Month: August 2013

A 4-year-old got a very ‘freaky’ surprise.        

By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) – Switzerland has banned the sale to North Korea of equipment for a luxury ski resort planned for the ruling elite in the widely impoverished state that is under U.N. sanctions, officials said on Monday. North Korean leader Kim Jung-un, who studied under an assumed name in the Swiss capital Berne and is believed to have gone on school ski trips in the Alps, wants to develop leisure activities for tourists and the upper crust among its 23 million citizens. …

By Carey Gillam (Reuters) – A judge in Oklahoma issued a temporary restraining order on Monday blocking implementation of a law that critics said would limit a woman’s access to emergency contraception known as the “morning after pill,” court records showed. “Once again Oklahoma politicians’ efforts to turn back the clock on women’s health and rights have been blocked,” David Brown, an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in an emailed statement. …

By Pallavi Ail (Reuters) – GTx Inc’s experimental drug to treat muscle wasting in cancer patients became its second successive lead drug to fail late-stage trials, wiping out nearly two-thirds of the market value of the once-promising cancer-focused pharmaceutical company. GTx said on Monday that the drug, enobosarm, failed to meet the twin goals of improving body mass and physical function in cancer patients — the latter measured by improvement in their ability to climb stairs. …

Trampoline injuries are the flip side of backyard fun.        

By Victoria Cavaliere NEW YORK (Reuters) – New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie on Monday signed into law a measure to prevent therapists from counseling gay and lesbian youths to change their sexual orientation, making his the second U.S. state to ban so-called conversion therapy. The state senate approved the measure in June, putting it on the desk of Christie, who is seeking re-election this fall and also widely considered a White House contender for the Republican Party in 2016. …

ATLANTA (AP) — Lyme disease is about 10 times more common than previously reported, health officials said Monday.

Whites thought grade point average as a college admission requirement was more important when in competition with African-Americans than with Asian-Americans. Christopher Intagliata reports

(Reuters) – GTx Inc said its experimental drug to treat muscle wasting in cancer patients was not effective in improving body mass in late-stage trials. A 3-mg dose of the drug, enobosarm, was tested on about 325 patients with non-small cell lung cancer – the most common form of lung cancer. There is no approved cure for cancer-induced muscle wasting which causes decreased physical function, fatigue and weight loss. (Reporting by Pallavi Ail in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

Newborns Could Soon Be Screened for Rare Pompe Enzyme Deficiency Disorder

By Jonathan Kaminsky TACOMA, Washington (Reuters) – The military judge in the court-martial of a U.S. soldier who pleaded guilty in June to the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians was due to hear arguments on Monday over rules for the sentencing proceedings that open this week in Washington state. Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales' lawyers argued last week that prosecutors' exposure to statements he made during a psychiatric exam — after the judge mistakenly furnished them with a copy — compromised their client's constitutional right to avoid self-incrimination. …

With the average American child spending up more than 20 hours a week in school, it follows that they’re doing a good part of their daily eating there as well. Here’s an update on changes that state and federal health officials are making to ensure that what kids are noshing on in between class nourishes their bodies as well as their brains.