Month: February 2014

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Young women who get the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine don’t see it as a license to have more sexual partners or forgo condoms, a new study confirms. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls for both girls and boys to be vaccinated against HPV, the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer. Some parents have been concerned that the vaccine might promote risky sex, however, and the issue of HPV vaccination became a topic of debate during the 2012 Republican primaries. But in the new study, even the small group of girls who misunderstood their risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) after getting vaccinated didn’t change their behavior as a result, researchers found.

By Misha Hussain DAKAR, Feb 3 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The United Nations appealed on Monday for more than $2 billion to feed and care for a record 20 million people across Africa's Sahel belt, but aid workers said they feared donor fatigue and a weak global recovery may prevent them from reaching the target. Conflicts in Mali, Nigeria, Sudan and Central African Republic have disrupted markets and caused food shortages across the savannah region, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned. The problems in the Sahel, a semi-arid belt south of the Sahara Desert that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean eastward to the Red Sea, have also weighed on the United Nations' efforts to protect refugees, another component of its aid appeal. More than 1.6 million people have abandoned their homes and half of these have sought refuge in countries like Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad, which are already under strain.

By Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Belgian biotech company Ablynx has signed a deal with Merck & Co worth up to 1.7 billion euros ($2.3 billion) to develop ways of triggering the body to fight cancer by itself. The collaboration involves a new generation of drugs designed to activate the immune system. The first in the field – Bristol-Meyer Squibb's Yervoy – is targeting melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Rival Merck filed the first part of an application to market its own potential drug for advanced melanoma earlier this month, pushing up its share price.

Teen with prosthetic legs fights to stay on basketball team.        

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization’s cancer agency warns there will be 22 million new cases of cancer every year within the next two decades.

Should you really trust in chicken noodle soup?        

By Dorene Internicola NEW YORK (Reuters) – Women-only gyms, once seen as the exercise alternative for out of shape women of a certain age, are actively shedding that reputation, fitness experts say. Young, professional women are discovering that female-only fitness zones can be what a morning of golf or shooting the hoops is to their male counterparts: a chance to network, negotiate and bond while working out. “Men have been combining fitness and a social aspect for ages, doing business and creating relationships at the same time,” said Leanne Shear, trainer and founder of Uplift Studios, a boutique women-only venue in Manhattan. “Women have not, to their detriment.” Shear said her studio, which opened in 2012, attracts professional women in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, and aims to provide a social atmosphere where they can come together as a community.

(Reuters) – Australian swimming great Ian Thorpe has been admitted to rehab after suffering from depression, local media said on Monday. Police were called after Thorpe was found disoriented and behaving oddly near a vehicle and the 31-year-old was later taken to Bankstown hospital on Monday. "He is in rehab for depression," Thorpe's manager James Erskine told the Australian Associated Press.

Australian swimming great Ian Thorpe has been admitted to rehab after suffering from depression, local media said on Monday. Police were called after Thorpe was found disoriented and behaving oddly near a vehicle and the 31-year-old was later taken to Bankstown hospital on Monday. “He is in rehab for depression,” Thorpe’s manager James Erskine told the Australian Associated Press.

Camera-in-a-pill maker Given Imaging said on Monday it received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for a pill to provide visualization of the colon that has a global market of 3 million procedures a year. The pill, called the PillCam Colon, may be used for detection of colon polyps in patients after an incomplete optical colonoscopy, the Israeli medical device maker said.

CHICAGO (AP) — Gay and bisexual teen boys use illicit steroids at a rate almost six times higher than do straight kids, a “dramatic disparity” that points up a need to reach out to this group, researchers say.