The makers of Tequin (gatifloxacin), an antibiotic approved for sale in 1999 and prescribed to treat chronic bronchitis, sinusitis, pneumonia and urinary tract infections, have confirmed that it will stop making and selling the drug. Tequin has faced serious questions about its effects on blood sugar. Subsequently, the Food and Drug Administration required increased warnings on the drug's label in February, stating it should not be used by diabetics, and may cause complications in the elderly and those with kidney disease.

A survey in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine estimates that 39,000 teens in the U.S. have type 2 diabetes, and an estimated 2.5 million more have pre-diabetes or blood sugar levels higher than normal. Pre-diabetes often develops into full-blown diabetes without proper diagnosis and treatment. As a result, experts say doctors may need to screen kids for diabetes and heart disease risk factors the same way they screen adults who are at high risk.

Results of a new study suggest that it may be possible to vaccinate people who have been exposed to anthrax spores by giving them a short, two-week course of antibiotics to extra protection for the immune system. The theory is based on research published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that found a combination of anthrax vaccine and antibiotics completely protected monkeys who inhaled spores of the often-deadly bacteria.

The makers of a diabetes drug called rosiglitazone, known commercially as Avandia, plan to conduct further clinical trials to test a provocative new theory that suggests one of the causes of Alzheimer's may be rooted in diabetes. Researchers hope the new trial will support an earlier experiment that found the drug helped Alzheimer's patients who lacked a gene that spurred a more aggressive Alzheimer's, and other evidence that indicated the diabetes pathway is important.

Dr. Julian Bailes, a neurosurgeon at the West Virginia University School of Medicine, says that omega-3 fatty acids played a major role in healing the brain of coal miner Randal McCloy Jr., the sole survivor of the Jan. 2nd Sago Mine disaster. Based on recommendations from Barry Sears, of Zone Diet fame, Dr. Bailes administered extraordinarily high doses of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosapexaenoic acid (DHA), the 2 most important omega-3 fatty acids --each dose totaling 18 grams. After being in a coma for weeks and in rehab for months, McCloy is stiff and thin, but walking on his own, and exercising his right arm.