Month: November 2013

By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations delivered food to a record 3.3 million people in Syria in October, up from 2.7 million the previous month, but said on Friday civilians were going hungry in besieged areas that remain inaccessible. Embattled parts of Damascus and its rural areas, where fighting has intensified, have not been reached for many months and the nutritional state of those trapped is believed to have deteriorated significantly, the World Food Programme (WFP) said. “WFP is concerned about the fate of many Syrians trapped in conflict areas and still in need of urgent food assistance. We are monitoring worrying reports emerging of malnutrition among children in besieged areas,” WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told a news briefing in Geneva.

By Miriam Stix NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Women exposed to even low levels of urban air pollution during pregnancy may be at heightened risk of having a low-birthweight baby, according to a review of evidence from Europe. Based on data for more than 74,000 women in 12 European countries over a 15-year period, researchers say that if pollution levels were lowered to limits set by the World Health Organization (WHO), 22 percent of cases of low birthweight would be avoided. “This is similar to the number of cases that would be prevented by cessation of maternal smoking during pregnancy in this European population,” said lead author Dr. Marie Pedersen from the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona, Spain. Pedersen’s team looked at 14 studies of pregnant women who had a child at full term between 1994 and 2011.

"If you have a flexible metabolism, you can have a healthy, varied diet. … So, in phase two and three, dieters can add more foods, but must also dramatically …

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a new drug from Roche to help treat patients with a type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow.

BERLIN (AP) — A new law has gone into effect allowing German parents to register their newborn babies as neither male nor female if they were born with traits of both sexes.

On Nov. 1, Germany became the first European nation to recognize a third gender for babies born with ambiguous genitalia. No longer will newborns be rigidly assigned male or female.        

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug from Roche to help treat patients with a type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow.

By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Paramedics often have to transport patients in critical condition from one medical facility to another. The finding that paramedics work beyond their job descriptions was not a surprise to lead author William Raynovich. “By definition, critical care patients require the highest level of intensive skill and are at the greatest risk of death or chronic disability,” Raynovich, of Creighton University EMS Education in Omaha, Nebraska, said. The physiologic condition of critical patients deteriorates rapidly and correct assessments and interventions must be quickly performed.” The new study should spark a discussion about paramedic training, Raynovich told Reuters Health.