Chile's President Michelle Bachelet on Saturday visited a 14-year-old girl suffering from cystic fibrosis who made a heart-wrenching video appeal to be allowed to end her life. Valentina Maureira had addressed Bachelet personally in the message, which she recorded with a smartphone and uploaded to YouTube from her hospital bed without her parents knowledge. Maureira is in "stable" condition from cystic fibrosis, an incurable genetic disorder that attacks the lungs and other vital organs, making it difficult to breath and causing a host of other symptoms. Her message has been viewed thousands of times on social networks, igniting debate over euthanasia in Chile, where it is forbidden by law.
Herbalife Ltd cut the pay of Chief Executive Michael Johnson 36 percent for 2014 after the nutrition and weight loss company failed to meet performance goals set for him and other top executives, according to a securities filing on Friday. Herbalife said Johnson, who is also chairman, received total compensation of $6.73 million last year, down from $10.5 million in 2013, mainly because he did not receive the incentive plan compensation of $3.7 million he got the prior year. Herbalife has been closely watched since activist investor William Ackman accused the company of running a pyramid scheme in 2012, while rival investor Carl Icahn became the company's biggest owner in 2013. Herbalife, being investigated by state and federal regulators, has denied Ackman's charges.
The health condition of Singapore's first prime minister and the man widely credited with the city-state's economic success, Lee Kuan Yew, has improved slightly though he remains on mechanical ventilation, the prime minister's office said on Saturday. "Lee Kuan Yew's condition has improved slightly. He remains sedated and on mechanical ventilation in the ICU (intensive care unit)," the statement read, adding that Lee was continuing with his antibiotics. Lee, who turned 91 last September, was admitted to hospital on Feb. 5 with severe pneumonia.
By Reuters Staff CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. and Liberian researchers have started a clinical trial to test the safety and effectiveness of Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc's Ebola drug ZMapp, an experimental treatment that has already been tried in a handful of Ebola patients, including two U.S. missionaries. The trial, a joint effort by the Liberian government and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), will be conducted in Liberia and the United States among adults and children infected with Ebola, NIAID said on Friday.
By Kyle Plantz LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Doctors should take the lead in supporting political efforts to cut the pace of climate change and encouraging more people to see the problem as a crucial issue for public health, experts say. With the 68th World Health Assembly coming up in May in Geneva, countries are poised to adopt the world's first resolution on air pollution and health, in an effort to reduce premature deaths linked to air pollution. Studies have found that air pollution can worsen a variety of health problems, from heart disease to strokes, said Carlos Dora, coordinator of public health and the environment at the World Health Organization (WHO).
A U.S. federal judge has denied Indian generic drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd's bid to reinstate approvals granted to it to launch the first copies of the heartburn drug Nexium and the antiviral Valcyte, a court document showed. Judge Beryl Howell of the United States District Court for the District of Colombia on Friday also blocked Ranbaxy's plea for a preliminary injunction to halt Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, Endo International Plc and Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd from launching copies of the two drugs. The court decision came after Ranbaxy sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in November for pulling approvals that would have allowed the Indian firm to launch the first copies of Roche's Valcyte and AstraZeneca Plc's Nexium. FDA had said its earlier decision granting the approvals was "in error" as Ranbaxy's plants at the time were not compliant with the U.S. regulator's manufacturing quality standards.
By Anahi Rama and Lizbeth Diaz MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico captured its most wanted drug lord on Friday, former primary school teacher Servando "La Tuta" Gomez, and delivered a boost to a government battered by gang violence. The 49-year-old gang boss was the prime target of President Enrique Peña Nieto's effort to regain control of Michoacan, a western state wracked by clashes between Gomez's Knights Templar cartel and armed vigilantes trying to oust them. The arrest comes as Peña Nieto seeks to quell public outrage in Mexico after the late September abduction and apparent massacre of 43 trainee teachers by corrupt police in league with gang members.
Chronic fatigue syndrome is a disease with distinct stages that can be identified through biomarkers in the blood, researchers said Friday, offering hope that earlier diagnosis may improve treatment. With no known cause or cure, chronic fatigue syndrome -- known formally as encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS) -- has long puzzled the medical community. "We now have evidence confirming what millions of people with this disease already know, that ME/CFS isn't psychological," said lead author Mady Hornig, associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia's Mailman School.
The WHO estimates that around half of those between the ages of 12 and 35 in middle- and high-income countries are at risk due to unsafe levels of sound on personal audio devices or smartphones. Another 40 percent are at risk from damaging audio levels at concert venues and night clubs. "More and more young people are exposed to unsafe levels of sounds. Young people should be aware that once you lose your hearing, it won't come back," said Shelley Chadha, a WHO specialist on hearing impairment.
Chronic fatigue syndrome is a disease with distinct stages that can be identified through biomarkers in the blood, researchers said Friday, offering hope that earlier diagnosis may improve treatment. With no known cause or cure, chronic fatigue syndrome -- known formally as encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS) -- has long puzzled the medical community. "We now have evidence confirming what millions of people with this disease already know, that ME/CFS isn't psychological," said lead author Mady Hornig, associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia's Mailman School. Researchers tested levels of 51 immune biomarkers in blood plasma samples from 298 patients and 348 healthy controls.
The WHO estimates that around half of those between the ages of 12 and 35 in middle- and high-income countries are at risk due to unsafe levels of sound on personal audio devices or smartphones. Another 40 percent are at risk from damaging audio levels at concert venues and night clubs. "More and more young people are exposed to unsafe levels of sounds. Young people should be aware that once you lose your hearing, it won't come back," said Shelley Chadha, a WHO specialist on hearing impairment.
U.S. and Liberian researchers have started a clinical trial to test the safety and effectiveness of Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc's Ebola drug ZMapp, an experimental treatment that has already been tried in a handful of Ebola patients, including two U.S. missionaries. The trial, a joint effort by the Liberian government and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), will be conducted in Liberia and the United States among adults and children infected with Ebola, NIAID said on Friday.
ATLANTA (AP) — The makers of the nasal spray version of the flu vaccine say now they know why it has failed to protect young U.S. children against swine flu — fragile doses got too warm.
ATLANTA (AP) — A federal panel on Thursday recommended that two new meningitis vaccines only be used for rare outbreaks, resisting tearful pleas to give it routinely to teens and college students.
European health regulators said on Friday they had recommended approval of a drug for advanced lung cancer developed by Swiss drugmaker Novartis that is intended to treat patients with a specific genetic mutation. It is designed for use in non-small cell lung cancer patients who have previously been treated with Pfizer's Xalkori, another ALK inhibitor. Between 2 and 7 percent of non-small cell lung cancer patients have the specific mutation of the ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase) protein for which such treatment is targeted.
Sports fans risk having their hearing ruined by vuvuzela trumpets and deliberate attempts to increase stadium noise and they need to start seeing earplugs as something cool, the World Health Organization said on Friday. Shelly Chadha, a WHO expert on preventing deafness, said some U.S. sporting crowds consider breaking noise levels as an achievement, and cited a 136.6 decibel world record claimed by Seattle Seahawks fans in 2013. Asked if they should be banned, Chadha said: "Yes, well, vuvuzelas are certainly something we can live without." Around 1.1 billion young people are at risk from hearing loss, the WHO said, in addition to about 180 million who have already suffered preventable damage to their hearing. As well as sporting events, there are risks to hearing at nightclubs and from listening to smartphones, and the solutions include volume limits, noise-cancelling headphones and earplugs, which can reduce noise levels by 30 decibels, turning the roar of a fighter jet into little more than a hair dryer.
French drugmaker Sanofi's new Toujeo diabetes drug has been recommended for approval in Europe, two days after being cleared to go on sale in the United States, regulators said on Friday. The positive decision from a committee of experts at the European Medicines Agency had been expected and will pave the way for the long-lasting insulin product to go on sale soon in Sanofi's chosen first European markets of Germany and Britain. Recommendations for marketing approval by the agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) are normally endorsed by the European Commission within a couple of months. Toujeo is a more potent follow-up to the Sanofi's top-selling Lantus drug, which accounts for a fifth of the company's sales.
By Kizito Makoye DAR ES SALAAM (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A Tanzanian court has charged four people over the murder of an albino woman over six years ago as pressure mounts for authorities in the east African country to do more to stop the killing of albinos whose body parts are prized in black magic. Ezron Mwasimba, public prosecutor in the high court in northern Mwanza city, said the four were accused of killing 22-year-old Zawadi Magindu at Nyamalulu village in Geita in November 2008 and cutting off her legs and one arm. The trial is the first of its kind to be held in the Geita region where six albinos were killed and three wounded between 2007 and 2012, according to police data. "We have gathered compelling evidence against the accused persons including from members of the bereaved family who had identified them," Mwasimba told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
An independent advisory body will decide in August at the earliest on whether to recommend widespread introduction of Ebola vaccine, depending on results of clinical trials and the epidemic's course, the World Health Organization said on Friday. Reporting on a three-day meeting of experts, WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a news briefing: "Vaccine introduction is by no means a given and will depend on the results of clinical trials and recommendations from WHO's Strategy Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on vaccines and immunisation.
An independent advisory body will decide in August at the earliest on whether to recommend widespread introduction of Ebola vaccine, depending on results of clinical trials and the epidemic's course, the World Health Organization said on Friday. Reporting on a three-day meeting of experts, WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a news briefing: "Vaccine introduction is by no means a given and will depend on the results of clinical trials and recommendations from WHO's Strategy Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on vaccines and immunization.
By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's 91-year-old President Robert Mugabe told state television that his wife Grace, a rising political star in the ruling party, is not the power behind his throne. Mugabe, the only leader his country has known since independence from Britain in 1980, will be in the resort town of Victoria Falls on Saturday where his ZANU-PF party is planning $1 million birthday celebration with thousands of supporters. Grace, a former typist in Mugabe's office before they married, was hoisted into the top echelons of ZANU-PF last December after attacking former vice president Joice Mujuru, who was later fired by the veteran leader.
By Sara Ledwith and Martinne Geller LONDON (Reuters) - Electronic cigarette firms in Italy say a new levy that doubles the price of e-liquid refills unfairly helps tobacco giants like Philip Morris International and will hurt their industry. The tax, which was adopted in January, is set at half the rate of that on traditional cigarettes. The controversy centers on the fact that the lower rate is applied to both electronic cigarettes and to tobacco products such as Marlboro HeatSticks, which Philip Morris is launching in Italy alongside a 500 million euro ($568 million) factory investment.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The first peek at a major study of how Americans smoke suggests many use combinations of products, and often e-cigarettes are part of the mix.
By James Harding Giahyue MONROVIA (Reuters) - The United States military officially ended a mission to build treatment facilities to combat an Ebola outbreak in Liberia on Thursday, months earlier than expected, in the latest indication that a year-long epidemic in West Africa is waning. Washington launched the mission five months ago and the force peaked at over 2,800 troops at a time when Liberia was at the epicentre of the worst Ebola epidemic on record. Nearly 10,000 people have died in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea over the past year. More than 4,000 of those deaths were in Liberia, but the number of new cases has plummeted in recent months, leaving many treatment centres empty and the mission has already begun winding down.
By Daniel Flynn, James Harding Giahyue and Saliou Samb DAKAR/MONROVIA/CONAKRY (Reuters) - In the marble atrium of the Mammy Yoko hotel in Freetown, manager Nuno Neves has spotted something he has not seen since the Ebola virus struck Sierra Leone nine months ago: foreign businessmen. The Radisson Blu chain opened the four-star hotel in April to cater for investors in one of Africa's fastest-growing economies. A month later, Ebola crossed the border from Guinea and those investors fled. For months, Sierra Leone was cut off from the world amid panic at the worst recorded outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever, which has killed more than 9,500 people in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia and infected over 23,500.
By Kaweewit Kaewjinda BANGKOK (Reuters) - Street vendors selling deep-fried insects as snacks are a familiar sight in Bangkok, but a Thai entrepreneur is trying to give edible bugs a more upmarket appeal. Panitan Tongsiri will launch his "HiSo", short for high-society, brand of seasoned insect snacks in March and plans to stock them at gourmet food markets around the Thai capital. Crunchy crickets and worms would be a delicacy available in plain salt, cheese, seaweed and barbecue flavors at 25 baht (less than $1) per pack, said the 29-year-old businessman. ...
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf paid emotional tribute to the American people on Thursday as the United States formally wound up its successful five-month mission to combat the west African nation's Ebola outbreak. With Liberia now in recovery from the worst outbreak of the deadly virus in history, the visiting Sirleaf thanked the United States for coming to the region's aid in its hour of need. "America responded, you did not run from Liberia," Sirleaf told US lawmakers in Washington, expressing the "profound gratitude" of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. Liberia, once the country worst hit by Ebola, has registered 4,037 of around 9,600 deaths in the epidemic, which began in Guinea in December 2013.
Over a million people have received blood and marrow stem cell transplants for life-threatening diseases in the past 57 years, but too many are still waiting, a study said Friday. Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) often offers the only possibility of a cure for blood diseases and rare cancers like myeloma or leukaemia. The procedure involves taking healthy stem cells from the blood or marrow of the patient or from a healthy donor, with which to boost the system of someone whose blood-manufacturing bone marrow or immune system is damaged or defective. By December 2012, that number had risen to almost a million at 1,516 transplant centres in 75 countries.
By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Possession of small amounts of marijuana became legal in the District of Columbia on Thursday, launching a pot "green rush" despite a face-off between local officials and the Republican-led U.S. Congress over the new standards. The U.S. capital joined Washington state, Alaska and Colorado in making marijuana lawful for recreational use, reflecting a rapidly shifting legal landscape for the drug. "Nationwide, it (legalization) is clearly symbolic in its ability to impact other places" in the United States, said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. City finance officials have estimated the marijuana market at $130 million a year.
An Indianapolis police officer took a sip of McDonald's iced tea over the weekend and wound up in the hospital because the drink apparently was contaminated with cleaning chemicals, his wife told ABC News. Reserve Officer Paul Watkins went to the McDonald's at around 10 p.m. Saturday night for a self-serve tea before his shift, his wife Jerilyn Watkins said, adding that she wasn't with him at the time and his lawyer advised him not to speak to the media. The owner of the McDonald's where Watkins was served, Elizabeth Henry, issued the following statement: "Serving my customers safe, high quality food and beverages is a top priority at our restaurants. Emails to McDonald's corporate communications office seeking additional comment were not returned.
By James Harding Giahyue MONROVIA (Reuters) - The United States military officially ended a mission to build treatment facilities to combat an Ebola outbreak in Liberia on Thursday, months earlier than expected, in the latest indication that a year-long epidemic in West Africa is waning. Washington launched the mission five months ago and the force peaked at over 2,800 troops at a time when Liberia was at the epicenter of the worst Ebola epidemic on record. Nearly 10,000 people have died in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea over the past year. More than 4,000 of those deaths were in Liberia, but the number of new cases has plummeted in recent months, leaving many treatment centers empty and the mission has already begun winding down.
People who drink four to six cups of coffee daily may be less likely to get multiple sclerosis, according to international research out Thursday. "Caffeine intake has been associated with a reduced risk of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases," said lead author Ellen Mowry of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. "Our study shows that coffee intake may also protect against MS, supporting the idea that the drug may have protective effects for the brain," she added. The findings of a US and Swedish study -- released ahead of the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting in Washington -- each compared more than 1,000 MS patients to a similar number of healthy people.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald said Thursday he was committed to a law making it easier for veterans to get private health care, but he offered few answers for lawmakers irritated at the slow effort to put it in place.
A small molecule derived from an Asian herb may help stop Ebola infection by preventing the virus from entering the cells of the body, researchers said Thursday. So far the research using the calcium channel blocker Tetrandrine, found in some Chinese and Japanese herbs, against Ebola has only been done in lab animals and in petri dishes. Researchers studied several existing drugs currently used to treat high blood pressure in order to find out which small molecules were best at blocking the Ebola virus from moving any further through the cell. "When we tested in mice, the drugs stopped virus replication and saved most of them from disease," said Robert Davey, scientist and Ewing Halsell Scholar in the Department of Immunology and Virology at Texas Biomedical Research Institute.
By Alistair Bell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - (This version of the Feb. 24 story corrects the percentage of people who think parents should be allowed to choose whether to vaccinate their children, to 43 for and 48 against, instead of 38 and 44, in third to last paragraph) A large majority of Americans favor mandatory vaccinations of children, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Tuesday, apparently unswayed by some senior Republicans who have raised fears the medical shots could lead to autism. Only 13 percent opposed vaccinations. "The numbers are absolutely overwhelming in favor of vaccinations with a consistent minority in opposition," said Ipsos pollster Julia Clarke. Republican Senator Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist and potential 2016 presidential candidate, this month revived a long-running controversy over vaccinations when he said he had heard of instances where vaccines caused mental disorders.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Michelle Obama says the U.S. has seen a "culture change" in the five years since she started raising awareness about childhood obesity.
CHICAGO (AP) — Millions of Americans have a big personal stake in next Wednesday's Supreme Court challenge to the nation's health care law: Can they legally continue to get subsidies to help pay for their insurance? If the court says no, people across more than 30 states could lose federal subsidies for their premiums.
By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legalization of marijuana in the District of Columbia will go ahead early on Thursday despite a warning from congressional officials that the new standards are unlawful, Mayor Muriel Bowser said. "Our government is prepared to implement and enforce Initiative 71 in the District of Columbia," Bowser, a Democrat, told a news conference flanked by council members, Police Chief Cathy Lanier and city Attorney General Karl Racine. Her comments came in response to a warning on Tuesday from top Republicans on the House of Representative Oversight Committee that legalization was unlawful and opposed the will of Congress, which has oversight over the District of Columbia. In a letter to Bowser, committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Mark Meadows of North Carolina, head of a committee subpanel, said a December spending bill had barred the District of Columbia from spending any funds to make pot legal or lessen penalties.
By Mahmoud Mourad and Maggie Fick SADAT CITY, Egypt (Reuters) - How much is a vote worth? In Egypt's Sadat City - a sprawling, industrial center filled with the young and unemployed - it costs the same as it did under Hosni Mubarak: blankets, sacks of fertilizer and affordable healthcare. Four years after Egypt's 2011 popular uprising that toppled Mubarak and raised hopes for an end to patronage politics, many desperate citizens will cast their vote in next month's parliamentary poll in accordance with the same old system.
Australia is set to strengthen food labelling laws after a series of hepatitis A infections were linked to frozen berries from China, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Thursday. Nanna's and Creative Gourmet brand raspberries and mixed berries were recalled after being linked to some 19 hepatitis A cases across the country this month, with poor hygiene or contaminated water at their packing factory thought to be responsible. "With imported food in particular, people want to know more about where their food, where their products, are coming from," Abbott said, after pressure from consumer groups and farmers to make the process more transparent. The proposals include a graphic on packaging that includes the words "this product is made in Australia from", displaying the percentage that comes from Australia, Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said.
By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Possession of small amounts of marijuana became legal in the District of Columbia on Thursday amid a face-off between local officials and the U.S. Congress over whether the new standards are lawful. Initiative 71, a ballot measure legalizing marijuana possession and approved by 65 percent of District of Columbia voters in November, took effect at 12:01 a.m. EST. Mayor Muriel Bowser and other city officials vowed on Wednesday that legalization would go ahead despite warnings from Republicans on the House of Representatives Oversight Committee that the move was illegal. In a letter to Bowser, committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Mark Meadows of North Carolina, head of a committee subpanel, said a December spending bill had barred the District of Columbia from spending any funds to make pot legal or lessen penalties.
NEW YORK (AP) — A doctor who contracted the deadly Ebola virus but rode the subway system and dined out before he recovered from it said the media and politicians could have done a better job by educating people on the science of it instead of focusing on their fears.
Singapore's first prime minister and the man widely credited with the city-state's economic success, Lee Kuan Yew, is still on mechanical ventilation in an intensive care unit in hospital, the prime minister's office said on Thursday.
Make no mistake about it: Sports are important.That's true if for no other reason than the fact that sports absorb billions of hours of people's time -- at all ages. Whatever you think about sports, they're clearly important for that reason alone.Sports are also important because they have become a multibillion-dollar industry, one of the 10...
By Bernie Woodall and Eric Beech DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. safety regulator on Wednesday ordered Takata Corp to preserve all air-bag inflators removed through a recall process as evidence for a federal investigation and private litigation cases. It was the first time the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation, has ordered a company to preserve evidence for private litigation, said Gordon Trowbridge, a spokesman for NHTSA. The defective parts, which activate air bags in case of collision - have been linked to at least six deaths and dozens of injuries, and have resulted in several lawsuits. NHTSA claims the air bags explode with too much force, spraying metal fragments at occupants.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Twenty-two out of 24. And 206 to 96.
ATLANTA (AP) — A nasty intestinal bug sickens nearly twice as many Americans each year as was previously thought, according to the largest U.S. study to look at the problem.
