Coins DIG

The dead fish smell of a popular diabetes drug may cause some people to discontinue its use.

Metformin, an oral drug commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes, generally has few serious side effects, but gastrointestinal upset and nausea are common. Although these effects have been well documented in studies, researchers say one unique characteristic of the pills may have been overlooked as a potential cause of the nausea: their strong fishy odor.

Researchers say adverse reactions to the smell of metformin (sold generically and under the brand name Glucophage), have not been documented in medical literature, but hundreds of postings to message boards on the Internet note the strong fishy smell of the drug.

The debate over making cervical cancer vaccines available to young women is coming to the state Legislature today.

A group of anti-vaccine activists plans to attend this morning's Senate Codes Committee hearing to protest a bill that would let health care professionals give the vaccine to women younger than 18 without parental consent.

The measure, sponsored in the Senate by Liz Krueger and in the Assembly by Amy Paulin -- both Democrats -- aims to protect women against preventable cervical cancer. The legislation also notes that Planned Parenthood clinics have been seeing teenagers coming in and requesting the vaccine.

Krueger said such vaccines have a proven track record. "It has a direct correlation to preventing cancer," she said, adding the legislation wouldn't make such vaccines mandatory.

The virus first struck last spring and returned in the fall. "We still don't know whether there will be a third wave," said health department spokesman John Ricci.

Nintendo Co. said year-end holiday sales were "robust," suggesting that its Wii game console had regained its footing after a slowdown in demand, though a strong yen and price cuts continued to push down the company's profits.

Nintendo said group net income was 192.60 billion yen ($2.14 billion) for the nine months ended Dec. 31, down 9% from a profit of 212.52 billion yen for April-December of the previous year. Revenue fell 23% to 1.182 trillion yen, while operating profit fell 41% to 296.66 billion yen.

The research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, questions the wisdom of raising co-payments to save money, at least among the elderly.

That might be a way to cut health care costs among younger people, but not for people age 65 and older, Dr. Amal Trivedi of Brown University, who led the study, said in a telephone interview.

"It's a lose-lose proposition for most health plans," Trivedi said.

"Toilet seat dermatitis is one of those legendary conditions... seen in underdeveloped countries, but one that younger paediatricians have not come across in their daily practice," says Bernard Cohen, director of paediatric dermatology at Hopkins Children's.

Analysing cases from the US and India, Cohen and colleagues attributed it to harsh cleaning chemicals and exotic wooden toilet seats, making a comeback as bathroom decor -- especially seats covered with varnishes and paints.

The report does not go as far as to claim what other U.S. carriers could offer the iPhone. But a source allegedly told the Web site that AT&T is "tired of taking the heat" for poor reception from iPhone users. In short, the report claims, AT&T officials believe the iPhone is hurting the company's image, and they are no longer interested in having exclusive access to Apple's handset.

"Inside of AT&T, we are hearing that the iPhone is causing more trouble than ever before," the report said. "On some level, having the iPhone is hurting AT&T's image. Because they are the only company to carry it, and it's such a data hog, it's largely to blame for AT&T's network troubles. We don't remember hearing about AT&T's 'horrible network' before the iPhone--do you?"

The cervical cancer vaccine will reduce rates of the disease in women under 30 by two thirds within 15 years, experts have predicted.

Based on current uptake rates of the cervical cancer vaccine, cases of the disease will be cut by around 63 per cent by 2025.

With the Mobile World Congress fast approaching, the rumor mills have started to work overtime with some of them sounding outright preposterous and contradictory to earlier reports. This particular rumor we are about to talk of is one such thing.