Month: April 2013

With so much confusing and even misleading information about vaccine safety available on the Internet, it’s no surprise that parents are influenced by their friends’ attitudes when it comes to immunizing their kids.

ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG said it had teamed up with biotech firm Ascletis to develop and commercialize its investigative drug danoprevir in China for the treatment of the Hepatitis-C virus. Under the terms of the agreement, Ascletis will fund and be responsible for regulatory affairs and developing and manufacturing danoprevir in greater China, including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Ascletis will receive payments upon reaching certain development and commercial milestones from Roche. …

By David Lawder and Sam Youngman WASHINGTON (Reuters) – As the Senate prepares to debate a gun-control bill for the first time in two decades on Monday, Republicans in the House of Representatives are devising ways to delay and weaken gun legislation they see as limiting Americans' right to bear arms, congressional sources say. Some Republican lawmakers and strategists are urging House Speaker John Boehner to kill any gun-control bill passed by the Senate by refusing to take action on it. …

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The people and information sources parents surround themselves with may influence their choice to vaccinate their children or not, according to a survey from one county in Washington state. Of almost 200 parents who took the survey, almost all said they had groups of people offering advice on vaccination, but those who chose not to fully vaccinate their children were more likely to have larger social groups and to turn to other sources, such as books, pamphlets and the Internet, for guidance. …

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Singing or playing womb-like sounds in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) may help slow the heart rate and improve sleep and eating patterns of premature babies, a new study suggests. Researchers found infants who had respiratory distress or sepsis tended to do better while listening to their parents sing a lullaby or to sounds mimicking a mother’s heartbeat or fluid in the womb. …

Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension is a largely unrecognized disorder. Its prevalence is hard to measure because many people die before they are died before they are even diagnosed.        

Sleep plays a crucial role in better memory. Christie Nicholson reports