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| China halts imports of Pfizer drug on paperwork glitch Monday, Dec 30, 2013 10:09 PM PST  China suspended imports of U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc's AIDS-related drug Diflucan on Tuesday, citing a problem with late paperwork, the country's food and drug watchdog said in a statement on its website. Pfizer, the largest drugmaker in the United States, contravened Chinese law when one of its France-based factories failed to submit a supplementary application on time, the China Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in the statement. With the country's healthcare spending forecast to nearly triple to $1 trillion by 2020 from $357 billion in 2011, according to consulting firm McKinsey, China is a magnet for makers of medicines and medical equipment. Pfizer has taken steps to resolve the issue and is working with China's FDA to ensure its products comply with Chinese law, it said in a statement on its Chinese-language website. Full Story | Top |
| Schumacher battles for life after ski fall Monday, Dec 30, 2013 09:20 PM PST By Morade Azzouz GRENOBLE, France (Reuters) - Seven-times Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher was fighting for his life on Monday after suffering severe head injuries in a skiing accident in the French Alps resort of Meribel, doctors said. "We can say that his condition is life-threatening," Jean-Francois Payen, head anaesthetician at the CHU hospital in the eastern French city of Grenoble, told a news conference. "For the moment we cannot say what Michael Schumacher's future is," he added. Philippe Quincy, the Albertville public prosecutor, told Reuters an inquiry had been launched on Sunday to identify the causes of the accident. Full Story | Top |
| Schumacher fighting for his life after ski accident Monday, Dec 30, 2013 09:20 PM PST Former Formula One champion Michael Schumacher was battling for his life in hospital on Monday after a ski injury, doctors said, adding it was too early to say whether he would pull through. "We can say that his condition is life-threatening," Jean-Francois Payen, head anesthetician at the CHU hospital in the eastern French city of Grenoble told a news conference. "For the moment we cannot say what Michael Schumacher's future is," he added. Seven-times Formula One world champion Schumacher was admitted to hospital on Sunday suffering head injuries in an off-piste skiing accident in the French Alps resort of Meribel. Full Story | Top |
| Brain-dead California girl ordered kept on ventilator for week longer Monday, Dec 30, 2013 09:00 PM PST  By Laila Kearney OAKLAND, California (Reuters) - The family of a California girl who was declared brain dead after complications from a tonsillectomy won an 11th-hour court order on Monday requiring doctors to keep her connected to a breathing machine for at least another week. Under the latest court order in the case, doctors at Children's Hospital and Research Center in Oakland are barred from taking 13-year-old Jahi McMath off a ventilator without her family's consent before 5 p.m. local time on January 7, relatives and hospital officials said. But Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evilio Grillo's decision to extend the previous deadline set in his own restraining order of last week was intended to allow time for appellate review of the case, hospital officials said. "This is a tragedy that has been postponed for another week," hospital spokesman Sam Singer told reporters outside the hospital after family members announced Monday's ruling about an hour before Grillo's original deadline was due to lapse. Full Story | Top |
| Oklahoma doctor held for nine deaths linked to prescription drugs Monday, Dec 30, 2013 04:43 PM PST (Reuters) - Texas police have arrested a former Oklahoma doctor on nine counts of homicide and 43 counts of illegal drug distribution for prescribing large doses of addictive medicines to patients he hardly knew in return for bribes, officials said on Monday. William Valuck, 71, was arrested on Friday in Kilgore, Texas and authorities in neighboring states were exchanging information about the case. "At least nine of his patients died from overdoses of the very same drugs he was prescribing in massive doses," the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics said in the affidavit filed in Oklahoma County. The doctor had been working out of an office in Oklahoma City and surrendered his license to practise medicine this month as authorities were closing in on him after a year-long investigation, Oklahoma authorities said. Full Story | Top |
| Walgreen offers month of prescriptions to backlogged Obamacare enrollees Monday, Dec 30, 2013 04:35 PM PST  (Reuters) - Walgreen Co said on Monday it will provide a month's supply of certain prescriptions at no upfront cost to U.S. participants who have not yet received a plan identification number under President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law. The offering comes as U.S. government officials struggle to roll out the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Walgreen, the largest drug store chain in the United States, said customers who have enrolled in Obamacare, but don't have an ID yet from an insurer, can bring proof of their enrollment from now through the end of January to a Walgreen's pharmacy. As soon as the customer receives the ID number, Walgreen will process the insurance claim and the customer at that time may be responsible for any co-pay, Walgreen spokeswoman Markeisha Marshall said. Full Story | Top |
| Some current, former smokers should get annual lung scans: US panel Monday, Dec 30, 2013 03:59 PM PST  Heavy smokers and former heavy smokers should get annual lung cancer screening tests, according to final guidelines issued on Monday by an influential U.S. panel. The final recommendations, issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, apply to people aged 55 to 80 whose smoking has put them at high risk of cancer. That includes former heavy smokers who have quit within the past 15 years. Heavy smokers are considered to be those who smoked a pack a day for 30 years, or two packs a day for 15 years. Full Story | Top |
| California brain-dead girl nears deadline for ventilator Monday, Dec 30, 2013 03:15 PM PST Relatives of a 13-year-old California girl declared brain dead after complications from a tonsillectomy pressed an 11th-hour effort on Monday to get her moved to an extended-care facility as a deadline neared for taking her off a breathing machine. Doctors at Children's Hospital in Oakland have said they intend to disconnect Jahi McMath on Monday evening from a ventilator that has been keeping her heart and lungs going since she lost all brain function more than two weeks ago. An Alameda County Superior Court judge issued a restraining order last week barring the hospital from removing Jahi - without the consent of her family - from the ventilator before 5 p.m. local time on Monday, December 30. The judge then denied a petition from relatives to extend that deadline, after two pediatric neurologists who had examined Jahi affirmed the hospital's medical opinion that the girl was brain dead and beyond recovery. Full Story | Top |
| Labia surgeries may be driven by unnatural images Monday, Dec 30, 2013 02:33 PM PST By Shereen Jegtvig New York (Reuters Health) - Women who were initially exposed to images of surgically modified female genitalia were more likely to consider them 'normal' and 'ideal' when later comparing them to unaltered genitalia, Australian researchers report. Labiaplasty is an increasingly popular cosmetic surgery to reduce the size of a woman's labia minora and make them more symmetrical so they don't protrude beyond the labia majora. The number of labiaplasties performed by the UK National Health Service has risen five-fold since 2001, according to the new study's authors. "I think that the rise in genital cosmetic surgery for women is a very worrying trend. Full Story | Top |
| NYC sues FedEx for illegally shipping cigarettes to homes Monday, Dec 30, 2013 02:31 PM PST  By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City has sued FedEx Corp, accusing it of illegally delivering millions of contraband cigarettes to people's homes and seeking $52 million in fines and unpaid taxes. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, marks one of the last acts by the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose more than decade-old campaign to ban smoking in various public and private places has been credited with saving thousands of lives and become a blueprint for other cities. According to the city, package delivery company FedEx created a "public nuisance" through its partnership with Shinnecock Smoke Shop, located on the Shinnecock Indian Nation reservation in Southampton, New York, to ship untaxed cigarettes to residential homes. Full Story | Top |
| Decision aids reduce mammograms among older women Monday, Dec 30, 2013 01:13 PM PST By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women over 75 who learned more about the risks and benefits of mammogram screenings were less likely to go through with the test in a new study. Women should have a mammogram - an X-ray of the breast tissue scanning for early signs of cancer - every two years between ages 50 and 74, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. According to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government-backed expert panel, there isn't enough evidence to recommend for or against mammograms for older women. A woman's choice to have a mammogram past the age of 75 should be based on her life expectancy, risk of disease and personal preference, study author Dr. Mara A. Schonberg told Reuters Health. Full Story | Top |
| Most minority patients cared for by non-white docs Monday, Dec 30, 2013 01:09 PM PST By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - More than half of U.S. minority patients are cared for by doctors who are also minorities, according to a new analysis. Using data from a 2010 U.S. survey, researchers found that about 54 percent of minority patients report their doctors are not white. That number was even greater - about 70 percent - among non-English speaking patients. These individuals were more likely than other patients to be served by a minority physician," Dr. Lyndonna Marrast said. Full Story | Top |
| Special Report: Lost hooves, dead cattle before Merck halted Zilmax sales Monday, Dec 30, 2013 01:01 PM PST  By P.J. Huffstutter and Tom Polansek WALLA WALLA COUNTY, WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. beef industry's dependence on the muscle-building drug Zilmax began unraveling here, on a sweltering summer day, in the dusty cattle pens outside a Tyson Foods Inc slaughterhouse in southeastern Washington state. Tyson Foods spokesman Gary Mickelson said his company doesn't know exactly what happened to the small group of cattle that were destroyed at the plant near Pasco. Full Story | Top |
| Thicker brain sections tied to spirituality: study Monday, Dec 30, 2013 11:14 AM PST By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - For people at high risk of depression because of a family history, spirituality may offer some protection for the brain, a new study hints. Parts of the brain's outer layer, the cortex, were thicker in high-risk study participants who said religion or spirituality was "important" to them versus those who cared less about religion. "Our beliefs and our moods are reflected in our brain and with new imaging techniques we can begin to see this," Myrna Weissman told Reuters Health. "The brain is an extraordinary organ. Full Story | Top |
| Donors pitch in to pay for surgery for extremely obese Texas girl Monday, Dec 30, 2013 11:09 AM PST Nearly 1,500 donors have pledged more than $62,000 to help pay for surgery for a 12-year-old Texas girl diagnosed as morbidly obese due to a brain disease that is causing her to gain about two pounds a week. Alexis Shapiro suffered damage to her pituitary gland, which helps regulate weight, as a result of the brain disease. Her extreme excess of body fat is clinically defined as morbid obesity. She cannot do the things she used to love," Jennifer Shapiro, her mother, said on the fundraising site GoFundMe. Full Story | Top |
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