Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News

9/4/2012 8:44:19 AM

The deadly virus raising fears at California's Yosemite National Park does not spread easily, and, despite two recent deaths, does not warrant closing the park, a spokeswoman said Monday.

9/4/2012 8:54:49 AM

A smoking ban in all closed public spaces, including coffee shops, restaurants and bars, went into force in Lebanon on Monday under new legislation that promises hefty fines for lawbreakers.

9/4/2012 12:13:42 AM

Russia on Monday unveiled a series of graphic images, including of a gangrenous foot and a still-born baby, that will be printed on cigarette packs as the country tries to trim its sky-high rates of smoking.

9/17/2012 8:20:21 PM

American children eat as much salt as adults — about 1,000 milligrams too much, or the same amount as in just one Big Mac. Extra salt is linked with higher blood pressure, even in kids, but government research says those who are overweight and obese may be most vulnerable to its effects.

9/16/2012 9:32:14 PM

The Namibia Press Agency reports that some 40 babies and fetuses are dumped and flushed down toilets every month in Windhoek, Namibia's capital of just 350,000 people.

9/16/2012 4:49:00 AM

A deadly germ untreatable by most antibiotics has killed a seventh person at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Maryland.

9/18/2012 11:53:49 AM

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Monday escalated a war of words with a prominent appeals court judge, saying the judge lied in a recent criticism of Scalia's judicial philosophy. Scalia, 76, the longest-serving justice and a leading conservative on the court, said Judge Richard Posner, of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, lied in a review in August of a book co-authored by Scalia. ...

9/18/2012 11:10:53 AM

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Artin Elmayan is hard to keep pace with as he heads for the locker rooms at River Plate. "I've got to get my rackets," he says under the shadow of the Monumental, the giant stadium which is home to one of the world's great soccer clubs where members enjoy a variety of sports. Armenian-born Elmayan's choice is tennis, a sport he took up at the age of 39. Now, aged 95, he is the world's oldest-ranked player. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ranks Elmayan 26th among men over 85, a list headed by Italian Angelo Sala who will be 86 in December. ...

9/18/2012 11:10:20 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney dismissed supporters of President Barack Obama - almost half of U.S. voters - as people who live off government handouts and do not "care for their lives," in a potentially damaging video. The video, taken secretly at a fundraising event for the former private-equity executive, was the latest setback for his campaign, which is struggling with low poll numbers and reports of infighting. Romney hastily called a news conference in Costa Mesa, California, to respond to the video. ...

9/18/2012 10:37:22 AM

COSTA MESA, California (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said on Monday that disparaging remarks he made about supporters of President Barack Obama in a secretly filmed video were not well stated but he did not back away from them. "It's not elegantly stated. Let me put it that way," Romney said at a hastily arranged news conference in California to respond to his latest stumble on the campaign trail. In the video Romney was shown telling fundraisers he has no way of attracting support from 47 percent of U.S. ...

9/18/2012 10:00:00 AM

BUENOS AIRES, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Artin Elmayan is hard to keep pace with as he heads for the locker rooms at River Plate. "I've got to get my rackets," he says under the shadow of the Monumental, the giant stadium which is home to one of the world's great soccer clubs where members enjoy a variety of sports. Armenian-born Elmayan's choice is tennis, a sport he took up at the age of 39. Now, aged 95, he is the world's oldest-ranked player. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ranks Elmayan 26th among men over 85, a list headed by Italian Angelo Sala who will be 86 in December. ...

9/18/2012 9:06:26 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's lead over Republican Mitt Romney narrowed to 5 percentage points in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday, from a high of seven points in the week after the Democratic National Convention. With just 50 days before the November 6 election, Obama led the former Massachusetts governor by 48 percent to 43 percent among likely voters in the online poll conducted September 12-17. In a similar poll last Thursday, he led by 48 percent to 41 percent. ...

9/18/2012 8:39:17 AM

(Reuters) - One out of every seven Los Angeles high schoolers with a cell phone has sent a sexually-explicit text message or photo, and were also more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors, according to a study based on a 2011 survey. The study, published in Pediatrics, found that the LA teens who had sent racy texts were seven times more likely to be sexually active than those who said they'd never sexted. ...

9/18/2012 8:35:47 AM

(Reuters) - Middle-aged and older men who get enough antioxidants in their diets, through eating foods such as broccoli and tomatoes, may have better-quality sperm than men who don't get as much of the nutrients, according to a U.S. study. Researchers found that among men aged 45 or older, those who got the most vitamins C and E, folate and zinc tended to have fewer DNA-strand breaks in their sperm, according to a report in the journal Fertility & Sterility. ...

9/18/2012 6:49:12 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After a difficult week that sparked a burst of Republican hand-wringing, Mitt Romney's campaign team fought back on Monday against a report of disarray in his inner circle and promised to retool his message with more specifics of his policies. Senior adviser Ed Gillespie struck an optimistic tone despite the Republican worries, saying President Barack Obama's post-Democratic convention bounce in polls had faded and the race for the White House had tightened again ahead of the November 6 election. ...

9/18/2012 6:36:45 AM

The study: Teens who send sext messages (sexually explicit text messages or photos via cell phones) may be more prone to other risky sexually behavior, such as having unprotected sex. A study published online today in the journal Pediatrics surveyed 1,839 Los Angeles high schoolers, most age 14 to 17. The majority were Hispanic (72 percent), followed by African-American (12 percent) and white (9 percent). Most said they were heterosexual, and three-quarters owned a cell phone.

9/18/2012 5:42:45 AM

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Monday in light trading after a rally that drove the S&P 500 last week to its highest level in nearly five years and as falling oil prices hit energy shares. The decline broke a four-day streak of gains for the S&P 500. On Friday, both the Dow and the S&P 500 ended at highs not seen since December 2007. The rally came a day after the Federal Reserve unveiled new stimulus measures that could keep equities buoyed for months. The Fed's action followed a decision by the European Central Bank to support debt-ridden euro-zone nations by purchasing their debt. ...

9/18/2012 5:32:46 AM

A new study out of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine suggests that the key to improving the lives of patients with IPF may be a drug with an infamous history -- thalidomide.

9/18/2012 5:24:20 AM

Jerry Wiseman notices it's harder to turn and check his car's blind spots at age 69 than it was at 50. So the Illinois man and his wife took a refresher driving course, hunting tips to stay safe behind the wheel for many more years — a good idea considering their state has arguably the nation's toughest older-driver laws.

9/18/2012 4:35:47 AM

Substance abuse has become a complex and serious problem in the military and not enough is being done to address it, a new report says.

9/18/2012 4:35:10 AM

(Reuters) - Meridian Bioscience Inc said its test to detect a common bacterial throat infection received marketing approval in the United States. Meridian said its molecular test can detect Group A Streptococcus, a bacteria found in the throat or on skin. Acute pharyngitis, or strep throat, accounts for an estimated 15 million visits per year to pediatricians and other primary care physicians in the United States, Meridian said. The life sciences company said its test takes less than one hour and requires no expensive capital equipment. Shares of Cincinnati, Ohio-based Meridian closed at $18. ...

9/18/2012 4:01:40 AM

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who had weight-loss surgery using the so-called duodenal switch technique lost more of their extra body weight and had better control of diabetes and high blood pressure than those who had a more traditional gastric bypass, according to a new study. But the duodenal switch also came with extra blood loss and longer hospital stays, and more patients who had the procedure ended up with nutrient deficiencies. ...

9/18/2012 3:36:34 AM

Cancer has overtaken heart disease as the No. 1 killer among Hispanics in the U.S., and the rest of the country may be only a few years behind.

9/18/2012 3:26:34 AM

Drug Known for Its Birth Defect Risk May Improve Life for Some

9/18/2012 3:06:32 AM

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Cancer has replaced heart disease as the leading cause of death among U.S. Hispanics, likely reflecting the large number of young, working-age Hispanics in America, according to a report by the American Cancer Society released on Monday. The shift mirrors a larger national trend as death rates from cancer and heart disease start to converge, Becky Siegel, an epidemiologist for the organization, said in a telephone interview. ...

9/18/2012 3:04:07 AM

(Reuters) - J.P. Morgan Securities raised its price target on Gilead Sciences Inc to $75 from $70, saying the company's HIV pill could emerge as a "market leader" in three to five years, sending the drugmaker's shares to a life-high. U.S. health regulators approved the four-drug combination pill, Stribild, on August 27. Physicians said there were no major concerns with Stribild or with its cost, the brokerage said after a survey of 52 HIV specialists. Analyst Geoff Meacham, who reiterated his "overweight" rating on the stock, expects Stribild sales of about $2. ...

9/18/2012 2:57:49 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mississippi insurance commissioner Mike Chaney is in a tight spot. By law, he is required to implement Democratic President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul. But as a Republican from deeply conservative Mississippi -- one of 26 states that sued Washington over Obama's Affordable Care Act -- Chaney is a target of critics who say he is betraying his party. ...

9/18/2012 2:31:20 AM

Centers For Disease Control and Prevention officials announced in August that the recent outbreak of West Nile was the largest ever seen in the United States, and now it is on track to be the deadliest.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

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Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News