Month: August 2014

Getting dressed is a challenge for patients in leg-lengthening contraptions.

By Ronnie Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Teenagers who play risk-glorifying video games rated for mature audiences are more likely to act aggressively, drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and have unprotected sex, a new study suggests. Character-based video games let people practice being someone else, and practicing at being a character who’s an antisocial deviant may have broad behavioral consequences for kids, the researchers conclude.

Swiss researchers say they have taken an important step towards a cure for arthritis, successfully testing a prototype treatment in mice that may soon be trialled on humans. The experimental drug "fully cured" arthritic mice who had hobbled on inflamed and swollen toes and paws, scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ) said. Rheumatoid arthritis is a condition that causes painful inflammation of joints, sometimes destroying cartilage and bone as it progresses. The disease affects up to one percent of the world's population, according to ETHZ, but while various drugs are used to stop or slow the progression of the disease, there has until now been no known cure.

By Umaru Fofana and Clair MacDougall FREETOWN/MONROVIA (Reuters) – The army blockaded rural areas hit by the deadly Ebola virus in Sierra Leone on Thursday, a senior officer said, after neighbouring Liberia declared a state of emergency to tackle the worst-ever outbreak of the disease, which has killed 932 people. Worried Liberians queued at banks and stocked up on food in markets in the ramshackle capital Monrovia while others took buses to unaffected parts of the West African country after President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf announced the powers lasting for 90 days late on Wednesday. …

By Toni Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government will not renew funding for a major research project into Lassa fever, a decision that will, in turn, cut resources for a facility in Sierra Leone that is at the forefront of the current battle against the Ebola virus. The National Institutes of Health rejected a proposal from New Orleans-based Tulane University to renew the five-year contract which expires in November, according to a July 30 letter from NIH reviewed by Reuters. NIH declined to comment on the decision, citing "federal government procurement integrity rules." The facility, at Kenema Government Hospital, was set up a decade ago to test and treat Lassa fever. Now it is being used to treat patients stricken with Ebola.

Nothing lends itself to summer grilling better than a blow out buffet of all your favorite fiesta foods. But since it also happens to be bikini season, why not trade in the usual carne asada for a few taco fillings that are a little less, er, filling?I've put together some of my favorite lighter Tex-Mex dishes so that your next BBQ doesn't have…