Health Highlights: March 26, 2014

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

Walmart Recalls Dolls Due to Burn Risk

Walmart is recalling 174,000 dolls that pose a burn risk due to an electrical defect.

The circuit board in the chest of the My Sweet Love / My Sweet Baby Cuddle Care Baby Dolls can overheat and cause the surface of the doll to become extremely hot. There have been 12 reported incidents, including two involving burns or blisters to the thumb, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said.

The dolls were sold for $20 at Walmart stores nationwide from August 2012 through March 2014. Consumers with these dolls should take them away from children, remove the batteries and return the doll to any Walmart store for a full refund.

For more information call Walmart at 1-800-925-6278 or go to the company's website.

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Nitroglycerin Shortage Has Medical Community Worried

An ongoing shortage of the drug nitroglycerin is causing problems and concerns for doctors and hospitals in the United States.

The drug is often the first therapy used by emergency room doctors when treating a heart attack patient.

"It's one of those drugs that in certain circumstances, there really is no substitute for," Dr. Frederick Blum, an emergency doctor who treats patients at Ruby Memorial Hospital in West Virginia, told The New York Times.

He said that nitroglycerin supplies are so low that "if we had one or two patients that were really sick that needed extended drips, it could exhaust our supply pretty quickly."

Hospitals and doctors became concerned they might run out of the drug when Baxter International, the only U.S. manufacturer of injectable nitroglycerin, recently said it was slashing shipments of the drug, The Times reported.

This week, Baxter and the Food and Drug Administration said they were taking action to ease the shortage of nitroglycerin.

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Settlement in Four Loko Lawsuit

The maker of the alcoholic beverage Four Loko has reached a settlement in a lawsuit launched by 20 state attorneys general and the city attorney of San Francisco.

Phusion Projects, LLC was accused of marketing Four Loko to underage drinkers and promoting binge drinking. The company denies the allegations, but agreed to make changes to their marketing efforts, the Boston Globe reported.

Those changes include no longer promoting binge drinking, no longer using models younger than age 25 who appear younger than age 21, and no longer advertising the drink on college campuses, except in retail locations.

Phusion will also pay $400,000 to cover the states' investigation costs, the Globe reported.

The settlement was reached with the attorney generals of New York, Arizona, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Washington, and the city attorney of San Francisco.

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