Six killed in blast in Kenyan capital: emergency services

An explosion in an area of Kenya's capital Nairobi that is popular with Somalis killed six people and wounded several others on Monday, the National Disaster Operations Centre said. In the past, such attacks in the Eastleigh area of Nairobi have been blamed on Somalia's al Shabaab Islamist group, which attacked a Nairobi shopping mall in September and killed at least 67 people. "Police are securing the area for emergency response services," the disaster organisation said on its official Twitter site. Nairobi's police commander Benson Kibui told Reuters the incident might have involved twin blasts.

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Pit bull mauls Texas toddler and her mother

The attack happened on Monday in an apartment in the town of League City, about 25 miles southeast of Houston. Officers shot the dog, and the child was flown to a nearby hospital, the League City Police Department said in a statement.



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Experts share tips on post

Boston HeraldExperts share tips on post-pregnancy fitness, fashionBoston HeraldJust make sure your regimen is tailored to your fitness level and ability. “It's got to be so personal, with anybody. There are so many ways that people experience their pregnancies. It'd be great to give someone a general program to follow, but it's ...

Protest-hit China city says no plant without public support

A city in southern China which has been the site of violent protests against a proposed chemical plant said it will not go ahead with the project if a majority of residents object to it, as authorities seek to head off more unrest. Photos posted on Weibo, China's Twitter-like microblog service, have showed hundreds of demonstrators marching along the streets over the past two days, an overturned car in flames and protesters laying bloodied on the road. "If the majority of people are against it, the city government won't make a decision contrary to public opinion," it said. Maoming residents have been protesting the production of paraxylene, a chemical used to make fabrics and plastic bottles at a plant run by the local government and state-owned Sinopec Corp, China's biggest refiner.



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AP sources: Health law sign-ups on track to hit 7M

WASHINGTON (AP) — Government officials tell The Associated Press that President Barack Obama's health care law is on track to hit 7 million sign-ups as a result of a deadline-day surge.

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Federal judge will not block Arizona rules on use of abortion drugs

By Paul Ingram TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday rejected a request by Planned Parenthood and a private women's health clinic to block new Arizona regulations that would limit the use of abortion-inducing drugs. The regulations, which go into effect on Tuesday, would require any medicine used to induce an abortion to be administered strictly according to protocols issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and instructions on the label. The FDA has approved RU-486, the so-called "abortion pill," for use within seven weeks' gestation. Doctors who have prescribed it later than that have made an off-label use which is not allowed under Arizona's law.



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Legal challenge to Alabama abortion law will go to trial, judge rules

By Verna Gates BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday ordered a trial to determine whether a new Alabama law requiring doctors who perform abortions to obtain hospital admitting privileges poses a significant impediment for women seeking an abortion. Since abortion clinics typically use traveling physicians, the law could cause the closure of three of Alabama's five facilities, a potential constitutional violation, abortion supporters have argued in court. In an 86-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson cited the possibility of an "undue burden." He ruled the trial will focus on if the law violates the constitutional rights of women who want an abortion by imposing a "substantial obstacle." "If the court finds that the statute was motivated by a purpose of protecting fetal life, then the statute had the unconstitutional purpose of creating a substantial obstacle," Thompson wrote. "Evidence establishing that the legislature passed a statute with the purpose of closing down the clinic would suffice to establish a constitutional violation," he added.



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Louisiana House passes abortion restriction bill

By Kathy Finn NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - The Louisiana House of Representatives on Monday approved a bill to impose new restrictions on abortion clinics, adopting a measure similar to one in other states that have forced clinics to shut down. Without discussion, the House voted 85-6 to approve the bill, which requires physicians who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at an adequately equipped hospital within 30 miles of the place where the abortion is performed. The bill was backed by Republican Governor Bobby Jindal and sponsored by Democratic Representative Katrina Jackson, who chairs the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus. "This is about the safety of women," Jackson said, noting a federal appeals court has upheld a Texas law that contains the same language as the Louisiana bill.



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Congress approves bill to avert Medicare pay cut for doctors

The U.S. Senate gave final congressional approval on Monday to legislation to avert a pay cut for doctors who participate in the Medicare insurance program for the elderly and disabled. By a vote of 64-35, the Democratic-led Senate sent the measure, approved last week by the Republican-led House of Representatives, to President Barack Obama to sign into law. The bill would give doctors a one-year reprieve from a 24 percent cut set to kick in this week under the Medicare payment formula, known as the Sustainable Growth Rate, or SGR. The payments affect doctors treating patients under Medicare, which pays for healthcare for nearly 51 million people in the United States who are 65 and older or disabled.



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Federal judge won't block Arizona rules limiting use of abortion drugs

(Reuters) - A federal judge rejected on Monday a request by Planned Parenthood and a women's health clinic to block new Arizona regulations that would limit the use of abortion-inducing drugs. The regulations, which go into effect on Tuesday, would require any medicine used to induce an abortion to be administered strictly according to protocols issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and instructions on the label. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)



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Deadline dash: Glitches slow health care sign-ups

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a flood of last-minute sign-ups, hundreds of thousands of Americans rushed to apply for health insurance Monday, but deadline day for President Barack Obama's overhaul brought long, frustrating waits and a new spate of website ills.

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Misleading Anti-Obamacare Ad in Michigan

Americans for Prosperity’s latest anecdotal TV ad attacking the Affordable Care Act features a Michigan mom who says her family’s “new plan is not affordable at all” and that the law is “destroying the middle class.”



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FDA panel votes in favor of two anti-infective drugs

By Toni Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A panel of advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave favorable reviews on Monday to two new medications to treat acute bacterial skin infections. The panel voted unanimously that Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc's tedizolid and Durata Therapeutics Inc's dalbavancin showed substantial evidence of safety and efficacy. The FDA is not obliged to follow the advice of its expert panels but typically does so. Cubist's shares closed up 4.4 percent at $73.15.



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U.S. court shuts telemarketing scam that targeted elderly: FTC

A scam in which telemarketers targeted elderly victims' bank accounts - stealing more than $20 million by impersonating government and bank officials through fake companies - was shut down by a U.S. court, the Federal Trade Commission said on Monday. The FTC accused Ari Tietolman, Marc Ferry and others of setting up a boiler room in Canada to cold-call senior citizens and others, saying they were from the government or from the victim's bank and were selling fraud protection and pharmaceutical benefit services or other services. Once the seniors were convinced to give their bank account information, the group would withdraw money without authorization, the FTC said. "They targeted and called senior citizens and lied to them to get their bank account information.



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Virginia lawmaker says son's suicide led to mental health reform

By Lacey Johnson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A prominent Virginia state politician whose mentally ill son attacked him before committing suicide said on Monday that healthcare reforms passed because of the incident would prevent other tragedies. Democratic state Senator and former gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds said his son's death in November 2013 had forced him to confront the shortcomings of a state system he and other lawmakers had created. Deeds' 24-year-old son, Austin "Gus" Deeds, attacked his father with a knife on November 19 at their home in Bath County, Virginia. Only 13 hours before the attack, Gus Deeds had been released from state custody after a mental health evaluation.

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Washington mayor signs marijuana decriminalization bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray on Monday signed a bill that decriminalizes possession of up to an ounce (28 grams) of marijuana in the U.S. capital, a spokeswoman said. The law makes possession a civil violation with a penalty of $25, lower than most city parking tickets. Possession had been a misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. Proponents had backed the measure as an issue of fairness. ...

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More evidence parents should monitor kids' media diet

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - How parents monitor the television and video game habits of their children is tied to the kids' performance in school, their relationships with peers and their weight, according to a new study. "It's a fairly small effect, but what's interesting about this study is because we tracked these children over time we see these effects build," lead author Douglas Gentile told Reuters Health. He is a psychologist at Iowa State University in Ames. According to Gentile, the researchers can't say children will gain one fewer pound or get in one fewer fight for every show parents approve for their kids.



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Daily, vigorous exercise helps kids get or stay fit

By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A nine-month after-school exercise program helped young kids lose body fat and improve heart and lung strength compared to kids who didn't do the program, according to a new trial. It's clear that activity is good for kids, lead author Naiman A. Khan told Reuters Health. "We saw their overall body fat, abdominal fat go down, and in the absence of the program kids actually increased in overall body fat," said Khan, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In the exercise group, kids did 20 to 25 minutes of health-related fitness activities plus 50 minutes of organized noncompetitive games meant to keep their hearts beating at 55 to 80 percent of their maximum heart rate.



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Low-cost Dominican surgeries spark warnings by US

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Beverly Brignoni was a young New Yorker seeking a less expensive way to enhance her appearance and she did what many other people are now doing: travel to the Dominican Republic for cosmetic surgery.

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Durata's anti-infective drug shows efficacy, safety -FDA panel

(Reuters) - Durata Therapeutics Inc's drug to treat acute bacterial skin infections shows substantial evidence of safety and efficacy, a panel of advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded on Monday. The panel voted unanimously in favor of the drug, dalbavancin, paving the way for its approval. The FDA is not obliged to follow the advice of its expert panels but typically does so. (Reporting by Toni Clarke in Washington; Editing by Peter Cooney)



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Watch: Ebola Outbreak in Guinea Crosses Borders

A total of four people in Liberia and Sierra Leone are thought to have contracted the Ebola virus.



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Deadline dash: Health care sign-ups amid glitches

WASHINGTON (AP) — A flood of last-minute applicants rushed to sign up for health insurance on Monday, deadline day for President Barack Obama's health care law, with more than 100,000 people at a time using the fragile system despite a new spate of intermittent ills.

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Smokers may show heart disease much younger than nonsmokers

By Krystnell Storr NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A smoker's coronary artery disease is likely to be as advanced as that of a non-smoker who is 10 years older when both show up at the hospital with a heart attack, according to a new study. Researchers looked at nearly 14,000 patients hospitalized with blockages in arteries supplying the heart muscle and found smokers were more likely than nonsmokers to die within a year. Despite their being younger, and otherwise healthier, the smokers' heart arteries were in a condition similar to those of nonsmokers 10 years older. "We saw smokers presenting the disease at age 55 and nonsmokers presenting the same disease at 65," said Dr. Alexandra Lansky, a researcher on the study.

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Mad dash for health care sign-ups on deadline day

WASHINGTON (AP) — A flood of last-minute applicants rushed to sign up for health insurance on Monday, deadline day for President Barack Obama's health care law, with more than 100,000 people at a time using the fragile system despite a new spate of intermittent ills.

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White House sees Obamacare sign-ups 'substantially larger' than six million

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Monday that it expects final enrollment numbers for private health care insurance under Obamacare in 2014 to be "substantially larger" than 6 million after a busy final weekend of in-person and online signups. "Here on the last day of enrollment, we're looking at a number substantially larger than 6 million people enrolled," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters, noting he was not sure when the government would be able to release its final enrollment figures. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Jeff Mason; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

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U.S. soda sales decline worsened in 2013: Beverage Digest

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The decline in U.S. sales of carbonated soft drinks accelerated in 2013, according to a leading beverage industry newsletter. Total sales volume fell 3 percent in 2013 to 8.9 billion cases, the ninth straight year of decline, according to Beverage Digest. That compares with declines of 1.2 percent in 2012 and 1 percent in 2011. By company, Coca-Cola Co and Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc each gained market share, according to Beverage Digest, while PepsiCo Inc's lost market share. (Reporting by Phil Wahba in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)

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Watch: Horrors at Bridgewater State Hospital

1989 "Nightline" report about the Massachusetts facility that houses mentally ill people with the criminally insane.



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U.S. administration says midday HealthCare.gov glitch resolved

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration said on Monday that it has resolved a glitch affecting HealthCare.gov that temporarily prevented new users from accessing application and enrollment tools around midday, as website traffic volumes surged hours before a midnight deadline to enroll in private health insurance. (Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)



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Five killed in blast in Kenyan capital Nairobi: emergency services

An explosion in an area of the Kenyan capital Nairobi popular with Somalis killed five people and wounded several others on Monday, the National Disaster Operations Centre said. "Police are securing the area for emergency response services," the organization said on its official Twitter site. A police commander also reported the blast and Kenya's Red Cross said more than three people were feared dead. In the past, such attacks in the Eastleigh area of Nairobi have been blamed on Somalia's al Shabaab Islamist group, which attacked a Nairobi shopping mall in September and killed at least 67 people.



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Watch: Mom Sues Massachusetts Over Son's Restraints

Joanne Minich claims her son, 31, has been in prolonged isolation at a state psychiatric hospital.



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U.S. says HealthCare.gov functions unavailable to new users

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. administration said key segments of its Obamacare website, HealthCare.gov, were unavailable to new users for a second time on Monday, as record numbers of people tried to access the site hours before the enrollment deadline for health insurance. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is responsible for implementing the healthcare law, said new users were unable to access HealthCare.gov's application end enrollment tools around midday. People already in the system were able to complete the enrollment process, officials said. ...



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‘Spring Allergy Capitals' report released for 2014; Louisville, Kentucky tops list

By Bridgett Novak NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The 12th annual "Spring Allergy Capitals" report was released today by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA). "We should point out that even Colorado Springs, Colorado, which came in last at 100, is considered bad for allergies," noted Mike Tringale, Senior Vice President of External Affairs for AAFA. "There are 320 metropolitan areas in the country and these are the 100 that have the right mix of factors to be considered ‘allergy capitals' - i.e., the most challenging for certain allergy sufferers." The factors that go into the rankings are the area's pollen score, allergy medicine utilization and the number of board-certified allergists. The pollen score, which is provided to AAFA by IMS Health, reflects recorded pollen/mold spore levels, the predicted prevalence for certain types of pollens/molds over the most recent spring season and the duration of the peak season for the most allergenic pollen types.



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Virginia voters back gay marriage as court hearing nears: poll

A majority of Virginia voters support gay marriage, according to a poll released on Monday, which comes as a lawsuit to strike down the state's ban on same-sex unions is headed to federal appeals court. Some 50 percent of voters in Virginia backed gay marriage, while 42 percent opposed it, a Quinnipiac University poll said. The strongest support is from young people, with 69 percent of Virginia voters aged 18 to 29 backing gay marriage and 25 percent opposing it, according to the Quinnipiac poll.



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Steroids shown to hurt, not help, patients in bypass surgery

By Ransdell Pierson and Bill Berkrot WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A longstanding practice of giving steroids to patients during cardiopulmonary bypass surgery to reduce inflammation failed to help patients and actually increased the risk of heart attacks, according to results of a large clinical trial. "This study shows that administering steroids during cardiac surgery requiring bypass can cause harm," said Dr. Richard Whitlock, a cardiologist with McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, who led the international trial. "Based on these results, we suggest that steroids should not be used prophylactically during cardiac surgeries that require the use of cardiopulmonary bypass." Whitlock, who presented his findings on Monday at the annual scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology in Washington, estimated that 25 percent of patients undergoing open heart surgery in the North America are given steroids.



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Guinea reports Ebola death toll rises to 78

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Health authorities in Guinea are facing an "unprecedented epidemic" of Ebola, an international aid group warned Monday as the death toll from the disease that causes severe bleeding reached 78.

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Ugandan president dismisses aid cuts at rally against gays

By Elias Biryabarema KAMPALA (Reuters) - President Yoweri Museveni told a rally of religious leaders, politicians and thousands of supporters on Monday that Uganda could live without aid that Western donors suspended or diverted in protest at an anti-gay bill that became law in February. Western donors have halted or re-directed about $118 million in aid since Museveni signed the law, which toughened existing rules against gays and prescribed life in jail for what it called "aggravated homosexuality", such as sex with a minor. Despite the Western outcry, the thousands who turned out at Monday's rally in a square in Kampala underlined public support for the law. Uganda now has of some of the toughest codes, yet it is only one of 37 African nations that outlaw homosexuality.

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New York state joins New York City in suing FedEx over untaxed cigarettes

(Reuters) - New York state joined New York City in suing FedEx Corp for allegedly violating state and federal laws by delivering untaxed cigarettes, but the company said customer privacy prevented it from checking packages without reason. New York City accused FedEx of creating a "public nuisance" through its partnership with Shinnecock Smoke Shop to ship untaxed cigarettes to homes. An amended complaint filed on Sunday included New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman among the plaintiffs seeking more than $239 million in damages and penalties. "Not only has FedEx cheated the state out of millions in tax dollars - but many of these cigarettes may have ended up in the hands of teenagers, who are particularly vulnerable to low-priced cigarettes," Schneiderman said in a statement.

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Ebola Outbreak in Guinea Spreads to Liberia, Sierra Leone

The outbreak has sickened at least 112 people, according to WHO.



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Behavior changes can help new diabetics lower heart risk

By Shereen Jegtvig NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Adopting healthier behaviors after a diabetes diagnosis may do as much as medication to prevent heart problems, according to a new study from the UK. People newly-diagnosed with type 2 diabetes were four times more likely to have a heart attack, stroke or other cardiac "event" if they changed nothing about their habits compared to people who adopted three or four healthier behaviors, like cutting out alcohol and getting regular exercise. "We wanted to produce information that would be useful for patients and practitioners and could contribute to the advice that patients are given after they have been diagnosed," said Grainne Long, who led the new study. "Having demonstrated the importance of diet (including alcohol consumption) and physical activity we want to motivate patients and practitioners to focus on lifestyle change as an important element of the management of type 2 diabetes," she told Reuters Health in an email.



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Scale of Guinea's Ebola epidemic unprecedented: aid agency

By Saliou Samb CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea faces an Ebola epidemic on an unprecedented scale as it battles to contain confirmed cases now scattered across several locations that are far apart, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Monday. The warning from an organisation used to tackling Ebola in Central Africa comes after Guinea's president appealed for calm as the number of deaths linked to an outbreak on the border with Liberia and Sierra Leone hit 80. The outbreak of one of the world's most lethal infectious diseases has spooked a number of governments with weak health systems, prompting Senegal to close its border with Guinea and other neighbours to restrict travel and cross-border exchanges. Figures released overnight by Guinea's health ministry showed that there had been 78 deaths from 122 cases of suspected Ebola since January, up from 70.

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Climate change threatens India's economy, food security: IPCC

By Nita Bhalla NEW DELHI, March 31 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - India's high vulnerability and exposure to climate change will slow its economic growth, impact health and development, make poverty reduction more difficult and erode food security, a new report by scientists said on Monday. The latest report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stresses the risks of global warming and tries to make a stronger case for governments to adopt policy on adaptation and cut greenhouse gas emissions. "This is the most extensive piece of science done on climate adaptation up until now," Aromar Revi, one of the lead authors of the report, told a news conference. "The key issue as far as India is concerned is vulnerability and exposure." The report predicts a rise in global temperatures of between 0.3 and 4.8 degrees Celsius (0.5 to 8.6 Fahrenheit) and a rise of up to 82 cm (32 inches) in sea levels by the late 21st century due to melting ice and expansion of water as it warms, threatening coastal cities from Shanghai to San Francisco.



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Scale of Guinea's Ebola epidemic unprecedented: aid agency

By Saliou Samb CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea faces an Ebola epidemic on an unprecedented scale as it battles to contain confirmed cases now scattered across several locations that are far apart, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Monday. The warning from an organization used to tackling Ebola in Central Africa comes after Guinea's president appealed for calm as the number of deaths linked to an outbreak on the border with Liberia and Sierra Leone hit 80. The outbreak of one of the world's most lethal infectious diseases has spooked a number of governments with weak health systems, prompting Senegal to close its border with Guinea and other neighbors to restrict travel and cross-border exchanges. Figures released overnight by Guinea's health ministry showed that there had been 78 deaths from 122 cases of suspected Ebola since January, up from 70.



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The fitness challenge

LivemintThe fitness challengeLivemintObsessive behaviour about maintaining weight and waistlines denies a person the pleasure of enjoying their fitness. Such people could, for instance, end up checking their weight several times a day, after each meal, or exercise even when they are sick ...

Japan allows people to return to Fukushima disaster 'hot zone'

By Mari Saito TAMURA, Japan (Reuters) - For the first time since Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster more than three years ago, residents of a small district 20 km (12 miles) from the wrecked plant are about to be allowed to return home. The Miyakoji area of Tamura, a northeastern city inland from the Fukushima nuclear station, has been off-limits for most residents since March 2011, when the government ordered evacuations after a devastating earthquake and tsunami triggered a triple meltdown at the power plant. Tuesday's reopening of Miyakoji will mark a tiny step for Japan as it seeks to recover from the Fukushima disaster and a major milestone for the 357 registered residents of the district - most of whom the city hopes will go back. "Young people won't return," said Kitaro Saito, a man in his early 60s, who opposed lifting the ban and had no intention of going home yet.

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Surgery gives long-term help for obese diabetics

WASHINGTON (AP) — New research is boosting hopes that weight-loss surgery can put some patients' diabetes into remission for years and perhaps in some cases, for good.

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Supreme Court declines to hear new contraception cases

By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up preliminary appeals brought by Roman Catholic groups that want an exemption from part of President Barack Obama's healthcare law requiring employers to provide insurance that covers contraception. The cases were brought by a series of Roman Catholic-affiliated nonprofit groups based in Washington, D.C., including Catholic University. The legal issue is different from one involving for-profit companies that also object on religious grounds to the so-called contraception mandate, which was argued before the high court last week. The Supreme Court's decision not to hear the two cases at this stage means that the federal appeals court in Washington will proceed to decide the issue.

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GSK CEO says success of heart drug 'an open question'

(Reuters) - The success or failure of GlaxoSmithKline's experimental heart drug darapladib remains "an open question" and will hinge on a second pivotal clinical study, the company's chief executive said on Monday. "There are some interesting potential signals in the secondary endpoints but an awful lot about what we've got here is going to depend on what we see on the second study," Andrew Witty told Reuters. "I think it is still an open question as to whether we've got something (that works) or not." Although darapladib failed the main goal of the first Phase III study, the trial's co-leader said on Sunday it still provided a glimmer of hope, after presenting a detailed report at the American College of Cardiology. The second Phase III study is looking at the drug's effects in less stable patients who received the medicine within 30 days of a heart attack, where it is possible it may show a bigger benefit.



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Weak euro zone data pushes TSX futures higher

(Reuters) - Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's main stock index on Monday after lower-than-expected euro zone inflation data raised expectations that the European Central Bank could ease monetary policy. June futures on the S&P TSX index were up 0.39 percent at 0845 ET. The economy bounced back by more than expected in January from a weather-induced decline in December but still has not quite regained all the lost output, Statistics Canada said. Stocks ended higher on Friday as positive U.S. ...

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Experts create intelligent 'plaster' to monitor patients

Medical engineers said Sunday they had created a device the size of a plaster which can monitor patients by tracking their muscle activity before administering their medication. Methods for monitoring so-called "movement disorders" such as epilepsy and Parkinson's disease have traditionally included video recordings or wearable devices, but these tend to be bulky and inflexible.

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Obamacare website unavailable ahead of deadline to enroll for coverage

The website for people to enroll in U.S. private health insurance was unavailable early Monday morning, just hours before the deadline for the first wave of enrollment under the healthcare law. Representatives for the Department of Health and Human Services, in a statement, confirmed the access problems to www.HealthCare.gov and said the website's usual maintenance time had been extended, but that the site was "coming back up." People have until midnight on Monday to obtain health insurance under President Barack Obama's healthcare law known as Obamacare or else face fines.

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Health care website stumbles on last day

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration's health care website is stumbling on deadline day for sign-ups.



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Five Foods for Healthier Skin

There’s a better way to keep wrinkles at bay than spending tons of money on expensive creams, pills, and skin treatments. And you don’t need a prescription or “healing time.” Here are five foods that will help you have flawless skin:



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Weight loss surgery helps reverse type 2 diabetes for some: study

Bariatric weight loss surgery on obese patients with type 2 diabetes helped many to get their blood sugar to healthy levels and to no longer require any diabetes medicines, including insulin, three years after the procedure, according to data presented at a major medical meeting on Monday. The surgery also helped patients reduce the need for high blood pressure and cholesterol medicines and led to quality of life improvements compared with those who received medical weight-loss therapy, researchers found. The study called Stampede, which involved 150 obese patients who had poorly controlled type 2 diabetes for at least eight years, was conducted by Cleveland Clinic researchers. It compared two types of weight loss surgery against weight loss attained by diet and exercise along with nutrition counseling and, for some, additional diabetes medicines that can help promote weight loss, such as Victoza from Novo Nordisk.



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GSK pulls bid to extend use of kidney drug to ovarian cancer

GlaxoSmithKline on Monday withdrew an application to use Votrient, a drug licensed for kidney cancer, to treat advanced ovarian cancer after analysis of data from a late-stage trial did not support the benefit-to-risk ratio. GSK, which had applied for approval in Europe, said it would also not continue to develop the drug for advanced ovarian cancer in other countries. Votrient, which has the chemical name pazopanib, has been approved by many regulators as a treatment for advanced kidney cancer and some types of soft cell sarcomas.



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FDA allows Curis to resume testing cancer drug

(Reuters) - Curis Inc said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowed it to resume testing its experimental cancer drug, lifting a November order halting enrolment in an early-stage trial. Enrolment for the study was halted after the death of a patient with advanced breast cancer, who experienced acute liver failure about a month after the drug, codenamed CUDC-427, was discontinued. Curis said it planned to continue testing the drug - including in combination with chemotherapy drug, capecitabine - in patients of a type of advanced breast cancer.



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Futures climb with Yellen on tap

By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday, indicating the S&P 500 will climb for a second straight session, ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. Yellen is scheduled to speak in Chicago at 9:55 a.m. EST (1355 GMT) and investors will monitor her comments for her stance on interest rates. On March 19, equities dropped after Yellen raised the possibility of an earlier-than-anticipated increase in rates.

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GOP opposition to Obamacare baffles Dr. Sullivan

Commentary: former HHS Secretary Sullivan says Obamacare resembles plan crafted by Republicans.



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Alternative treatment for cholesterol shows promise

An experimental treatment has shown promise in lowering bad cholesterol, offering hope for people at risk of heart disease but who cannot tolerate drugs known as statins, researchers said Sunday. The therapy developed by Amgen pharmaceuticals is known as evolocumab. Evolocumab is part of a new class of drugs known as PCSK9 inhibitors, which suppress a gene involved with cholesterol regulation in the liver. Research from two separate phase III trials released at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting showed it was effective in lowering LDL, or bad cholesterol, with few side effects.

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China rebel village votes, but hopes fade for fair poll

By Maxim Duncan WUKAN, China (Reuters) - Villagers in southern Guangdong who launched an open revolt against local authorities in 2011 held an election on Monday amid intensifying pressure against protest leaders, who have either been detained or sought asylum abroad. The government pressure is casting doubt on China's ability to establish grassroots democracy and underscores the limits of China's village elections, over which local governments often assert control. In 2012, Wukan, a village of 15,000 people, was seen as a model of rural democratic experimentation after it conducted secret-ballot elections, in a first, for new village leaders. The protests ended peacefully after Wang Yang, the reform-minded party secretary of Guangdong province, sent a senior official to negotiate with the villagers.



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U.S. Navy SEAL training flows into mainstream fitness

By Dorene Internicola NEW YORK (Reuters) - Training for U.S. Navy SEALs, the special operations force, follows a warrior tradition that harkens back to Samurais, but fitness experts say the tough regime is gaining popularity with entrepreneurs, corporate executives, lawyers and elite athletes. "We look at training as being as important to our life as eating and sleeping," said retired Navy SEAL commander and fitness instructor Mark Divine, the author of "8 Weeks to SEALFIT: a Navy Seal's Guide to Unconventional Training for Physical and Mental Toughness." SEALFIT draws on the varied, high-intensity interval training of CrossFit, Olympic weightlifting, plyometrics, powerlifting, gymnastics, calisthenics, strongman exercises, yoga, and martial arts.



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Bayer gets EU nod to widen use of lung drug Adempas

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German drugmaker Bayer said on Monday it won approval in the European Union to widen the use of lung drug Adempas to two life-threatening forms of pulmonary hypertension. The EU Commission cleared the use of the drug, also known as riociguat, for the treatment of chronic-thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). U.S. authorities approved the drug for the same uses in October. Bayer counts Adempas among its most promising new drugs, predicting peak annual sales of more than 500 million euros ($688 million). ($1 = 0. ...

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The six most frequently asked fitness questions

Telegraph.co.ukThe six most frequently asked fitness questionsTelegraph.co.ukThe six most frequently asked fitness questions. Ever wonder what the difference is between free weights and resistance machines? Or whether you should run or walk to lose fat? Personal fitness trainer Scott Laidler has the answers. Photo: Alamy. By ...

Takeda Pharma says Japan approves two flu vaccine drugs

TOKYO (Reuters) - Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd said on Monday it had received approval to manufacture and supply two vaccines for prevention of pandemic influenza from the Japanese health ministry. The New Drug Application for the vaccines, H5N1 "Takeda" and "Takeda", was submitted in March 2013. Takeda had entered a development, licensing and technology transfer agreement with Baxter International Inc in 2010 in which Baxter licensed exclusive rights to its cell culture-based pandemic flu vaccine technology for the Japanese market. (Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Dominic Lau)



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Novartis set to close heart drug study early after strong results

Swiss drugmaker Novartis is set to end a late-stage clinical trial of a chronic heart failure drug early, following strong interim results. The Basel-based firm said on Monday an independent committee had unanimously recommended it close its PARADIGM-HF study ahead of time after results showed patients receiving its LCZ696 drug lived longer without being hospitalized for heart failure than those who were given the standard care. The study was evaluating LCZ696 in patients with so-called reduced ejection fraction chronic heart failure. Heart failure is a condition where the heart struggles to pump blood around the body.



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New York state joins NYC in suing FedEx for shipping untaxed cigarettes

(Reuters) - New York state joined New York City in suing package delivery company FedEx Corp for allegedly violating state and federal laws by illegally delivering contraband cigarettes to people's homes. The City of New York had sued FedEx last December, accusing the company of creating a "public nuisance" through its partnership with Shinnecock Smoke Shop to ship untaxed cigarettes to homes. An amended complaint filed on Sunday included the State of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman among the plaintiffs, and sought more than $239 million in damages and penalties. The New York state alleged that FedEx knowingly shipped nearly 400,000 cartons of unstamped cigarettes to homes in the state, depriving it of $15, $27.50 or $43.50 on each carton in tax revenue.

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Liberian health authorities confirm two cases of Ebola -WHO

By Alphonso Toweh MONROVIA (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Sunday that Liberia has confirmed two cases of the deadly Ebola virus that is suspected to have killed at least 70 people in Guinea. The outbreak of the highly contagious Ebola, which in its more acute phase, causes vomiting, diarrhoea and external bleeding, has sent Guinea's West African neighbours scrambling to contain the spread of the disease. Eleven deaths in towns in northern Sierra Leone and Liberia, which shares borders with southeastern Guinea where the outbreak was first reported, are suspected to be linked to Ebola.



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Monday is the deadline to sign up for health law

Monday is the deadline to sign up for private health insurance in the new online markets created by President Barack Obama's health care law. So far, about 4 out of every 5 people enrolling have qualified for tax credits to reduce the cost of their premiums.



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Low-cost Dominican surgeries spark warnings by US

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Beverly Brignoni was a young New Yorker seeking a less expensive way to enhance her appearance and she did what many other people are now doing: travel to the Dominican Republic for cosmetic surgery.

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British experts say they have found London's lost Black Death graves

By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Archaeologists in Britain said on Sunday they had solved a 660-year-old mystery, citing DNA tests which they said proved they had found a lost burial site for tens of thousands of people killed in medieval London by the "Black Death" plague. The breakthrough follows the discovery last year of 13 skeletons wrapped in shrouds laid out in neat rows during excavations for London's new Crossrail rail line, Europe's biggest infrastructure project. Archaeologists, who say the find sheds new light on medieval England and its inhabitants, later found 12 more skeletons taking the total to 25. Limited records suggest up to 50,000 victims were buried in the cemetery in London's Farringdon district, one of two emergency burial sites.

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Afghan woman bids for power to halt slide in rights

By Katharine Houreld and Jessica Donati KABUL/KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The deeply conservative, all-male crowd at Afghanistan's Kandahar stadium stared in disbelief as the small woman in a modest black headscarf stood up and reached for the microphone. Habiba Sarabi's speech in the southern Taliban heartland city lasted only a few minutes, thanking the crowd for supporting her candidacy in next month's presidential election. During their strict Islamist rule from 1996-2001, the Afghan Taliban had banned women from education, voting and most work, and they were not allowed to leave their homes without permission and a male escort. A fair election would mark Afghanistan's first democratic transfer of power, a monumental achievement for Afghans struggling to end decades of bloodletting and cement fragile gains in education, health and human rights.

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Liberian health authorities confirm two cases of Ebola: WHO

By Alphonso Toweh MONROVIA (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Sunday that Liberia has confirmed two cases of the deadly Ebola virus that is suspected to have killed at least 70 people in Guinea. The outbreak of the highly contagious Ebola, which in its more acute phase, causes vomiting, diarrhoea and external bleeding, has sent Guinea's West African neighbors scrambling to contain the spread of the disease. Eleven deaths in towns in northern Sierra Leone and Liberia, which shares borders with southeastern Guinea where the outbreak was first reported, are suspected to be linked to Ebola.



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AstraZeneca digs into new Cambridge home with MRC drug deal

By Ben Hirschler CAMBRIDGE, England (Reuters) - AstraZeneca, which will complete its move to Cambridge by 2016, is already putting down roots in the ecosystem of the university city as it seeks to revitalize its drug research. Britain's second-biggest pharmaceuticals group said on Monday it had struck an unique deal with the state-funded Medical Research Council (MRC) under which academic scientists will work alongside its staff at its new Cambridge site. Transplanting AstraZeneca to the university city in the east of England forms the centerpiece of a $2.5 billion restructuring plan by Chief Executive Pascal Soriot, who hopes closer links with academia will spark ideas and innovation. AstraZeneca has suffered a dry period in drug discovery in recent years and badly needs to find new medicines to replace blockbusters like Nexium for heartburn and Crestor for high cholesterol that will lose patent protection in a few years.



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Afghan woman bids for power to halt slide in rights

By Katharine Houreld and Jessica Donati KABUL/KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The deeply conservative, all-male crowd at Afghanistan's Kandahar stadium stared in disbelief as the small woman in a modest black headscarf stood up and reached for the microphone. Habiba Sarabi's speech in the southern Taliban heartland city lasted only a few minutes, thanking the crowd for supporting her candidacy in next month's presidential election. During their strict Islamist rule from 1996-2001, the Afghan Taliban had banned women from education, voting and most work, and they were not allowed to leave their homes without permission and a male escort. A fair election would mark Afghanistan's first democratic transfer of power, a monumental achievement for Afghans struggling to end decades of bloodletting and cement fragile gains in education, health and human rights.

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Medtronic valve for heart defects works well a year later: study

By Ransdell Pierson and Bill Berkrot WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A non-surgically implanted heart valve meant to delay open heart surgery in children with congenital heart defects worked well for all but a few patients during a year of follow-up observation, in line with favorable results seen in original clinical trials of the Medtronic Inc product. The Melody transcatheter pulmonary valve was approved in 2010 under a U.S. humanitarian device exemption, which allowed it on the market as long as a follow-up study was conducted to assess the product's reliability and safety. "The valves had excellent function during the first year, judged by no more than mild leakage and very few patients had narrowing of the valve," said Dr. Aimee Armstrong of the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories, who was lead investigator for the follow-up study sponsored by Medtronic. Within the first year of the study, eight adverse events were seen, including three cases of heart infections, two abnormal heart rhythms and one case each of bacterial infection, major stent fracture and blood clot in the lung.



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Chinese parents, trapped in one-child web, give babies away on Internet

By Lavinia Mo, Sui-Lee Wee and Li Hui GANZHOU, China (Reuters) - Lu Libing knew he had only one choice as the birth of his third child approached. On the Internet he found "A Home Where Dreams Come True", a website touted as China's biggest online adoption forum, part of an industry that has been largely unregulated for years. Expectant couples, unwilling or unable to keep their children, go to the website looking for adoptive parents rather than abort their babies or abandon them. There are no clear statistics on how many people use these websites but "A Home Where Dreams Come True" said 37,841 babies had been adopted through its website from 2007 to August 2012.



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China's war on smog will be won or lost in polluted Hebei

By David Stanway BEIJING (Reuters) - China's war on pollution is only a few weeks old, but the battle lines are already being drawn between Beijing and Hebei, the province most synonymous with dirty air. A succession of Hebei officials used the annual session of parliament in Beijing this month to urge the central government to boost subsidies to help with job losses and other costs from mandated cuts in industrial production across the country. One local official said Hebei was taking on too much of the burden. The pleas came after Premier Li Keqiang, in his opening address to parliament on March 5, declared war on pollution in an attempt to head off growing anger over the quality of China's air, water and soil.



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Ancient rheumatism drug reduces recurring inflammation around heart

A drug that was used in the time of the pharaohs for rheumatism has proven highly effective in treating recurrent bouts of pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart, according to findings of a new clinical trial. The ancient medicine, colchicine, which has also been used for centuries as an anti-inflammatory agent for acute gout, was tested against placebo in a 240-patient pericarditis trial. The rate of recurring pericarditis was nearly halved for those taking colchicine compared with placebo, according to data presented on Sunday at the annual scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology in Washington. The condition, which causes sharp chest pain, recurred in 42.5 percent of those taking dummy pills, compared with 21.6 percent of those who got colchicine.



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Test accurately rules out heart attacks in the ER

WASHINGTON (AP) — A simple test appears very good at ruling out heart attacks in people who go to emergency rooms with chest pain.



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British experts say they have found London's lost Black Death graves

By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Archaeologists in Britain said on Sunday they had solved a 660-year-old mystery, citing DNA tests which they said proved they had found a lost burial site for tens of thousands of people killed in medieval London by the "Black Death" plague. The breakthrough follows the discovery last year of 13 skeletons wrapped in shrouds laid out in neat rows during excavations for London's new Crossrail rail line, Europe's biggest infrastructure project. Archaeologists, who say the find sheds new light on medieval England and its inhabitants, later found 12 more skeletons taking the total to 25. Limited records suggest up to 50,000 victims were buried in the cemetery in London's Farringdon district, one of two emergency burial sites.



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British experts say they have found London's lost Black Death graves

By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Archaeologists in Britain said on Sunday they had solved a 660-year-old mystery, citing DNA tests which they said proved they had found a lost burial site for tens of thousands of people killed in medieval London by the "Black Death" plague. The breakthrough follows the discovery last year of 13 skeletons wrapped in shrouds laid out in neat rows during excavations for London's new Crossrail rail line, Europe's biggest infrastructure project. Archaeologists, who say the find sheds new light on medieval England and its inhabitants, later found 12 more skeletons taking the total to 25. Limited records suggest up to 50,000 victims were buried in the cemetery in London's Farringdon district, one of two emergency burial sites.

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Kraft challenged by "healthier" macaroni and cheese brands

By Lisa Baertlein LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Kraft Macaroni & Cheese has been a favorite meal for generations of American children, but smaller brands made with more natural ingredients are starting to nibble at its market share, part of a trend that is biting into growth at large U.S. food companies. Zenobia Godschalk, an Atlanta mother of two young boys, stopped buying Kraft's "mac and cheese" after reading its complicated ingredient list. Now she buys Annie's organic version in bulk at Costco Wholesale Corp . "I'm fully aware that it is not a health food," said Godschalk, of Annie's macaroni and cheese product.

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Study shows Glaxo heart drug which failed trial has potential benefit

An experimental heart drug being developed by GlaxoSmithKline, which failed the main goal of a Phase III study of patients with chronic but well-treated heart disease, showed signs of potential benefit, the trial's co-leader said Sunday. The results presented at the American College of Cardiology scientific meeting in Washington provided a glimmer of hope that the medicine may have value. "I'm convinced there is a signal here of efficacy," said Dr. Harvey White, co-chair of the Glaxo-sponsored international study. The real test of the drug, darapladib, is likely to come from a second, late stage study in far less stable patients who received the medicine within 30 days of a heart attack.

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Edwards heart valve system tops Medtronic version in small study

The minimally invasive aortic heart valve replacement system from Edwards Lifesciences Corp performed better than a rival product sold by Medtronic Inc in the first head-to-head study of the two, according to data from a small German trial presented at a major heart meeting on Sunday. While the results are unlikely to be seen as decisive, given the size and limited scope of the study, they could provide the Edwards sales force with a valuable marketing tool as the two companies vie for market share with their competing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) systems. Both systems employ a catheter to thread the new valve through an artery into place in the heart, sparing patients too frail for open heart surgery from the invasive chest cracking procedure. The Edwards Sapien XT uses a balloon to expand the compressed valve once it is in position in the diseased valve, while the Medtronic CoreValve has a special self expanding valve using an alloy that reacts to body heat to open.



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Senegal closes border with Guinea over Ebola fears

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegal has closed its land border with neighboring Guinea to prevent the spread of the Ebola outbreak, which has killed at least 70 people.



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Study: Married folks have fewer heart problems

Love can sometimes break a heart but marriage seems to do it a lot of good. A study of more than 3.5 million Americans finds that married people are less likely than singles, divorced or widowed folks to suffer any type of heart or blood vessel problem.

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Obamacare hits milestone, but detours ahead for U.S. health law

By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's embattled U.S. healthcare law, having survived a rollout marred by technology failures, reaches a milestone on Monday with the end of its first enrollment wave, and with the administration likely to come close to its goal of signing up 7 million people in private health insurance. But as the White House and its allies declare victory, major hurdles remain. And it will take years to determine whether the law will accomplish its mission of creating stable insurance markets that can help a significant number of America's nearly 50 million uninsured gain health coverage, experts say. Republicans are counting on that uncertainty to play into their strategy for the midterm congressional elections in November.

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Senegal shuts land border with Guinea to prevent Ebola spreading

By Daniel Flynn and Saliou Samb DAKAR/CONAKRY (Reuters) - Senegal closed its land border with Guinea on Saturday to try to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus, which Guinean authorities say is suspected of killing 70 people in the deadliest outbreak in seven years. The discovery of 11 people suspected to have died of Ebola in Sierra Leone and Liberia in recent days has stirred concern that one of the most lethal infectious diseases known to man could spread in a poor corner of West Africa, where health systems are ill-equipped to cope. Senegal's Interior Ministry said in a statement it had closed the land border with Guinea in the southern region of Kolda and the southeastern region of Kedougou.



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Senegal shuts land border with Guinea to prevent Ebola spreading

By Daniel Flynn and Saliou Samb DAKAR/CONAKRY (Reuters) - Senegal closed its land border with Guinea on Saturday to try to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus, which Guinean authorities say is suspected of killing 70 people in what would be the deadliest outbreak in seven years. The discovery of 11 people suspected to have died of Ebola in Sierra Leone and Liberia in recent days has stirred concern that one of the most lethal infectious diseases known to man could spread in a poor corner of West Africa, where health systems are ill-equipped to cope. Senegal's Interior Ministry said it had closed the land border with Guinea in the southern region of Kolda and the southeastern region of Kedougou.



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Studies find new drugs greatly lower cholesterol

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new group of experimental medicines can dramatically lower cholesterol, raising hopes of a fresh option for people who can't tolerate or don't get enough help from Lipitor and other statin drugs that have been used for this for decades.



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Amgen drug lowers cholesterol up to 66 percent in pivotal studies

By Bill Berkrot and Ransdell Pierson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amgen Inc's drug from a high profile new class of experimental medicines lowered "bad" LDL cholesterol by 55 percent to 66 percent compared with a placebo in a trio of late-stage clinical trials, according to data presented on Saturday. Amgen had previously said the drug, evolocumab, met the main goals of five late-stage trials involving some 4,000 patients by significantly outperforming placebo or another cholesterol medicine in a variety of patient populations. "We're seeing excellent efficacy and the safety profile appears no different than placebo, so you can't get better than that," Dr. Michael Koren, one of the lead investigators on two of the evolocumab studies, said in a telephone interview.



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Gilead says has discounted hepatitis C drug for some health plans

Gilead Sciences Inc, under fire for pricing a new hepatitis C drug at $1,000 a pill, has discount agreements with a number of health insurers, a company executive said in an interview. The medication, Sovaldi, has a list price of $84,000 for a 12-week course of therapy and is seen as a breakthrough in the treatment of the serious liver disease. On March 20, Democratic lawmakers led by California Representative Henry Waxman asked Gilead to explain the price tag, and a meeting with the company is scheduled for next week. Health insurers and state Medicaid programs for the poor are pushing for further discounts, fearing a multibillion-dollar pricetag from treating most hepatitis C sufferers with Sovaldi and similar new medicines likely to be approved in coming years.



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Ebola spread to Guinea capital raises fears

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Ebola, one of the world's most deadly viruses, has spread from a remote forested corner of southern Guinea to the country's seaside capital, raising fears that the disease, which causes severe bleeding and almost always death, could spread far beyond this tiny West African nation's borders.

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Schools increasingly check students for obesity

CHULA VISTA, Calif. (AP) — The Chula Vista school district not only measures the academic progress of Marina Beltran's second-grader, it also measures her son's body fat.

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Daylight saving time linked to heart attacks: study

By Ransdell Pierson and Bill Berkrot WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Switching over to daylight saving time, and losing one hour of sleep, raised the risk of having a heart attack the following Monday by 25 percent, compared to other Mondays during the year, according to a new U.S. study released on Saturday. By contrast, heart attack risk fell 21 percent later in the year, on the Tuesday after the clock was returned to standard time, and people got an extra hour's sleep. The not-so-subtle impact of moving the clock forward and backward was seen in a comparison of hospital admissions from a database of non-federal Michigan hospitals. It examined admissions before the start of daylight saving time and the Monday immediately after, for four consecutive years.



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Renal denervation fails to lower blood pressure in critical test

Patients treated by renal artery denervation were no more likely to see their blood pressure decline than those who received a fake therapy in a major clinical trial, calling into question a therapy used in more than 80 countries to treat high blood pressure that doesn't respond to drugs. The study was considered a key test of the intervention in which nerve connections between the heart and kidney were disrupted in an effort to lower blood pressure as prior trials did not include a proper blinded control group for efficacy comparison. The study, released on Saturday by the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Washington, "brings the renal-denervation train to a grinding halt," said Dr. Franz Messerli and Dr. Sripal Bangalore in a Journal editorial. Because earlier tests of the technique did not involve treating some patients with sham therapy, "placebo effect may well explain all or most of the blood pressure differences" in two key trials, known as SYMPLICITY HTM-1 and HTN-2.



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Study backs nonsurgical way to fix heart valves

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new study gives a boost to fixing a bad aortic valve, the heart's main gate, without open-heart surgery. Survival rates were better one year later for people who had a new valve placed through a tube into an artery instead.



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Health law legacy eludes Obama as changes sink in

WASHINGTON (AP) — As a roller-coaster sign-up season winds down, President Barack Obama's health care law has indeed managed to change the country.

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Diet drinks raise heart concern in postmenopausal women

By Ransdell Pierson and Bill Berkrot WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Diet drinks may increase the risk of heart attacks, stroke and other heart problems in postmenopausal women, according to an informal study that could take some fizz out of enjoyment of the popular beverages. Compared to women who never or seldom consume diet drinks, those who drank two or more a day were 30 percent more likely to suffer a cardiovascular event and 50 percent more likely to die from related disease, researchers found. The findings were gleaned from an analysis of diet drink intake and consequences among almost 60,000 participants in the Women's Health Initiative, a long-running U.S. observational study of cardiovascular health trends among postmenopausal women. "Our findings are in line with and extend data from previous studies showing an association between diet drinks and metabolic syndrome," said Dr. Ankur Vyas of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, lead investigator of the study.



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Two Boston Hospitals Change Surgical Technique After Cancer Debate

High-Profile Case Linked Technique to Cancer Spread in Patient

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Soldier Flies From Afghanistan to Donate Liver to Grandfather

U.S. Army Specialist Ricky Glenn Henderson flew back from Afghanistan in hopes of donating part of his liver to his dying grandfather. The soldier has been undergoing tests since Wednesday at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas to see whether he is a possible match,...

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Guinea seeks to stem spread of deadly Ebola virus in capital

By Saliou Samb CONAKRY (Reuters) - Authorities in Guinea scrambled on Friday to halt the spread of Ebola in the capital as the Health Ministry identified another four suspected cases of a deadly virus outbreak that is estimated to have already killed 70. Officials said the previous day that five cases of Ebola had been detected in Conakry, a city of more than 2 million people, some 300 km (185 miles) from the previous infections in the West African country's remote southeast. Authorities in Guinea have launched an investigation into the movements of the infected men in Conakry and steps are being taken to deal with anyone who came into contact with them, the government said in a statement. In neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia, 11 more people have died from suspected Ebola, stirring concern that one of the most lethal infectious diseases known to man could be spreading in an impoverished region ill-equipped to cope.



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Sudbury puts off fitness fee hikes

The Sudbury StarSudbury puts off fitness fee hikesThe Sudbury StarBacklash from residents as the city upped its fitness centre fees has put the increase on hold temporarily. At Tuesday's city council meeting Val Therese-Hanmer Coun. Andre Rivest said he was receiving a lot of calls from people who were complaining ...

Isotope supplier Nordion to go private in $727 million deal

(Reuters) - Sterigenics, a sterilization services provider owned by private equity firm GTCR LLC, has reached a deal to buy Canadian medical isotopes supplier Nordion Inc for $727 million. The offer of $11.75 per share represents a 12 percent premium to Nordion's closing price on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, the companies said. "That's basically what our fair value was (for Nordion), so we think they're getting a fair price," Morningstar analyst David Krempa said. Nordion's U.S.-listed stock trades at 8.3 times forward earnings, a slight discount to the sector median of 11.4.



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Louisiana faced with revealing lethal injection details to inmate

The Louisiana Department of Corrections does not plan to appeal a U.S. Court decision this week that compels it to reveal to inmates on death row the content and maker of drugs used in lethal injections, a prisons official said on Friday. The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Thursday was one in a series in favor of inmates who have sought delays for their execution while they seek information about the contents of lethal injection cocktails and clarity on who would be supplying the drugs. The decisions are likely to delay executions across the country as lawyers for inmates in other states launch similar efforts on their behalf in states looking to develop new means of lethal injection after supplies of drugs they have once used have run dry. "The state will not appeal the decision," Darryl Campbell, the executive management officer of the Louisiana Department of Corrections, told Reuters.



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Sterigenics to buy isotope supplier Nordion for $727 million

(Reuters) - Sterilization services provider Sterigenics will buy Canadian medical isotopes supplier Nordion Inc for $727 million. The offer of $11.75 per share represents a 12 percent premium to Nordion's closing price on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, the companies said. (Reporting By Sneha Banerjee in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian)



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FDA Oks new therapy to prevent hemophilia bleeding

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first hemophilia B treatment designed to decrease frequency of injections to prevent the excessive bleeding the clotting disorder causes.



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Louisiana faced with revealing lethal injection details to inmate

The Louisiana Department of Corrections does not plan to appeal a U.S. Court decision this week that compels it to reveal to inmates on death row the content and maker of drugs used in lethal injections, a prisons official said on Friday. The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Thursday was one in a series in favor of inmates who have sought delays for their execution while they seek information about the contents of lethal injection cocktails and clarity on who would be supplying the drugs. The decisions are likely to delay executions across the country as lawyers for inmates in other states launch similar efforts on their behalf in states looking to develop new means of lethal injection after supplies of drugs they have once used have run dry. "The state will not appeal the decision," Darryl Campbell, the executive management officer of the Louisiana Department of Corrections, told Reuters.



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Study: MMA brain injury risk higher than boxing

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — About one-third of professional mixed martial arts matches end in knockout or technical knockout, indicating a higher incidence of brain trauma than boxing or other martial arts, according to a new study in the American Journal of Sports Medicine.



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Sterigenics to buy isotope supplier Nordion for $727 million

(Reuters) - Sterilization services provider Sterigenics will buy Canadian medical isotopes supplier Nordion Inc for $727 million. The offer of $11.75 per share represents a 12 percent premium to Nordion's closing price on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, the companies said. (Reporting By Sneha Banerjee in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian)



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U.S. FDA approves Biogen's hemophilia B drug Alprolix

Biogen Idec Inc has won U.S. approval for its long-acting hemophilia B treatment Alprolix, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday. Hemophilia B is a rare, inherited disorder in which a person's blood does not clot properly, which can lead to prolonged bleeding and bruising. Biogen is developing the drug in partnership with Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB. Patients with hemophilia A lack or have reduced levels of coagulation factor VIII.



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Mild head injuries linked to risk of death years later

By Shereen Jegtvig NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Adults hospitalized with mild head injuries have almost double the risk of dying in the next 15 years compared to similar people with no history of head injury, according to a new UK study. It's not clear whether lifestyle before and after a head injury is to blame for the increased risk, if the injury itself has lingering effects, or both, researchers say. "There is evidence in the study that points to lifestyle factors and health before and after the head injury," said lead author Tom McMillan, of the Institute of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow. High rates of death in the year following a severe head injury have been well documented, McMillan and his colleagues write in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.



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