Month: March 2013

(Reuters) – Drug maker Affymax Inc said it may consider selling itself or filing for bankruptcy among a range of strategic alternatives as it struggles with the recent recall of its sole commercial product, the anemia drug Omontys. Shares of the company slumped over 50 percent to $1.34 in extended trade on Monday after being halted earlier. Affymax also fired its chief commercial officer and slashed about 230 jobs, or about 75 percent of its workforce, as part of a plan to cut costs. …

If you happened to be a young adult in the 1980s and 1990s, getting an HIV test was something you probably did if you had any reason to think you might be at risk of infection (e.g., you were having sex). And if you didn’t get tested (and even if you did), you probably worried.

Mammograms can detect breast cancer early, and save lives. But they can also lead to false alarms that take a heavy psychological toll, a new study found.

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Rachel Markley often feels uncomfortable when she goes to the doctor. A 22-year-old student at The Ohio State University in Columbus, she uses an electric wheelchair and finds waiting rooms and examination rooms are often hard to maneuver. “I’ve been in exam rooms where I’m kind of afraid, if they open the door, are they going to bang into me?” said Markley, who has spinal muscular atrophy. Other times, she said, she can’t get an appointment at all – because a facility’s entrance has steps, without a ramp or a lift. …

It turns out that following the American Heart Association’s seven steps for heart health – dubbed  Life’s Simple 7 –  can also ward off cancer, according to a new study.   Following six of the steps can even cut  cancer risk in half, said Laura Rasmussen-Torvik, a professor of…

NEW YORK (AP) — When athletes are suspected of having a concussion, they should be taken out of action immediately, new guidelines from a major medical group say.

Is Cancer Contagious? Could Hugo Ch vez Have Been Deliberately Infected?

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The number of Americans taking the narcolepsy and shift work sleep disorder drug modafinil has increased almost 10-fold over the past decade, according to a new study. What’s more, the majority of those prescriptions were written for so-called off-label conditions, such as depression and multiple sclerosis, researchers found. …

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Black children who saw doctors in Pennsylvania and New Jersey were less likely to be prescribed antibiotics for respiratory infections than their non-black peers, according to a new study. Researchers, who looked at the health records of more than 200,000 children, found black kids were about 25 percent less likely to receive an antibiotic, compared to a predominantly white group of children. “We thought that there would be variability, but were not sure that it would vary by patient race,” Dr. …

Four People Received Rabies-Infected Organs