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| Venezuela's Chavez still suffers breathing trouble Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 07:29 PM PST  CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's cancer-stricken president, Hugo Chavez, is still suffering respiratory problems after surgery in Cuba two months ago, the government said on Thursday in a somber first communiqué since his homecoming this week. Struggling to talk and breathing through a tracheal tube, the 58-year-old socialist leader is being treated at a Caracas military hospital after returning unseen before dawn on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ending long break, White House and Republicans renew budget talks Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 04:04 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After weeks without talks on the U.S. budget crisis, President Barack Obama called Republican leaders on Thursday to discuss the harsh "sequestration" cuts to government spending due to begin in just over a week. In what might be just the start of long negotiations to prevent the $85 billion in cuts, Obama spoke to House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The conversations were "good," White House spokesman Jay Carney said, but he declined to provide details. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama expresses doubt about a March 1 deal to head off cuts Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 03:20 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama expressed doubt on Thursday that a deal can be struck with Republican lawmakers by a March 1 deadline to head off the start of $85 billion in spending cuts. His comments, made in an interview with radio talk show host Al Sharpton, suggested the White House was preparing for the possibility the March 1 deadline will pass with no deal. That would set off a chain reaction of automatic spending cuts that if left unchecked over the next few months could lead to thousands of job furloughs. ... Full Story | Top |
| European regulators reject Vivus diet pill again Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 03:00 PM PST (Reuters) - European health regulators for a second time rejected a diet pill developed by Vivus Inc and said the obesity treatment would not be approved there unless the company conducts a large lengthy trial to prove its heart safety, Vivus said on Thursday. The drug, sold in the United States as Qsymia, was approved by U.S. regulators last year. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also approved another diet pill, Belviq, sold by Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc, making them the first new obesity drugs approved in the United States in more than a decade. ... Full Story | Top |
| In U.S., flu vaccine worked in just over half of those who got it Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 02:50 PM PST  CHICAGO (Reuters) - A U.S. government analysis of this season's flu vaccine suggests it was effective in only 56 percent of people who got the shot, and it largely failed to protect the elderly against an especially deadly strain circulating during flu season. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the findings underscore the need for more effective weapons in the fight against influenza, which kills between 3,000 and 50,000 people in the United States each year depending on the severity of the flu season. ... Full Story | Top |
| Male soccer players more prone to hamstring strains Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 01:41 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Men are more likely to strain a hamstring playing college soccer than women, according to a new analysis of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) injury records. The findings also suggest that games - as compared to practices - and preseason training are the riskiest times for hamstring tears. Hamstrings are the group of muscles behind the thigh. When the muscle is stretched too far or when too much force is put on it, muscle fibers can tear. ... Full Story | Top |
| Just say don't: Doctors question routine tests and treatments Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 01:41 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Now there are 135. That's how many medical tests, treatments and other procedures - many used for decades - physicians have now identified as almost always unnecessary and often harmful, and which doctors and patients should therefore avoid or at least seriously question. The lists of procedures, released on Thursday by the professional societies of 17 medical specialties ranging from neurology and ophthalmology to thoracic surgery, are part of a campaign called Choosing Wisely. ... Full Story | Top |
| Most women misunderstand IUD birth control Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 01:29 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In a new survey, most women had inaccurate perceptions about the safety and effectiveness of intrauterine devices (IUDs) in preventing pregnancy, say U.S. researchers, who urge doctors to talk more about the benefits of the devices. In particular, many of the study participants didn't know that IUDs are more effective contraceptives than the birth control pill and that the devices don't increase the risk of getting a sexually transmitted disease. ... Full Story | Top |
| New Saudi case takes SARS-like virus death toll to seven Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 01:22 PM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - A patient admitted to hospital in Saudi Arabia with a new virus from the same family as SARS has died, taking the global death toll from the previously unknown disease to seven. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday the patient died on February 10, two weeks after entering hospital. The cause of death was confirmed by a laboratory test three days ago. The virus, called novel coronavirus, or NCoV, was unknown in humans until it emerged in the Middle East last year. There have now been 13 confirmed cases worldwide, including in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Britain. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. indicts peanut processors in 2009 salmonella outbreak Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 01:13 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four years after a salmonella outbreak linked to tainted peanut butter sickened hundreds in the United States and killed nine, authorities have charged the former owner of the company and several employees with fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Federal prosecutors on Thursday alleged the group covered up the presence of salmonella in its peanut products for years, going so far as to create fake certificates showing the products were uncontaminated even when laboratory results showed the reverse. ... Full Story | Top |
| Maduro could run Venezuela if Chavez resigned: Correa Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 01:03 PM PST QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador's President Rafael Correa said on Thursday that Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is recovering from cancer surgery, but if he had to step down Vice President Nicolas Maduro would be "extremely capable" of running the OPEC nation. Correa, who won a sweeping re-election victory on Sunday, told Reuters he thinks Maduro is the right person to take over in Venezuela if the socialist leader needs to step down. "Regardless of who may take charge, my main concern is that Chavez recovers ... ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. says will not pay Haiti cholera compensation claims Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 12:19 PM PST  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Thursday it would not pay hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation claimed by cholera victims in impoverished Haiti, where an epidemic has killed thousands of people and been blamed on U.N. peacekeepers. Cholera - an infection causing severe diarrhea that can lead to dehydration and death - has killed some 7,750 Haitians and sickened almost 620,000 since October 2010. It occurs in places with poor sanitation. In November 2011, the Boston-based Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti filed a petition at U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Medicare drug costs to fall in 2014, but donut hole widens Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 12:03 PM PST  CHICAGO (Reuters) - There will be good and bad news next year for seniors using Medicare's prescription drug program. Overall, enrollees can expect a year of flat or decreasing Medicare prescription drug costs, according to data released last week by the federal government. The government said Medicare's per-beneficiary drug costs fell 4 percent last year. As a result, some of the most important numbers in the program's 2014 Part D will drop by roughly the same amounts. The number that will matter most to seniors is the standard annual plan deductible. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. funds 25 states to test new Medicaid models Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 12:02 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Department of Health and Human Services said on Thursday that it would provide 25 of the 50 states with funding to test new ways to lower costs and improve care within the national Medicaid program for the poor. The first states to receive State Innovation Model awards are Arkansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon and Vermont, which will implement plans to transform their healthcare delivery system under President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law, which sets aside $300 million for the overall venture. ... Full Story | Top |
| Experts issue guidelines for gene tests in kids Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 11:53 AM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Groups representing pediatricians and geneticists issued new recommendations on Thursday to provide doctors with guidance about when to test a child's DNA for genetic conditions. The recommendations are the first collaboration between the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. Neither organization has issued guidelines for genetic testing of kids in over a decade, according to one of the study's lead authors. "What we're trying to show is a unified and consistent message about genetic testing in children," said Dr. ... Full Story | Top |
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