Reuters: Health News

Revealing brain damage from battlefield to playing field

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:09:17 GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Traumatic brain injury, the signature wound of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, is doubly cruel: it leaves many victims emotionally shattered and cognitively crippled. But because mild and moderate brain injuries do not show up on CT or other imaging, doctors and even family members are often skeptical that any real damage exists.

Back pain tends to improve quickly, not completely

Wed, 16 May 2012 16:26:46 GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Lower back pain often fades fairly quickly, but it may stubbornly linger to some extent for months or more, a new study finds.

Steroids cut sinus infection symptoms slightly

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:49:59 GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Nasal spray steroids, taken for three weeks, help to shorten the length of time people feel pain and congestion from a sinus infection, according to a new review of several studies.

U.S. HIV aid has prevented 741,000 deaths: study

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:07:59 GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The United States foreign aid program that sends billions of dollars to African countries for HIV treatment and prevention has cut the number of people dying for any reason in those nations, a new study suggests.

WHO warns of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity

Wed, 16 May 2012 08:01:45 GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - Health data released on Wednesday provided the clearest evidence to date of the spread of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease from developed nations to poorer regions such as Africa, as lifestyles and diets there change.

India's Piramal Healthcare to buy U.S. firm to boost R&D

Wed, 16 May 2012 05:12:50 GMT

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian drugmaker Piramal Healthcare has agreed to buy a U.S.-based healthcare data provider for $635 million to boost research and development, the company said on Wednesday, a month after it acquired the new molecules division of Germany's Bayer's.

Britain to fund prostate cancer pill in U-turn

Tue, 15 May 2012 23:00:59 GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's drug watchdog has reversed a controversial decision not to fund a new prostate cancer pill that was developed in the country after maker Johnson & Johnson agreed a new discount on supplies to the UK state healthcare service.

U.S. HIV aid has prevented 741,000 deaths: study

Tue, 15 May 2012 22:03:48 GMT

FDA panel backs OraSure's In-Home HIV test

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:59:12 GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel of outside experts concluded that OraSure Technologies Inc's over-the-counter, in-home HIV test is reasonably safe and effective for determining whether someone has the AIDS virus.

Fewer young girls getting married in South Asia

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:55:47 GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Fewer girls in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan are getting married before the age of 14, according to a new study.

St Jude is latest to launch blood pressure device

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:48:47 GMT

(Reuters) - St Jude Medical Inc said it won European approval to begin selling a device that lowers blood pressure by creating tiny scars along the renal nerves, joining a growing number of medical technology companies developing hypertension treatments.

Roche Alzheimer's drug picked for major test

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:46:01 GMT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Roche Holding AG's Genentech unit has won the right to try its experimental Alzheimer's drug crenezumab on people with no signs of dementia - the first such trial to gauge whether early intervention can help prevent or slow the disease.

Acupuncture may help some people with COPD: study

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:28:35 GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Three months of acupuncture improved breathing problems in people with chronic lung disease, in a new study from Japan.

FDA delays deadline for new U.S. sunscreen labels

Tue, 15 May 2012 19:42:44 GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has delayed by six months rules on the marketing of sunscreen originally set to go into effect this summer, saying the extra time was needed to avoid supply shortages.

Young adults with autism lag in school, work

Tue, 15 May 2012 18:21:56 GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Young adults with autism are less likely to go to college or hold down a job than their peers with other types of disabilities, a new U.S. study finds.

U.S. launches ambitious Alzheimer's plan with research push

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:53:16 GMT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. government launched a national plan to address Alzheimer's disease on Tuesday with funding for a first prevention study in high-risk patients and tests on an insulin nasal spray that has shown promise in earlier studies.

Cardinal facility suspended under DEA settlement

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:46:16 GMT

(Reuters) - Drug wholesaler Cardinal Health Inc will suspend shipments of controlled substances from a Florida warehouse for two years under a settlement of federal litigation stemming from a major crackdown on prescription painkiller abuse.

Achillion's hepatitis C drug gets FDA fast track

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:58:40 GMT

(Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted a fast track designation to Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc's experimental hepatitis C drug ACH-3102, currently in an early-stage trial.

Insecticide resistance threatens malaria fight

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:09:26 GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - Malaria-carrying mosquitoes in Africa and India are becoming resistant to insecticides, putting millions of lives at greater risk and threatening eradication efforts, health experts said on Tuesday.

UK lawmakers urge action on medicine shortages

Tue, 15 May 2012 07:04:56 GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain faces a worsening shortages of medicines because vital supplies are being sucked out of the country by exporters who can sell them for higher prices elsewhere, lawmakers said.

Children at risk as "button" battery use grows: study

Tue, 15 May 2012 03:24:39 GMT

(Reuters) - Children face a growing risk from "button" batteries, according to a U.S. study showing a near doubling of emergency room visits in the past two decades as the objects can cause electrical or chemical burns if swallowed.

Almost one in three in U.S. have sleepwalked: study

Tue, 15 May 2012 02:39:56 GMT

(Reuters) - Close to one in three people in the United States may sleepwalk during their lives, according to a U.S. study that said severe depression and other sleep disorders may increase the possibility.

OSHA probing former Florida postal worker's illness claims

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:37:29 GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Postal Service said it is cooperating with a U.S. government investigation into a former postal worker's claim that he has been seriously ill for more than a year after he says he came in contact with a suspicious package at the Florida facility where he worked.

FDA says unsure if Novartis MS pill caused deaths

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:39:29 GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Health regulators said on Monday they could not definitively link Novartis AG's multiple sclerosis pill Gilenya with the deaths of people who took the drug.

Colon cancer test may not require laxatives: study

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:06:30 GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People getting checked for signs of colon cancer may not need to take a laxative if they choose a CT scan for their cancer screening over a tradition colonoscopy, according to a new study.