By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK | Tue Dec 4, 2012 1:09pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - One in five teens who lost one of their parents to cancer cut or burn themselves, compared to one in ten teens with two living parents, according to a new Swedish study. "We were very surprised to find that so many did it," said lead researcher Tove Grenklo, a b...

A study by the Universidad de Costa Rica notes that one company controls the distribution of 80% of drugs sold, with price differences of up to 1,000%. An article in Nacion.com reports that there is "little or no competition in the private sector of medicine, product of an industry that is "highly concentrated", causing Costa Rica to have higher drug prices compared to other Central American co...

By Mary Slosson SACRAMENTO | Tue Dec 4, 2012 2:35am EST SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked California from enforcing a landmark law that bars therapy aimed at reversing homosexuality in minors, but he applied the ruling to just three people. Two licensed therapists and one aspiring therapist filed a suit against ...

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK | Mon Dec 3, 2012 9:34pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - A divided federal appeals court on Monday threw out the conviction of a sales representative for promoting off-label use of a prescription drug, a ruling that could make it harder for the government to police how drugs are marketed and sold. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court ...

Mon Dec 3, 2012 7:43pm EST (Reuters) - Teens may be less likely to buy cigarettes at convenience stores if they aren't sold in plain sight behind the counter, according to a U.S. study conducted using a virtual reality game. "We know the retail environment is a very important place for tobacco companies to advertise and market their products," said lead author An...

By Ben Hirschler LONDON | Mon Dec 3, 2012 7:08pm EST LONDON (Reuters) - Drug companies are becoming more efficient in hunting for new treatments, though this has yet to be reflected in improved investment returns, according to a report on Tuesday. Low productivity in research labs is the biggest single challenge facing the global pharmaceutical i...

LONDON | Mon Dec 3, 2012 5:28pm EST LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have unpicked the brain processes involved in teenage alcohol abuse and say their findings help explain why some young people have more of a tendency to binge drink. A study published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal found that a gene known as RASGRF-2 play...

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK | Mon Dec 3, 2012 5:00pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A group of U.S. internal medicine doctors today recommended limiting esophageal cancer screening to people with chronic heartburn who have additional, more severe symptoms. Known as upper endoscopy, the screening procedure is often used to diagnose and manage gas...

Mon Dec 3, 2012 4:43pm EST (Reuters) - The Food and Drug Administration said it has formed a partnership with the medical device industry aimed at speeding the development and review of new device products. The nonprofit organization, called the Medical Device Innovation Consortium, will collaborate with patient support groups, academia, foundations and the Cente...

By Ransdell Pierson and Debra Sherman Mon Dec 3, 2012 3:35pm EST (Reuters) - Merck & Co Inc has moved to the forefront of Alzheimer's disease research by starting a mid-stage study of a drug from a new class of oral medicines that aim to shut down production of a protein associated with the memory-robbing disease. The drugmaker said on Monday it had s...

By Scott Malone BOSTON | Mon Dec 3, 2012 1:58pm EST BOSTON (Reuters) - Years of hits to the head in football or other contact sports lead to a distinct pattern of brain damage that begins with an athlete having trouble focusing and can eventually progress to aggression and dementia, a study released on Monday says. Researchers examining the brain...

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK | Mon Dec 3, 2012 8:17am EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study conducted using a virtual reality game suggests teens may be less likely to try to buy cigarettes at convenience stories if they aren't sold in plain sight behind the counter. Requiring stores to hide tobacco product displays is one option some states...

Washington, D.C., December 2 2012 (PAHO/WHO) — Increased access to antiretroviral treatment has changed the face of the HIV epidemic in Latin America and the Caribbean, helping tens of thousands of people to live longer and healthier lives while also helping prevent HIV transmission between sexual partners and from mothers to infants. Building on this success—say experts at the Pan American Hea...

BOSTON | Sat Dec 1, 2012 9:52am EST BOSTON (Reuters) - A grand jury is investigating the compounding pharmacy at the heart of a deadly meningitis outbreak, the Boston Globe reported on Saturday. The grand jury has begun issuing subpoenas to people who worked for the New England Compounding Center, which closed after investigators determined it had produc...

As the national newspaper La Nacion corrrectly notes, the Social Security (Caja) main office taking over running of a local hospital has become a frequent feature in this country. This week, it was the turn of St. Francis de Asis Hospital in Grecia. This year, residents of the usually quiet town have gathered three times in front of the health care facility to protest exaggeatedly long waits fo...

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK | Fri Nov 30, 2012 4:30pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The idea that filling up on fruits and vegetables will cut one's appetite for higher-calorie fare did not pan out in a new study; in fact, adding fruit juice before meals boosted hunger and weight gain for some participants. Eating apples and grapes before lunch...

By Jonathan Stempel Fri Nov 30, 2012 4:10pm EST (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide whether human genes can be patented, a hotly contested issue with broad consequences for the future of gene-based medicine. The nation's highest court agreed to review a case over whether Myriad Genetics Inc may patent two genes linked to hereditary br...

By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA | Fri Nov 30, 2012 2:55pm EST GENEVA (Reuters) - Two people who died in Jordan in April have been found to have been infected with the new virus from the same family as SARS which sparked a global alert in September, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. The coronavirus, previously unknown in humans, has ...

By Kathleen Raven NEW YORK | Fri Nov 30, 2012 2:32pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Although studies of the effects of relaxation techniques on menopause symptoms have yielded mixed results so far, a new report from Sweden comes down in favor of the approach as an alternative to hormone therapy. Postmenopausal women trained to relax before and d...

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK | Fri Nov 30, 2012 1:20pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A sexually transmitted infection usually thought of in connection to cervical cancer is also tied to a five times greater risk of cancer of the vocal chords or voice box, a new report suggests. Combining the results of 55 studies from the past two decades, Chine...

Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:41pm EST (Reuters) - Shares in Health Management Associates Inc fell nearly 3 percent on Friday ahead of a "60 Minutes" television segment on the hospital chain's admissions practices that will air on CBS on December 2. According to the website for "60 Minutes," the segment will investigate allegations by doctors that the hospital chain pressu...

By Toni Clarke Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:39pm EST (Reuters) - Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, the world's biggest maker of generic drugs, announced an ambitious plan on Friday to reshape the company as it faces increased competition for its top-selling multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone. The Israeli-based company said it plans to streamline operations, cut co...

Fri Nov 30, 2012 10:45am EST (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson has named Chief Executive Alex Gorsky as the chairman of its board of directors, effective December 28, replacing current chairman Bill Weldon, the company said on Friday. Gorsky, a former vice chairman of the diversified healthcare company, became chief executive on April 26, replacing Weldon, who ha...

By Ransdell Pierson Fri Nov 30, 2012 9:51am EST (Reuters) - Drugmakers racing to develop medicines and vaccines to combat a germ that ravages the gut and kills thousands have a new challenger: the human stool. For patients hit hardest by the bacterium Clostridium difficile, getting a "stool transplant" could become a standard treatment within just a few y...

By Jane Wardell SYDNEY | Fri Nov 30, 2012 9:45am EST SYDNEY (Reuters) - James Yu, who runs the King of the Pack tobacconist in central Sydney, is indignant about Australia's stringent anti-tobacco laws making manufacturers package cigarettes in drab olive green packs with pictures of ill babies and diseased body parts. The packages, mandatory fro...

By Deborah Zabarenko WASHINGTON | Tue Nov 27, 2012 6:54pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New research suggests it may be possible to forecast flu outbreaks in much the same way meteorologists predict weather, a potential boon for public health officials and consumers, one of the study's authors said on Tuesday. Using real-time U.S. data gathered by G...

By David Ingram WASHINGTON | Tue Nov 27, 2012 6:34pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Major tobacco companies that spent decades denying they lied to the U.S. public about the dangers of cigarettes must spend their own money on a public advertising campaign saying they did lie, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. The ruling sets out what might be the har...

By Ben Hirschler LONDON | Tue Nov 27, 2012 6:02pm EST LONDON (Reuters) - Drugmakers - led by GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson - are stepping up efforts to ensure their medicines are available and affordable in poor countries, after being attacked in the past for not doing enough. The Access to Medicines Index, which tracks the actions of...

By Ivan Oransky NEW YORK | Tue Nov 27, 2012 5:15pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When it comes to describing medical findings, researchers may need to tone it down a bit, according to a group of heart journal editors. "It's a plea to not get ahead of the evidence," said Dr. Christopher Cannon, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School i...

By Kim Dixon and Thomas Ferraro and David Morgan WASHINGTON | Tue Nov 27, 2012 4:29pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dick Durbin, a senior Senate Democrat and close ally of President Barack Obama, urged fellow liberals on Tuesday to consider reforming Medicare and Medicaid, the U.S. healthcare programs they have long fought to shield from spending cu...

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK | Tue Nov 27, 2012 4:13pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - During a recent whooping cough outbreak in California, kids who hadn't been vaccinated against the disease were nine times more likely to get it than those who had received the entire five-shot series, researchers found. But even among children who were fully va...

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK | Tue Nov 27, 2012 4:12pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Despite rising spending on health care in the United States, primary care doctors don't seem to be reaping the rewards on their paychecks, a new study suggests. The findings could have implications for what some predictions say will be a primary care shortage in...

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO | Tue Nov 27, 2012 2:44pm EST CHICAGO (Reuters) - More than half of young people in the United States who are infected with HIV are not aware of it, according to a new report by government health officials that zeroes in on one of the remaining hot spots of HIV infection in America. Young people ages 13 to 24 account ...

By Kerry Grens NEW YORK | Tue Nov 27, 2012 1:58pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who eat a lot of soy-based foods or fiber don't seem to have fewer menopause symptoms, according to a new study. The findings add to other studies that have found no benefits from eating extra amounts of soy, a food abundant in dietary estrogen."It might be a ...

CHICAGO | Tue Nov 27, 2012 10:13am EST CHICAGO (Reuters) - Controversial U.S. guidelines for mammography issued in 2009, calling for screening every two years rather than annually for women over 50 years old, can result in breast cancers being missed, according to U.S. researchers studying the hotly debated topic. This latest study assessing the impact o...

Herbal Greetings from AmaTierra: We're getting ready to harvest our fresh, organic Turmeric (curcuma longa) that, once we solar-dry and grind it, we sell in our gift shop and use in the kitchen and in custom herbal formulas. If you don’t know about this spice which adds color to curries, you may be missing out on one of the most helpful herbs in existence. Turmeric has fabulous anti-infla...

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK | Mon Nov 26, 2012 5:01pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A government-backed panel advises doctors to "consider offering screening" for hepatitis C to adults born between 1945 and 1965, in a draft statement released today. The recommendations, from the U.S. Preventive ...

By Terry Baynes and Jonathan Stempel Mon Nov 26, 2012 4:37pm EST (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for a Christian college to pursue a religion-based challenge against part of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform, which it claims forces taxpayers and employers to subsidize abortions and contraception. Liberty University, based ...

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK | Mon Nov 26, 2012 4:34pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Babies who are exposed to lots of traffic-related air pollution in the womb and during their first year of life are more likely to become autistic, suggests a new study. The findings support previous research linking how close children live to freeways with the...

By Kerry Grens NEW YORK | Mon Nov 26, 2012 4:09pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children in the U.S. appear to be getting as much shut-eye as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends, according to a new study. "We can't say this is the amount that they should be sleeping," said Jessica Williams, the lead author of the stu...