Thursday, August 30, 2012

Daily News Digest: Reuters Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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Thursday, August 30, 2012 8:30 PM PDT
Today's Reuters Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
Romney tells voters to move on from Obama disappointment
Thu,30 Aug 2012 04:19 PM PDT
Reuters -

Republican presidenial nominee Romney and vice presidential nominee Ryan pose with members of their staff for a picture before the fourth session of the 2012 Republican National Convention in TampaTAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - Republican Mitt Romney will urge Americans in a major speech on Thursday to leave behind their disappointment in President Barack Obama and join him to rebuild the U.S. economy and generate millions of jobs. Taking center stage with an address to the Republican convention in Tampa, Florida, Romney will vow to be a champion for small business and to restore a sense of innovation in America. "What is needed in our country today is not complicated or profound. It doesn't take a special government commission to tell us what America needs. What America needs is jobs. ...


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FDA warns against use of Pfizer's Revatio in children
Thu,30 Aug 2012 03:42 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators recommended against use of Pfizer Inc's pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) drug Revatio in children up to 17 years of age, saying it had a higher risk of death when taken in a high dose. While the drug has never been approved for treatment of PAH in children, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's warning is against off-label use of the drug. ... Full Story
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St Jude reorganizes to save $50-$60 million a year, cuts 300 jobs
Thu,30 Aug 2012 03:12 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - St. Jude Medical Inc, a maker of heart devices, has realigned its product divisions into new operating units: one for implantable electronic systems and another for cardiovascular and ablation technologies. The company, which said it has eliminated about 300 jobs, expects the changes to reduce pretax operating expenses by $50 million to $60 million annually beginning in 2013. Previously, St. Jude had four divisions: cardiac rhythm management, neuromodulation, atrial fibrillation and cardiovascular. ... Full Story
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Tiny Singapore risks economic gloom without big baby boom
Thu,30 Aug 2012 02:02 PM PDT
Reuters -

File photo shows babies lying in cots at a maternity ward in SingaporeSINGAPORE (Reuters) - History suggests Singapore will enjoy a welcome baby boom in this Year of the Dragon, the most auspicious for births in the Chinese zodiac. But after 25 years of state-sponsored matchmaking and fertility-boosting campaigns, the government's attempts to arrest a sliding birth rate are falling flat, with potentially profound consequences for the wealthy Asian city-state. The calls to conception are now urgent and constant to citizens whose fertility ranks last among 222 nations in the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook. ...


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Mercury, oils from fish at odds in heart health
Thu,30 Aug 2012 01:52 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Mercury and omega-3 fatty acids - both found in fish - appear to have opposite links to heart health, scientists have found. In an analysis of more than 1,600 men from Sweden and Finland, researchers found that men with high levels of mercury in the body had an increased risk of heart attacks, while those with a high concentration of omega-3s had a lower risk. Fish are considered part of a healthy diet, but the balance between potential risks and benefits from the two compounds is not clear. ... Full Story
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Phone therapy helps some with marijuana dependence
Thu,30 Aug 2012 12:56 PM PDT
Reuters -

A young man smokes marijuana before the 10th annual Marijuana March in downtown TorontoNEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Telephone therapy may help people dependent on marijuana kick the habit, a new study from Australia suggests. Researchers found that almost twice as many users significantly cut back on marijuana following four hour-long phone counseling sessions compared to those who were put on a treatment waiting list. Knowing therapy may work over the phone could help extend treatment to people in remote areas where in-person therapy is hard to come by, according to Peter Gates, from the University of New South Wales, and his colleagues. ...


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FDA approves Ironwood constipation drug
Thu,30 Aug 2012 12:55 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc's drug to treat chronic constipation and irritable bowel syndrome with constipation for use in adults. The drug, linaclotide, will be sold under the brand name Linzess and carry a boxed warning that it should not be used in patients 16 or younger, the agency said. An estimated 63 million people suffer from chronic constipation, according to the National Institutes of Health. Additionally, an estimated 15. ... Full Story
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Midwives, nurses can safely perform abortions
Thu,30 Aug 2012 12:40 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Abortions are just as safe when performed by trained nurse practitioners, midwives and physician assistants as when doctors do them, a new review of the evidence suggests. Researchers analyzed five studies that compared first-trimester abortion complications and side effects based on who performed the procedures in close to 9,000 women - and typically found no differences. ... Full Story
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Softer restaurant music, lighting can help cut calories: study
Thu,30 Aug 2012 12:23 PM PDT
Reuters -

A gin and tonic is mixed at a hotel bar in Beverly Hills, California December 10, 2008. REUTERS/Mario AnzuoniNEW YORK (Reuters) - Just as music and lighting can influence what shoppers buy, toning down the tunes and dimming the lights in a fast food restaurant can help diners enjoy their meal more and eat less, according to a U.S. study. After transforming part of a fast food restaurant in Illinois with milder music and lighting, researchers found that customers ate 18 percent fewer calories than other people in the unmodified part of the restaurant. ...


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Cardiac arrest more common in young than thought
Thu,30 Aug 2012 12:10 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Cardiac arrest is relatively rare in young people, but it may be more common than experts have thought, according to a new study. Using 30 years of data from King County in Washington, researchers found that the rate of cardiac arrest among children and young adults was about 2.3 per 100,000 each year. That's not a big risk. But the figure is substantially higher than the "widely accepted" estimate for young athletes (not just young people in general), said senior researcher Dr. Jonathan Drezner. ... Full Story
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Pig parasite may help treat autoimmune disorders
Thu,30 Aug 2012 10:40 AM PDT
Reuters -

To match INSIGHT USA-CHINA/FOODBOSTON (Reuters) - If you had a chronic and potentially debilitating condition such as rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn's disease, and swallowing the eggs of a pig parasite could help, would you do it? The team at Coronado Biosciences Inc is betting you would. The Burlington, Massachusetts, company is developing what it hopes will be the first in a new class of treatments for autoimmune conditions. Each dose of the drug consists of thousands of microscopic parasite eggs, culled from pig feces, suspended in a tablespoon of saline solution to be swallowed. ...


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Factbox: Polonium: lethal, invisible poison
Thu,30 Aug 2012 09:48 AM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - A Swiss institute said on Thursday that it agreed to a request from the Palestinian Authority to help exhume the body of its former leader Yasser Arafat and determine whether he was poisoned, but time is running out. Here is a look at polonium-210 amid suspicions that the radioactive substance may have been used. * Polonium is a radioactive element that is present in the environment at extremely low concentrations. Polonium-210 is the most common and stable isotope, or variant. Polonium-210 is a metallic solid that can be dissolved in dilute acids. ... Full Story
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Swiss experts ready to help Arafat probe, but time running out
Thu,30 Aug 2012 09:48 AM PDT
Reuters -

A Palestinian presidential guard watches as labourers work at the mausoleum built over the grave of late leader Arafat in RamallahGENEVA (Reuters) - A Swiss institute has agreed to a request from the Palestinian Authority to exhume Yasser Arafat's body and determine whether he was poisoned, but time is running out for a credible scientific examination of his remains, it said on Thursday. The Palestinian leader died in a Paris military hospital in November 2004, a month after being flown, seriously ill, from his battered headquarters in Ramallah. Eight years is considered a limit to detect any traces of the deadly radioactive substance, the Institute of Radiation Physics in Lausanne said. ...


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Ireland cuts elderly care, overtime to plug health overspend
Thu,30 Aug 2012 09:20 AM PDT
Reuters - DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's health service will cut back on care for the elderly and overtime pay to find 130 million euros ($163 million) of new savings aimed at halting a spending overrun heavily criticized by one of the country's lenders this week. Ireland has diligently adhered to the terms of its 85 billion euro EU/IMF bailout and is set to meet its deficit reduction targets for this year, mainly thanks to better-than-expected revenue growth. ... Full Story
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Sarepta's muscle drug shows positive signs, shares jump
Thu,30 Aug 2012 08:29 AM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics Inc rose as much as 20 percent to a 19-month high on Thursday after a Missouri TV station said the company's experimental drug for muscle weakness and loss of muscle tissue showed positive signs in one of the 12 enrolled patients. The drug Eteplirsen is being tested in a mid-stage trial to treat patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a genetic disorder that causes severe and progressive muscle loss in boys and has no approved treatments. Children in the trial were either given 30 mg or 50 mg of Eteplirsen. ... Full Story
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