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| Exclusive: Specter of SARS weighs on CDC as MERS virus lands in U.S. Sunday, May 04, 2014 07:04 PM PDT By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - When the SARS outbreak arrived in Toronto on Feb. 23, 2003, carried by a woman traveling from Hong Kong, the disease quickly spread to hospital workers and patients in area hospitals, ultimately infecting 257 individuals and killing 33 people. It's a memory that hangs fresh in the mind of Dr Michael Bell, deputy director of the division of healthcare quality promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Atlanta-based federal agency last week sent a team of infectious disease experts to Community Hospital in Munster, Indiana, to attend to the first confirmed U.S. case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome or MERS. "In a worst-case scenario, this could spread rapidly." MERS is caused by a coronavirus, a family of viruses that includes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS, which emerged in China in 2002-2003 and killed some 800 people. Full Story | Top |
| Nobel-winning economist Gary Becker dies at 83: university Sunday, May 04, 2014 03:30 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Gary Becker, whose work applying the principles of economics to a wide range of human behavior won the Nobel Prize in 1992, has died at age 83, the University of Chicago said on Sunday. Becker, a student of free-market economist Milton Friedman, died on Saturday after a long illness, the university said on its website. "Gary was a transformational thinker of truly remarkable impact on the world and an extraordinary individual," University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer said in a statement. Becker got his doctorate in economics at the University of Chicago in 1955 and published the book "The Economics of Discrimination" two years later. Full Story | Top |
| Teen who survived flight in wheel well back in California: report Sunday, May 04, 2014 01:29 PM PDT (Reuters) - A 15-year-old Somali boy who survived a nearly six-hour flight stowed in the wheel well of a Hawaii-bound jet has been returned to California and placed in the custody of social services, the San Jose Mercury News reported. The teen was transferred back to Santa Clara, California, without his father, who has not been allowed to see his son since the teen stowed away to Hawaii on April 20, the newspaper said on Saturday. In a statement after his son ran away, father Abdilahi Yusuf Abdi said the boy had been "struggling adjusting to life" in America. The Department of Family and Children's Services in Santa Clara County did not immediately respond on Sunday to Reuters' request for comment about the teen's custody status. Full Story | Top |
| Man treated for deadly MERS virus in Indiana improving: state Sunday, May 04, 2014 10:18 AM PDT  (Reuters) - A healthcare worker being treated in Indiana with the first U.S. case of the often fatal Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is in good condition and improving daily, the state health department said on Sunday. State and federal health officials confirmed on Friday that the man had been diagnosed with the virus after traveling to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and exhibiting symptoms upon his return to the United States. "We are very pleased the patient is improving and no other cases have been identified at this time," said Dr. William VanNess II, Indiana's state health commissioner. MERS symptoms can take up to 14 days to occur, and the virus has no known treatments. Full Story | Top |
| Young blood rejuvenates brains and muscles of old mice Sunday, May 04, 2014 10:12 AM PDT By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) - If three discoveries in mice reported on Sunday are applicable to people, making old brains and old muscles perform like young ones may require simply a blood transfusion. In two of the studies, giving the blood of young mice to old ones undid age-related impairments in the brain, reversing declines in learning and memory and boosting the creation of new neurons and the ability of the brain to change its structure in response to experience. The third study found that a protein in the blood of young mice improved the ability of old ones (comparable to a 70-year-old person) to exercise. Previous studies had shown that giving young mice blood from old mice impaired their cognitive function. Full Story | Top |
| Alstom battle to upstage Siemens chief's grand strategy launch Sunday, May 04, 2014 08:05 AM PDT  By Noah Barkin and Irene Preisinger BERLIN (Reuters) - When Joe Kaeser took the reins of German engineering giant Siemens last summer after a boardroom coup, he made clear his priority was closing a yawning profitability gap with rivals such as General Electric . On Wednesday the 56-year-old Bavarian presents his grand strategy, but it is likely to be overshadowed by something that investors and even some Siemens executives fear could undermine his profit drive: a politically-charged battle with the U.S. group for France's Alstom . Siemens announced last week that it would make a formal offer for Alstom - most likely in the form of a swap of power and rail assets - after being encouraged by the French and German governments to step in. Hours later, Alstom's board chose to accept a $16.9 billion GE bid for the French firm's energy unit. Full Story | Top |
| Big Pharma stands to profit by cleaning out its medicine chests Sunday, May 04, 2014 05:13 AM PDT  By Ransdell Pierson NEW YORK (Reuters) - Leading global pharmaceutical companies have started to view their vast portfolios of older, established prescription drugs as vehicles for raising large sums of cash to fuel development of new medicines with far higher profit margins. France's Sanofi and U.S. drugmakers Merck & Co and Abbott Laboratories are exploring selling off their mature drugs that have lost patent protection, Reuters reported this week, citing people familiar with the plans. The divestments could bring in more than $7 billion for Sanofi, north of $15 billion for Merck and over $5 billion for Abbott, the sources said, giving them considerable firepower to develop, or buy, promising experimental medicines. "It makes sense to sell your low-growth assets that drag down profit margins and to redeploy that cash to higher-value innovative biotech assets," said John Boris, an analyst with SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. e-cigarette experiment inspires new medical device Sunday, May 04, 2014 05:09 AM PDT  When Noah Minskoff's mother died of lung cancer in 2007, e-cigarettes were just entering the U.S. market. Minskoff, who had just started medical school in Utah, wondered whether the devices might have saved his mother's life by helping her quit smoking. Later, he sent some samples to his boyhood friend Nathan Terry, a mechanical engineer, and asked for his opinion. Terry, who was working in Germany for the French industrial firm Areva, took apart the products to see how they were made. Full Story | Top |
| UK's Labour call for inquiry into Pfizer's AstraZeneca bid Sunday, May 04, 2014 05:01 AM PDT  By William James LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Labour party called on Sunday for an inquiry into a potential takeover of British firm AstraZeneca by U.S. drugmaker Pfizer, accusing the government of "cheerleading" for a deal. AstraZeneca on Friday rejected a 63 billion pound ($106 billion) bid from Pfizer, but the U.S. firm is expected to pursue its efforts to acquire Britain's second largest pharmaceutical company. "We need a more substantive assessment of whether this takeover is in the national economic interest before the UK government allows itself to be seen to be supporting it," Labour leader Ed Miliband said in a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron. While the government has talked with both AstraZeneca and Pfizer, it has said it has no intention of intervening in the deal and considers it a matter for the companies' boards and shareholders. Full Story | Top |
| Labour call for inquiry into Pfizer's AstraZeneca bid Sunday, May 04, 2014 04:58 AM PDT  By William James LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Labour party called on Sunday for an inquiry into a potential takeover of British firm AstraZeneca by U.S. drugmaker Pfizer, accusing the government of "cheerleading" for a deal. AstraZeneca on Friday rejected a 63 billion pound ($106 billion) bid from Pfizer, but the U.S. firm is expected to pursue its efforts to acquire Britain's second largest pharmaceutical company. "We need a more substantive assessment of whether this takeover is in the national economic interest before the UK government allows itself to be seen to be supporting it," Labour leader Ed Miliband said in a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron. While the government has talked with both AstraZeneca and Pfizer, it has said it has no intention of intervening in the deal and considers it a matter for the companies' boards and shareholders. Full Story | Top |
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