Year: 2014

The Louisiana Department of Corrections does not plan to appeal a U.S. Court decision this week that compels it to reveal to inmates on death row the content and maker of drugs used in lethal injections, a prisons official said on Friday. The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Thursday was one in a series in favor of inmates who have sought delays for their execution while they seek information about the contents of lethal injection cocktails and clarity on who would be supplying the drugs. The decisions are likely to delay executions across the country as lawyers for inmates in other states launch similar efforts on their behalf in states looking to develop new means of lethal injection after supplies of drugs they have once used have run dry. “The state will not appeal the decision,” Darryl Campbell, the executive management officer of the Louisiana Department of Corrections, told Reuters.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — About one-third of professional mixed martial arts matches end in knockout or technical knockout, indicating a higher incidence of brain trauma than boxing or other martial arts, according to a new study in the American Journal of Sports Medicine.

Biogen Idec Inc has won U.S. approval for its long-acting hemophilia B treatment Alprolix, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday. Hemophilia B is a rare, inherited disorder in which a person’s blood does not clot properly, which can lead to prolonged bleeding and bruising. Biogen is developing the drug in partnership with Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB. Patients with hemophilia A lack or have reduced levels of coagulation factor VIII.

By Shereen Jegtvig NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Adults hospitalized with mild head injuries have almost double the risk of dying in the next 15 years compared to similar people with no history of head injury, according to a new UK study. It’s not clear whether lifestyle before and after a head injury is to blame for the increased risk, if the injury itself has lingering effects, or both, researchers say. “There is evidence in the study that points to lifestyle factors and health before and after the head injury,” said lead author Tom McMillan, of the Institute of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow. High rates of death in the year following a severe head injury have been well documented, McMillan and his colleagues write in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Friday threw out a federal regulation that allowed government agencies to transfer water between different water bodies, such as rivers and lakes, without needing to safeguard for pollution. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas of the Southern District of New York ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to go back to the drawing board on one aspect of the 2008 regulation. The regulation, known as the water transfers rule, exempts transfers from the national water discharge permit program that is administered by the EPA.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Political opposition in Texas to the federal health care overhaul hasn’t helped enrollment numbers that lag behind expectations as next week’s deadline to sign up looms, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Friday.

By Angela Moon NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks ended up on Friday but off their session highs as a late afternoon selloff in the biotechnology sector weighed on the overall market. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell nearly 3 percent for the week, marking its worst week since October 2012. The three major U.S. stock indexes had been significantly higher in most of the morning and early afternoon trade following comments from China's Premier Li Keqiang indicating that the country's government was ready to take steps to support its slowing economy. But a 2.8 percent drop in the Nasdaq biotechnology index led the major indexes to session lows.

OTTAWA/WINNIPEG (Reuters) – The Canadian government will remove the 25-percent foreign investment cap on medical isotope provider Nordion Inc in cases that are deemed to be of net benefit to Canada, under legislation introduced on Friday. "The foreign ownership restrictions with respect to the company were put in place when it was privatized in the early 1990s, and do not serve an ongoing purpose," said Melissa Lantsman, spokeswoman for Finance Minister Joe Oliver. "The removal of the foreign ownership restrictions will allow Nordion to access more investment capital, enabling it to better grow and create jobs, but is conditional on approval of a transaction under the Investment Canada Act." Nordion shares were down slightly in Toronto and New York in late Friday trading.

A Los Angeles couple was sentenced to three years in jail in Qatar on Thursday for causing the death of their adopted African-born daughter, who was found to have died of starvation, in a case that has raised concern in Washington. Matthew and Grace Huang were arrested in January last year after their 8-year-old daughter, Gloria, died unexpectedly.

Love can sometimes break a heart but marriage seems to do it a lot of good. A study of more than 3.5 million Americans finds that married people are less likely than singles, divorced or widowed folks to suffer any type of heart or blood vessel problem.

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Health officials in the West African nation of Guinea say they’re now treating eight cases of Ebola in the capital.

(Reuters) – Moving to offset shortages of a common saline used in hospitals and dialysis centers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that it will temporarily allow Fresenius Kabi USA LLC to distribute normal saline from its manufacturing facility in Norway. The FDA said the initial shipments would help but not resolve shortages of 0.9 percent sodium chloride injection, also known as normal saline. The FDA said it is continuing to work with Baxter Healthcare Corp, B.Braun Medical Inc. and Hospira Inc to restore their supplies to hospitals and health clinics.