Month: December 2013

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s conservative government on Friday approved tighter restrictions on abortion, allowing the practice only in the case of rape or when there is a serious health risk to the mother or fetus.

A woman overcomes her disabling weight.        

The findings of a new study on narcolepsy point to immune system attacks gone haywire as a cause. Experts say that the conclusions, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, might eventually result in a new test for this hard-to-diagnose disorder, according to U.S. News & World Report Health. Senior author Dr. Elizabeth Mellins, a researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine, indicates that while scientists suspected that narcolepsy might be an autoimmune disease, they were unable to prove it before the study pointed to strong evidence of a connection. Narcolepsy is a chronic disorder associated with irregular cycles of sleeping and waking, says the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Friday more than half a million Americans enrolled in health insurance plans under Obamacare using the HealthCare.gov website during the first three weeks of December. That brings the total enrollments through state and federal marketplaces to more than 1 million people to date, based on rough estimates of updated state and federal data, senior administration officials said. (Reporting by Steve Holland, Roberta Rampton, Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Chris Reese)

Erick Munoz says his wife is being kept alive at a Texas hospital against her wishes.        

By Tom Miles and Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) – Iran remains a sticking point in plans for a conference to end the conflict in Syria, international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said on Friday, with the United States still refusing to agree to Iran’s presence when talks begin on Jan 22. “On Iran, we haven’t agreed yet. But it is no secret that we in the United Nations welcome the participation of Iran,” Brahimi told a news conference in Geneva.

A leukemia drug that was suspended amid safety concerns nearly two months ago is being allowed back on the U.S. market, though restricted to a smaller group of patients. Shares of Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc, which makes the drug, Iclusig, rose as much as 40 percent after news that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the more restricted use of on Friday. Iclusig was approved a year ago to treat chronic myeloid leukemia and Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia in patients who had failed to respond to at least one other therapy. The FDA said it approved a revised label for the drug, limiting its use to patients with a specific genetic mutation and to those who are unable to use alternative treatments such as Novartis AG’s Gleevec or Bristol Myers Squibb Co’s Sprycel.

INDIO, Calif. (AP) — About 1,800 students and staff at a Southern California high school were expected to be tested for tuberculosis Friday after one student was diagnosed with the bacterial infection last month.

A recent study found those donors were split on the idea of possible contact from their donor children. Victoria, Australia introduced legislation to ban anonymous sperm and egg donation in 1998. “This means that donor-conceived children who were born after 1998 have a legal right to access information about their donor,” Karin Hammarberg told Reuters Health by email. Hammarberg is a postdoctoral research fellow at the School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine at Monash University in Melbourne.

“Teasing not only influences psychological functioning but may reduce physical activity and lead to poorer physical, social, and emotional functioning for children,” Chad D. Jensen told Reuters Health in an email. He led the study at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. The link between teasing and less physical activity is particularly concerning considering most children are already not exercising as much as they should. Previous research shows less than one in 10 children meets the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ recommendation to participate in at least one hour of moderate or vigorous physical activity every day.

Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian and wounded three others in three separate incidents of cross-border violence in the Gaza Strip on Friday, Palestinian officials said. The Israeli military, which has long said the area in Gaza along the border fence is off limits, said that its soldiers used live fire to contain a number of violent incidents near the border and "several hits were identified", but did not confirm any dead or wounded. Palestinians damaged the fence in the northern part of the border, a mortar was fired into Israel, and in one area Gazans tried to cross into Israel, the military said in a statement. Palestinian officials said a 22-year-old Palestinian was shot dead by the fence near Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.