Month: July 2013

An Italian scientist says human head transplants could become a reality in this century, but don’t lose your heads over it. At least  not yet. The most famous actual head transplant was performed on monkeys in 1970. The surviving monkey lived  for only eight days….        

An Italian doctor outlines procedure to transplant human heads.        

DUBLIN (AP) — Ireland appeared on course to legalize abortion in extremely restricted circumstances as lawmakers voted Tuesday to support a bill that would permit pregnancies to be terminated when deemed necessary to save the woman’s life.

Simple steps to stay safe while celebrating Independence Day.        

By Padraic Halpin DUBLIN (Reuters) – Four lawmakers from Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s party came out on Tuesday against a move to legalize abortion under certain conditions but are unlikely to be able to scuttle the measure or threaten his comfortable majority. Kenny’s government is proposing access to abortion when a woman’s life is in danger and both sides of the debate have staged protests on an issue that has long polarized the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country. …

By Noëlle Mennella PARIS/TOULOUSE (Reuters) – Sanofi plans to cut 207 jobs in France as part of the drug company’s latest reshuffle of its research operations, which unions said would also lead to layoffs at vaccine and animal health divisions. Sanofi management told union representatives on Tuesday that the group planned to cut 376 research jobs in France, offset by the creation of 169 new openings, mostly near Paris. “As far as research and development is concerned, this plan could lead to a net loss of 207 jobs out of 5,000,” a Sanofi spokesman said. …

The number of women overdosing on prescription painkillers such as Vicodin and OxyCotin has increased by more than 400 percent in the past decade, a new national survey on drug use and health from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found. About 18 women…        

About 18 women die every day from taking prescription painkillers, says CDC.        

Cell Whisperer: Lasers Unlock Secrets of the Blood

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African police opened an investigation on Tuesday into Nelson Mandela's grandson on suspicion of illegally exhuming the bodies of three of the ailing anti-apartheid hero's children, a police spokesman said. The investigation is the latest twist in an unedifying family feud that has drawn global attention as the 94-year-old Mandela lies in a Pretoria hospital in a critical condition. …

By David Beasley ATLANTA (Reuters) – Chris “Mac Daddy” Kelly of the 1990s teen rap duo Kris Kross died in May from a drug overdose according to toxicology reports, authorities said on Tuesday. Mary Beth Hauptle, an investigator with the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office in Atlanta, released the test results to Reuters but declined to identify the drugs used. A friend of Kelly’s told police that Kelly, 34, was using a mixture of heroin and cocaine on the evening before he was found unconscious in his Atlanta home on May 1, according to a police report. …

By Zeba Siddiqui and Ludwig Burger (Reuters) – A proposal to slash reimbursements to kidney dialysis centers in the United States drove down shares of Fresenius Medical Care AG and Davita Healthcare Partners Inc, two of the world’s leading providers of dialysis services. The proposed 9.4 percent cut in Medicare reimbursements to dialysis centers, announced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Monday, was described by JP Morgan as “worse than even our most pessimistic scenario had envisioned”. …