| | |
| China's "black clinics" flourish as government debates health reform Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 09:31 PM PDT  By Hui Li and Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - A one-room shack with a single, bare light bulb on a non-descript Beijing side street is 29-year-old Chinese migrant worker Zhang Xuefang's best recourse to medical care. Not recognized as a Beijing resident, she does not qualify for cheaper healthcare at government hospitals, and her hometown is too far away to take advantage of medical subsidizes there. Like millions of other migrant workers, Zhang, on whose labor China's economic boom depends, is forced into a seedy and unregulated world of back ally "black clinics" if she falls ill. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pfizer lung cancer pill rejected by NICE Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 05:10 PM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Pfizer's new lung cancer pill Xalkori is too expensive to be worth using on Britain's state health service, the country's health cost watchdog said on Wednesday. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) said the drug, which works by blocking enzymes that can stimulate tumour growth, could not be considered a cost-effective use of National Health Service resources. The agency's draft guidance on the drug - which costs 4,689 pounds for a 30-day supply - is now open for consultation. ... Full Story | Top |
| European Union in "denial" that sick economy costs lives, health experts say Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 05:09 PM PDT By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Europe's financial crisis is costing lives, with suicides and infectious diseases on the rise, yet politicians are not addressing the problem, health experts said on Wednesday. Deep budget cuts and growing unemployment are tipping more people into depression, and falling incomes mean fewer people can see their doctors or afford to buy medicines. ... Full Story | Top |
| Some healthcare costs may rise when "Obamacare" implemented: official Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 04:25 PM PDT By Jeff Mason and David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's top healthcare adviser acknowledged on Tuesday that costs could rise in the individual health insurance market, particularly for men and younger people, because of the landmark 2010 healthcare restructuring due to take effect next year. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said definitive data on costs will not be available until later this year when private health plans become authorized to sell federally subsidized coverage on new state-based online marketplaces, known as exchanges. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: History casts doubt on bold Japan economic reform Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 02:51 PM PDT  By Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) - If past is precedent, optimists hoping Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will defy vested interests to take bold action to open the country to more competition as a way to spur growth could well be in for disappointment. Japan's list of reports urging reforms date back almost three decades and have rarely led to the bold action that critics say is needed to dig the economy out of stagnation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Little hope seen for millions priced out of health overhaul Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 02:39 PM PDT  By Tom Brown MIAMI (Reuters) - Millions of Americans will be priced out of health insurance under President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul because of a glitch in the law that adversely affects people with modest incomes who cannot afford family coverage offered by their employers, a leading healthcare advocacy group said on Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Antidepressants not tied to stunted infant growth Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 02:10 PM PDT By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Despite concerns that antidepressant use during pregnancy could affect infants' growth and development, a small new study finds no size differences in the first year of life between babies exposed and not exposed to the drugs. The medications, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, which include fluoxetine (marketed as Prozac) and citalopram (Celexa), have been tied to premature births and lower birth weight. But their affect on growth during infancy had not been studied. ... Full Story | Top |
| Michigan official seeks grand jury to probe meningitis outbreak Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 01:38 PM PDT  By Dawson Bell LANSING, Mich (Reuters) - Michigan's attorney general on Tuesday asked state courts to authorize a grand jury to investigate whether a company linked to a deadly outbreak of fungal meningitis and other infections broke any state laws. The outbreak, linked to tainted steroids shipped in 2012 by the Massachusetts-based New England Compounding Center, has killed 51 people and sickened 730, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A representative of NECC declined to comment on the Michigan attorney general's announcement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Chelation little help for heart disease: study Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 01:03 PM PDT By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Removing metals from the body through a controversial treatment has little effect on the long-term health of people who've previously suffered a heart attack, according to the results of a government-funded trial released Tuesday. Researchers found no difference in how many of 1,708 participants died in the four and a half years after they received either so-called chelation therapy or drug-free placebo infusions, and only a small decline in the proportion that needed stents or other heart procedures following chelation. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Dakota governor signs "heartbeat" abortion ban Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 12:33 PM PDT By Dave Thompson BISMARCK, North Dakota (Reuters) - North Dakota on Tuesday adopted the most restrictive abortion law in the United States, as the governor signed a bill that bans the procedure in most cases once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, as early as six weeks. Supporters of abortion rights said they would challenge the measure in court. Governor Jack Dalrymple on Tuesday also signed a bill that bans abortions based solely on genetic abnormalities, the first state ban of its kind, or based on the gender of the fetus. ... Full Story | Top |
| High court limits police use of drug-sniffing dogs Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 11:18 AM PDT  By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday limited the ability of police to use a trained dog to sniff around the outside of a home for illegal drugs that might be inside. By a 5-4 vote, the court said the use by law enforcement authorities of trained police dogs to investigate a home and its immediate surroundings was a "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and required a warrant. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ziopharm cancer drug fails late-stage trial; shares plunge 66 percent Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 11:04 AM PDT By Vrinda Manocha (Reuters) - Ziopharm Oncology Inc said it will stop developing its drug to treat soft tissue sarcoma after it failed to improve patient survival by keeping the cancer from worsening, wiping out nearly two-thirds of the company's market value. The drug, palifosfamide, was being tested in a late-stage trial called Picasso 3 as a treatment for metastatic soft tissue sarcoma - a type of cancer of the bone, cartilage, fat or muscles. ... Full Story | Top |
| Danish food authorities find pork traces in kebab beef Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 11:04 AM PDT COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danish authorities said on Tuesday they discovered traces of pork in some meat sold as beef for kebabs during an inspection triggered by the recent horsemeat scandal, prompting demands by the country's Muslim community for stricter inspection. A spokesman for the Danish veterinary and food administration said pork traces were found in beef sold by supplier Anadolu Kod. "They told us meat was from some of their counterparts in Poland," said Erik Jepsen, a spokesman for the Danish veterinary and food administration. ... Full Story | Top |
| Soy tied to better lung cancer survival among women Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 10:22 AM PDT By Andrew M. Seaman New York (Reuters Health) - Women with lung cancer who ate the most soy before their diagnosis might live a little longer than those who ate the least, according to a new study. Of 444 Chinese women with lung cancer, researchers found those who consumed the most soy milk, tofu and similar products were 7 to 8 percent less likely to die over a 13-year period, compared to women who ate an average amount of soy. "To our knowledge this is the first study to suggest this association. ... Full Story | Top |
| Anger rises in Gabon after rash of ritual killings Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 09:11 AM PDT By Jean Rovys Dabany LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - A rising number of mutilated bodies washing up on Gabon's beaches this year has sown fear in the normally sleepy capital Libreville of a resurgence in ritual killings. The body parts of humans and animals are prized by some in central Africa for their supposed supernatural powers, including among some politicians bent on gaining influence. "We have seen 20 killings since the start of the year," said Jean-Elvis Ebang Ondo, the president of Gabon's Association for the Prevention of Ritual Crimes, in Libreville. ... Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment