Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Senior drivers strive to stay on the road

Don Robertson, 66, right, smiles as he prepares to give a lift to Mary Roberts, 88, amid a snowstorm on the first day of spring in Toms River, NJ on March 20, 2015 Don Robertson isn't the type to let a snowstorm on the first day of spring -- or his age -- stop him from doing his appointed rounds. "Driving means to keep motivated," says "Mr. Don" as he set outs in his SUV to pick up a fellow Jersey Shore senior who no longer holds a driver's license. Nearly 85 percent held driver's licenses in 2010, compared to barely half in the early 1970s, according to American Automobile Association (AAA) research. "We know through research that older drivers are among the safest on the road," said Jacob Nelson, the AAA's director of traffic safety advocacy and research.








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Stigma stalks India's leprosy sufferers as disease returns

A leprosy patient looks out of her living quarters in a leprosy colony in New Delhi Ganga Kalshetty was just two years old when India declared itself leprosy-free in 2005, giving her family hope that she would be spared the disfiguring disease and its social stigma. Kalshetty lives in one of India's dozens of informal "leper colonies", where many of her relatives are afflicted with the disease. Seven months ago her worst fears came true when she, too, was diagnosed with the disease. "I don't want to suffer like her," the 12-year-old told AFP as she glanced at her grandmother's clawed hands, a hallmark of leprosy sufferers, at the family's home in New Delhi.








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Texas measure cuts HIV funds, boost abstinence education

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas would cut $3 million from programs to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and spend that money instead on abstinence education under a contentious Republican-sponsored measure tucked into the state budget Tuesday night.



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Ebola scare shows problems in computer models

Sierra Leone health officials check passengers transiting at the border crossing with Liberia in Jendema in order to prevent the spread of Ebola on March 28, 2015 Flaws in computer modelling led to apocalyptic forecasts of how the deadly Ebola virus would spread in West Africa, specialists said. Many of the models were off-the-shelf software that failed to take into account complexities and uncertainties in the way the disease spread in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, they said on Tuesday. "In the early days of the Ebola outbreak, a lot of people got into the forecasting business," said Aaron King of the University of Michigan in the United States, who led a probe into why so many predictions turned out to be wildly wrong. "They did it using appealingly simple mathematical models, and the result was a series of warnings that alerted the world, quite rightly to the seriousness of the situation.








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Health providers' stand could invite other execution methods

FILE - This May 27, 2008 file photo shows the State of Texas execution chamber in Huntsville, Texas. A leading association for pharmacists on Monday has approved a proposal declaring that participation in lethal injection executions by compounding pharmacies would be a violation of core pharmacy values. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File) SAN DIEGO (AP) — The medical community has become united in its opposition to playing any role in capital punishment killings.








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Life. Life. Now!

Life. Life. Now! This a talk from the Beyond Conference I gave in March, 2015 about living life in the present. I spoke about my weight loss journey and recovering from a seizure I had in October, 2014.








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1,000-Year-Old Eye Infection Salve May Kill MRSA Super Bug, Study Shows

Could a tenth century eye salve be the secret to fighting modern super bugs?



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3D print technology provides 'robohand' to 7-year-old girl

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. (AP) — Although she never had much interest in prosthetic limbs before, Faith Lennox couldn't wait to slip on her new robohand and road-test it.



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This Is Nursing

This Is Nursing This is why I fell in love with my coworkers and with our nursing profession. I cannot look at this picture without getting a little teary. If you're religious, what religion you practice, whatever it is you may believe in... none of it matters. When we've had a horrific outcome, when we have had a close call, when one of our own is sick, we...








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Spain to restore free health care for illegal immigrants

Spain's conservative government will restore free health care for illegal immigrants, overturning a controversial decision taken three years ago Spain's conservative government said Tuesday it would restore free health care for illegal immigrants, overturning a controversial decision taken three years ago. Under a reform that came into place in September 2012, foreigners without residency papers lost their national health cards which allowed them free treatment in local public health clinics. Illegal immigrants who are over 18 only get free treatment in case of an emergency, pregnancy or birth. "It is more sensible and reasonable that this care be given in health centres so emergency wards are not saturated," Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said as he announced that all undocumented immigrants would once again come within the fold of the public health system.








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5-Year-Old Detroit Shooting Victim Trades an Eye for an 'Aye' in Pirate-Themed Party

Donovan Lyles Jr. was struck by a stray bullet from a random shooting. He lost his eye but not his spirit.



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7 Easy Ways to Boost Your Metabolism

7 Easy Ways to Boost Your Metabolism By K. Aleisha Fetters, DETAILS(photo: Eric Ray Davidson)While marathon sweat sessions can certainly kick your metabolism into high gear, there's a faster, better way to rev up your fat-burning potential. Below are seven seriously simple moves that will slash through more calories than minutes."Your metabolism is the sum of everything your body...








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Take Back Your Life One Hour At a Time

Take Back Your Life One Hour At a Time Have you been at dinner and the person at the next table takes a business call, of which you hear everything? Or at the movies and in front of you, someone is checking their email? Maybe you've been out for a walk and instead of enjoying the scenery, people all around have their earbuds in, missing the first callings of spring. Perhaps that...








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National Eating Disorder Awareness Group Endorses Aerie Underwear

Underwear line gets high praise for using unretouched model photos.



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Pharmacist group says members shouldn't aid in executions

FILE - This May 27, 2008 file photo shows the State of Texas execution chamber in Huntsville, Texas. A leading association for pharmacists on Monday has approved a proposal declaring that participation in lethal injection executions by compounding pharmacies would be a violation of core pharmacy values. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File) SAN DIEGO (AP) — In a move that could heighten the hurdles faced by states attempting to execute prisoners, a leading association for U.S. pharmacists has officially discouraged its members from providing drugs for use in lethal injections.








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Monday, March 30, 2015

Mexico double-transplant patient gets US humanitarian pass

FILE - In this May 2, 2014, file photo, Jose Chua Lopez, left, holds hands with his mother, Myra Lopez Martinez, during a news conference in Hermosillo, Mexico. Family and friends raised thousands of dollars to send Jose Chua Lopez to the prestigious Mayo Clinic for an urgently needed heart and liver transplant. But the 20-year-old Mexican born with a heart defect has twice been turned down for a U.S. visa, and relatives and his doctor say his life is in danger. (AP Photo/El Imparcial) MANDATORY CREDIT MEXICO OUT MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security gave a 90-day humanitarian pass to a 20-year-old Mexican man seeking a double heart and liver transplant, his mother said Monday.








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Arizona governor signs abortion drug notification mandate

PHOENIX (AP) — Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill Monday that requires abortion providers in Arizona to tell women they can reverse the effects of a drug-induced abortion and also bars women from buying any health care plan through the federal marketplace that includes abortion coverage.



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Three old

Toronto StarThree old-school workouts to rival trendy fitness fadsToronto StarBefore you poo-poo this workout of yesteryear, ask yourself this: When was the last time you took a fitness class that didn't involve a push-up or some variation of it? The push-up, considered the “perfect exercise” by countless fitness pros, is a ...

How to Change the Habits of 107,000 People

It was 1995, and Pieter Ernst was battling a serious problem.Ernst was a physician with an interest in community-wide behavior change, and he was currently in Mozambique. For nearly 20 years, a brutal civil war had ravaged the population and landscape of the country.The war had ended three years earlier, but the entire health care system of the...



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Bruce Rauner hops on Jake Steinfeld's fitness wagon

Chicago Business JournalBruce Rauner hops on Jake Steinfeld's fitness wagonChicago Business JournalSince its launch in 2012, the Foundation has opened youth fitness centers in 10 states and the District of Columbia. In 2015 Steinfeld and his Foundation hope to open three fitness centers in Illinois, with more centers also coming on line this year in ...

Why You Should Care About GNC's New Supplement Guidelines

GNC responds to investigation revealing mislabeling of ginseng, echinacea and others.



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Spanish hospital conducts complex face transplant

A Spanish hospital successfully carries out the world's most complex face transplant, reconstructing the lower face, neck, mouth, tongue and back of the throat of a man terribly disfigured by disease A Spanish hospital said Monday it has successfully carried out the world's most complex face transplant, reconstructing the lower face, neck, mouth, tongue and back of the throat of a man terribly disfigured by disease. A team of 45 physicians, nurses, anaesthesiologists and other health professionals carried out the 27-hour operation in early February at Barcelona's Vall d'Hebron University Hospital, the hospital said in a statement. "This is the first time that a transplant of this complexity is performed in the world," the statement said. The man had been examined in several other hospitals, including the Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical School in the United States, which had considered him to be inoperable but the Barcelona hospital ruled surgery was his only treatment option.








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Guinea shuts border with Sierra Leone in effort to end Ebola

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Guinea closed its border with Sierra Leone on Monday as part of new efforts to stamp out Ebola, an official said.



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An Apple a Day May Not Keep the Doctor Away After All, a New Study Finds

An apple a day may not keep the doctor away but it couldn't hurt.



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Sierra Leone back to work after Ebola lockdown

Sierra Leone health officials check passengers at the border crossing with Liberia in Jendema on March 28, 2015 Sierra Leoneans breathed a sigh of relief on Monday as they emerged from a three-day nationwide lockdown imposed in a bid to prevent a resurgence of the deadly Ebola virus. The country's population of more than six million had been confined to their homes starting early on Friday, for the second time in six months, on orders from President Ernest Bai Koroma. "Stepping out this morning, I took several sniffs of the fresh air and said 'thank you, Lord'," hawker Tommy Carew smiled as he returned to the streets in the capital Freetown. The lockdown was called over fears the disease that has killed almost a third of the 12,000 people infected in Sierra Leone was making a comeback around the capital and in the north.








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Do You (Really) Know What's Good for You?

Do You (Really) Know What's Good for You? I don't generally watch morning television; I doubt that will much surprise anyone. But watching a bit of morning television is all but unavoidable when you are in fact on morning television. Most of the shows are running their own programming continuously on monitors in the so-called "green room."And so it is that I saw a bit of the Today show...








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Exercising critically ill patients may help speed recovery

In this photo provided by the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, taken March 11, 2015 in the intensive care unit at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, physical therapist Katie Kellner helps patient Terry Culler do some exercises and briefly stand despite being hooked to a ventilator. There's increasing evidence that mild exercise may have its place even for the sickest ICU patients, and new animal research suggests it may target both muscles and lungs. (AP Photo/Warren Cameron Dennis III, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center) WASHINGTON (AP) — The intensive care unit is a last frontier for physical therapy: It's hard to exercise patients hooked to ventilators.








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US Ebola patient's health improves again

Sierra Leone health officials check passengers at the border crossing with Liberia in Jendema on March 28, 2015 An American healthcare worker who contracted the dangerous Ebola virus while working in Sierra Leone has improved and is now listed in fair condition, hospital officials said Monday. The man, whose identity has not been revealed, "has improved from serious to fair condition," said a statement from the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. In a statement released on Thursday, PIH co-founder Paul Farmer said that the man had, "in the opinion of some of the best doctors and nurses in the world, turned the corner," after his condition improved from critical to serious. The patient was evacuated from Sierra Leone on March 14 and brought to the NIH's Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland just outside Washington for treatment.








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An apple a day may not keep the doctor away, study says

FILE - This Aug. 30, 2012, file photo, shows a variety of apples in Concord, N.H. A study published Monday, March 30, 2015, in JAMA Internal Medicine challenges the old adage: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away," finding daily apple eaters had just as many doctor visits as apple shunners. (AP Photo/Matthew Mead) CHICAGO (AP) — An apple a day doesn't necessarily keep the doctor away. That's according to proverb-busting research that found daily apple eaters had just as many doctor visits as those who ate fewer or no apples.








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Ways to Deal With Painful Sex

When you've always enjoyed sex and suddenly it hurts, it can be upsetting.



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Ways Exercise Makes You Look and Feel Younger

The powers of a steady fitness routine are impressive.



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Indiana Couple Welcomes 'One in a Million' Set of Triplets

A naturally conceived set of triplets can be as rare as "one in a million."



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Being Yourself, That's the Greatest Gift and Service

Being Yourself, That's the Greatest Gift and Service Readjust your vision. Refocus on what's true for you. What's that well inside you bringing forth? Where's that inner thrust leading you? Once you make yourself the center of your world, you step into your power. You'll begin to create from the inside out, making visible what only you could see before, bringing into being what was previously...








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6 Ways You're Healthier Than You Think

6 Ways You're Healthier Than You Think So you’re not "eating clean," training for a marathon or meditating before your restorative nap each day? Relax -- you still might be healthier than you think.By Carlin Flora1. You talk about whole foods more than you eat them, but you speak two languages.Lifelong bilinguals are protected against the onset of dementia, compared with...








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7 Truths About Personal Power

7 Truths About Personal Power It is a fundamental need to search for and express your personal freedom and power in life. It is through experiencing our unrestricted freedom that happiness comes. You are here to gain from struggle your higher standards for the living and loving you dream to experience. Empower yourself to stay motivated in overcoming the fears which keep...








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How Sex Boosts Brain Power And Memory

How Sex Boosts Brain Power And Memory As you get older one of the biggest things that go is your brain function. Your memory starts to fade, and you can't remember things like you used to. It's one of the scariest things about getting older because memory loss really erases a person's identity. Well, good news people, a new study has found that a good way to fight memory loss is...








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The enduring myth of cost shifting

Commentary: don't believe insurers line that fed cuts boosting costs



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Sunday, March 29, 2015

Goldilocks Wasn't a (Happy) Runner

Goldilocks Wasn't a (Happy) Runner I could be wrong, but if I had to guess, I'd say Goldilocks would not have been a happy runner. Too hot. Too cold. Too wet. Too windy. Too tired. Too long. Too short. Too hilly.A few weekends ago I laced up for an 18-mile run. Two weeks before I had just run the Austin Marathon -- pacing my husband for the first time. I didn't have a...








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How Many Steps Should You Be Taking Each Day? 10 Tips to Help You Meet the Goal

How Many Steps Should You Be Taking Each Day? 10 Tips to Help You Meet the Goal There are dozens of ways to keep track of fitness and overall health, from heart rate tracking to calories burned and beyond. While some are more accurate than others, the best method is one that works for you. Bonus points if it's simple and objective.Click Here to see the Complete List of Tips to Help You Reach 10,000 Steps a DayOne such...








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The World's Most Beautiful Places to Do Yoga

The World's Most Beautiful Places to Do Yoga Yoga is about drawing your focus inward, but that doesn't mean a stunning landscape can't enhance your practice.Click Here to see the Complete List of The World's Most Beautiful Places to Do YogaUltimately, it's you, the yogi, who will decide what constitutes the most beautiful place for setting up your practice. It's wherever you feel most at...








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Do You Fear Losing Weight?

Do You Fear Losing Weight? I get that going for what you really want can be terrifying... (including with your weight loss).I understand that going for what you really want can be terrifying sometimes and thoughts can run through your mind, such as "What if it doesn't happen for me?" "What if I can't handle it?" "What if my dream never comes true and then I feel...








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Britain to offer all infants meningitis B vaccine

LONDON (AP) — Britain says it will become the first country to offer all babies a vaccine for potentially fatal meningitis B after it reached a price deal with GlaxoSmithKline PLC.



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A Wake-Up Call and a Scary Diagnosis

A Wake-Up Call and a Scary Diagnosis As a business speaker and trainer, I shake a lot of hands. But for the past year, I have done so as quickly as possible, then tried to keep my hands out of sight. I do a lot of presentations and it's hard to be effective with your hands tucked away, but I was mortified for others to see them.My hands aren't deformed. I keep my nails nice, but I...








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Guinea president reinforces emergency Ebola measures

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Guinea's president says new measures will be taken to combat Ebola in the country's western region including restrictions on burials and possible lockdowns.



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Struggle to explain what motivated co-pilot in doomed flight

Inhabitants pay tribute to the victims in front of a stele, a stone slab erected as a monument, set up in the area where a Germanwings aircraft crashed in the French Alps, in Le Vernet, France, Saturday, March 28, 2015. The crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 into an Alpine mountain Tuesday killed all 150 people aboard, and has raised questions about the mental state of the co-pilot. Authorities believe the 27-year-old German deliberately sought to destroy the Airbus A320 as it flew from Barcelona to Duesseldorf. (AP Photo/Claude Paris) LONDON (AP) — A disgruntled worker shoots up a workplace. A student opens fire at a high school. A pilot crashes a planeload of people into a mountainside.








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Saturday, March 28, 2015

45-day Ebola 'health emergency' declared in five Guinea regions

Guinean President Alpha Conde speaks during a press conference on the Ebola response strategy and post-Ebola economic recovery at the presidential palace in Conakry on March 17, 2015 Guinean President Alpha Conde on Saturday declared a 45-day "health emergency" in five regions in the west and southwest of the Ebola-hit nation in a bid to stem the spread of the deadly disease. Since the Ebola outbreak began in Guinea in December 2013, more than 24,000 people in nine countries have been infected with the virus, and over 10,000 of them have died. All but a handful of those deaths have occurred in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.








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Colleges getting out of health insurance business

In this Dec. 15, 2014 photo, Stacy Crites, right, a nurse on campus at the University of Washington's Hall Health Primary Care Center in Seattle, takes the temperature of Kandice Joyner, left, a junior studying archeology, during a routine check-up. An unintended side-effect of federal health care reform is leading colleges across the country to transition out of the health insurance business. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) SEATTLE (AP) — The federal health care overhaul is leading some colleges and universities to get out of the health insurance business.








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Torn-up sick notes show crash pilot should have been grounded

Andreas Lubitz runs the Airportrace half marathon in Hamburg By Tom Käckenhoff DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) - German authorities said on Friday they had found torn-up sick notes showing that the pilot who crashed a plane into the French Alps was suffering from an illness that should have grounded him on the day of the tragedy. French prosecutors believe Andreas Lubitz, 27, locked himself alone in the cockpit of the Germanwings Airbus A320 on Tuesday and deliberately steered it into a mountain, killing all 150 people on board. "Documents with medical contents were confiscated that point towards an existing illness and corresponding treatment by doctors," said the prosecutors' office in Duesseldorf, where the co-pilot lived and where the doomed flight from Barcelona was heading. Germanwings said Lubitz had not submitted any sick note that would have grounded him on Tuesday, March 24, the day of the crash.








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ICYMI: Gender Bias, Sleep Justice And Iceland's Genetic Experiment

ICYMI: Gender Bias, Sleep Justice And Iceland's Genetic Experiment ICYMI Health features what we're reading this week. During this last week in March, we were captivated by the story of Iceland's cache of genetic information and an exposé on the problem of gender bias in medical experiments. We also affirmed a long-held belief that sleep habits tell the story of economic inequality in America.Read on and tell...








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15 Ways Your Environment Makes You Eat More (Or Less)

15 Ways Your Environment Makes You Eat More (Or Less) By Melissa Dahl Follow @melissadahlBrian Wansink, the best-selling author and Cornell professor of nutrition science and consumer behavior, has made a career out of studying the ways people accidentally eat more than they intended to. His work examines how environment shapes eating behavior, and how our human predilection toward mindless eating...








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Friday, March 27, 2015

Why I Don't Drink As a Spiritual Choice and Four Practices for More Clarity

When I first met my life partner 10 years ago, he had just quit doing a whole host of things that weren't healthy for his mind, body or spirit. We met in a meditation center, and I soon found out he was struggling with addiction. I didn't have the same struggles with craving alcohol as we began to live a healthy life together.What I had was...



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Indiana Couple Expecting 'One in a Million' Triplets

Matt and Ashley Alexander are expecting identical triplet girls who were conceived naturally.



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Michigan Man Calls 911 After Mistakenly Eating Pot Brownies

The 58-year-old thought he was having a deadly stroke, but he was actually having a reaction to marijuana-laced brownies his daughter had baked, police said.



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White House unveils plan to fight antibiotic-resistant germs

President Barack Obama talks about antibiotic-resistant bacteria as he meets with members of the his Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, Friday, March 27, 2015, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Friday announced a five-year plan to fight the threat posed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria amid fears that once-treatable germs could become deadly.








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Keep Calm and Git 'em Done

You have about two weeks left before your taxes are due; here are some quick tips to getting'em done, getting any refund you are due quicker, and setting yourself up for next year. Locate your favorite and trusted tax resource. Whether it is a Tax Pro you have confidence in or self-preparation software that you have researched, using a trusted...



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The 3 Things That Wreck Your Hormones (Part 3)

The 3 Things That Wreck Your Hormones (Part 3) Part 3 of 3: STRESSIn the last installment, part two of three, we explained how your hormones can be wrecked by aging. This installment will explain the final culprit: stress. Being able to thrive under stress will help you be more resilient so that even when things go wrong, you will remain alert, energized and able to manage whatever comes...








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Germanwings Crash: How Often Pilots Commit 'Aircraft-Assisted Suicide'

Researchers examined 20 years of plane crash data to delve into pilot suicides.



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Can Choosing to Eat More Mindfully Free Us From a Dieter's Mentality?

Can Choosing to Eat More Mindfully Free Us From a Dieter's Mentality? What did you have for breakfast the day before yesterday? Do you remember? And aside from what you actually ate, how did you actually eat it? Or were you so rushed to get your day started that you skipped breakfast on that day all together?Too often in our multitasking-oriented society, we rob ourselves of the quiet moments in life that we not...








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School Tells 'Tiny' Girl Her Body Mass Index Is Too High

Amanda Moss was shocked by the note given to her 54-pound daughter who stands 3 feet 10 inches tall.



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The Affordable Care Act... Your Insurance, Your Problem

The Affordable Care Act... Your Insurance, Your Problem When I was a teen, I recall having the Cadillac of insurance plans. We could go to any doctor, hospital, or pharmacy and wave our insurance card around like it was an American Express black card. Everything was covered. In fact, I remember going to the pharmacy one day to pick up a prescription and being told that I owed a co-pay of fifty...








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Sierra Leoneans stay home in final push to stop Ebola

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Sierra Leone's 6 million people are being confined to their homes for three days beginning Friday as the West African nation resorts again to a sweeping shutdown in a final push to stamp out Ebola.



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U.S. House okays bipartisan bill to fix Medicare doctor payments

Speaker of the House John Boehner speaks as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and George Miller listen before the signing the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act By Susan Cornwell and Caroline Humer WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a bill to permanently repair the formula for reimbursing Medicare physicians, marking a rare bipartisan achievement and sending the issue next to the Senate. The measure drafted and driven forward by Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi would fix a long-standing problem with how Medicare pays doctors. The Senate may not act until it returns from a two-week recess that starts this weekend. Democratic President Barack Obama praised the House passage and said he hoped the Senate would approve the measure too, because he wants to sign it.








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Germanwings co-pilot had serious depressive episode: Bild newspaper

Undated file picture of co-pilot Andreas Lubitz The pilot who appears to have deliberately crashed a plane carrying 149 others into the French Alps received psychiatric treatment for a "serious depressive episode" six years ago, German tabloid Bild reported on Friday. Prosecutors in France, after listening to the cockpit voice recorders, offered no motive for why Andreas Lubitz, 27, would take the controls of the Airbus A320, lock the captain out of the cockpit and deliberately set it veering down from cruising altitude at 3,000 feet per minute. Citing internal documents and Lufthansa sources, Bild said Lubitz spent a total of one and a half years in psychiatric treatment and that the relevant documents would be passed to French investigators once they had been examined by German authorities. Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr told a news conference on Thursday that Lubitz had taken a break during his training six years ago, but did not explain why and said he had passed all tests to be fit to fly.








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Senate delays vote on bipartisan bill on Medicare doc fees

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-run Senate has delayed giving final congressional approval to bipartisan legislation permanently blocking Medicare cuts for physicians until next month.



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Pelosi irks some allies to help craft rare bipartisan bill

FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2015 file photo, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio is handed the gavel from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, after being re-elected for a third term to lead the 114th Congress, as Republicans assume full control for the first time in eight years, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Pelosi is bruising some key liberal allies by helping craft a rare bipartisan accord on Medicare. Lawmakers say it will enhance her deal-making status. And it might help her party avoid being sidelined by majority Republicans on future issues. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File) WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is bruising some key liberal allies by helping craft a rare bipartisan accord on Medicare.








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Thursday, March 26, 2015

Wrong kitty litter led to radiation leak at New Mexico nuke waste dump

A radiation leak at an underground nuclear waste dump in New Mexico was caused by "chemically incompatible" contents, including kitty litter, that reacted inside a barrel of waste causing it to rupture, scientists said on Thursday. The U.S. Energy Department report on last year's radiation accident at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad showed that a drum of waste containing radioisotopes like plutonium was improperly packaged at the Los Alamos National Laboratory near Santa Fe before arriving for disposal.



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Superbugs could kill a million Chinese a year: economist

Several novel diseases have emerged from China in recent years, including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and human outbreaks of different strains of bird flu China faces a million deaths a year from antibiotic-resistant superbugs and a loss of $20 trillion by 2050, an economist and former top Goldman Sachs executive said Thursday. Beijing should "take ownership" of anti-microbial resistance (AMR) when it hosts the G20 summit next year, said Jim O'Neill, the leader of a British government-commissioned review on the subject. O'Neill, former chief economist at the US investment bank and chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said that the threat put "China's remarkable economic performance in the last decade and its enormous future potential" in jeopardy. The review, announced last year by British Prime Minister David Cameron, has found that by 2050, drug-resistant infections could cut global gross domestic product by 2.0 to 3.5 percent and kill 10 million people a year around the world.








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Senior police official in Fresno, California, arrested on drug charges

(Reuters) - The deputy police chief in Fresno, California, was arrested on Thursday on charges of participating in multiple conspiracies to distribute heroin, oxycodone and marijuana, the FBI said. Keith Foster, 51, was arrested along with three other residents of Fresno, about 170 miles south of Sacramento, an FBI statement said. Two other Fresno residents also face drug charges but have not yet been arrested. "It is important that we do everything we can to maintain and enhance the trust that our citizens have in us," Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer told a news conference after Foster's arrest.



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Rugby-Saracens at forefront of on-field concussion research

By Justin Palmer LONDON, March 27 (Reuters) - When Saracens took the field against Newcastle Falcons in the Aviva Premiership last month only the eagle-eyed in the 7,000-strong crowd would have noticed the small plaster behind the ears of their black-shirted heroes. The white sticky tape holds in place a tiny impact sensor that the club hope will produce scientific evidence on the short-term and long-term effects of concussion on professional rugby players. With increased concern over head injuries in a sport of big men and big hits, Saracens, the 2011 English champions and last year's Heineken Cup runners-up, want to be at the forefront of research. "We've been aware, like most people in rugby, for some time that concussion is an issue," Saracens chief executive Edward Griffiths told Reuters.



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Rugby-Ten-minute cooler is key concussion advance

By Mitch Phillips LONDON, March 27 (Reuters) - For all the scientific advances and extensive research projects it seems the greatest development in the recognition and treatment of concussion in rugby has been the ability to spend 10 minutes with a dazed player in a quiet room. "Creating the opportunity for players to be taken off to an appropriate quiet environment for assessment has been one of the major changes," Simon Kemp, the Rugby Football Union's head of sport's medicine, told Reuters in an interview. "Ten years ago when a player said he was dazed for a few seconds he probably wouldn't have been viewed as having a concussion. "You don't usually feel any pain with a concussion so it has to be taken out of the player's hands.



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Rugby-Concussion worries cast shadow in World Cup year

By Justin Palmer LONDON, March 27 (Reuters) - Rugby officials, fans and television executives revelled in a thrilling Six Nations championship finale but concerns surrounding concussion and its long-term impact on players continue to cast a shadow over the game. The sight of England fullback Mike Brown lying unconscious after a sickening blow to the head or the controversy that surrounded Wales winger George North being allowed to play on after appearing to be knocked out has re-ignited the concussion debate in a sport with bigger, faster players than ever before. Head injuries have long been a concern in America's National Football League, highlighted again this month when Chris Borland, a 24-year-old linebacker with the San Francisco 49ers, announced his retirement. A lawsuit brought by thousands of former NFL players, which is awaiting judicial approval, is expected to cost the league in around $1 billion and there are fears rugby union could follow down the litigation route.



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Japan makes a start on sharing lessons from nuclear crisis

By Megan Rowling SENDAI, Japan (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When professional boxer and model Tomomi Takano heard that children in Japan's Fukushima prefecture were becoming unfit and overweight as the 2011 nuclear crisis there limited the time they could play outside, she decided to use her skills to help. "They really concentrated on the boxing and tried hard," she said at a recent U.N. conference on disasters in the northeastern city of Sendai. The boxer hopes to run more sessions in Fukushima to improve children's agility and provide an outlet for their emotions. Takano and civil society activists in Sendai said they wanted to communicate to the rest of the world the human impacts of the crisis sparked when a huge earthquake and tsunami caused nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant to melt down four years ago.



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Senate tries to score political points on way to budget vote

By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday launched a marathon session that will end with a vote on a budget plan after lawmakers weigh in on dozens of amendments that are likely to have more effect on campaign ads in 2016 than the final spending plan. Senators are voting on everything from gun control to sick leave to sanctions on Iran. The marathon session is supposed to be part of the Senate's annual budget ritual, but this is the chamber's first budget vote in two years and only the second since 2009. It drew more than 600 initial proposals, more than twice the number in 2013, Senate aides said.



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UK must cut aid for Nepal if 'endemic' corruption persists: report

By Kieran Guilbert LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The British government should make cuts to its 86 million pound aid budget for Nepal unless the country takes action to combat poor governance and "endemic" corruption, a parliamentary committee said on Friday. The Department for International Development (DFID)'s funding has seen Nepal make huge progress in health, water and sanitation, but this spending will only be justified if governance improves, the International Development Committee (IDC) said. DFID should also address the needs of women and girls in Nepal, who are at risk of trafficking, early marriage, domestic abuse and murder, by working to change social norms and ensure justice for victims, the IDC said in a report.



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Dallas Woman Behind Bars for Allegedly Giving Illegal Butt Injections

Dallas Woman Behind Bars for Allegedly Giving Illegal Butt Injections A Dallas woman has been arrested for allegedly administering to patients illegal cosmetic procedures -- butt injections -- without a medical license, according to police. Denise Rochelle Ross, known as "Wee Wee," turned herself in to authorities Wednesday because she had been wanted for practicing medicine without a license, according to the Dallas Police Department. Her alleged accomplice, Jimmy Joe Clark, is still at large.








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Swiss authorities target 'live cell' injection clinics

Swiss health regulators announced March 26, 2015 they have launched a criminal probe into clinics suspected of giving clients potentially dangerous animal cell injections as part of anti-ageing treatments Swiss health regulators announced Thursday they have launched a criminal probe into clinics suspected of giving clients potentially dangerous animal cell injections as part of anti-ageing treatments. The investigation targets private clinics and people who have illegally offered the injections which are particularly popular among wealthy Chinese, Middle Eastern and Russian nationals, said the Federal Office of Public Health (OFSP).








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Boehner, Pelosi show gridlock is not U.S. Congress's only option

U.S. House Speaker Boehner reacts during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington By Richard Cowan and Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Maybe it was the kiss that John Boehner planted on Nancy Pelosi's cheek that early January day in front of the entire House of Representatives that should have provided a clue. Not long afterward, Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the House, dispatched a top healthcare adviser to a secret meeting with his counterpart working for Pelosi, the Democratic leader. The Boehner aide's mission, according to a source who asked not to be identified, was to determine whether Pelosi might be willing to collaborate on major legislation. Two months later, after scores of private conversations and hard bargaining, the work by America's political odd couple bore fruit with a 392-37 House vote to overhaul the Medicare program that delivers healthcare for the elderly and disabled, including fixing for good its troubled formula for paying physicians.








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Syria has OKed three of 33 U.N. aid access requests in 2015: official

By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Syrian government has only allowed the United Nations to deliver aid to three of the 33 sites it has requested access to this year, aid chief Valerie Amos said on Thursday as she urged the U.N. Security Council to take "concrete steps." Syrian troops removed surgical, medical and reproductive health supplies from two convoys granted access, Amos told the council. Medical supplies for just 58,000 people had reached some of the 4.8 million people in hard-to-reach areas, she said. "I ask this council to make it clear to the government of Syria that these convoys must be allowed to proceed and their security forces should allow the free passage of all supplies to people in need," Amos told the 15-member council.



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Ebola virus has mutated less than scientists feared: study

Medical staff clean their protection suits as part of the fight against the Ebola virus on March 8, 2015 at the Donka hospital in Conakry The Ebola virus is not mutating as quickly as scientists had feared, which is good news for treating the disease and preventing its spread, a study showed Thursday. "The Ebola virus in the ongoing West African outbreak appears to be stable -- that is, it does not appear to be mutating more rapidly than viruses in previous Ebola outbreaks, and that is reassuring," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).








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Ayurveda for Springtime Balance

Ayurveda for Springtime Balance Happy Spring! Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space are the five elements that make up all that exists in our universe according to Ayurveda, the ancient Indian science of life. Look around you and feel inside of yourself. Notice the elements. Can you find anything that is not a combination of the five elements?Each one of us has a unique mind...








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White House crafts first-ever plan to fight superbugs

By Yasmeen Abutaleb and Lisa Baertlein NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The White House is due to issue an ambitious plan to slow the growing and deadly problem of antibiotic resistance over the next five years, one that requires massive investments and policy changes from a broad array of U.S. government health agencies, according to a copy of the report reviewed by Reuters. The 60-page report is the first ever to tackle antibiotic resistance so broadly. Administration officials were not immediately available to comment. Doctors and health experts have warned for decades that rising rates of resistant bacteria are leading to tens of thousands of deaths, threatening to nullify modern medical advancements.



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Two experimental Ebola vaccines pass safety test in African trial

Some of the ultrastructural morphology displayed by an Ebola virus virion is revealed in this undated handout colorized transmission electron micrograph Two experimental Ebola vaccines, one from GlaxoSmithKline PLC and the other from biotech start-up NewLink Genetics Corp, "appear to be safe" part way through a clinical trial being conducted in Liberia, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on Thursday. The two vaccines, each given in a single injection, are being tested for safety and efficacy on more than 600 people in Liberia in a mid-stage clinical trial sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a branch of NIH.








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More teenage recruits as Yemen conflict intensifies, U.N. says

By By Tom Esslemont LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - All warring sides in Yemen are increasingly using teenage boys to swell their ranks as fighting intensifies, the U.N. children's agency (UNICEF) said on Thursday. Fighting began to spread across Yemen last September, when Houthi rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, and began to fan out across the country, forcing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi from his seat of power. During the same period UNICEF said it had documented 144 cases of recruitment of boys under 18. "Joining the armed forces and armed groups is often seen as a way to support families and the exacerbation of the conflict has increased recruitment opportunities," Micaela Pasini, the agency's head of child protection in Yemen, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.



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California plans public forums on marijuana legalization options

California officials will hold forums starting next month across the most populous U.S. state to seek public input on proposals to legalize marijuana under a strict tax and regulatory system, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom said on Thursday. California became the first U.S. state to allow medical marijuana at a ballot in 1996, and it was followed by several other states, some of which also later legalized recreational use of the drug by adults. Announcing the start of the public phase of the work of a state commission that he leads on marijuana policy, Newsom said that over the past 18 months the panel identified three key issues related to legalization, tax and regulation. "With marijuana legalization increasingly likely in California, it is vital that policymakers are informed by the expert think tank we've assembled to make sure any changes in law are thoughtfully constructed and implemented safely and effectively," Newsom said in a statement.



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Indiana's HIV Outbreak Prompts Declaration of Public Health Emergency

Governor Mike Pence outlines programs to address the rise in cases of the virus in Scott County.



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New pandemic insurance to prevent crises through early payouts

By Alex Whiting LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In the wake of the Ebola crisis, a quiet revolution is taking place that is set to transform the way governments and aid agencies respond to major disease outbreaks. Analysts are developing insurance schemes that could turn the humanitarian system on its head, by paying out money as soon as a disease breaks out to stop it becoming an international crisis, rather than trying to raise funds after the event. The World Bank, the African Union, a consortium of aid agencies and experts in the private sector are starting to do the sums and figure out what such schemes could look like. What the crisis of last year has done is to cause an upheaval in the whole of the humanitarian sector in terms of thinking of how to mitigate disasters, rather than just respond afterwards," Gordon Woo, a catastrophist specializing in pandemics at Risk Management Solutions, said in a telephone interview.



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Sweden's Medivir in partner talks for drug candidate MIV-802

Swedish pharmaceutical company Medivir is in ongoing discussions to license hepatitis C drug candidate MIV-802 to another firm, it said on Thursday. In December Medivir said MIV-802 had been selected as a candidate drug and entered non-clinical development. "It is almost unlikely that we will take it trough a phase-II," Chief Executive Niklas Prager told a meeting of investors, analysts and media and added that it is more likely that the company will sign a partner agreement for the drug candidate's further development. Medivir has the ambition to deliver on average one drug candidate every year, and to maintain an average of one project in the first phase of clinical development.



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TV documentary probes mysteries, treatments, advances in cancer

Documentary filmmaker Burns speaks about his film, The Central Park Five, at the National Press Club in Washington By Patricia Reaney NEW YORK (Reuters) - For documentary maker Ken Burns the film "Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies" has a special significance because the multiple Emmy award-winner's mother died of the disease when he was a boy. Burns was 11 years old when she lost her battle with cancer, an event he said robbed him of his childhood. Directed by Barak Goodman ("Scottsboro: An American Tragedy") and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book "The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer" by Indian-born American scientist Siddhartha Mukherjee, the documentary will begin airing on PBS on Monday. Part scientific and investigative report, the series chronicles the history of cancer, early misconceptions, discoveries into its causes, the development of chemotherapy and targeted therapies and the latest advances in immunotherapy.








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FDA to scrutinize unproven alternative remedies

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal officials plan to scrutinize the safety and evidence behind alternative remedies like Zicam and Cold-Eeze, so-called homeopathic products that are protected by federal law, but not accepted by mainstream medicine.



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With diabetic nerve damage, walking can pose fall risk

By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) - Diabetics with nerve damage are more likely to have an uneven stride and struggle to maintain their balance even when walking on flat ground, a small study finds. So-called peripheral neuropathy, or diabetic nerve damage, can lead to numbness and pain in the feet, legs and hands. It is the most common complication of diabetes, and though it has long been linked to an increased risk of falls, less is known about how specific body movements contribute to balance problems during daily activities such as walking or climbing stairs. "By investigating the activities during which falls are more likely to occur, we can look to identify specific detriments of the underlying balance mechanisms, allowing a more targeted and educated approach to preventing falls within this population in the future," lead author Steven Brown, of Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK, said in an email interview.



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Hawaii Woman Receives Bionic Eye Implant

The 72-year-old patient lost her eyesight two years ago due to a hereditary disease.



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Why Cigarette Usage Is At Record Lows And Dropping

Why Cigarette Usage Is At Record Lows And Dropping Cigarettes used to be everywhere in American society. Fifty years ago, 42.4 percent of U.S. adults smoked. Since then, that figure has declined by more than half, reaching a record low 17.8 percent in 2014. What’s more, the rate is still dropping. How did we reach the point where clouds of smoke a la "Mad Men" look so anachronistic? Several...








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Red Cross urges all sides in Yemen to obey laws of war

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has called on all sides in a widening conflict in Yemen to obey the rules of war, voicing concern at reports of civilian casualties following Saudi-led air strikes. Warplanes from Saudi Arabia and Arab allies struck Shi'ite Muslim rebels fighting to oust Yemen's president on Thursday, a gamble by the world's top oil exporter to check Iranian influence in its backyard. In a statement, the ICRC urged all sides to protect civilians and medical facilities, ensure the wounded get medical attention, and treat detainees humanely, in line with the Geneva Conventions. "All parties involved in the current round of violence are bound by the rules governing the conduct of hostilities," said Cedric Schweizer, who heads an ICRC delegation of 300 aid workers in Yemen.



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Soccer-West Brom to highlight head injuries with Astle retro kit

West Bromwich Albion will play in a 1968 retro kit in the Premier League match against Leicester City on April 11 to honour former striker Jeff Astle who died from a condition caused by regular blows to the head. The Premier League have granted permission for the club to wear the same white strip with red socks that West Brom wore in the 1968 FA Cup final when Astle's goal beat Everton. Albion will wear the kit, numbered from two to 11 with no branding, to mark the launch of the Jeff Astle Foundation, set up to raise awareness of brain injuries in sport and offer support to sufferers.



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WHO urges Europeans to work together to counter high drug prices

The WHO logo is pictured at the entrance of its headquarters in Geneva By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - European governments need to be better at sharing expertise about the cost-effectiveness of new medicines to counter the budget strains posed by the arrival of a wave of costly drugs, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Only a few countries across Europe have robust systems in place to evaluate whether drugs are worth using at the prices asked by manufacturers, the WHO said. "The ultimate goal is to protect patients’ interests and to ensure that they are not provided with expensive new medicines that offer little or no improvement in health outcomes,” said Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO regional director for Europe. The WHO, which set out the challenges facing Europe in a 180-page paper on Thursday, said the issue was most acute in low- and middle-income countries with less developed health systems.








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Obama ready to sign bipartisan fix for Medicare doctor payments

By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he was ready to sign bipartisan legislation to change the formula for reimbursing Medicare physicians, while the U.S. Senate's top Democrat appeared open to allowing a vote on the measure. Both developments signified growing support for a bipartisan effort to address a persistent problem and make small adjustments in Medicare costs. "Congress is working to fix the Medicare physician payment system. I’ve got my pen ready to sign a good, bipartisan bill," Obama, a Democrat, said at the White House, adding that this would be "really exciting." The House of Representatives is expected to vote on Thursday on the proposal negotiated by Republican Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.



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Superbugs could kill a million Chinese a year: economist

Several novel diseases have emerged from China in recent years, including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and human outbreaks of different strains of bird flu China faces a million deaths a year from antibiotic-resistant superbugs and a loss of $20 trillion by 2050, an economist and former top Goldman Sachs executive said Thursday. Beijing should "take ownership" of anti-microbial resistance (AMR) when it hosts the G20 summit next year, said Jim O'Neill, the leader of a British government-commissioned review on the subject. O'Neill, former chief economist at the US investment bank and chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said that the threat put “China’s remarkable economic performance in the last decade and its enormous future potential" in jeopardy. The review, announced last year by British Prime Minister David Cameron, has found that by 2050, drug-resistant infections could cut global gross domestic product by 2.0 to 3.5 percent and kill 10 million people a year around the world.








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Conatus Pharma's liver drug succeeds in mid-stage study

(Reuters) - Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc said its experimental lead drug was more effective than a placebo in a mid-stage study in patients with a form of fatty liver disease. The drug, emricasan, was tested in 38 patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, including some sufferers of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a more severe form of the condition, the company said on Thursday. Several drugmakers, including Gilead Sciences Inc, Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc and France's Genfit SA, are in the race to develop treatments. The study determined the drug's effectiveness by measuring reductions in biomarkers associated with cell death and inflammation, considered to be drivers of progressive liver disease.



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ADVISORY-Rugby union concussion package

With concussion becoming one of the key welfare matters in rugby Reuters has put together a package of stories examining the issue. We have interviews with Mike Carter, a leading paediatric neurosurgeon and expert in the field, Simon Kemp, the head of sports medicine at the Rugby Football Union who has long been at the forefront of concussion research, and Sean Davey, a former coach and referee who is now a Television Match official. We also have a feature on the state-of-the-art impact sensors being used by English Premiership club Saracens to monitor the effect of concussion, as well as a general overview of the issue and how it currently impacts on a game that appears to be becoming an ever-more physical contest between, bigger, fitter players.



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EU antitrust regulators to investigate ecommerce

Competition European Commissioner-designate Vestager of Denmark addresses the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, at the EU Parliament in Brussels By Foo Yun Chee and Rene Wagner BERLIN (Reuters) - European Union regulators plan a year-long investigation into ecommerce to help remove barriers to cross-border trade in the 28-nation bloc, the EU's antitrust chief said on Thursday. European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said she decided to launch the inquiry because such hurdles were hampering the growth of online sales as well as signs that some companies may be deliberately blocking trade. According to the European Commission, while one in two EU consumers shopped online last year, just 15 percent of them bought a product online in another EU country. "It is high time to remove remaining barriers to ecommerce, which is a vital part of a true Digital Single Market in Europe," Vestager told reporters.








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Stada agrees oncology deal with Indian Hetero Drugs

German generic drugmaker Stada struck an alliance with family-owned Hetero Drugs Ltd of India to gain access to active ingredients for cancer drugs, Stada said on Thursday. As part of the agreement in principle, with details yet to be hammered out, Stada will get exclusive marketing rights in Europe for generic oncology drugs developed and produced by Hetero. Stada will also get a sub-license in further regions outside India and the United States. The alliance covers cancer drugs that will lose patent protection between 2016 and 2020 and Stada will decide at a later stage whether Hetero compounds will also go its existing oncology drugs, Stada Chief Executive Hartmut Retzlaff said at a press conference.



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New Ebola infections continue to drop, Guinea still a concern

Children come forward to get their feet disinfected after a Red Cross worker explained that they are spraying bleach, and not spraying the village with the Ebola virus, in Forecariah The three nations hardest hit by West Africa's Ebola epidemic recorded the lowest weekly total of new cases so far this year in the week leading up to March 22, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday. The figures are a further indication that the outbreak, which has killed more than 10,300 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, is waning. Forty-five of those were in Guinea. The falling number of new cases in Sierra Leone and Liberia as well as a receding zone of transmission mean that treatment capacity now far exceeds demand there, and the WHO is working with local authorities to dismantle surplus centres.








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Amy's Kitchen Recall: What to Know About Spinach Listeria Outbreak

Amy's Kitchen Recall: What to Know About Spinach Listeria Outbreak Amy's Kitchen and at least three other organic food companies have recalled products this week because of listeria found in organic spinach, which may cause you to think twice before you reach for foods containing Popeye the Sailor Man's favorite ingredient. Amy's Kitchen, which makes organic products, recalled nearly 74,000 cases of them because of the listeria scare this week. Twin City Foods said its products were sold at Wegmans Supermarkets, Inc., which also issued a separate recall because the spinach was sold under the Wegmans brand name. The Food and Drug Administration said its policy is not to name the supplier or comment on whether it is investigating, but Coastal Green LLC in Oxnard, California, told ABC News it supplied leafy greens to all three companies.








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Price tag of bipartisan bill averting Medicare doc fee cuts

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bipartisan bill preventing cuts in doctors' fees for treating Medicare patients would total $214 billion in costs over the coming decade. Highlights of the CBO analysis (in rounded numbers):



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House ready to pass Medicare doc bill; Senate's view unclear

In this March 19, 2015, photo, House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi of Calif. speaks during her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Fueled by a rare alliance between party leaders, a $214 billion measure permanently blocking deep cuts in doctors’ Medicare fees is ready to sail through the House. The bill’s Senate prospects are brightening but remain murky. (AP Photo/Molly Riley) WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan $214 billion measure permanently blocking deep cuts in doctors' Medicare fees is ready to sail through the House. The bill's Senate prospects are brightening but remain murky.








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Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Housework and families to blame for girl dropouts in Uganda: study

By Katy Migiro NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Excessive housework and lack of parental support are the main reasons why girls in Uganda drop out of school, research showed, highlighting the importance of family in achieving gender equality. In contrast, girls whose mothers completed secondary education were 67 percent less likely to drop out of school, the Washington-based International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) found in a survey of more than 800 girls in Uganda's northwestern West Nile region. “Girls must feel support and encouragement from their parents, the school itself, as well as the wider community so that they come to believe in themselves, their capacity, and can thrive,” the study's lead researcher Kirsten Stoebenau said in a statement. "I used to do [housework] while my brother went to school without having to do anything first," Unzia, an 18-year-old wife and mother, told ICRW.



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Actelion says wins Japanese approval for heart and lung drug

ZURICH (Reuters) - Actelion said on Thursday the Japanese health regulator approved Opsumit, its new treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The Swiss firm's drug has already won approval in the United States and Europe. (Reporting By Katharina Bart; Editing by Thomas Atkins)



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Boston hospital treating survivors of Honduran market blast

In this Wednesday, March 11, 2015 photo Paola Porter Avila sits on the daybed in her daughter, Paola Matute Porter's, hospital room at the acute care burn unit of the Shriners Hospitals for Children in Boston. Paola Matute was one of more than 70 people injured when a food truck's gas cylinder exploded in a crowded Honduran marketplace Feb. 20, 2015. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia) BOSTON (AP) — When a gas explosion ripped through a crowded marketplace in Honduras last month, Paola Matute Porter suffered burns over 40 percent of her body. Now, she and three other children who were among dozens of patrons engulfed in flames are receiving free medical treatment at a Boston hospital specializing in burn care.








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Kids more likely to use marijuana when suspension is the consequence

A fully budded marijuana plant ready for trimming is seen at the Botanacare marijuana store ahead of their grand opening on New Year's day in Northglenn, Colorado By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) – - Schools that use suspension to punish drug use, or that weakly enforce any of their drug policies, have higher rates of student marijuana use than schools with more consistent and less-punitive approaches, according to a new study. “We hypothesized that harsh penalties like suspension would act as a deterrent and result in lower likelihood of marijuana use,” but that did not turn out to be the case, said lead author Tracy J. Evans-Whipp of the Center for Adolescent Health at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Victoria, Australia. “We suggest further research to follow this up – it could be that students in suspension-using schools feel that their school wouldn’t support them if they got into trouble,” Evans-Whipp told Reuters Health by email. The researchers used two waves of surveys of more than 3,000 students in grades seven and nine and more than 100 of their school administrators, half in Washington State and half in Australia.








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Limit U.N. development goals for 2030, get more value for money: study

By Alister Doyle COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Focusing on a few global U.N. targets for 2030, such as cutting child malnutrition or phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, will give better value for money than a scattergun list, an expert panel said on Thursday. The group, comprising two Nobel economics laureates and a U.S. professor, estimated that the best 19 policies would yield $20 to $40 in benefits per dollar spent against less than $10 on average from 169 proposed U.N. development targets for 2030. "Our list can help the U.N. make its choices like a savvy shopper with limited funds," the panel said after assessing targets for development aid estimated at $2.5 billion for 2016-30 in addition to domestic spending by governments. With the U.N. list "the temptation would be to ... give something to everybody," Finn Kydland, of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a 2004 Nobel winner, told Reuters.



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Paid to sleep: NY cracks down on napping health workers

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York is using prosecution as a tool in its push to stop sleeping on the job by health workers who care for vulnerable clients.



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Arizona lawmakers approve abortion bill, send to governor

By David Schwartz PHOENIX (Reuters) - Arizona lawmakers on Wednesday passed a controversial measure blocking women from buying insurance that includes abortion coverage through the federal health care exchange. The fiercely-debated bill also requires doctors to tell women they could possibly reverse the effects of a drug-induced abortion, a claim that critics called "junk science." The legislation was approved by an 18-11 vote in the Republican-controlled Senate, with two Democrats voting for it. It now goes to Arizona Republican Governor Doug Ducey, who has not indicated whether he will sign or veto the bill. Supporters said the bill would prevent taxpayer money from paying for abortion services, as many individuals insured through the federally-run exchange receive government subsidies.



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Employer incentives for U.S. worker wellness programs set record

To match Special Report USA-HEALTHCARE/WELLNESS By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) - Employers have ratcheted up the financial incentives they offer workers to participate in wellness programs to a record $693 per employee, on average, this year from $594 in 2014 and $430 five years ago, found a report released on Thursday. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission took legal action last year against three companies, including Honeywell International Inc , alleging their wellness programs violated federal anti-discrimination laws.








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