■ UNITED STATES
Spices help ease the pain
The compound that makes chili peppers spicy can ease the pain that follows groin surgery, Danish researchers reported on Saturday. They said purified capsaicin reduced pain for at least three days following groin hernia surgery without causing any significant side effects. Eske Aasvang and colleagues at the Juliana Marie Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, tested 41 men getting hernia operations. Half got injections of ultra-purified capsaicin, which is odorless and tasteless. The rest got placebos. All of the men also got the painkillers ibuprofen and acetaminophen, the researchers told a meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists in San Francisco.
■ UNITED STATES
Doctors' offices raided
State investigators on Friday raided the homes and offices of two doctors who treated or prescribed drugs for Playboy model-turned-billionaire's widow Anna Nicole Smith before her sudden death in February. California Attorney General Jerry Brown told a news conference no arrests had been made as yet in the criminal investigation his office began on March 30. He declined to identify the doctors under scrutiny. But the state medical board said earlier this year it was investigating at least two physicians in connection with Smith's death.
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