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| U.S. administration says Obamacare enrollment tops 5 million Monday, Mar 17, 2014 05:21 PM PDT  By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 5 million people have enrolled in private health insurance under the law known as Obamacare since open enrollment began on October 1, the Obama administration said on Monday. With the March 31 enrollment deadline only two weeks away, a top administration official reported a big upswing in public interest in subsidized health insurance and said traffic on the federal website HealthCare.gov reached 1 million visitors over the weekend. The 5 million enrollee total marked an increase of at least 800,000 people since March 1, indicating that total enrollment could approach the 6 million figure estimated by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office if enrollment surges in the final weeks as administration officials have predicted. The CBO initially forecast 7 million enrollees in private health coverage, but scaled back its estimate after technical problems with the rollout that continue to afflict Obamacare insurance marketplaces operated by several states. Full Story | Top |
| Oklahoma does not have drugs for Thursday execution, officials say Monday, Mar 17, 2014 04:13 PM PDT By Heide Brandes OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Oklahoma, as of Monday, did not have the drugs needed to conduct an execution scheduled for this week but aims to obtain chemicals for the lethal injection by the time the death sentence is to be implemented on Thursday, officials said. Several states, including Oklahoma, have had difficulty getting drugs used in the lethal injections after pharmaceutical companies, especially in Europe, clamped down on sales for executions due to opposition to capital punishment. According to court documents filed by the state on Monday, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections "remains without the drugs to carry out the lawful sentences of death" for two inmates the state plans to execute this month. Attorneys for inmates Clayton Lockett, who is scheduled to be executed on Thursday, and Charles Warner, who is scheduled to be executed on March 27, requested their death sentences be put on hold due to uncertainty over the drugs. Full Story | Top |
| White House says rethinking strategy for Surgeon General nominee Monday, Mar 17, 2014 03:57 PM PDT  By Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Monday said it would shift its strategy for winning Senate confirmation of its choice for the next U.S. surgeon general after President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats helped sink another of his nominees this month. White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters the administration expects Vivek Hallegere Murthy, the head of a doctors group, to eventually be confirmed by the U.S. Senate and is not reconsidering withdrawing Murthy's nomination for the top health post. Earlier this month, seven Democrats broke ranks and joined Republicans to block the nomination of lawyer Debo Adegbile to head the Justice Department's civil rights division. Murthy's appointment passed a key Senate panel with bipartisan support. Full Story | Top |
| Mothers' monitoring of media tied to kids' weight Monday, Mar 17, 2014 02:34 PM PDT "At this point we can say there is an association but we cannot say exactly why," Stacey Tiberio, the study's lead author from the Oregon Social Learning Center in Eugene, told Reuters Health. The researchers write in JAMA Pediatrics that understanding the role of parental media monitoring is crucial in the development of obesity programs and interventions. Parents and children answered questionnaires, were interviewed and received physicals when the kids were five, seven and nine years old. The researchers found that when mothers reported spending less time monitoring their kids' media consumption, kids tended be heavier at seven years old. Full Story | Top |
| TSX steady as Ukraine tensions ease, gold miners drop Monday, Mar 17, 2014 02:22 PM PDT  By John Tilak TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index was little changed on Monday as a peaceful conclusion of the referendum in Crimea drove gains in some sectors, but the perceived easing of tension in the region weighed on the bullion price and sent gold-mining shares lower. The United States and European Union imposed sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans, on officials from Russia and Ukraine after Crimea applied to join Russia following the referendum on seceding from Ukraine. ID:nL6N0ME1OZ] But a selloff in the gold-mining group robbed the Toronto stock market's benchmark index of any substantial gain. "Everybody would like to see the market higher, of course, but overall investors have a sense of comfort with where the market is," said Fred Ketchen, director of equity trading at ScotiaMcLeod. Full Story | Top |
| Review questions the effects of dietary fats on heart disease Monday, Mar 17, 2014 02:12 PM PDT  By Shereen Jegtvig NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The types of fat people get in their diet may not be as closely related to their risk of heart disease as previously believed, a new review of past studies suggests. But researchers found people's risk of heart disease varied little based on how much of those fats they ate. Polyunsaturated fats generally come from plant-based foods such as nuts, seeds and vegetable oils. Omega-3 fatty acids, a type of polyunsaturated fats, are found in fish. Full Story | Top |
| Owner of NFL's Indianapolis Colts accused of intoxicated driving Monday, Mar 17, 2014 01:45 PM PDT  Billionaire James Irsay, the 54-year-old owner of the National Football League's Indianapolis Colts, was jailed early on Monday on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and possession of a controlled substance, authorities said. A search of his vehicle yielded multiple prescription drugs that didn't match the labels on any of the prescription-pill bottles found, police said. "Impossible to tell u how much this means." Irsay was arrested on the preliminary charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and four counts of possession of a controlled substance, the Hamilton County prosecuting attorney's office said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Wall Street climbs as Ukraine worries ease, data improves Monday, Mar 17, 2014 01:21 PM PDT  By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks climbed on Monday, with the S&P 500 bouncing from its worst weekly drop in the past seven, as concerns eased over the situation in Crimea, while economic data indicated the economy was improving after a winter slowdown. The 97-percent vote in Crimea in favor of quitting Ukraine was condemned as illegal by Kiev and the West, but the referendum passed without violence. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing the region as a sovereign state. Google Inc gained 1.6 percent to $1,192.10 while General Electric Co rose 1.3 percent to $25.43. Full Story | Top |
| UPDATE 2-Owner of NFL's Indianapolis Colts accused of intoxicated driving Monday, Mar 17, 2014 12:57 PM PDT (Corrects headline and first sentence to say "intoxicated driving" not "drunk driving") INDIANAPOLIS, March 17 (Reuters) - Billionaire James Irsay, the 54-year-old owner of the National Football League's Indianapolis Colts team, was jailed early on Monday on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and possession of a controlled substance, authorities said. A search of his vehicle yielded multiple prescription drugs that didn't match the labels on any of the prescription-pill bottles found, police said. Irsay was arrested on the preliminary charges of driving under the influence and possession of a controlled substance, Hamilton County Sheriff's Deputy Bryant Orem said. His initial court appearance was scheduled for March 26 in Hamilton County Magistrate Court, it said. Full Story | Top |
| Archaeologists discover earliest example of human with cancer Monday, Mar 17, 2014 10:26 AM PDT By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - British archaeologists have found what they say is the world's oldest complete example of a human being with metastatic cancer and hope it will offer new clues about the now common and often fatal disease. Researchers from Durham University and the British Museum discovered the evidence of tumors that had developed and spread throughout the body in a 3,000-year-old skeleton found in a tomb in modern Sudan in 2013. Analyzing the skeleton using radiography and a scanning electron microscope, they managed to get clear imaging of lesions on the bones which showed the cancer had spread to cause tumors on the collar bones, shoulder blades, upper arms, vertebrae, ribs, pelvis and thigh bones. "Insights gained from archaeological human remains like these can really help us to understand the evolution and history of modern diseases," said Michaela Binder, a Durham PhD student who led the research and excavated and examined the skeleton. Full Story | Top |
| Amgen drug meets goal for those with high genetic cholesterol Monday, Mar 17, 2014 09:28 AM PDT Amgen Inc said its experimental new type of cholesterol-fighting drug met the primary goal of a late-stage trial by slashing "bad" LDL cholesterol levels in patients with a genetic tendency towards high levels of the artery-clogging fat. Amgen said on Monday patients given its injectable drug evolocumab once a month, on top of standard daily statin treatments, showed "clinically meaningful" improvement compared with taking statins alone after 12 weeks of treatment. The Phase 3 study, called TESLA, involved 49 adult and adolescent patients with a rare condition called homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia. The condition, seen in about one in a million individuals, can cause a four-fold increase in levels of LDL cholesterol, greatly raising the risk of heart disease. Full Story | Top |
| FDA panel backs Staar Surgical's implantable lens Monday, Mar 17, 2014 09:28 AM PDT (Reuters) - Staar Surgical Co said an independent advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration recommended marketing approval for its implantable lens, bringing it closer to a long-awaited U.S. launch and sending the company's shares up 27 percent. The lens — Visian Toric implantable lens — can correct both nearsightedness and blurry vision associated with astigmatism. Analysts at Canaccord Genuity said they expect regulatory approval for the lens in the second half of 2014, adding that "the positive FDA panel is the first of several important milestones on the horizon for Staar." Staar Surgical sought U.S. marketing approval for the lens in April 2006 but had to wait as the agency raised concerns about the integrity of the submitted data. "We have always viewed the Food and Drug Administration panel as more of a wild card than the FDA, and we ultimately expect the FDA to approve the device," Benchmark analyst Jan Wald said, raising his price target on Staar's stock to $21 from $15. Full Story | Top |
| Want a cookie? Play Tetris instead Monday, Mar 17, 2014 09:12 AM PDT By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Playing a game of Tetris can reduce the strength of food and nicotine cravings, according to a new study. "Craving is a common problem for people trying to quit junk food, smoking or other drugs," coauthor Jackie Andrade told Reuters Health in an email. "It is unpleasant and makes people feel that they have to wait until the right moment to quit," said Andrade, from Plymouth University in the UK. Full Story | Top |
| Thousands fined as Paris curbs car use for a day Monday, Mar 17, 2014 09:10 AM PDT  By Andrew Callus PARIS (Reuters) - Paris enforced the most drastic traffic curbs in 20 years on Monday, fining almost 4,000 drivers who tried the dodge them, but stopping at a single day of restrictions as cooler weather brought relief from pollution. French policies to promote the use of diesel is seen as one factor why Paris is hit worse than other cities. "This is a public health problem ... we thank everyone who fell into line," Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier said. President Francois Hollande's ruling Socialists are seen retain control of the French capital. Full Story | Top |
| Toronto Mayor Rob Ford in fresh video controversy Monday, Mar 17, 2014 08:56 AM PDT  Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who made global headlines last year after admitting he had smoked crack cocaine, was caught up in fresh controversy on Monday after a new video showed him agitated and apparently swearing outside city hall. The video was taken on Saturday evening by the 13-year-old son of a woman who shared the footage with CTV News. Ford said last year he had smoked crack, probably in a "drunken stupor". CTV News posted a censored version of the short new clip on Sunday, but said it had not confirmed the video was authentic. Full Story | Top |
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