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| Environment as important as genes in autism, study finds Saturday, May 03, 2014 01:41 PM PDT By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Environmental factors are more important than previously thought in leading to autism, as big a factor as genes, according to the largest analysis to date to look at how the brain disorder runs in families. Sven Sandin, who worked on the study at King's College London and Sweden's Karolinska institute, said it was prompted "by a very basic question which parents often ask: 'If I have a child with autism, what is the risk my next child will too?'" The findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), suggest heritability is only half the story, with the other 50 percent explained by environmental factors such as birth complications, socio-economic status, or parental health and lifestyle. The study also found that children with a brother or sister with autism are 10 times more likely to develop the condition, three times if they have a half-brother or sister with autism, and twice as likely if they have a cousin with autism. Full Story | Top |
| Indiana hospital caring for MERS patient still bustling Saturday, May 03, 2014 11:54 AM PDT  By Karl Plume MUNSTER, Indiana (Reuters) - Along a stretch of rust-belt suburbia in Indiana, the Community Hospital in Munster now claims the dubious distinction of being the first U.S. facility to admit a patient with the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). The patient, a male healthcare worker, had traveled to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and began exhibiting symptoms upon his return to the United States, they said. Separately, Saudi officials on Saturday said the rate of infections was on the rise in the country, where MERS was first discovered in 2012. At Community Hospital, however, the news did not seem to create panic among Munster residents soon after it was broadcast on local news outlets. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. warns of plan to attack hotel in Lagos Saturday, May 03, 2014 11:21 AM PDT  The United States has warned its citizens of a plan to attack one of two Sheraton hotels near Lagos, Nigeria's main commercial hub which attracts many foreign business people and which so far has been spared by the country's violent Islamist militants. In a statement on its website, the State Department said those behind the plot were "groups associated with terrorism", but gave no further details. Nigeria is grappling with an increasingly violent Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands in the past five years. Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which is fighting to carve an Islamic state out of religiously mixed Nigeria, is still mostly confined to the northeast, although it has struck across the north and in Nigeria's capital, in the center. Full Story | Top |
| Saudi Arabia reports 25 new cases of MERS, deaths stand at 109 Saturday, May 03, 2014 06:26 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia has found 25 more cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) as the rate of infections rises and two more people have died from the new disease, the kingdom's Health Ministry said. On Friday seven people were confirmed as having MERS, followed by 18 more on Saturday, the biggest daily increase in new infections so far. On Friday the United States said it had discovered its first confirmed case of the disease in a man who had recently been in Saudi Arabia. Egypt said it discovered its first case, also in a man who had been in Saudi Arabia, on Thursday. Full Story | Top |
| Pfizer expected to be patient in face of AstraZeneca rejection Saturday, May 03, 2014 05:11 AM PDT Pfizer Inc has already had its takeover overtures rebuffed three times by rival AstraZeneca Plc, but investors in the U.S. drugmaker say it can tolerate a little more rejection before going hostile with the deal. AstraZeneca turned down a sweetened Pfizer cash and stock offer on Friday that amounted to 63 billion pounds ($106 billion), or about 50 pounds per share, saying it substantially undervalued the British drugmaker. The raised offer followed unsolicited Pfizer approaches in late April and January. Investors and analysts say Pfizer needs to raise its offer as high as 52 to 55 pounds per share to close the deal, as well as increase the cash portion to as much as 50 percent from around 30 percent. Full Story | Top |
| Pfizer U.S. research jobs jeopardized by promises to UK for merger Saturday, May 03, 2014 05:09 AM PDT  By Ransdell Pierson and Bill Berkrot NEW YORK (Reuters) - Employees at Pfizer Inc's U.S. research centers, such as the La Jolla, California site that specializes in cancer drugs, may want to dust off their resumes if the company's proposed acquisition of Britain's AstraZeneca comes to fruition. Pfizer said on Friday it was determined to reach a deal that would restore its status as the world's biggest pharmaceutical company despite AstraZeneca's rejection of its latest cash and stock offer of 63 billion pounds ($106 billion). To reassure the British government about its proposal, Pfizer has promised the combined company would keep 20 percent of its research and development workforce in the country. It also vowed to complete construction of a research center planned by AstraZeneca in Cambridge, England, and retain a manufacturing plant in the northern town of Macclesfield. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. warns of plan to attack hotel in Nigerian business hub Lagos Saturday, May 03, 2014 04:26 AM PDT  The United States has warned its citizens of a plan to attack one of two Sheraton hotels near Lagos, Nigeria's main commercial hub which attracts many foreign business people and which so far has been spared by the country's violent Islamist militants. In a statement on its website, the State Department said those behind the plot were "groups with associated with terrorism", but gave no further details. Nigeria is grappling with an increasingly violent Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands in the past five years. Two recent bomb attacks on the edge of the capital Abuja have heightened security concerns ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) for Africa that will be held there between May 7-9. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan leader ready for talks but rival doesn't commit Saturday, May 03, 2014 12:18 AM PDT  By Phil Stewart JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan's President Salva Kiir said on Friday he was ready for face-to-face talks with rebel leader Riek Machar to try and end months of fighting in the world's newest nation, but his rival held off from promising to take part. Kiir spoke hours after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met him in South Sudan's capital Juba to urge him to help end the conflict – part of a diplomatic push by Western and African powers who fear it could tip into full-blown ethnic slaughter and destabilise an already fragile region. "In the interest of peace in our country, I am willing and ready for face-to-face talks with Machar," Kiir was quoted as saying in a statement released by the government of Kenya, where he flew to brief his regional counterparts after meeting Kerry. Full Story | Top |
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