Month: September 2013

By Kevin Murphy (Reuters) – An Ohio man who confessed in a video posted on a social media site to driving drunk and killing another man may face homicide charges next week, a spokeswoman for a prosecutor said on Friday. Matthew Cordle, 22, posted a 3-1/2 minute video on YouTube in which he admits to driving the wrong way down a highway directly into oncoming traffic, striking and killing Vincent Canzani, 61, on June 22. “When I get charged, I will plead guilty and will take full responsibility for everything I have done to Vince and his family,” Cordle said. …

By Toni Clarke and Atossa Araxia Abrahamian WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that after testing 1,300 samples of rice and rice products, it has determined the amount of detectable arsenic is too low to cause immediate or short-term negative health effects. The next step, the agency said, will be to conduct an analysis into the effects of long-term exposure to low levels of arsenic in rice. …

By Heide Brandes OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) – The federal government has granted Oklahoma a one-year extension to operate its own healthcare program, Governor Mary Fallin said on Friday, making it the second state this week to receive such an exception under President Barack Obama's medical reform law. Oklahoma is one of several Republican-led states that have rejected federal government incentives to expand the Medicaid healthcare program for the poor and declined to set up its own health insurance exchange for consumers to shop for insurance. …

By Veronica Hackethal, MD NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Infants in military families have about the same risk of suffering head trauma from violent shaking, known as shaken baby syndrome, as civilian babies, a new study suggests. Researchers looking at U.S. Department of Defense records found between 26 and 34 out of every 100,000 babies born into military families had substantiated abusive head trauma in the first year of life, similar to civilian rates during the same period. …

By Kathleen Raven NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Female soccer players suffered fewer severe injuries while competing on an artificial surface called FieldTurf than when playing on natural grass fields, in a new study. Researchers found women’s college teams had an average of 7.7 injuries – both minor and serious – for every 10 matches played on FieldTurf, compared to 9.5 injuries per 10 matches on grass. Most competitive collegiate soccer seasons consist of 20 to 25 matches. …

Four people reportedly died after taking the club drug Molly on the east coast this week.        

An alleged victim filed a complaint that David Lee Mangum knowingly infected him with HIV.        

Food For Rethinking Markets

(Reuters) – U.S. regulators on Friday approved use of Celgene Corp’s Abraxane to treat patients with pancreatic cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, citing a trial that showed the drug significantly prolonged survival. The medicine is already approved in the United States to treat lung cancer and breast cancer. Celgene in January said Abraxane helped patients with advanced pancreatic cancer live an average of two months longer than those treated with chemotherapy, according to a late-stage study. …

By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – More than a decade after treatment, the average woman who has had breast cancer seems about as satisfied with her life as women who never had the disease, according to a new Canadian study. “It’s been recognized for a long time that in the very short term breast cancer can adversely affect quality of life,” said senior author Dr. Pamela Goodwin of the University of Toronto. Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation can lead to pain, nausea and fatigue, but researchers did not know how long those effects usually last, Goodwin told Reuters Heath. …

By Greg Roumeliotis and Soyoung Kim NEW YORK (Reuters) – Carlyle Group LP and Hellman & Friedman LLC are among the private equity firms competing for One Call Care Management Inc, a medical cost containment services company that is on the block for more than $1.5 billion, according to four people familiar with the matter. Apax Partners LLP, Advent International Corp, General Atlantic LLC and Berkshire Partners LLC are also in the running for One Call, with meetings with the company’s management starting this month, the people said this week. …

ATLANTA (AP) — After falling four years in a row, U.S. births may finally be leveling off.