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| Asda apologises for 'mental patient' fancy dress costume Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 11:55 PM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - Asda, Britain's second biggest retailer, has apologized and withdrawn a product it advertised on its website as a "mental patient fancy dress costume" after being criticized as stereotyping those suffering from mental illness. The firm, the British arm of Wal-Mart , the world's largest stores group, was selling the costume, designed to look like a blood-splattered straitjacket, for 20 pounds ($32.14). Its advert featured a man wearing the jacket and wielding a meat cleaver. Asda said it removed the product from its website on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: How new cancer drugs can skip randomized trials Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 11:31 PM PDT  By Julie Steenhuysen and Ben Hirschler CHICAGO/LONDON (Reuters) - In 2006 when doctors started testing a melanoma treatment made by Roche Holding AG on patients, they were used to facing slim odds - about one in eight - that the tumors would shrink on chemotherapy. This time, they couldn't believe their eyes. With Zelboraf, a drug that targets specific mutations in cancer cells, eight out of 10 patients in an early-stage trial experienced significant tumor shrinkage. Roche clearly had a remarkable drug, though it only worked for people with a specific genetic makeup. ... Full Story | Top |
| Congress turns attention to debt limit battle Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 07:43 PM PDT  By Rachelle Younglai and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress, struggling to avert a government shutdown next week, was warned by the Obama administration on Wednesday that the Treasury was quickly running out of funds to pay government bills and could soon face a damaging debt default. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew pleaded with Congress to raise the $16.7 trillion debt limit and said the government would not be able to borrow funds past October 17. ... Full Story | Top |
| IRS struggles to track its 'Obamacare' spending: watchdog Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 07:40 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Internal Revenue Service needs to do a better job tracking its spending related to President Barack Obama's new healthcare law, an IRS watchdog said on Wednesday. With Congress debating whether to take funding away from the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said in an audit that the IRS failed to account for some of the agency's spending to implement the law. Federal agencies must report their spending so there is an accurate measure of the full cost of government programs. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. audit finds lack of oversight in ATF probes of cigarette smuggling Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 07:25 PM PDT By Lisa Maria Garza (Reuters) - Federal agents conducted dozens of income-generating tobacco sting operations without approval during the last seven years and misplaced more than 2 million cartons of cigarettes, according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday. Inspector General Michael Horowitz criticized the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in the report for "a serious lack of oversight", citing 35 "churning" investigations that were not reviewed by the agency's Undercover Review Committee for prior approval. ... Full Story | Top |
| FBI releases video of 'delusional' Navy Yard shooter Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 06:59 PM PDT  By Ian Simpson and Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI released surveillance video and photos of Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis on Wednesday and said he believed electromagnetic waves had been controlling him for months before the rampage that killed 12 people. There are no signs that Alexis, 34, was targeting anybody in the September 16 shooting at the Navy Yard in southeast Washington, said Valerie Parlave, the FBI assistant director in charge of the Washington field office. ... Full Story | Top |
| Computer snags delay parts of Obamacare in some U.S. states Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 06:33 PM PDT By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) - The District of Columbia's online health insurance exchange - one of 51 set up under President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law - will be unable to perform two key functions when it opens on October 1, exchange officials announced on Wednesday. The District joins Colorado and Oregon on the list of "Obamacare" exchanges hobbled by problems with information technology (IT), contributing to expectations that Obama's signature domestic achievement will get off to a slow start when the exchanges go live next Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Congress moves toward extending worldwide anti-AIDS program Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 05:10 PM PDT  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senior U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation in the Senate and House of Representatives on Wednesday to extend for another decade a successful and popular program to combat AIDS worldwide launched 10 years ago by former President George W. Bush. The bills feature several provisions to increase oversight of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, due to expire on September 30. The widely praised program is considered a catalyst for advancing HIV treatment, particularly in Africa. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. congressional panels agree on bill to regulate drug compounding Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 05:09 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House of Representatives and Senate committees have agreed on legislation that would give the Food and Drug Administration greater authority to regulate companies that compound sterile drugs and ship them across state lines. The legislation would also create a national set of standards to track pharmaceuticals through the distribution chain to help thwart the introduction of fake medication into the drug supply. ... Full Story | Top |
| Prominent Mexicans urge government to decriminalize marijuana Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 03:14 PM PDT  By Dave Graham MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A broad spectrum of prominent Mexicans, including former ministers, businessmen, artists and a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, on Wednesday urged the government to decriminalize marijuana in a bid to curb gang violence and corruption. Since 2007, about 80,000 people have been killed in turf wars between drug cartels and their clashes with security forces, leading to calls for a change in policy in Mexico and elsewhere in the U.S.-led war on drugs. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Senator Cruz catapults to fame with marathon anti-Obamacare speech Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 02:44 PM PDT  By Thomas Ferraro and Caren Bohan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As Ted Cruz's anti-Obamacare U.S. Senate talkathon entered its 19th hour early on Wednesday, Tea Party Patriots leader Jenny Beth Martin said that "by the time this is over, most people in America are going to know who Ted Cruz is." When the 21st and final hour came at noon, the freshman Republican U.S. senator, his tie askew, his hand on his heart in a final flourish, had been catapulted into the public consciousness. ... Full Story | Top |
| Natural nerves improve robotic leg performance Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 02:03 PM PDT By Gene Emery NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Redirecting nerves from the thigh muscle to control an experimental robotic leg makes it easier to use and more like a natural leg, researchers report. The leg's movements are guided by the patient's original nerves, which have been redirected to a small area of the thigh muscle. The robotic leg senses the unconscious muscle movements and translates them into movements for the knee and ankle of the 10-pound device. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: GTCR looks to sell U.S. hospital company Capella - sources Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 01:43 PM PDT By Soyoung Kim and Jessica Toonkel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Private equity firm GTCR LLC is exploring a potential sale of Capella Healthcare, a hospital operator that may be valued at a little less than $1 billion, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The Chicago-based buyout firm GTCR has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch to seek a buyer and is in conversations with larger hospital operators about a deal, according to the people, who wished to remain anonymous because they are not permitted to speak to the media. ... Full Story | Top |
| Panel urges awareness of student-athlete mental health Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 01:20 PM PDT By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Athletic trainers should be on the lookout for mental health problems among student-athletes, a panel said on Wednesday. Representatives from the National Athletic Trainers' Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other organizations said athletic trainers are in a unique position to reach out to college athletes and refer them to counseling. ... Full Story | Top |
| No link between celiac disease and autism: study Wednesday, Sep 25, 2013 01:15 PM PDT By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - There's no link between celiac disease and autism spectrum disorders, a nationwide study from Sweden says. People who were diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the study were no more likely to be diagnosed with celiac disease than people without an ASD. Dr. Jonas Ludvigsson, the study's lead author, said the finding offers one less thing to worry about for people with either celiac or ASDs. "To them, this is good news," Ludvigsson, of Sweden's Karolinska Institute, said. ... Full Story | Top |
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