Health Highlights: Aug. 29, 2008

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Feds Can Bar Mad Cow Tests: Court

The U.S. government has the authority to bar meat companies from testing their animals for mad cow disease, a federal appeals court has ruled.

The Department of Agriculture''s failure to test more than a fraction of cows for the brain-wasting disease prompted one meat company to announce that it would test all of its bovines, the Associated Press reported.

But the government turned thumbs down on that request, from Kansas meat producer Creekstone Farms. Bigger meat packers feared the move would force them to employ the costly test on all of their cows, as well, the wire service said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, in overturning a lower court ruling, upheld the government''s right to prevent Creekstone from testing its cows, the AP said.

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Diabetes Drugs May Cause Heart Failure: Study

A number of related drugs for type 2 diabetics may boost their risk of heart failure, a Wake Forest University School of Medicine study finds.

Thiazolidinediones, which regulate users'' blood sugar, appear to double the risk of congestive heart failure among people with type 2 diabetes, study authors Dr. Sonal Singh and Dr. Curt Furberg said in editorial published in the journal Heart.

Drugs in this class include rosiglitazone (Avandia) and pioglitazone (Actos), reports United Press International.

Almost one-quarter of diabetics also have some form of heart disease, the wire service said. More than half of elderly diabetics will develop congestive heart failure, the study authors wrote.

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Bassinet Warning Issued After 2 Infant Deaths

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has ordered retailers to stop selling bassinets that have been linked to two infant deaths, the Washington Post reported Friday. The "close-sleeper/bedside sleeper" bassinets were made by Simplicity Inc. of Reading, Penn. The agency''s safety alert was prompted by the death of a 6-month-old Kansas girl, who died from strangulation Aug. 21 after getting caught in the product''s metal bars, the newspaper said. In September 2007, a 4-month-old Missouri infant became entrapped in the metal bars and died, the CPSC said.