Year: 2014

English health authorities said on Friday they are investigating an outbreak of food poisoning that has affected 156 people in Britain and others in France and Austria. Salmonella Enteritidis is a strain of bacteria that causes gastrointestinal illness and is often associated with poultry or eggs. Public Health England (PHE) said that over the past few months, 55 cases had been seen in the southern county of Hampshire and 25 in London while, further north, there had been 33 cases in Cheshire and 43 in the West Midlands. “In England, the cases occurred as isolated clusters over several months and have been managed locally, but are now being reassessed as potentially linked under a national investigation,” PHE said in a statement.

Strong and healthy circadian function is vital to good sleep and to overall good health. Circadian rhythms have a significant influence over sleep, working in concert with the body's internal sleep drive to regulate periods of both rest and alertness. Circadian dysfunction often results in problems with sleep. The body's circadian rhythms also…

By Philip Pullella and Ju-min Park SOLMOE South Korea (Reuters) – Pope Francis on Friday urged Koreans to pray and work for the re-unification of their divided peninsula, departing from his prepared text to say they should aim to reunite as one family "with no victors or vanquished". The impromptu remarks were the pope's most specific comments on the division of Korea since starting his first trip to Asia on Thursday, and were made in response to a question by a girl at a boisterous youth rally. At the rally on Friday, Francis also condemned the "idolatry of wealth, power and pleasure" he said was spreading a spiritual desert across the affluent world. Earlier, he led prayers for the victims, survivors and families of the Sewol ferry disaster.

(Reuters) – Acura Pharmaceuticals Inc said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) indicated that the company may have to conduct an additional study to determine the abuse-deterrent capability of its experimental painkiller treatment. The FDA in May said data was insufficient to support the company’s claim that the drug could not be abused by snorting. Acura’s drug, which contains common painkillers hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen, is designed to cause a burning sensation when snorted or form a gelatinous mixture when dissolved for injecting. The FDA in December 2013 agreed to review the results of the failed mid-stage trial.

A watch-like gadget that measures food intake is being developed by … One hundred bites a day appears to be the optimal amount for weight loss, according … represent a low-calorie diet according to the National Institute of Health.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) – In a ward at Shifa, Gaza's largest hospital, child therapist Rabeea Hamouda is trying to elicit a response from two small brothers, Omar and Mohammed, aged three and 18 months, hoping for some words or perhaps a smile. For seven straight minutes the children, peppered with burns and shrapnel wounds sustained in Israeli shelling that hit their home in north Gaza, stare at him blankly, emotionless. Eventually, as Hamouda gently teases them, pretending to mix up their names and holding out a present while another counselor sings quietly, a smile creeps across Mohammed's face and the older one, Omar, cries out his name. "Big progress has been made with these children," he says with a sense of relief and quiet accomplishment.

Doctors battle to save lives in one of the world’s busiest cities.

By Paul Mooney YANGON (Reuters) – An international medical group has urged the Myanmar government to follow through on a commitment to let it resume work in one of the poorest parts of the country, warning that healthcare there has seriously deteriorated since it was expelled. The government ordered the group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) out of the western state of Rakhine in February after the group said it had treated people it believed were victims of sectarian violence. The withdrawal of the agency, which had operated in the area for more than 20 years, left some half-a-million Rohingya Muslims without access to reliable medical care. "What has become clearer since the expulsion is that the situation has gotten more grievous by the day," said Reshma Adatia, operational adviser to MSF-Holland on Myanmar.

By Carl Odera BENTIU South Sudan (Reuters) – Government troops clashed with South Sudan rebels on Friday near the capital of the oil producing Unity State, a U.N. official said, days after a U.N. Security Council delegation warned of sanctions if either side violated a ceasefire signed in May. Heavy shelling and gunfire near Bentiu started around 6 a.m. and continued for several hours, said a Reuters correspondent in a nearby U.N. base that is sheltering 29,000 people displaced by months of fighting. A senior U.N. official at the base said the rebels had clashed with government troops 300 metres west of Rubkona Airstrip, which is about 6 km (4 miles) north from Bentiu.