Month: April 2013

By Trevor Stokes NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Tuberculosis patients who swallow their anti-tuberculosis pills under the watchful gaze of doctors fare just as well as patients trusted to self-medicate, according to a new analysis. “Do we still need to observe patients taking their pills? Our findings are that’s probably not as useful and we could direct resources to other interventions that would be more cost-effective,” said study co-author Dr. Tawanda Gumbo, associate professor of medicine at the UT Southwestern Medical Center. …

By Ioana Patran BARLAD, Romania (Reuters) – Thousands of Romanians across the country protested on Thursday against Chevron's plans to explore for shale gas, demanding the country's leftist government withdraw concessions and ban drilling of the U.S. company's first test wells. About 500 rallied in the town of Barlad on the eastern border with Moldova where Chevron has a nearby 1.6 million acre concession, some wearing gas masks, many chanting "Chevron go home. …

By Ben Hirschler and Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) – Experts from around the world are in daily talks about the threat posed by a deadly new strain of bird flu in China, including discussions on if and when to start making a vaccine. Any decision to mass-produce vaccines against H7N9 flu will not be taken lightly, since it will mean sacrificing production of seasonal shots. And scientists warn it will take months to get any finished bird flu vaccine to the market. But the groundwork is being laid. …

By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) – The death toll from a new strain of bird flu rose to five in China on Thursday as Beijing said it was mobilizing resources nationwide to combat the virus, Japan and Hong Kong stepped up vigilance and Vietnam banned imports of Chinese poultry. The H7N9 bird flu strain does not appear to be transmitted from human to human but authorities in Hong Kong raised a preliminary alert and said they were taking precautions at the airport. …

A new discovery by research scientists has identified the role cholesterol plays in contributing to age-related macular degeneration, AMD, the leading cause of blindness in older adults.

Researchers studying how the immune system works found it sometimes has a Jekyll and Hyde nature. This discovery led to important information on the nature of immunity and how it affects inflammatory conditions like Crohn’s disease.

BEIJING (AP) — A middle-aged man who transported poultry for a living and another unidentified person have died from a new strain of bird flu, bringing the death toll to five among 14 confirmed cases in China, the government and state media reported Thursday.

Walgreen Co. has stretched the reach of its drugstore clinics beyond treating ankle sprains and sinus infections to handling chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure.

US Families Spend Up to $215 Billion a Year on Alzheimer’s Disease

By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists in the Dutch city of Rotterdam know precisely what it takes for a bird flu to mutate into a potential human pandemic strain – because they've created just such mutant viruses in the laboratory. So as they watch with some trepidation the emergence in China of a strain of bird flu previously unknown in humans, they also argue it vindicates their controversial decision to conduct these risky experiments despite fierce opposition. …

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Former South African president Nelson Mandela, 94, received a visit in hospital from current leader Jacob Zuma on Thursday, who said the anti-apartheid hero was making "continuous improvement" under treatment for pneumonia. "Madiba is stable and we are thankful that he is responding well to treatment and that he is much better," Zuma said, referring to Mandela by his clan name. Mandela has spent just over a week in hospital. …

(Reuters) – Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc, Canada’s biggest listed drugmaker, said it expects Mylan Inc’s launch of a generic version of Valeant’s genital herpes drug to reduce its cash earnings-per-share for the year by 30 to 40 cents. The company said it would launch its own generic of the ointment, Zovirax, on Thursday. Mylan, a generic drugmaker, said on Wednesday it received final approval for the first generic version of Zovirax from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. …