Month: April 2014

By Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A pioneering European Union survey into the impact of pests and diseases on honey bees found death rates were lower than feared, in part countering concerns about the collapse of colonies of the crop-pollinating insects. The study of 32,000 bee colonies across 17 EU member states from late 2012 until summer 2013 found winter mortality rates ranged from 3.5 percent to 33.6 percent. The winter of 2012-13 was particularly cold and the highest mortality rates were in northern countries with harsher climates. During the beekeeping season, when the insects are active, mortality rates were between 0.3 percent and 13.6 percent.

By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – For young kids who are hard of hearing, the longer they wear a hearing aid, the better their speech and language skills, according to a new study. “Parents get some conflicting information, especially if their kids only have mild hearing loss: should they get hearing aids now or wait until later,” said Mary Pat Moeller, an audiologist. But even kids in the study with only mild hearing loss had significantly improved speaking skills if they wore hearing aids, Moeller told Reuters Health. For the new report, the researchers analyzed data from 180 hard of hearing three- and five-year-olds, almost all of whom had been fitted with hearing aids.

Maria’s GentleWhispering YouTube channel triggers “tingles” in those with ASMR.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A growing share of Americans got health insurance as sign-up season for President Barack Obama's health care law came to a close last month, a major survey released Monday has found.

By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to stop a lower court ruling from going into effect while the justices consider an appeal in a patent fight over Teva's top-selling multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone. On March 31, the high court agreed to hear Teva's appeal of a July 2013 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in favor of two teams developing cheaper generic forms of Copaxone: one involving Novartis AG's Sandoz Inc and Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc, and the other involving Mylan Inc and Natco Pharma Ltd. The appeals court had upheld some of the nine patents involved in the drug, or portions of them, but declared several invalid, meaning patent protections were set to expire in May 2014 instead of September 2015.