Today's Reuters Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News: | | Novartis's smokers' cough treatment gets European nod Sun,30 Sep 2012 10:31 PM PDT Reuters - ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Novartis said on Monday the European Commission had approved its Seebri Breezhaler as a once-daily treatment for adult patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, more commonly known as smoker's cough, in the European Union. Trials showed that the treatment significantly improved lung function over the first four hours after morning dosing when compared to placebo, and that this benefit was sustained for 24 hours over a 52-week period, Novartis said. ... Full Story | Top | Background TV a threat to U.S. kids, researchers say Sun,30 Sep 2012 09:20 PM PDT Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - That clamor in the background? It's probably the TV, and it might be taking a toll on your toddler's development, researchers say. According to the first national estimate of background television exposure, children in the U.S. spend nearly as much time around a switched-on television as they do in school. Between the age of eight months and eight years, kids spend an average of 232 minutes a day with the TV droning on in the background, researchers found. ... Full Story | Top | Injuries due to child abuse on the rise Sun,30 Sep 2012 09:17 PM PDT Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - More kids were hospitalized for serious injuries resulting from abuse in 2009 than in 1997, according to a new study - despite previous research suggesting fewer kids are maltreated now than in the past. Researchers found the increase in serious injuries was due to more babies under a year old being hospitalized. The number of abused, injured kids and teenagers held relatively steady. The findings are based on a survey of records from 2,500 or more U.S. hospitals conducted every three years. "We're looking at the most seriously injured kids," said lead author Dr. ... Full Story | Top | California bans gay "conversion" therapy for minors Sun,30 Sep 2012 01:36 PM PDT Reuters - SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - Governor Jerry Brown has signed a bill banning a controversial therapy that aims to reverse homosexuality in minors, his office announced on Sunday, making California the first state to ban a practice many say is psychologically damaging. The move marked a major victory for gay rights advocates who say so-called conversion therapy, also called reparative therapy, has no medical basis because homosexuality is not a disorder. ... Full Story | Top | As Obama and Romney prep for debates, VP candidates seek votes Sat,29 Sep 2012 04:12 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden and Republican rival Paul Ryan sought votes in political battleground states on Saturday while their running mates took a day off the campaign trail ahead of a potentially make-or-break debate next week. President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney face off on Wednesday in Denver, Colorado, for the first of three televised debates that could be crucial for the trajectory of the November 6 election. Obama, who holds a small lead in national and many statewide polls, spent the day at the White House with no public events. ... Full Story | Top | Montana governor sees big savings with new state health clinic Sat,29 Sep 2012 01:40 PM PDT Reuters - HELENA, Montana (Reuters) - Montana, looking to cut down on state healthcare costs, has opened the nation's first government-run clinic for state employees in a program the Rocky Mountain state's governor says could ultimately cover a much broader range of people. Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer says the primary care clinic in the state capital Helena will keep the area's 11,000 state workers and their dependents healthier while saving the state $20 million over five years. ... Full Story | Top | WHO says only severely ill should be tested for new virus Sat,29 Sep 2012 12:06 PM PDT Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Doctors should only test people for a new virus if they are very ill in hospital with a respiratory infection, have been in Qatar or Saudi Arabia and test negative for common forms of pneumonia and infections, the World Health Organisation said on Saturday. The newly discovered virus from the same family as SARS has so far been confirmed in only two cases worldwide, one in a 60-year-old Saudi man who died from his infections, and another in a man from Qatar who is critically ill in a London hospital. ... Full Story | Top | Crucial vote nears in Boeing contract talks Sat,29 Sep 2012 09:17 AM PDT Reuters - SEATTLE (Reuters) - One of Boeing's chief labor unions staged rallies in and around Seattle this week, calling attention to a vote set for Monday that will show whether workers are willing to accept a less generous contract offered by Boeing Co or move closer to a strike. Hundreds of engineers and technicians marched at the company's two plants, its downtown Seattle office and other facilities with signs saying "Boeing: Hands Off My Healthcare" and "We Delivered. ... Full Story | Top | Exclusive: North Korea plans agriculture reforms - source Sat,29 Sep 2012 03:47 AM PDT Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea plans to allow farmers to keep more of their produce in an attempt to boost agricultural output, a source with close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing said, in a move that could boost supplies, help cap rising food prices and ease malnutrition. The move to liberalize agriculture under new leader Kim Jong-un, who took office in December 2011 after the death of his father, would reverse a crackdown on private production that started in 2005. It comes amid talk that the youngest Kim to rule the impoverished North is considering reforms to boost the economy. ... Full Story | Top | Ariad lung cancer drug shrinks tumors in small trial Sat,29 Sep 2012 02:24 AM PDT Reuters - (Reuters) - A small early-stage trial of Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc's experimental pill AP26113 showed it shrank tumors in eight out of 11 lung cancer patients with a genetic mutation in a gene known as ALK. The drug, called '113 for short, is being tested in patients with non-small cell lung cancer who test positive for the abnormal ALK gene, as well as those with a specific mutation in a gene known as EGFR. Thirty-four patients have been enrolled in the Phase 1/2 trial, which is designed to determine the ideal dosage for later-stage trials. ... Full Story | Top | Ann Romney: biggest fear is for Mitt's "mental well-being" Fri,28 Sep 2012 05:08 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ann Romney told a Nevada television station her biggest concern if her husband, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, becomes president was his "mental well-being." In an interview Thursday with television station KTVN, Mrs. Romney was asked what her biggest worry was should Mitt Romney be elected to serve in the White House. "I think my biggest concern obviously would just be for his mental well-being," she said. "I have all the confidence in the world in his ability, in his decisiveness, in his leadership skills, in his understanding of the economy. ... ... Full Story | Top | Study finds birth defects down among IVF babies Fri,28 Sep 2012 03:36 PM PDT Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Though assisted-reproduction techniques (ART) are known to come with a higher risk for birth defects, a new review of defect rates in Western Australia shows major birth defects becoming less common over the course of a decade among babies born through ART. It's unclear why there have been fewer birth defects in more recent years. ... Full Story | Top | FDA approves Boston Scientific's unique heart device Fri,28 Sep 2012 02:26 PM PDT Reuters - (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators approved Boston Scientific Corp's first-of-its-kind heart defibrillator that does not require leads to be inserted into the heart. Defibrillators help control heart rhythm by applying an electric shock to the heart when it beats abnormally fast, reducing the risk of cardiac arrest. Traditional defibrillators require electrical conductor wires or leads to be inserted into the heart through a vein in the upper chest. ... Full Story | Top | Cardiac arrests at school usually not in students Fri,28 Sep 2012 01:53 PM PDT Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Student athletes collapsing from cardiac arrest in the middle of a game may grab headlines, but when someone's heart gives up at a school, it's usually not a youngster's. In a new five-year study, researchers from Michigan found that only two out of 47 cardiac arrests at K-12 schools occurred during sports events. In fact, as many as a third of cases happened after 5 pm and mostly in adults. "Schools are community-gathering places, and two-thirds of our cases were adults," said Dr. ... Full Story | Top | Aetna expands coverage of Dendreon drug; stock jumps Fri,28 Sep 2012 12:49 PM PDT Reuters - (Reuters) - Health insurer Aetna Inc said on Friday it will pay for a greater number of patients to receive Provenge, the prostate cancer drug made by Dendreon Corp, sending Dendreon's shares up as much as 10 percent. Aetna will now provide coverage for patients with metastatic prostate cancer who have failed to respond to hormone therapy and whose disease has spread to the lungs or the brain. Previously, patients whose cancer spread to the brain or lungs were not covered. Patients whose disease has spread to the liver still are not covered. ... Full Story | Top |
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