Year: 2013

Reported by Karen Keller: As many as a half a million American lives could be saved if we all ate a fraction of a teaspoon of salt less every day, a new study suggests. The study, published today in the American Heart Association’s journal Hypertension,…

LONDON (Reuters) – A new virus from the same family as SARS that sparked a global alert last September has been found in another patient in Britain, health officials said on Monday. The latest case of infection with the new virus known as a coronavirus brings the total number confirmed globally to 10, of whom five have died. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the latest infection was “a sporadic case” and did not alter the WHO’s risk assessment. It added, however, that the new case “does indicate that the virus is persistent”. …

ARLINGTON, Texas (Reuters) – Thousands of people gathered at Cowboys Stadium on Monday to remember former U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, who was killed at a shooting range by an Iraq War veteran he tried to help. Kyle, 38, was considered the deadliest sniper in American military history. He served four combat tours of duty in Iraq and elsewhere and won two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars for bravery, according to his book "American Sniper," about his military service from 1999 to 2009. …

CHICAGO (AP) — Want to know how much a hip replacement will cost? Many hospitals won't be able to tell you, at least not right away — if at all. And if you shop around and find centers that can quote a price, the amounts could vary astronomically, a study found.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg and other European ministers will meet in Brussels on Wednesday to consider the implications of horsemeat found in products sold as beef, Ireland, the current EU president country, said on Monday. Irish Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney wants to discuss “whatever steps may be necessary at EU level to comprehensively address this matter”, the Irish government said in a statement on its EU presidency website. (Reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Michael Roddy)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Eli Lilly and Co’s chief executive said his company had no intention of following Pfizer’s lead by spinning off or selling the company’s lucrative Elanco animal health unit. “We’re comfortable with that business and we’re going to keep it,” Lilly CEO John Lechleiter said definitively on Monday during a question and answer session at the BIO CEO & Investor conference in New York. Pfizer earlier this month spun off its animal health business through an initial public offering that raised $2. …

The teen birth rate in the U.S. fell to a historic low in 2011, according to statistics released Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The numbers were part of an “Annual Summary of Vital Statistics: 2010-2011” published online by the journal Pediatrics ahead of its March issue.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Giving men decision-making tools to help them consider the pros and cons of prostate cancer screening changed how they valued different possible outcomes but did not affect how many chose to be tested, in a new study. A report last month suggested that one in four family doctors regularly screens men for prostate cancer without asking their permission (see Reuters Health story of Jan 14, 2013 here: http://reut.rs/13wDsZj). …

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – For nearsighted children in Denmark, vision deteriorated faster when days were shortest and more slowly during the summer months, according to a new study looking into whether daylight may slow kids’ vision loss. “Most likely it is the light exposure that causes the reduced myopia progression during periods with longer days,” said lead author Dr. Dongmei Cui, an ophthalmologist at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. …