Today's Reuters Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
|
|
Medicare's political importance goes beyond seniors
Thu,30 Aug 2012 10:09 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Medicare debate promises to be front and center in this fall's presidential campaign, as not just seniors but aging baby boomers focus on retiree healthcare. Recent polling data shows that the issue resonates with boomers in key swing states. In Wisconsin, about 80 percent of respondents aged 50 to 64 ranked Medicare as "important" or "very important" in a Quinnipiac University/CBS/New York Times survey taken August 15-21, versus 91 percent for those 65 and older. Florida and Ohio produced comparable results in the same survey. ... Full Story | Top |
Two more Yosemite visitors stricken with deadly virus
Thu,30 Aug 2012 09:20 PM PDT
Reuters - SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Two more visitors to Yosemite National Park have been diagnosed with a deadly rodent-borne virus, raising the total number of people infected in the unusual outbreak to six, California public health officials said Thursday. Two men died from the rare lung disease called hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, and four other people survived the rodent-borne illness. Most of the victims are believed to have contracted the virus while staying in tent-style cabins this summer in a popular camping area called Curry Village. ... Full Story | Top |
Romney tells voters to move on from Obama disappointment
Thu,30 Aug 2012 04:19 PM PDT
Reuters -  TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - Republican Mitt Romney will urge Americans in a major speech on Thursday to leave behind their disappointment in President Barack Obama and join him to rebuild the U.S. economy and generate millions of jobs. Taking center stage with an address to the Republican convention in Tampa, Florida, Romney will vow to be a champion for small business and to restore a sense of innovation in America. "What is needed in our country today is not complicated or profound. It doesn't take a special government commission to tell us what America needs. What America needs is jobs. ...
Full Story | Top |
FDA warns against use of Pfizer's Revatio in children
Thu,30 Aug 2012 03:42 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators recommended against use of Pfizer Inc's pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) drug Revatio in children up to 17 years of age, saying it had a higher risk of death when taken in a high dose. While the drug has never been approved for treatment of PAH in children, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's warning is against off-label use of the drug. ... Full Story | Top |
St Jude reorganizes to save $50-$60 million a year, cuts 300 jobs
Thu,30 Aug 2012 03:12 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - St. Jude Medical Inc, a maker of heart devices, has realigned its product divisions into new operating units: one for implantable electronic systems and another for cardiovascular and ablation technologies. The company, which said it has eliminated about 300 jobs, expects the changes to reduce pretax operating expenses by $50 million to $60 million annually beginning in 2013. Previously, St. Jude had four divisions: cardiac rhythm management, neuromodulation, atrial fibrillation and cardiovascular. ... Full Story | Top |
Tiny Singapore risks economic gloom without big baby boom
Thu,30 Aug 2012 02:02 PM PDT
Reuters -  SINGAPORE (Reuters) - History suggests Singapore will enjoy a welcome baby boom in this Year of the Dragon, the most auspicious for births in the Chinese zodiac. But after 25 years of state-sponsored matchmaking and fertility-boosting campaigns, the government's attempts to arrest a sliding birth rate are falling flat, with potentially profound consequences for the wealthy Asian city-state. The calls to conception are now urgent and constant to citizens whose fertility ranks last among 222 nations in the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook. ...
Full Story | Top |
Mercury, oils from fish at odds in heart health
Thu,30 Aug 2012 01:52 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Mercury and omega-3 fatty acids - both found in fish - appear to have opposite links to heart health, scientists have found. In an analysis of more than 1,600 men from Sweden and Finland, researchers found that men with high levels of mercury in the body had an increased risk of heart attacks, while those with a high concentration of omega-3s had a lower risk. Fish are considered part of a healthy diet, but the balance between potential risks and benefits from the two compounds is not clear. ... Full Story | Top |
Phone therapy helps some with marijuana dependence
Thu,30 Aug 2012 12:56 PM PDT
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Telephone therapy may help people dependent on marijuana kick the habit, a new study from Australia suggests. Researchers found that almost twice as many users significantly cut back on marijuana following four hour-long phone counseling sessions compared to those who were put on a treatment waiting list. Knowing therapy may work over the phone could help extend treatment to people in remote areas where in-person therapy is hard to come by, according to Peter Gates, from the University of New South Wales, and his colleagues. ...
Full Story | Top |
FDA approves Ironwood constipation drug
Thu,30 Aug 2012 12:55 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc's drug to treat chronic constipation and irritable bowel syndrome with constipation for use in adults. The drug, linaclotide, will be sold under the brand name Linzess and carry a boxed warning that it should not be used in patients 16 or younger, the agency said. An estimated 63 million people suffer from chronic constipation, according to the National Institutes of Health. Additionally, an estimated 15. ... Full Story | Top |
Midwives, nurses can safely perform abortions
Thu,30 Aug 2012 12:40 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Abortions are just as safe when performed by trained nurse practitioners, midwives and physician assistants as when doctors do them, a new review of the evidence suggests. Researchers analyzed five studies that compared first-trimester abortion complications and side effects based on who performed the procedures in close to 9,000 women - and typically found no differences. ... Full Story | Top |
Softer restaurant music, lighting can help cut calories: study
Thu,30 Aug 2012 12:23 PM PDT
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Just as music and lighting can influence what shoppers buy, toning down the tunes and dimming the lights in a fast food restaurant can help diners enjoy their meal more and eat less, according to a U.S. study. After transforming part of a fast food restaurant in Illinois with milder music and lighting, researchers found that customers ate 18 percent fewer calories than other people in the unmodified part of the restaurant. ...
Full Story | Top |
Cardiac arrest more common in young than thought
Thu,30 Aug 2012 12:10 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Cardiac arrest is relatively rare in young people, but it may be more common than experts have thought, according to a new study. Using 30 years of data from King County in Washington, researchers found that the rate of cardiac arrest among children and young adults was about 2.3 per 100,000 each year. That's not a big risk. But the figure is substantially higher than the "widely accepted" estimate for young athletes (not just young people in general), said senior researcher Dr. Jonathan Drezner. ... Full Story | Top |
Pig parasite may help treat autoimmune disorders
Thu,30 Aug 2012 10:40 AM PDT
Reuters -  BOSTON (Reuters) - If you had a chronic and potentially debilitating condition such as rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn's disease, and swallowing the eggs of a pig parasite could help, would you do it? The team at Coronado Biosciences Inc is betting you would. The Burlington, Massachusetts, company is developing what it hopes will be the first in a new class of treatments for autoimmune conditions. Each dose of the drug consists of thousands of microscopic parasite eggs, culled from pig feces, suspended in a tablespoon of saline solution to be swallowed. ...
Full Story | Top |
Factbox: Polonium: lethal, invisible poison
Thu,30 Aug 2012 09:48 AM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - A Swiss institute said on Thursday that it agreed to a request from the Palestinian Authority to help exhume the body of its former leader Yasser Arafat and determine whether he was poisoned, but time is running out. Here is a look at polonium-210 amid suspicions that the radioactive substance may have been used. * Polonium is a radioactive element that is present in the environment at extremely low concentrations. Polonium-210 is the most common and stable isotope, or variant. Polonium-210 is a metallic solid that can be dissolved in dilute acids. ... Full Story | Top |
Swiss experts ready to help Arafat probe, but time running out
Thu,30 Aug 2012 09:48 AM PDT
Reuters -  GENEVA (Reuters) - A Swiss institute has agreed to a request from the Palestinian Authority to exhume Yasser Arafat's body and determine whether he was poisoned, but time is running out for a credible scientific examination of his remains, it said on Thursday. The Palestinian leader died in a Paris military hospital in November 2004, a month after being flown, seriously ill, from his battered headquarters in Ramallah. Eight years is considered a limit to detect any traces of the deadly radioactive substance, the Institute of Radiation Physics in Lausanne said. ...
Full Story | Top |
| |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment