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| Chavez swearing-in can be delayed: Venezuelan VP Friday, Jan 04, 2013 06:40 PM PST  CARACAS (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez's formal swearing-in for a new six-year term scheduled for January 10 can be postponed if he is unable to attend due to his battle to recover from cancer surgery, Venezuela's vice president said on Friday. Nicolas Maduro's comments were the clearest indication yet that the Venezuelan government is preparing to delay the swearing-in while avoiding naming a replacement for Chavez or calling a new election in the South American OPEC nation. In power since 1999, the 58-year-old socialist leader has not been seen in public for more than three weeks. ... Full Story | Top |
| Julia Roberts to star in HBO film on early AIDS epidemic Friday, Jan 04, 2013 04:08 PM PST  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Julia Roberts will star as a paraplegic physician treating patients early in the AIDS epidemic in the stage-to-screen adaptation of the Tony Award-winning drama "The Normal Heart," U.S. cable television network HBO said on Friday. "The Normal Heart," set to air on HBO in 2014, tells the story of the dawning of the epidemic in 1980s New York. Oscar-winner Roberts plays Dr. Emma Brookner, who treats several early patients infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS. Co-star Mark Ruffalo plays Ned Weeks, an eyewitness to how the disease ravaged the city's gay community. ... Full Story | Top |
| Competition affects who gets a liver transplant Friday, Jan 04, 2013 02:02 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - More competition between medical centers that perform liver transplants may mean sicker patients get lower-quality donor organs, a new analysis suggests. When more than one center has patients on the same donor list, the centers have an incentive to get organs for as many of their own patients as possible, researchers explained. So doctors are more likely to take the first available organ when their patient is at the top of the transplant list - whether or not that pairing has the best chance to succeed - rather than risk the organ will go to another center. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canada meets key aboriginal demand amid blockades Friday, Jan 04, 2013 01:38 PM PST  OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's prime minister will meet with native leaders next week to discuss social and economic issues, an olive branch to an angry aboriginal movement that has blockaded rail lines and threatened to close Canada's borders with the United States. Stephen Harper made no mention of the aboriginal protests in a statement on Friday announcing the January 11 meeting. But the meeting is a key demand from native Chief Theresa Spence, who has been on a hunger strike for 25 days on an island within sight of the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa. ... Full Story | Top |
| New food safety rules aim for more accountability Friday, Jan 04, 2013 01:18 PM PST  (Reuters) - U.S. regulators proposed new food safety rules on Friday that aim to make food processors and farms more accountable for reducing foodborne illnesses that kill or sicken thousands of Americans annually. The new rules, required by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) that was signed into law two years ago, were announced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday. "These proposed regulations are a sign of progress," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, who has been a critic of the FDA. ... Full Story | Top |
| Private equity pours money into India primary healthcare Friday, Jan 04, 2013 01:14 PM PST  MUMBAI (Reuters) - Private equity funds quadrupled their investment in India's primary healthcare, betting the sick and ailing will stop seeing family doctors in often cramped and dingy quarters and check into modern chains sprouting up across Asia's No.3 economy. Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Warburg Pincus LLC, Sequoia Capital and the Government of Singapore Investment Corp are among investors that pumped $520 million into India's basic healthcare industry this year, compared with $137 million in 2011, according to Thomson Reuters data. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistani girl shot by Taliban leaves British hospital Friday, Jan 04, 2013 12:56 PM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - A Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls' education has been discharged from a British hospital after doctors said she was well enough to spend time recovering with her family. Fifteen-year-old Malala Yousufzai, who was shot by the Taliban in October and brought to Britain for treatment, was discharged on Thursday but is due to be re-admitted in late January or early February for reconstructive surgery to her skull, doctors said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Saturated fat tied to sinking sperm counts in Danes Friday, Jan 04, 2013 12:40 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Saturated fats, like those found in rich cheeses and meats, may do more than weigh men down after a meal - a new study also links them to dwindling sperm counts. Researchers found that young Danish men who ate the most saturated fats had a 38 percent lower concentration of sperm and 41 percent lower sperm counts in their semen than those who ate the least fat. ... Full Story | Top |
| Massachusetts governor seeks tighter rules on compounding pharmacies Friday, Jan 04, 2013 12:07 PM PST  BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick on Friday proposed new state rules to more closely regulate the type of pharmacy at the heart of a U.S. meningitis outbreak that has killed 39 people. The proposed legislation would require special licenses for compounding pharmacies, allow the state Board of Pharmacy to fine companies that violate its rules and require out-of-state pharmacies that ship drugs to Massachusetts to be licensed by the state. ... Full Story | Top |
| Budget battles threaten to limit Obama's second-term agenda Friday, Jan 04, 2013 11:30 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After a brutal "fiscal cliff" battle, President Barack Obama's looming budget confrontation with Congress threatens to sharply curtail his second-term agenda and limit his ambitions on priorities such as immigration reform and gun control. Obama has vowed to push ahead with other legislative priorities during the fiscal fight, but faces the likelihood that they will be elbowed aside in a fierce struggle with Republicans over approaching deadlines to raise the limit on federal borrowing, cut spending and fund government operations. ... Full Story | Top |
| New U.S. food safety rules by FDA seek more accountability Friday, Jan 04, 2013 10:38 AM PST (Reuters) - U.S. regulators proposed new food safety rules on Friday that aim to make food processors and farms more accountable for reducing food borne illnesses that kill or sicken thousands of Americans annually. The rules, required by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) that was signed into law two years ago, were announced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday. The agency has come under heavy criticism for failing to introduce new food safety rules faster, but many of those critics applauded FDA's announcement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Eli Lilly banks on cost controls for higher 2013 profit Friday, Jan 04, 2013 10:12 AM PST (Reuters) - Eli Lilly and Co said on Friday it expects profit in 2013 to increase by more than Wall Street had been forecasting, primarily due to cost controls and improved productivity. Lilly, whose shares were up nearly 4 percent on Friday, said 2013 sales will be flat to a bit higher, despite the loss of patent on its $5 billion-a-year antidepressant, Cymbalta, in December. The Indianapolis-based drugmaker is coming off a particularly difficult 2012 when sales declined sharply because of competition from cheaper generics. It expects 2013 earnings to increase to $3.75 to $3. ... Full Story | Top |
| Racial gaps in access to robotic prostate surgery Friday, Jan 04, 2013 09:15 AM PST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Minority and Medicaid cancer patients are less likely to have their prostates removed at hospitals that use robot-assisted surgery, according to a new study that stops short of suggesting the robotic technique represents better care. "People who are poor - frequently Hispanic, African American or black, and Medicaid patients - tend to get what is considered to be less high-quality care than those who are middle class and wealthy," said Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical and scientific officer of the American Cancer Society. ... Full Story | Top |
| Copying common in electronic medical records Friday, Jan 04, 2013 07:35 AM PST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Most doctors copy and paste old, potentially out-of-date information into patients' electronic records, according to a new study looking at a shortcut that some experts fear could lead to miscommunication and medical errors. "The electronic medical record was meant to make the process of documentation easier, but I think it's perpetuated copying," said lead author Dr. Daryl Thornton, assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obesity declining in young, poorer kids: study Friday, Jan 04, 2013 06:27 AM PST New York (Reuters Health) - The number of low-income preschoolers who qualify as obese or "extremely obese" has dropped over the last decade, new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show. Although the decline was only "modest" and may not apply to all children, researchers said it was still encouraging. "It's extremely important to make sure we're monitoring obesity in this low-income group," said the CDC's Heidi Blanck, who worked on the study. ... Full Story | Top |
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