Year: 2014

NEW YORK (AP) — The government's estimate of autism has moved up again to 1 in 68 U.S. children, a 30 percent increase in two years.

By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) – More than 6 million people have now signed up for private insurance plans under President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law known as Obamacare, reflecting a surge in enrollments days before the March 31 deadline, the White House said on Thursday. The milestone gives the White House some ammunition to counter Republican critics, who have described the program as an expensive flop in the build-up to midterm congressional campaigns in November, when Democratic control of the U.S. Senate is at stake. Only 10 days ago, the administration had pegged enrollment at more than 5 million people, and enlisted celebrities and top government officials to try to persuade more uninsured people, particularly the young and healthy, to sign up. The last-minute boost has exceeded the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's estimate that 6 million people would sign up in the program's first year, down from earlier expectations of 7 million enrollees because of problems with websites used for shopping for insurance.

(Reuters) – A colon cancer screening method that analyzes DNA from stool samples won the unanimous backing of a U.S. advisory panel on Thursday, paving the way for potential regulatory approval of the non-invasive test. A panel of outside experts advising the Food and Drug Administration voted 10-0 to recommend approval of the Cologuard screening test made by Exact Sciences Corp. The company said a large clinical trial found that its test detected 92.3 percent of colorectal cancers in average-risk patients based on a combination of DNA and hemoglobin markers. While a colonoscopy is considered the most accurate method of detecting colon cancer and polyps, many people avoid the test, which involves inserting a flexible tube into the colon. If Cologuard is approved by the FDA, patients who have a positive cancer finding with the test, which identifies abnormal cells shed in the stool, would then undergo a colonoscopy.

A drug made by Novartis AG to treat acute heart failure should not be approved because there is insufficient evidence it improves symptoms, a panel of advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded on Thursday. The FDA is not obliged to follow the advice of its advisory panels but typically does so. Novartis filed for approval of the drug, serelaxin, based on a single study that showed that when given alongside standard treatment it alleviated shortness of breath by slowing the rate of worsening heart failure following hospitalization. Panelists said that while the drug may have reduced worsening heart failure, additional study would be needed to determine the magnitude of the effect.

By Richard Valdmanis BOSTON (Reuters) – Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick on Thursday declared a public health emergency over rising heroin and opioid addiction in the state, and announced measures to make overdose reversal medication more widely available. The move comes as states across America report sharp increases in heroin use, a trend the Obama administration this month called an “urgent public health crisis.” “We have an epidemic of opiate abuse in Massachusetts, so we will treat it like the public health crisis it is,” Patrick said in a statement. Patrick said his administration would permit first responders to carry and administer overdose reversal medication naloxone, also known as narcan, and will make the drug available in pharmacies for those “who fear a loved one might overdose.” He said he would also temporarily prohibit hydrocodone-only formulation pain killers in the state, which he said pose “a significant risk to individuals already addicted to opiates and to the public at large.” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said this month that heroin overdoses had become “an urgent public health crisis,” and reiterated the Obama administration’s call for more law enforcement to train and equip personnel with naxolone.

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. “We have just been wrongfully convicted and we feel as if we are being kidnapped by the Qatar judicial system,” Matthew Huang said. “This verdict is wrong and appears to be nothing more than an effort to save face.” A website created to publicize the case ( http://freemattandgrace.com ) said Matthew, a Stanford-trained engineer, had moved to Qatar with his wife and their three young children in 2012 to help oversee a big infrastructure project related to the 2022 soccer World Cup.

Grandmother says they accused 8-year-old Sunnie of being a lesbian or transgender.

By Nicole Mordant VANCOUVER (Reuters) – Looking for ways to boost their flagging fortunes, a handful of tiny Canadian mining exploration companies are considering swapping their hard hats and shovels for bongs and baggies. In the past couple of months, nearly a dozen of these so-called junior miners, hard hit by a downturn in the mining industry, have announced they might branch out into Canada's budding medical marijuana industry. The announcements from Satori Resources Inc, which owns a moribund gold project in Manitoba, and Victory Ventures Inc, which has staked mineral claims in British Columbia, have propelled these rock-bottom penny stocks upward. Until now, the medical marijuana industry has consisted mostly of small-scale home-grown operations.

By Allison Bond NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Women with a sunny disposition may also have an easier time adopting healthy habits, according to a new study. “It’s not just having a sunny outlook – rather, this is a marker of other things people do,” said Melanie Hingle, a dietician at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The study used data collected as part of the Women’s Health Initiative, a study of a national sample of postmenopausal women between the ages of 50 and 79. Hingle and her team found that the most optimistic one third of the women saw the most improvement in their diets, whether or not they had completed the nutrition program.