Current Events

Toyota has recalled more than 300,000 new Prius vehicles.

The company has announced that the 2016 and 2017 models of the popular hybrid vehicle were being recalled because the parking brake could stop working, CNN Money reported. 

If the driver steps out of the car with the transmission in a gear other than park and the ignition on, the car could roll away, according to a Toyota news release.

Owners of the affected cars will be notified by mail starting in November.

Dealers will add clips to the brake cable at no cost to drivers.
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WASHINGTON — A device used during open-heart surgery that infected at least 12 patients at a Pennsylvania hospital last year was probably tainted at the plant in Germany where it was made, a federal investigation has found.

The device, called a heater-cooler machine, uses water to regulate the temperature of patients having heart surgery. The water does not come into contact with the patient, but bacteria can be transmitted through the air from the device’s exhaust vent.

That seems to be what happened to 12 heart patients at a hospital in York last year. The heater-cooler machine was contaminated with Mycobacterium chimaera, bacteria that can be found in soil and water.
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The 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango have been recalled again -- this time, to repair a software glitch that could disable the vehicles' Electronic Stability Control system and potentially cause an accident.

ALSO SEE: Today's Infotainment Systems Are Terrible (Especially On American Cars)

This is the sixth recall for the 2014 Durango and the eighth for the Grand Cherokee. Previous problems have included an electrical short that could disable the vehicles' airbags, a software issue that could cause the vehicles to keep accelerating when cruise control is activated, and corrosion that could interfere with the models' brakes. 

The current iterations of the Grand Cherokee and Durango were launched during the 2011 model year, so although they're not fully new, both were "refreshed" for 2014. Sometimes, even a light touch-up can lead to big problems, which in turn can lead to an unusually high number of recalls, but even so, this may be pushing the boundaries of what's acceptable.
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Calcium supplements that many women take to boost bone health increase their risk for heart disease, a new study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and other institutions has found.

The results show calcium supplements make people more prone to plaque buildup in arteries, which contributes to the risk of a heart attack.
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St. Jude Medical Inc. is warning patients that the batteries on thousands of its implantable defibrillators can quickly and unexpectedly deplete, in rare cases leaving them vulnerable should they need a shock from the device to restart their faltering hearts.

The premature battery depletion has been seen in fewer than 1 percent of the devices, the company said in letters sent to doctors and patients on Tuesday. Two people died after their devices failed to work correctly because of the drained battery, while 47 others reported dizziness or fainting.
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Samsung Electronics is permanently stopping production of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, dealing a huge blow to the South Korean electronics giant and potentially shaking up the competitive smartphone market.

Samsung released a statement Tuesday confirming it will no longer make the device after several reports that original and replacement models of the smartphone caught fire or exploded.
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Older people may too often be diagnosed with an underactive thyroid and prescribed thyroid hormones, which can cause new troubles and expenses without improving their lives, researchers say.

A recent case study provides a snapshot of the larger problem, the authors write in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Just 1 percent to 2 percent of people have hypothyroidism, in which their thyroid gland is underactive and requires treatment, coauthor Dr. Juan P. Brito of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, told Reuters Health.
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The novel oral anticoagulant (NOAC) field is hotly contested, and drugmakers are turning to real-world data to gain their meds an advantage. Now, Boehringer Ingelheim may have one such advantage for its Pradaxa (dabigatran) over market leader Xarelto (rivaroxaban), thanks to a new observational study.

Patients on Xarelto--marketed by Johnson & Johnson and Bayer--may be more likely to experience serious bleeding events than patients taking Pradaxa, according to a study published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Researchers sifted records on 118,000 Medicare patients with atrial fibrillation who started on one of the two meds.  When compared with Pradaxa therapy, Xarelto treatment was associated with significant increases in intracerebral hemorrhage and major extracranial bleeding, too--including major GI bleeding, they found.
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Common blood pressure medications may increase the risk for severe mood disorder episodes, a new study suggests.

People taking drugs known as beta-blockers and calcium antagonists for more than 90 days were twice as likely to be hospitalized for a mood disorder such as major depression or bipolar disease, compared to people treating their high blood pressure with so-called angiotensin antagonists, researchers report. 

Commonly prescribed beta-blockers include propranolol, metoprolol, and atenolol, for example. Calcium channels blockers include amlodipine, nifedipine, verapamil, and diltiazem, while losartan, valsartan, telmisartan, and candesartan are all angiotensin blockers.

Still, people on these medications shouldn't change their prescription or do anything differently, said senior author Dr.
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Long Island Rail Road crews have restored train service to one of two Main Line tracks damaged after a Saturday night train derailment in New Hyde Park that injured 33, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said early Monday, allowing for limited rush-hour service for commuters.

Limited train service will resume in time for the Monday morning commute on the LIRR’s Port Jefferson, Ronkonkoma and Oyster Bay branches, Cuomo said in a statement.

Limited train service will resume in time for the Monday morning commute on the LIRR’s Port Jefferson, Ronkonkoma and Oyster Bay branches, Cuomo said in a statement.
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  New Jersey Transit must install inward facing cameras in cabs as a first step to improve safety conditions, Sen. Schumer said Sunday.

The push for the boosted camera coverage comes after a NJ Transit Pascack Valley Line train crashed into Hoboken terminal killing a 34-year-old mother and injuring 114 commuters on Sept. 29.

The cameras can spot train engineers texting, goofing around or falling asleep.
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