HEALTH

BAGSVÆRD, Denmark — Drug maker Novo Nordisk is creating what it calls the world's first all-diabetes professional cycling team, the company said.

The Danish pharmaceutical manufacturer announced plans to create Team Novo Nordisk, a global team with more than 100 cyclists, triathletes and runners, all of whom have diabetes.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Even though many baby care products are manufactured "BPA-free," researchers from the University of Michigan School of Public Health found that bisphenol A, a chemical used in many consumer products, including plastic bottles and metal food and beverage cans, is common in fetal liver tissue, demonstrating that there is considerable exposure to the chemical during pregnancy.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Misfit Wearables is teeing up a revolutionary activity tracking device — the Misfit Shine — that's constructed from aircraft-grade aluminum, is waterproof and is able to wirelessly sync activity data to a smartphone without the need for a Bluetooth connection. 

AKRON, Ohio — Among children who took part in a recent study on the use of hand sanitizer in an environment with limited access to clean water, diarrhea cases were reduced by 30% and respiratory illnesses by more than 11%, GOJO Industries noted in a release issued Tuesday. 

The University of Columbia study was reported in the June 2012 issue of Pan American Journal of Public Health. As part of the study, researchers monitored children's use of alcohol hand sanitizer in conjunction with education to help to reduce life-threatening infections.

CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday joined representatives from Walgreens to celebrate the grand opening of a new Walgreens flagship store in the Bucktown-Wicker Park neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon, taking the opportunity to remind Chicagoans about the importance of getting a flu shot this season.

CHICAGO — Bausch + Lomb recently introduced a new consumer-preferred cap design across its Renu multi-purpose contact lens solution brand. 

The design and overseal snap provides for an added ease of use, the company stated.  

The Renu brand in July celebrated 25 years on the shelf. First introduced in 1987, the brand helped revolutionize the contact lens solution category as a daily, single-bottle contact lens care regimen.

ATLANTA — The influenza season is officially underway as flu incidence is already above the national threshold, Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters during a teleconference Monday. "This is the earliest regular flu season we've had in nearly a decade, since the 2003-2004 flu season," he said. "That was an early and severe flu year, and while flu is always unpredictable, the early nature of the cases as well as the specific strains we're seeing suggest that this could be a bad flu year."

ST. LOUIS – Westport Pharmaceuticals on Tuesday launched Zephrex-D, a tamper-resistant pseudoephedrine-based decongestant that now is available in retail stores throughout the St. Louis region and the state of Missouri.