Month: June 2013

While fad diets, cold turkey bans on certain foods and complusive, inconsistent bursts of exercise had produced mixed and rather unreliable results in the past (and led to a decided lack of confidence about our ability to effectively control weight …
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ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG has received Swiss approval for Erivedge, the first medicine for people with advanced forms of basal cell carcinoma, the most common skin cancer. Roche, the world's largest maker of cancer drugs, said about 10,300 people are diagnosed with carcinoma in Switzerland a year and there are more than two million new cases worldwide. Erivedge was approved in the United States in January and recommended for approval by European regulators in April. Curis, Roche's partner, is entitled to certain payments on the drug. …

By Caroline Humer and Jessica Dye NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Obama administration will scrap age restrictions on the sale of emergency contraception pills, making the morning-after pill available to women and girls without a prescription. The U.S. Department of Justice said in a letter on Monday that it would comply with a court's ruling to allow unrestricted sales of Plan B One-Step, withdrawing its appeal on the matter. The move closes a battle over the pill that has lasted over a decade, but could raise new controversy for President Barack Obama. …

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The national organization that manages organ transplants on Monday resisted making emergency rule changes for children under 12 who are waiting on lungs but created a special appeal and review system to hear such cases.

These easy-to-grow herbs offer big flavor and health benefits, right from your backyard or windowsill.        

Smarter use of antibiotics could curb drug resistance, experts say.        

By Jane Sutton GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) – An Iraqi prisoner identified as a senior al Qaeda commander has been charged in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunal with firing on a medical evacuation helicopter and using unlawful tactics to wage war on U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan. The U.S. military made the charges against Abd al Hadi public in a statement as it prepared to start two weeks of pretrial hearings on Tuesday for other alleged al Qaeda operatives in the tribunals at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba. …

By Steve Gorman and Dana Feldman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The slain California gunman who killed five people in a rampage through Santa Monica was a onetime digital-media student who endured a troubled home life and spent several days as a teen in the psychiatric unit of a hospital, according to police, college officials and court records. A fragmented portrait of the suspect, John Zawahri, took clearer shape on Monday as police continued to investigate what led him to lash out in a spasm of gun violence that claimed a total of six lives, including his own, on the eve of his 24th birthday. …

NEW YORK (AP) — The federal government on Monday told a judge it will reverse course and take steps to comply with his order to allow girls of any age to buy emergency contraception without prescriptions.

NEW YORK (AP) — The federal government on Monday told a judge it will reverse course and take steps to comply with his order to allow girls of any age to buy emergency contraception without prescriptions.