Today's Reuters Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Georgia bans most late-terms abortions, assisted suicide
Tue,1 May 2012 07:02 PM PDT
Reuters - ATLANTA (Reuters) - Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed into law two pieces of legislation on Tuesday to restrict late-term abortions and outlaw assisted suicide in the state. The first law banned most abortions after 20 weeks' pregnancy, making Georgia the eighth U.S. state to outlaw most late-term abortions based on controversial research that a fetus can feel pain by that stage of development. Georgia already prohibits most abortions starting in the third trimester. The second law signed by Deal made it a felony to help people take their own lives. ... Full Story | Top |
Nepal's "magic" surgeon brings light back to poor
Tue,1 May 2012 05:45 PM PDT
Reuters - KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Dressed in his hospital scrubs, Sanduk Ruit looks into the eyes of a patient through a microscope hanging over an operating table. He makes two tiny holes in one eye, takes out a jelly-like mass of natural lens and replaces it with an artificial one that fits snugly into the patient's eye, all in about five minutes, deftly moving his fingers clad in thin white gloves. The patient is then moved away swiftly, without any stitches, and Ruit repeats the process to remove cataracts - a leading cause of blindness in Nepal - from the eyes of another person. ... Full Story | Top |
Women with melanoma fare better than men: study
Tue,1 May 2012 05:16 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - Women diagnosed with melanoma are more likely to survive the skin cancer than men and less likely to have it recur, according to a European study. The findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, support earlier research showing that women are less likely to die from melanoma, the deadliest of the skin cancers. Researchers suggested that biological differences between the sexes might influence how the body deals with the cancer, although a definitive explanation on the better outcome for women remains uncertain. ... Full Story | Top |
Stricken Texas "bucket list" baby dies, father says
Tue,1 May 2012 04:48 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - A Texas baby born with an incurable disease whose parents created an online "bucket list" for their daughter that became an Internet sensation has died, her father said on Tuesday. Michael Canahuati said in a blog posting that five-and-a-half-month-old Avery died on Monday afternoon after going into cardiac arrest. The little girl was born in November with spinal muscular atrophy, a rare genetic disorder that doctors predicted would kill her before she turned 2. ... Full Story | Top |
Facebook calls on members to flag organ donor status
Tue,1 May 2012 04:44 PM PDT
Reuters -  CHICAGO (Reuters) - Tired of the long wait for a new kidney, Michael Shelling, a 50-year-old video game marketing consultant based in San Diego, decided to take a more active role in the search. About three months ago, he decided to tap into his social network by setting up a Facebook page to get the word out to his friends, and their friends, that he needs a new kidney and, by the way, his blood type is O. The search may have paid off. A potential donor is going through testing to see if they are a match. It is the kind of scenario Facebook hopes to foster. ...
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U.S. FDA approves Pfizer/Protalix drug for Gaucher
Tue,1 May 2012 02:33 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. drug regulators gave the nod on Tuesday to Protalix Biotherapeutics Inc and Pfizer Inc's experimental biotech drug for a form of the rare genetic disease Gaucher. The Food and Drug Administration approved the intravenous drug, known chemically as taliglucerase alfa, after rejecting it last year and asking the companies for more data. Shares of tiny Israeli biopharmaceutical company Protalix jumped nearly 23 percent to $7.60 in after-market trading following the approval of its leading product, which the companies plan to sell under the name Elelyso. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. Medicare to cover Edwards Sapien heart valve
Tue,1 May 2012 02:31 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Medicare and Medicaid federal health insurance programs will cover the non-invasive Sapien heart valve replacement system from Edwards Lifesciences Corp, U.S. regulators said on Tuesday. The Sapien system, which is threaded to the diseased heart through an incision in the groin or ribs via the femoral artery, is meant for patients deemed too sick to have heart valve replacement using more traditional open-heart surgery. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Sapien valve, which is estimated to cost about $30,000, in November. The U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. health centers for poor, uninsured see ranks swell
Tue,1 May 2012 02:04 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. community health centers that cater to the poor and uninsured saw their patients' ranks swell by nearly 18 percent from 2008 to 2011 as job loss left more Americans without health insurance, the Obama administration said on Tuesday. A report released by the White House said 20 million Americans now receive healthcare services through 8,500 community health centers, up from 17 million four years ago. "Those numbers really took a big jump," Mary Wakefield, who heads the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, told reporters. ... Full Story | Top |
Health centers for poor, uninsured see ranks swell
Tue,1 May 2012 02:03 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Community health centers that cater to the poor and uninsured saw their patients' ranks swell by nearly 18 percent from 2008 to 2011 as job loss left more Americans without health insurance, the Obama administration said on Tuesday. A report released by the White House said 20 million Americans now receive healthcare services through 8,500 community health centers, up from 17 million four years ago. "Those numbers really took a big jump," Mary Wakefield, who heads the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, told reporters. ... Full Story | Top |
Pfizer says on lookout for mid-size drug deals
Tue,1 May 2012 01:24 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc, which last week agreed to sell its baby formula business for almost $12 billion, is on the hunt for companies with promising new treatments for diabetes, cancer and neurological conditions, and willing to spend $4 billion or more apiece, company Chief Executive Ian Read said. "I have no interest in a massive consolidating deal," Read said in an interview, referring to giant transactions like Pfizer's $67 billion purchase of rival U.S. drugmaker Wyeth in 2009, or its $60 billion merger with Pharmacia in 2003. ... Full Story | Top |
Drug and device trials vary in size, quality: study
Tue,1 May 2012 01:18 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In an analysis of over 40,000 clinical trials registered in a government database, researchers found that many of those studies -- looking at the effects of drugs, devices or behavioral interventions -- were small and of inconsistent quality. Those are the studies doctor groups rely on when it comes to setting guidelines about the best evidence for preventing and treating a given disease, according to a report led by Dr. Robert Califf at the Duke Translational Medicine Institute in Durham, North Carolina. ... Full Story | Top |
More women need breasts removed after brachytherapy
Tue,1 May 2012 01:02 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who got seed radiation as part of their breast cancer treatment were more likely to have an infection or breast pain than those who were treated with whole-breast irradiation, in a new study. And more patients treated with the quicker and more local radiation technique, also called brachytherapy, went on to need a mastectomy as well -- but there was no difference in their chance of dying in the few years after treatment. ... Full Story | Top |
Appeals court allows Texas to exclude Planned Parenthood
Tue,1 May 2012 11:58 AM PDT
Reuters - AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - An appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the state of Texas can exclude Planned Parenthood from a state health program for low-income women because the organization performs abortions. The ruling by 5th U.S. Circuit Judge Jerry Smith reversed a lower court ruling Monday in favor of the family planning organization. The emergency ruling on Tuesday means the state is free - for now - to enforce a new rule banning Planned Parenthood from the Women's Health Program, Texas officials said. The court requested a response from Planned Parenthood by Tuesday afternoon. ... Full Story | Top |
Georgia bans most abortions after 20 weeks pregnancy
Tue,1 May 2012 11:27 AM PDT
Reuters - ATLANTA (Reuters) - Georgia Governor Nathan Deal on Tuesday signed legislation banning most abortions after 20 weeks pregnancy, the seventh state to outlaw most late-term abortions based on controversial research that a fetus can feel pain by that stage of development. Georgia already prohibits most abortions starting in the third trimester. But lawmakers in the Republican-controlled legislature passed the measure banning most abortions after 20 weeks, or in the later weeks of the second trimester. ... Full Story | Top |
Women with melanoma fare better than men
Tue,1 May 2012 11:22 AM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women diagnosed with melanoma are more likely to survive the skin cancer than men and less likely to have it recur, according to a new study. The researchers suggest that biological differences between the sexes might influence how the body deals with the cancer, although a definitive explanation for women's better outcomes remains uncertain. The findings support earlier research showing that women are less likely to die from melanoma, the deadliest of the skin cancers. According to the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
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