Month: December 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) — There’s more disappointing news about multivitamins: Two major studies found popping the pills didn’t protect aging men’s brains or help heart attack survivors.

China is increasingly using extra-judicial "black jails" and drug rehabilitation centers to punish people who would formerly have been sent to forced labor camps, rights group Amnesty International said on Tuesday. China vowed last month to do away with hundreds of labor camps, as part of a landmark package of social and economic reforms. Official news agency Xinhua has said there are 350 such camps across the country, with up to 160,000 inmates. But many of those in extra-judicial jails and rehabilitation centers are being punished for their political or religious beliefs, the London-based rights group said.

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists have proved for the first time that the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) virus that has killed 71 people can also infect camels, strengthening suspicions the animals may be a source of the human outbreak. Researchers from the Netherlands and Qatar used gene-sequencing techniques to show that three dromedary, or one-humped camels, on a farm in Qatar where two people had contracted the MERS coronavirus (CoV) were also infected. But the researchers cautioned it is too early to say whether the camels were definitely the source of the two human cases – in a 61-year-old man and then in a 23-year-old male employee of the farm – and more research is needed. Both the men infected in Qatar recovered.

By Dave Warner PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – A Philadelphia abortion doctor already serving life in prison for murdering babies during late-term abortions was sentenced on Monday to 30 years for illegally selling painkillers out of his clinic. Kermit Gosnell, 72, smiled slightly after he was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Cynthia Rufe in Philadelphia for what prosecutors said was running a “pill mill” that served to prey on the community. “Gosnell is nothing other than a common drug dealer,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Natali told the judge, referring to what the government said were 900,000 prescription pain killers he dispensed between June 2008 and February 2010. Gosnell told the judge he was concerned less with money and more with treating patients with pain or addiction problems.

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists derided research published on Tuesday that suggested ear acupuncture may help people lose weight, saying the study’s design was flawed and its conclusions highly implausible. “It is hard to think of a treatment that is less plausible than ear acupuncture,” said Edzard Ernst, a professor of complementary medicine at Britain’s University of Exeter. A summary statement about the study, conducted by Korean researchers, said it compared three approaches in a total of 91 people – acupuncture on five points on the outer ear, acupuncture on one point, and a sham treatment as a control. It said participants were asked to follow a restrictive diet, but not one designed to lead to weight loss, and not to take any extra exercise during eight weeks of treatment.

Do you take your vitamins every day? For the majority of people, it might just be a waste of time and money, according to a new editorial published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. The editorial, which is in response to three new studies also just published in the same journal, says that research does not show a health benefit to taking most vitamin supplements, and that they don't seem to prevent death or disease. "The message is simple: Most supplements do not prevent chronic disease or death, their use is not justified, and they should be avoided," wrote

WASHINGTON (AP) — After more than 40 years of study, the U.S. government says it has found no evidence that common anti-bacterial soaps prevent the spread of germs, and regulators want the makers of Dawn, Dial and other household staples to prove that their products do not pose health risks to consumers.

Today, pause, take time to step away from your busyness, feel your inspirations, be compelled by your greatest intention, allow your gifts to rise. Write them down. Put them to "work!"

By Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations appealed for a record $6.5 billion for Syria and its neighbors on Monday to help 16 million people, many of them hungry or homeless victims of a conflict that has lasted 33 months with no end in sight. The Syrian appeal accounted for half of an overall funding plan of $12.9 billion for 2014 to help 52 million people in 17 countries, announced by U.N. emergency relief coordinator Valerie Amos at a meeting of donor countries in Geneva. The money requested for Syria, covering food, drinking water, shelter, education, health services and polio vaccines, was the largest U.N. appeal ever for a single crisis. Syria’s currency has plummeted by 80 percent since the revolt began in March 2011, and destruction of the water network has left 10 million people – almost half the pre-war population – relying on the United Nations to chlorinate water.

That was what the man, my boss, whispered into my ear, his hot breath fluttering the hair on my young neck. I was a “personal assistant” for a D.C. bigwig. I had lasted six weeks before, in abject fear, I tendered my resignation. I was stung and humiliated. I was 20 years old. I had committed an almost unpatriotic act — I had quit. Never give up! Quitting is easy! It’s always too soon to quit! So go the Facebook posts, with pictures of cringing kitties or grinning senior citizens. It took me some time to overcome my Calvinist roots

U.S. President Barack Obama will meet executives from leading technology companies like Google and Apple on Tuesday to discuss ways to improve the functioning of the health care website, HealthCare.gov, the White House said. A White House official said the meeting would cover capacity issues with HealthCare.gov which has not worked well since its since its October 1 rollout. It was unclear what Obama might learn from the technology company CEOs that have had little to do with healthcare, but appearing with some of the biggest tech executives in the country could help convince Americans that Obama can fix the healthcare website's problems. The meeting will include executives such as Apple's CEO Tim Cook, Twitter's Dick Costolo, Google's Eric Schmidt and Faceook's Sheryl Sandberg, among others.

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Taking a multivitamin every day doesn’t seem to ward off thinking and memory problems. Nor will it prevent further heart disease or death among people who have already had a heart attack. Those findings come from two reports published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. “People over time and particularly people in the United States have been led to believe that vitamin and mineral supplements will make them healthier, and they’re looking for a magic pill,” Dr. Cynthia Mulrow said.