Month: May 2013

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A dozen years after a customer revolt forced Monsanto to ditch its genetically engineered potato, an Idaho company aims to resurrect high-tech spuds.

GENEVA (AP) — An elderly Swiss woman who would rather end her life now than decline further in health found sympathy Tuesday from the European Court of Human Rights, which called on the Swiss to clarify their laws on so-called passive assisted suicide.

By Andrea Burzynski NEW YORK (Reuters) – Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, is also the capital of sloth, according to Men’s Health magazine which ranked the Southern metropolis as the least active city in the United States. It was last on the list of 100 cities based on the activity level of its residents, along with Charleston, West Virginia; Nashville, Tennessee; Columbia, South Carolina; Birmingham, Alabama; and Lexington, Kentucky, which rounded out the bottom five. …

Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie disclosed Tuesday that she had a preventive mastectomy after learning she had a gene mutation that significantly raised her risk of breast cancer. A look at the procedure:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top transportation safety agency voted on Tuesday to recommend a lower blood alcohol limit for drivers, advancing its campaign to cut down on drinking-related road deaths through a stricter definition of impairment. At a meeting in Washington, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) called on state authorities to reduce the legal limit by nearly 40 percent to 0.05 percent. All 50 U.S. states now have a blood alcohol content (BAC) limit of 0.08 percent for drivers aged 21 and over, and younger drivers are held to stricter standards. …

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Having a short cervix increases a pregnant woman’s chance of delivering prematurely, and a new study suggests going on bed rest does nothing to allay that risk. Researchers found that women were more than twice as likely to give birth before 37 weeks when doctors told them to restrict some combination of their work, non-work and sexual activities. “Way back when… people would have problems in pregnancy and we would have no interventions available, so we just told them to rest,” said Dr. …

(Reuters) – The Food and Drug Administration approved label changes incorporating lower dosages for sleep medications containing zolpidem, a drug that can continue to affect patients' mental alertness even a day after its use. The regulator approved changes to the labels of Sanofi SA's Ambien, Ambien CR and Meda AB's Edluar on Tuesday. The agency said patients who take zolpidem extended-release drugs, such as Ambien CR, should not drive or take part in activities that require complete mental alertness the next day. …

By DR. JENNIFER ASHTON By going public with her prophylactic double mastectomy, actress Angelina Jolie has again shone the spotlight on breast cancer and the genetic mutation known to increase the risk of getting it by 60 percent. (Jolie wrote that her doctor told her…