Month: May 2014

(Reuters) – A 15-year-old Somali boy who survived a nearly six-hour flight stowed in the wheel well of a Hawaii-bound jet has been returned to California and placed in the custody of social services, the San Jose Mercury News reported. The teen was transferred back to Santa Clara, California, without his father, who has not been allowed to see his son since the teen stowed away to Hawaii on April 20, the newspaper said on Saturday. In a statement after his son ran away, father Abdilahi Yusuf Abdi said the boy had been “struggling adjusting to life” in America. The Department of Family and Children’s Services in Santa Clara County did not immediately respond on Sunday to Reuters’ request for comment about the teen’s custody status.

NEW YORK (AP) — If Mickey Mouse is feeling his age at 86, scientists may have found just the tonic: the blood of younger mice.

ISTANBUL — With cases of a virulent and highly fatal pathogen on the rise, including the first-known occurrence in the United States, epidemiologists and public health officials say some of their biggest concerns about the disease lie in the basic information that they still don't have about it. The virus, called Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, is closely related to SARS, which spread rapidly across Asia a decade ago, leaving some 800 people dead. So far, MERS, which has a higher fatality rate than SARS and no known vaccine or cure, has proven to be much less of a

(Reuters) – A healthcare worker being treated in Indiana with the first U.S. case of the often fatal Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is in good condition and improving daily, the state health department said on Sunday. State and federal health officials confirmed on Friday that the man had been diagnosed with the virus after traveling to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and exhibiting symptoms upon his return to the United States. "We are very pleased the patient is improving and no other cases have been identified at this time," said Dr. William VanNess II, Indiana's state health commissioner. MERS symptoms can take up to 14 days to occur, and the virus has no known treatments.

By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) – If three discoveries in mice reported on Sunday are applicable to people, making old brains and old muscles perform like young ones may require simply a blood transfusion. In two of the studies, giving the blood of young mice to old ones undid age-related impairments in the brain, reversing declines in learning and memory and boosting the creation of new neurons and the ability of the brain to change its structure in response to experience. The third study found that a protein in the blood of young mice improved the ability of old ones (comparable to a 70-year-old person) to exercise. Previous studies had shown that giving young mice blood from old mice impaired their cognitive function.

It always sneaks up on you; one minute you're surrounded by chocolates on Valentine's Day, then before you can say "I'm going on a diet" you're suddenly accepting invites to beach barbecues and pool parties.

My mother shaped the woman I would become, the family I would create and the business I would build. In this month that celebrates motherhood, I'd like to share some of my mother's best advice.

You don't really know much about this whole Paleo thing, but how hard could it be, right?! Right. Just remember that old saying: Curiosity killed the cat.

This month's top 10 list contains a healthy mix of perennial favorites and relative upstarts. Chart regulars like Shakira and OneRepublic both clock in with their most recent singles.

From Mother Nature Network's Jennifer Nelson: Even if you sleep like a baby most nights, you’ve probably had at least the occasional bout of insomnia. Whether it’s that late-night snack that keeps the sandman away, stress or something less sinister, here are six relaxation techniques to try when sleep eludes you: 1. Guided visualization Lie in bed and tell your body to relax from head to toe, suggests Joshua Jacobi, MD, an interventional cardiologist in Pasadena, California. “Forehead relax, eyes relax, cheeks relax,” and so forth down until your toes. “Then, I picture lying on a beach. …

By Noah Barkin and Irene Preisinger BERLIN (Reuters) – When Joe Kaeser took the reins of German engineering giant Siemens last summer after a boardroom coup, he made clear his priority was closing a yawning profitability gap with rivals such as General Electric . On Wednesday the 56-year-old Bavarian presents his grand strategy, but it is likely to be overshadowed by something that investors and even some Siemens executives fear could undermine his profit drive: a politically-charged battle with the U.S. group for France's Alstom . Siemens announced last week that it would make a formal offer for Alstom – most likely in the form of a swap of power and rail assets – after being encouraged by the French and German governments to step in. Hours later, Alstom's board chose to accept a $16.9 billion GE bid for the French firm's energy unit.