Year: 2014

By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) – A federal jury in Florida on Monday ruled in favor of Blackberry Ltd in a lawsuit accusing the company of infringing three patents belonging to Dutch semiconductor company NXP BV. NXP in April 2012 sued BlackBerry, then known as Research in Motion, alleging that versions of the BlackBerry phone and PlayBook tablet infringed patents related to the design, data transmission and other features of those devices. The lawsuit originally covered six patents, but NXP later dropped its claims related to three of the patents. …

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – U.S. childhood obesity rates have increased over the past 14 years, according to a study published on Monday, casting doubt on a recent analysis by government health researchers that found a sharp drop in preschool obesity rates over the past decade. The good news, announced in February by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), received widespread media coverage and prompted first lady Michelle Obama to say she was “thrilled at the progress we’ve made over the last few years in obesity rates among our youngest Americans. The new study, published online in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics, used the same data source as the CDC, but analyzed obesity rates over a different timeframe. It found increases in obesity for children age 2 to 19, and a marked rise in the percentage who were severely obese.

By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – The shooting rampage at Fort Hood U.S. Army base last week started with an argument over leave and lasted eight minutes, with the suspected shooter getting in and out of his car as he fired on soldiers he worked with and others who happened onto his path, investigators said on Monday. Specialist Ivan Lopez, 34, drove his car slowly through the central Texas base as he carried out the rampage. He got out at two facilities, including the place he was assigned, fatally shooting three people and wounding 16 more before turning the gun on himself, Christopher Grey, spokesman for the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, told a news conference. The shooting in which three people were killed and 16 wounded was the second deadly rampage at the base, one of the largest U.S. Army posts in the country, in five years.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s largest doctors’ group said Monday it won’t try to block Medicare’s release of billing records for 880,000 physicians, although it continues to oppose the government’s recent decision to open up the massive data trove.

"Cameras add additional weight to photos and when you're taking a selfie you're also dealing with bad lighting, angles, close-ups and a lot of other factors that make people complain that the photo isn't an accurate representation of themselves," said Susan Green, co-founder of the Phoenix-based company Pretty Smart Women that created the app. It was originally designed to help overweight adults show a leaner version of themselves, but Robin J Phillips, the other co-founder, said the app has also motivated people to lose weight. But some critics fear the $1.99 app, which only works on single head shots, could encourage an unhealthy body image. Lauren Dickson, a social worker in the eating disorders and addiction clinic at the Center of Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, said the app is one of many factors that could contribute towards a young adult developing an eating disorder.

(Reuters) – Zogenix Inc said it sought a restraining order against an order by Massachusetts officials blocking sales of its FDA-approved painkiller, Zohydro. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced the Zohydro ban in late March, formally declaring a public health emergency stemming from the abuse of opioids in the state. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, follows an unanswered formal request to the Governor for a meeting to discuss the drug, the company said on Monday.

The businessman accused of arranging for his new bride to be murdered during their honeymoon in Cape Town was flown back to South Africa on Monday night after more than three years of trying to avoid extradition on mental health grounds. Shrien Dewani, 34, left Britain at around 0800 p.m. BST after having been met at Bristol airport by representatives of the South African authorities who accompanied him on the flight, London's Metropolitan police said in a statement. Dewani was expected to make a brief court appearance on arrival on Tuesday morning before being transferred to hospital for more psychiatric tests, British media reports said. Dewani is accused of conspiring to kill his wife, Anni, 28, a Swedish national, who was shot in November 2010 when the taxi the couple were travelling in was hijacked in the Gugulethu township on the outskirts of Cape Town.

By Curtis Skinner NEW YORK (Reuters) – The percentage of Americans without health insurance dipped to its lowest in nearly six years due in part to U.S. President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law, commonly known as Obamacare, according to a Gallup poll released on Monday. Some 15.6 percent of Americans lacked health insurance in the first three months of 2014, down from a high of 18 percent in late 2013, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey. "'Obamacare' appears to be accomplishing its goal of increasing the percentage of Americans with health insurance coverage," the report said. Black and low-income Americans saw some of the most pronounced drops in the uninsured rate, with declines of more than 3 percentage points.