Current Events

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced late Monday that it will open a preliminary investigation into 408,000 2014–2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs, after receiving several complaints about the vehicles rolling away after being shifted into park.

The Detroit News reports that NHTSA has received 14 complaints describing incidents where a Grand Cherokee has rolled away when the gearshift indicated Park. NHTSA’s Preliminary Evaluation paperwork indicates that five crashes and three injuries have been associated with the complaints. Rollaway incidents have occurred both with the engine running and turned off.

U.S. auto-safety regulators are investigating Honda Motor Co.’s 2008 model Accord after receiving 19 reports that air-bag control modules had failed.

As many as 384,000 vehicles might be affected by a malfunction that could stop air bags from deploying in a crash, according to an National Highway Traffic Safety Administration filing, which states that the investigation opened on Aug. 18. One of the reports involved a crash in which the air bags didn’t inflate and the driver was injured, the document states.

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Many of us have had a brush with food poisoning. The rumble in your stomach after eating that questionable leftover pad Thai is unmistakable and can leave you helplessly on your couch for days.

Foodborne illnesses in the US are extremely common.

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(HealthDay News) -- Testosterone supplements have long been marketed to aging men as a fountain of youth and virility, but there is still no proof they are safe or effective, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Writing in the Aug. 20 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, FDA officials said that only controlled clinical trials can show whether men benefit from treatment to reverse age-related dips in testosterone.

The agency is now requiring product manufacturers to conduct those trials.

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A Pasadena hospital is investigating a suspected outbreak related to the same type of medical scope tied to superbug infections across the country.

Huntington Memorial Hospital said Wednesday it had alerted health authorities about a potential link between patients who have a pseudomonas bacteria and the Olympus Corp. duodenoscopes used to treat them.

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The Food and Drug Administration has sent warning letters to manufacturers of a specialized medical scope that has been associated with outbreaks of a deadly “superbug” virus, saying the companies failed to adequately report problems with the devices and, in some instances, failed to ensure that they could be cleaned properly between uses.

The warnings come after the devices, known as duodenoscopes, have been linked in recent years to outbreaks of tough-to-fight bacterial infections involving carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE.

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Britax Child Safety Inc. said Friday it will recall 213,000 child safety seats with buttons that could fail and allow the shoulder harness to loosen.

The recall covers some Advocate ClickTight, Boulevard ClickTight and Maraton ClickTight child seats. The seats were built between August 2014 and July 29. Owners will receive a remedy kit that includes a lubricant to apply to the harness adjuster button. The recall will begin Aug. 17.

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General Motors Co. said Thursday it is recalling 73,000 2010 Chevrolet Cobalt sedans because some may have been built with improperly routed side impact wiring that could prevent an air bag from deploying in a crash.

The Detroit automaker said it has a report of one injury and crash related to the issue.

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Doctors have told patients for decades to eat less saturated fat – the predominant kind in red meat, butter and cheese -- as a way to prevent heart disease.

The truth may be more complicated.

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(Reuters Health) - Many high-risk therapeutic devices get Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval with only one study proving their safety and efficacy before going to market.

Studies of how the devices work once they are on the market are also few and far between, according to a new study that looked at all 28 high-risk devices approved in 2010 and 2011 by the FDA Premarket Approval pathway.

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Cybersecurity researchers have warned that hackers can hijack cars and even rifles. Now, federal regulators are warning that a pump used to deliver medicine to patients is at risk of being breached.

While computers can make medical devices more accurate, they are also vulnerable to the same sort of coding bugs that end up in other software. A nefarious hacker who makes his way into a pacemaker or insulin pump could potentially do a lot more damage than one who makes it into your laptop or smartphone.

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