Today's Reuters Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Los Angeles vote to repeal ban on medical marijuana shops
Tue,2 Oct 2012 07:08 PM PDT
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Los Angeles City Council voted to rescind a newly enacted ban on storefront medical marijuana shops on Tuesday, allowing the city to avoid a referendum next year that some officials said would likely succeed in reversing the prohibition. The Los Angeles City Council, in a blow to an industry that operates in violation of federal law, voted in July to ban pot dispensaries and replace them with a system that would allow up to three patients to collectively grow marijuana. ... Full Story | Top |
Philippines defies church to push family planning
Tue,2 Oct 2012 05:37 PM PDT
Reuters -  MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Benigno Aquino is squaring off against his country's powerful Catholic church in a bid to give people free access to the means to limit the size of their families. The predominately Catholic country has one of Asia's fastest-growing populations together with significant levels of chronic poverty. While neighbours have accelerated towards prosperity, the Philippines has lagged. Economists say high population growth is a primary factor for that, but the church disagrees. ...
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Cancer treatment speeded by genome superhighway: creator
Tue,2 Oct 2012 04:01 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - A new supercomputer-based network will allow doctors to use genomic sequencing to speed cancer treatment and could increase survival chances for patients, its creator, billionaire healthcare businessman Dr. Patrick Soon Shiong, said on Tuesday. A group of technology and healthcare companies have formed the superhighway that will accelerate the time for genetic analysis of a patient's tumor to 47 seconds from eight to 10 weeks now, Soon-Shiong said in a press release. ... Full Story | Top |
Lawsuit challenges California ban on gay conversion therapy for youth
Tue,2 Oct 2012 03:13 PM PDT
Reuters - SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A Christian legal group has filed a federal lawsuit challenging a landmark California law that bars a controversial therapy aimed at reversing homosexuality from being used on children and teens, calling it a violation of privacy and free speech rights. California's Democratic Governor Jerry Brown signed the ban into law over the weekend, making the nation's most populous state the first to ban so-called conversion therapy among youth. Gay rights advocates say the therapy can psychologically harm gay and lesbian youth. ... Full Story | Top |
Canadian health regulators approve InterMune's fibrosis drug
Tue,2 Oct 2012 03:08 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - Biotechnology company InterMune Inc said Canadian health regulators approved its drug to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a fatal lung disease. InterMune expects the drug Esbriet, chemically known as pirfenidone, to be available for sale in Canada from January 1, 2013. The company said it expects to secure reimbursement for the drug from most private insurance plans by the third quarter of 2013, adding that reimbursements from public plans are typically secured within six to 18 months of a launch. ... Full Story | Top |
Factbox: Colombia's Santos latest leader treated for cancer
Tue,2 Oct 2012 02:13 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos will undergo surgery for a non-aggressive prostate cancer on Wednesday. Here is a look at some world leaders who have had cancer while in office: * COLOMBIA'S JUAN MANUEL SANTOS: - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said he would undergo surgery for a non-aggressive prostate cancer in a health scare that seemed unlikely to derail his government's imminent talks with Marxist rebels to end decades of war. ... Full Story | Top |
Colombia's Santos to spend two-three days in hospital after cancer surgery
Tue,2 Oct 2012 02:10 PM PDT
Reuters -  BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos will spend two or three days in the hospital after surgery for non-aggressive prostate cancer, his doctor said on Tuesday, a day before the 61-year-old was scheduled for the operation. Midway through his four-year term, Santos surprised the Andean nation on Monday night when he announced doctors had discovered a cancerous growth, but the disease had been caught in time and there was minimal risk. ...
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Fish linked to heart failure risk, omega-3 results mixed
Tue,2 Oct 2012 02:04 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - For people conscious about their heart health, a new study suggests it may be best to eat fish instead of taking individual omega-3 fatty acids in supplement form. After reviewing information on the habits and fatty-acid blood levels of more than 20,000 male doctors, researchers found mixed results when it came to omega-3 supplements and the men's likelihood of heart failure, but eating fish regularly was linked to a lower risk. According to the study's senior researcher, the results are consistent with the American Heart Association's (AHA) recommendations. ... Full Story | Top |
NY's Bloomberg aims to save mothers, children in Tanzania
Tue,2 Oct 2012 01:53 PM PDT
Reuters -  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Tuesday he is funding the expansion of a pilot maternal health program in Tanzania that is predicted to help 50,000 mothers and their children during the next three years. A woman dies every two minutes of pregnancy-related problems with 99 percent of such deaths in poor countries, according to the U.N. Population Fund. Common causes are bleeding after childbirth, high blood pressure, infections and unsafe abortions. ...
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Extra vitamin D may not help ward off colds
Tue,2 Oct 2012 01:21 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Loading up on vitamin D is unlikely to prevent the common cold this winter, a new study from New Zealand suggests. Despite past research suggesting the sunshine vitamin may help clear bacteria and otherwise boost immune health, Kiwis taking monthly megadoses of vitamin D got just as many colds as those who were given vitamin-free placebo pills. "In the population we studied, we can be very confident that it has no effect on prevention or severity (of colds)," said lead author Dr. David Murdoch, from the University of Otago in Christchurch. ... Full Story | Top |
Common heart drugs may be less helpful than thought
Tue,2 Oct 2012 01:19 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The cheap and popular heart drugs known as beta-blockers may be overused in many patients, exposing them needlessly to bothersome side effects, a new study suggests. Researchers found that people with stable heart disease who took beta-blockers were no less likely to die from their condition, or to suffer a heart attack or stroke, than were those not on the medications. Although the study is not conclusive, it "is definitely going to make some waves," said Dr. ... Full Story | Top |
Teens' poor sleep tied to heart risk factors
Tue,2 Oct 2012 12:58 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Teenagers who don't get enough sleep are more likely to have conditions that could affect their heart health down the road, a new report finds. Researchers found that of 4,100 teenagers they studied, the one-third with the poorest sleep quality were more likely to be overweight or have unhealthy blood pressure or cholesterol levels. Poor sleep included problems falling asleep or staying asleep, nighttime "restlessness" and bad dreams, among other things. The findings do not prove that the sleep problems are to blame, according to senior researcher Dr. Brian C. ... Full Story | Top |
Teen drinking and driving rate cut in half in 20 years
Tue,2 Oct 2012 12:44 PM PDT
Reuters - ATLANTA (Reuters) - The percentage of high school students who drink and drive has dropped by more than half in two decades, in part due to tougher laws against driving under the influence of alcohol, federal health officials said on Tuesday. In 2011, 10.3 percent of high school students 16 and older reported drinking and driving in the previous 30 days, compared to 22.3 percent in 1991, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. ... Full Story | Top |
Study finds errors in post-surgery care are common
Tue,2 Oct 2012 12:28 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - If the norm at one large urban teaching hospital is any indicator, surgery patients can expect to experience between four and five procedural mistakes - half of which will cause them real harm - during their post-op recuperation, according to a UK study. Hospital safety researchers at Imperial College London monitored all patients at a "large gastro-intestinal surgery center" over the course of two years and found that failures in the "processes" of care - from administering drugs, to delivering test results and giving patients instructions - were rampant. ... Full Story | Top |
Quebec's tax plan could slash revenues: study
Tue,2 Oct 2012 11:42 AM PDT
Reuters - TORONTO (Reuters) - Quebec's plan to scrap a general health levy and pay for it by boosting taxes on the rich could cut provincial government revenues by C$800 million ($810 million) a year, according to a study released on Tuesday by a conservative Canadian think tank. The minority government, formed by the separatist Parti Quebecois after September 4 elections, promised to scrap a flat C$200 health-care tax. To compensate for the lost revenue, it wants to increase taxes on high earners and cut exemptions on capital gains to 25 percent from 50 percent. ... Full Story | Top |
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