begins - 7:33 PM (PST)
***Partial eclipse begins - 8:45 PM (PST)
***Greatest eclipse - 10:31 PM (PST)
***Partial eclipse ends - 12:17 AM (PST)Dec. 11
***Penumbral eclipse ends - 1:30 AM (PST)Dec. 11

A total lunar eclipse takes places when the Earth passes between the sun and the moon, casting the moon in shadow. The last such eclipse happened in June 2011.

Cockroach that jumps similar to a grasshopper found

A cockroach that jumps has been discovered in South Africa recently. A group of scientists found out that the jumping mechanisms of the cockroach resemble to that of a grasshopper with whom it shares its natural shrubland habitat. The leaping cockroach also has similar anatomical features to the other insect.

Called "leaproach", the said cockroach (Saltoblattella montistabularis) jumps up to 48 times the length of its body. According to one of its discoverers, Mike Picker of the University of Cape Town, hopping and jumping constitute 71 percent of the cockroach's locomotion.

The zoologist added that the leaproach's jumps are made possible by rapid and synchronous extension of its hind legs that are twice the length of the other legs and make up 10 per cent of its body weight.

"The large hind legs have grooved femora into which the tibiae engage fully in advance of a jump, and have resilin, an elastic protein, at the femoro-tibial joint. The extensor tibiae muscles contracted for 224 ms before the hind legs moved, indicating that energy must be stored and then released suddenly in a catapult action to propel a jump." Picker said.

So far, the jumping cockroach has been found only in a small patch of grassland in Table Mountain National Park in Cape Town. Researchers think it may have turned to leaping as the easiest way to navigate a habitat of long grass stems. 

Here's a slow motion footage of a female Saltoblattella montistabularis jumping:


Video courtesy of Mike Picker, Jonathan F. Colville and Malcolm Burrows.

Cockroach that jumps up to 48x its body length found

A species of cockroach that jumps has been discovered in South Africa recently. While cockroaches usually exhibit a scuttling form of locomotion, the said cockroach leaps with the agility and strength of a grasshopper. Nicknamed "leaproach" by its discoverers, the cockroach (Saltoblattella montistabularis) can jump up to 48 times its body length.

In a Biology Letters article, Mike Picker of the University of Cape Town said hopping and jumping account for 71 percent of the locomotory activities of the cockroach in its natural shrubland habitat.

"Jumps are powered by rapid and synchronous extension of the hind legs that are twice the length of the other legs and make up 10 per cent of the body weight," he wrote.

"The large hind legs have grooved femora into which the tibiae engage fully in advance of a jump, and have resilin, an elastic protein, at the femoro-tibial joint. The extensor tibiae muscles contracted for 224 ms before the hind legs moved, indicating that energy must be stored and then released suddenly in a catapult action to propel a jump. Overall, the jumping mechanisms and anatomical features show remarkable convergence with those of grasshoppers with whom they share their habitat and which they rival in jumping performance." he added.

Check out below a video which shows a jump by a female Saltoblattella montistabularis captured at 2000 images s-1 and with an exposure time of 0.1 ms. The replay rate is set at 10 images s-1.



Video courtesy of courtesy of Malcolm Burrows & Mike Picker

Supermassive black hole dusts | NASA Photo

Supermassive black hole dusts may be the remains of cosmic collisions, according to a study.

An international team of astronomers led by Dr. Sergei Nayakshin theorized that these shrouds of fat doughnut-shaped dusts surrounding fifty percent of supermassive black holes could be the result of high speed crashes between planets and asteroids. The scientists propose that the central regions of galaxies contain not only black holes and stars but also planets and asteroids.

Dr. Nayakshin points out that this harsh environment - radiation and frequent collisions - would make the planets orbiting supermassive black holes sterile, even before they are destroyed.

"Too bad for life on these planets", he says, "but on the other hand the dust created in this way blocks much of the harmful radiation from reaching the rest of the host galaxy. This in turn may make it easier for life to prosper elsewhere in the rest of the central region of the galaxy."

He also believes that understanding the origin of the dust near black holes is important in our models of how these monsters grow and how exactly they affect their host galaxies.

"We suspect that the supermassive black hole in our own Galaxy, the Milky Way, expelled most of the gas that would otherwise turn into more stars and planets", he continues, "Understanding the origin of the dust in the inner regions of galaxies would take us one step closer to solving the mystery of the supermassive black holes".

A Press Release from the Royal Astronomical Society

Meteor Shower | Photo: NASA

Night sky in the Philippines tomorrow will be more than the usual as a celestial event will be observed at its peak almost immediately after the sun falls down. The so-called Draconids meteor shower which will produce about 40 meteors an hour can be witnessed at 5:41 p.m to 10 p.m tomorrow, October 8, 2011, as well as on the following night.

If the weather will be good, reports say that there would be no need for sophisticated telescopes since the meteors falling from the sky will be visible to the naked eye. However, there are also reports that the nearly full moon may outshine the meteor shower display.

Primarily a periodic shower, the Draconids meteor shower produced spectacular and brief meteor storms twice in the last century, in 1933 and 1946, and lower rates in several other years. It took its name from constellation Draco the Dragon in the northern sky.

HIV vaccine administered on 13 out of 24 rhesus macaques has successfully protected the primates from the monkey equivalent of the virus. The breakthrough may pave way to a new approach to an HIV vaccine for humans, according to a study.

In an experiment, 24 healthy rhesus macaques monkeys were given a vaccine containing a genetically modified form of the virus, rhesus cytomegalovirus (CMV).

Thirteen monkeys appeared to have been protected against simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), the monkey equivalent of HIV. The vaccine also offered protection to 12 of the 13 macaques for another year.

The study says the vaccine works by stimulating the production of "effector memory T-cells", the type of blood cell which can remain vigilant in the body long after an infection has abated.

According to BBC News, other researchers welcomed the study, but said "safety issues would need to be addressed before similar approaches could be tried in humans."