Single guys, rejoice ! A new 30-year study from Michigan State University released Aug. 11 suggests that never-married men are quickly becoming as healthy as their married counterparts.
However, marriage is still meaningful, the authors said, as widowers reported themselves to be in poorer health than husbands. The gap widened every year.
MSU author Hui Liu, assistant professor of sociology, said the study shows that policy promoting marriage for health may be outdated, as other forms of longterm commitment become more common.
Liu studied more than 1 million surveys taken by people 25 to 80 years old between 1972 and 2003. Each year, more never-married men described themselves as healthy, a number starting to catch up with married men.
For widowers, the gap between their health and the health of married men widened over 30 years.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved a single-dose antibiotic from Pfizer Inc. for cats and dogs, shortening treatment from two weeks to one day.
Convenia, an antibiotic injection administered at a veterinarian’s office, treats common skin infections in companion animals.
The drug was developed in Kalamazoo, Mich., and will be produced in a new $ 35-million facility in Portage, Mich.
Clinical trials showed that Convenia was as effective as a 14-day course of its oral equivalent. The cost and dosage of the injection varies depending on the weight of the pet and the extent of the infection.
Although approved only in June for use in the U. S., more than 4 million doses of Convenia have been administered in Europe. Pharmaceuticals geared toward pets have been profitable for Pfizer. Last year, the company’s total revenue for animal health was $ 2. 6 billion, a 13 percent increase from 2006.
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