Health Highlights: March 12, 2015

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

New Type of Artificial Heart Could Offer Permanent Replacement For Failing Hearts

A new type of artificial heart that propels blood through the body instead of pumping it could offer the first permanent mechanical replacement for people with failing hearts, according to the researchers working on the device.

Because of the heavy workload, an artificial heart that uses many moving parts to pump blood would quickly wear out, Dr. William Cohn, chief medical officer of BiVACOR, told ABC News.

But there is only one moving part in the bionic heart being developed by BiVACOR, which is headquartered at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston.

“The device has performed in many respects better than any artificial heart anybody has come up with in the last 50 years,” Cohn told ABC News.

He and his colleagues consider it the “first legitimate shot on goal for a permanent mechanical replacement for the failing human heart,” he added.

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Most Listeria Outbreak Wrongful-Death Lawsuits Settled

Most of the wrongful-death lawsuits arising from a deadly listeria outbreak in 2011 have been settled. The outbreak that killed 33 people and sickened more than 140 others was traced to a cantaloupe farm in Colorado.

On Wednesday, a Denver District Court judge approved settlements for relatives of 30 of the people who died. The families sued companies that handled or sold the melons, the Associated Press reported.

In addition, lawsuits by 20 people who became ill in the outbreak were settled.

Details of the proposed settlements are confidential, said plaintiffs’ attorney Bill Marler, who noted that medical expenses from those cases were more than $12 million, the AP reported.

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Powdered Alcohol Approved by U.S. Regulators

U.S. regulators have approved a controversial powdered alcohol product called Palcohol, which is meant to mixed into drinks.

Four varieties of Palcohol were approved by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, said agency spokesman Tom Hogue, but he added that states have the power to regulate alcohol sales, CBS News/Associated Press reported.

Several states have already taken action to ban powdered alcohol over concerns about abuse by minors and that it would make it easy to sneak alcohol into public events.

Palcohol is small packet of freeze-dried alcohol that comes in different flavors and can be mixed with water to create an alcoholic drink, CBS/AP reported.

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