Month: May 2013

CHICAGO (AP) — Treating breast cancer almost always involves surgery, and for years the choice was just having the lump or the whole breast removed. Now, new approaches are dramatically changing the way these operations are done, giving women more options, faster treatment, smaller scars, fewer long-term side effects and better cosmetic results.

By Grace Li HONG KONG (Reuters) – China should remove criminal and administrative penalties against sex workers which often lead to serious police abuses, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Tuesday. The abuses include torture, beatings, physical assaults, fines and arbitrary detentions of up to two years, as well as a failure to investigate crimes against sex workers by clients, bosses and state agents, according to the report. Prostitution is not permitted under Chinese law, although the industry has boomed since the country launched economic reforms in 1978. …

(Reuters) – Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie said on Tuesday that she had undergone a preventive double mastectomy after finding out she had a gene mutation that leads to a sharply higher risk of both breast and ovarian cancer. Jolie, writing in the New York Times, said her mother's death from cancer at 56 and the discovery that she carried the BRCA1 gene mutation led to her decision out of fears she might not be around for her six children. "We often speak of 'Mommy's mommy', and I find myself trying to explain the illness that took her away from us. …

RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia has confirmed four new cases of the SARS-like novel coronavirus in its Eastern Province, state media reported late on Monday, citing the health ministry. The health ministry said one of the four new cases had been treated and the patient had been released from hospital, while the three other new cases were still being treated, the Saudi Press Agency reported. On Sunday, Saudi Arabia said it had had a total of 24 confirmed cases since the disease was identified last year, of whom 15 had died. …

MUMBAI (Reuters) – Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd shares fell 3.4 percent in pre-open trading on Tuesday after the Indian generic drugmaker pleaded guilty to U.S. felony charges related to drug safety and will pay $500 million in civil and criminal fines. The settlement is its largest-ever with a generic drugmaker over drug safety, according to the U.S. government. Trading will open at 11.45pm EDT. (Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi; Editing by Rafael Nam)

By Toni Clarke (Reuters) – A House of Representatives panel is investigating the circumstances surrounding the resignation from the Food and Drug Administration of its acting deputy commissioner for medical products and tobacco. In a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg on Monday, Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee demanded more information about the role played at the agency by Dr Leona Brenner-Gati, a former Johnson & Johnson executive, who resigned from the FDA on May 3. …

(Reuters) – A Philadelphia doctor was found guilty on Monday of murdering three babies during abortions at a clinic serving low-income women in a case that cast a national spotlight on the controversial practice of late-term abortions. Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 72, faces the possibility of the death penalty for his actions at the now-shuttered Women’s Medical Society Clinic. The Philadelphia abortion clinic that prosecutors called a “house of horrors” has been cited as powerful evidence by both abortion rights and anti-abortion groups. …