| | |
| Obama tackles rape comments, "fiscal cliff" on TV talk show Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 08:44 PM PDT  BURBANK, California (Reuters) - President Barack Obama suspended the levity during an interview with late-night TV talk show host Jay Leno on Wednesday to address a Republican Senate candidate's assertion that pregnancies resulting from rape are intended by God and to express confidence that Washington could soon address the looming "fiscal cliff." "I don't know how these guys come up with these ideas. Let me make a very simple proposition: rape is rape. It is a crime," Obama said on NBC's "The Tonight Show. ... Full Story | Top |
| Disabled South Koreans protest "inhumane" benefits system Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 08:18 PM PDT SEOUL (Reuters) - Wheelchair-bound Choi Jong-hun spends most Fridays in a makeshift tent encampment in one of Seoul's busy subway stations, eating instant noodles as commuters dodge and weave around him and a handful of fellow demonstrators. He's part of a protest that has lasted more than 60 days and aims to change South Korea's benefits system, which campaigners say humiliates disabled people by "grading" them according to their disability. ... Full Story | Top |
| Study: are cancer patients' hopes for chemo too high? Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 07:21 PM PDT (Reuters) - At least two thirds of people with advanced cancer believed the chemotherapy they were receiving might cure them, even though the treatment was only being given to buy some time or make them comfortable, according to a U.S. survey. Researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that 69 percent of patients who were terminally ill with lung cancer, and 81 percent with fatal colorectal cancer, did not understand that their chemotherapy was not at all likely to eliminate their tumors. ... Full Story | Top |
| Indiana candidate sorry about rape comment; Romney stands by him Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 06:12 PM PDT  INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - The Republican candidate for the Senate in Indiana, Richard Mourdock, said on Wednesday he was sorry if anyone misunderstood a comment on rape and abortion, and White House hopeful Mitt Romney's campaign said he would stand by the controversial candidate. Mourdock made comments at a Senate debate on Tuesday night that some critics interpreted as condoning rape. At a hastily called news conference on Wednesday, Mourdock said he abhors rape and violence against women. "I apologize that they came away" with that interpretation, he said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama offers a glimpse of his second-term priorities Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 06:03 PM PDT  DAVENPORT, Iowa (Reuters) - President Barack Obama predicted passage of immigration reform and a deficit-reduction deal, offering a fresh glimpse of his second-term agenda as he fights for votes in the final stretch of the tight race for the White House. In a newspaper interview released on Wednesday ahead of an eight-state campaign blitz that began in Iowa, Obama also suggested Republicans were bolstering his re-election effort by alienating Hispanics ahead of the November 6 vote. ... Full Story | Top |
| Oops: Harvard affiliate apologizes for promotion of "weak" study Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 05:48 PM PDT CHICAGO (Reuters) - A Harvard-affiliated hospital is backing away from its decision earlier this week to promote a paper linking the artificial sweetener aspartame and cancer, now saying the evidence was "weak." Brigham and Women's Hospital said in an e-mail to reporters that data in the paper, which was published Wednesday in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition, "is weak, and that Brigham and Women's Hospital media relations was premature in the promotion of this work." The hospital apologized to reporters for wasting their time. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hormone therapy may cut Alzheimer's risk in menopausal women Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 04:40 PM PDT CHICAGO (Reuters) - The latest data from a long-running study of hormone therapy suggests women who started taking hormone replacements within five years of menopause were 30 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than women who started years later. The findings, reported on Wednesday in the journal Neurology, add to evidence suggesting that taking hormone treatments around the time of menopause may be doing more than just helping women cope with hot flashes and night sweats. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. death toll rises to 24 in meningitis outbreak Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 02:42 PM PDT  (Reuters) - The death toll from a U.S. outbreak of fungal meningitis due to injections of tainted steroid medication has reached 24 with Indiana now reporting a third death, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday. Eight new cases of meningitis were reported, pushing the total nationally to 312 cases in 17 states, the CDC said. Five joint infections caused by injections also have been reported, bringing the total number of infections to 317. The number of cases has continued to mount despite the recall of the product by the New England Compounding Center. ... Full Story | Top |
| US doctors can consider spinal taps for more steroid patients-CDC Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 02:42 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. doctors monitoring patients for signs of fungal meningitis can consider performing spinal taps, possibly weekly, on some of those who received contaminated steroid injections, even if they show no symptoms, health officials said on Wednesday. The revised guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reflect concern that the last groups of patients who received the steroid may be at a higher risk of deadly infection. The recommendation took some physicians by surprise. "Are we going to do spinal taps on thousands of people once a week?" asked Dr. ... Full Story | Top |
| School "hand hygiene" plan shows no asthma benefit Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 02:08 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An arsenal of hand sanitizers, hygiene education and good old-fashioned soap failed to prevent asthma attacks among school children in one Alabama county. For children with asthma, the common cold is the top trigger of symptom attacks. So in theory, cleaner hands at school could mean fewer colds being passed around - and fewer asthma attacks. But in a new clinical trial, researchers found that kids at schools with a "hand hygiene" plan, including alcohol-based hand sanitizers, suffered asthma attacks just often as their peers at other schools. ... Full Story | Top |
| Are cancer patients' hopes for chemo too high? Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 02:07 PM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - At least two thirds of people with advanced cancer in a new survey believed the chemotherapy they're receiving might cure them, even though the treatment is only being given to buy some time or make them comfortable. "Their expectations are way out of line with reality," Dr. Deborah Schrag of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston told Reuters Health. ... Full Story | Top |
| People more likely to do CPR in wealthier areas Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 02:06 PM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People in wealthier white or integrated neighborhoods are more likely to try to save a cardiac arrest victim using CPR than people in other neighborhoods, according to a large U.S. study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Where you drop literally can determine your likelihood of having someone stop and do CPR, and it changes from one side of the street to the other," coauthor Dr. Comilla Sasson of the University of Colorado School of Medicine told Reuters Health. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ecuador fears for Assange's health, seeks UK safe passage Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 01:34 PM PDT  MOSCOW/LONDON (Reuters) - Ecuador is worried about the health of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and has asked Britain to guarantee him safe passage from its London embassy to hospital if he needs medical treatment, a senior Ecuadorean diplomat said in Moscow. Assange, an Australian, has been holed up inside Ecuador's embassy in central London since June to avoid extradition to Sweden to face rape and sexual assault allegations. British authorities say Assange will be arrested if he sets foot outside the embassy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama holds out prospect of post-election "grand bargain" Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 01:08 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama says he's confident that if re-elected he will secure within six months a deficit-reduction deal with Republicans equivalent to the "grand bargain" he failed to achieve last year. Obama made the bold prediction on Tuesday to the Des Moines Register in remarks that were originally off-the-record. After the newspaper complained in a blog, the White House relented and released a transcript of the interview on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| CDC panel OKs Glaxo's meningitis vaccine for at-risk infants Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 12:56 PM PDT CHICAGO (Reuters) - Advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted on Wednesday to recommend the use of GlaxoSmithKline's newly approved vaccine for bacterial meningitis in babies at increased risk of the infection. The vote is not related to the ongoing outbreak of fungal meningitis that has been linked to tainted steroid injections and has so far killed 24 people. Children at increased risk include those with sickle cell disease and an immune system disorder known as complement component deficiency. ... Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment