Month: April 2014

By Lisa Bose McDermott TEXARKANA, Texas (Reuters) – A Texas woman who complained to police that a drug dealer sold her a bad batch of marijuana that did not pack much of a punch has been arrested, police said on Tuesday. Evelyn Hamilton, 37, was jailed on Friday after also telling police in Lufkin, Texas, that the dealer refused to give her a refund. She was later released on $500 bail for a drug paraphernalia charge. She had in her possession a bag with a small amount of pot, said Lufkin Police Sergeant David Casper.

U.S. health insurers said on Tuesday they still expected cuts in government reimbursements for privately managed Medicare health plans for the elderly next year even after the Obama administration rolled back the steepest reductions. The government agency that oversees Medicare said late on Monday that on average, reimbursements to insurers for private Medicare plans would rise 0.4 percent, reversing what it said was a proposed cut of 1.9 percent. Republican and Democratic lawmakers had broadly opposed further cuts as well, adding pressure on the administration at a time when President Barack Obama's healthcare law was also under attack. After analyzing the final rate notice from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and comparing it with their own models, health insurers said on Tuesday that the 2015 Medicare Advantage payment rates represented a cut to payments from 2014 levels.

By Daniel Levine and Edmund Klamann SAN FRANCISCO/TOKYO (Reuters) – Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd said it would contest $6 billion in punitive damages imposed by a jury in the United States in a case that accused Japan's largest drugmaker of concealing cancer risks associated with its Actos diabetes drug. Eli Lilly and Co, Takeda's co-defendant in the case, was ordered to pay $3 billion in punitive damages by the jury in Louisiana on Monday. It also awarded $1.475 million in compensatory damages. Eli Lilly and Takeda have said they would dispute the verdict, which could include appeals to a higher court or filing motions asking the trial judge to set aside or reduce the verdict.

The weight–loss and health benefits of the Paleo diet aren't surprising to nutritionist Dr. John Briffa. "As the Paleo diet removes a lot of the foods that …

A "challenging" outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa is expected to take from two to four months to contain, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday. The virus is still spreading in three "hotspots" of Guinea Forestiere, a southeastern region some 900 km (560 miles) from Guinea's capital of Conakry, a city which has itself reported 20 cases to date, the United Nations agency said. But the WHO said it was not recommending any travel restrictions for Guinea, which has a total of 157 suspected and confirmed cases including 101 deaths, or for Liberia, which has 21 suspected and confirmed cases, including 10 deaths. "We fully expect to be engaged in this outbreak for the next two to three to four months before we are comfortable that we are through it," Dr. Keija Fukuda, WHO assistant director-general, told a Geneva news briefing.

A 6-month-old giraffe at the Oklahoma City Zoo is having surgery today to fix a fatal birth defect, but a zoo staff say there’s only a 50 percent chance she’ll survive.

Honey mixed with sugar might be sweet, but it is not "honey." Food companies and other producers who add sweeteners to honey have to alert consumers by labeling their products as a "blend," the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday. Only manufactures that do not add sugar, corn syrup or other sweeteners should label their products as pure "honey," the FDA said in draft guidelines posted online. The proposal aims "to advise the regulated food industry on the proper labeling of honey and honey products to help ensure that honey and honey products are not adulterated or misbranded," the agency wrote. Pure honey is generally more expensive than those mixed with corn syrup and traditional sugar, and prices reached a record high of $2.12 a pound last year, according to the USDA.

LONDON (AP) — In a north London hospital, scientists are growing noses, ears and blood vessels in a bold attempt to make body parts in the laboratory.