Year: 2014

The mom of a child with cerebral palsy invents a radical new walking harness.

By Alphonso Toweh and Saliou Samb MONROVIA/CONAKRY (Reuters) – West African nations scrambled on Tuesday to contain an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus suspected to have killed at least 59 in Guinea, with people presenting symptoms of the disease reported in neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia. Health authorities in Liberia said five out of six people who crossed the border from Guinea to seek treatment and showed symptoms of the fever had died. Liberia's Chief Medical Officer Bernice Dahn said it was not confirmed if the cases were Ebola, one of the most lethal infectious diseases known to humans, and tests were being carried out.

Upsee is an upright standing mobility product used to help special needs children.

China's energy-hungry, high-polluting industries continued to grow too fast in 2013, putting "huge pressures" on the environment and causing air quality to worsen, the country's pollution agency said on Tuesday. Premier Li Keqiang "declared war" on pollution in a major policy address this month, but China has long struggled to strike a balance between protecting the environment and keeping up economic growth. China is still too slow in reforming its resource-intensive economy, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a statement on its website (www.mep.gov.cn). Slower wind speeds than usual in northern China were an additional contributing factor last year.

NEW YORK (AP) — A smokers’ advocacy group says it has sued New York City seeking to overturn the city’s ban on electronic cigarettes.

Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners has bought eyewear chain Synsam Nordic from Alipes, the investment firm controlled by Sweden’s Kamprad family which also controls the world’s largest furniture retailer IKEA, CVC said on Tuesday. CVC did not say how much it paid for Synsam, which had sales of around 3 billion Swedish crowns ($467 million) in 2013 and employs some 2,600. “With attractive market positions, a strong brand name and an extensive store network, as well as an emerging online offering, Synsam is now ready to take the next step in its development,” CVC said in a statement. Synsam is the largest optical retail chain in the Nordic region with more than 420 of its own stores and franchisees in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, CVC added.

A Canadian man who returned from Liberia with what health experts feared was the Ebola virus tested negative for it early this morning, according to the World Health Organization. Health officials have not yet confirmed made the man ill, but his travel history, symptoms and…

By Ros Krasny WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. food prices are expected to rise more rapidly this year after a very tame 2013, led by gains in beef, poultry and egg prices, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday. The food price inflation outlook assumes normal weather, the USDA said, adding that the California drought poses a risk of bigger increases in many food categories, and that high supermarket prices for beef are “here to stay.” Various measures, including overall food, food-at-home and food-away-from-home prices, are expected to rise by 2.5 to 3.5 percent in 2014. The consumer price index for all food prices rose by 1.4 percent in 2013. The ongoing drought in California could have “large and lasting effects on fruit, vegetable, dairy and egg prices” although that impact has not been seen so far, USDA said.

A new study suggests that current body mass index (BMI) recommendations may be unsuitable for older adults. Caryl Nowson, a professor of nutrition and aging at Deakin University, led a research team that examined the relationship between BMI and risk of death in people 65 and older. The findings indicated the lowest risk was among those with a BMI of about 27.5, which is considered overweight by the World Health Organization. "It is time to reassess the healthy weight guidelines for older people," Professor Nowson said.

By Toni Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A drug to treat acute heart failure made by Novartis AG should not be approved because there is insufficient evidence to show it improves symptoms, according to an initial review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The review, posted on the FDA's website on Tuesday, comes two days ahead of a meeting of outside advisors who will make their own recommendation on whether the drug should be approved. The FDA is not obliged to follow the advice of its advisory panels but typically does so. Acute heart failure is a medical emergency in which patients become short of breath as the heart struggles to pump blood and fluid around the body.

Diversified healthcare and chemicals group Merck KGaA said the head of its Consumer Health unit, Udit Batra, would become chief executive of its much larger laboratory and biotech equipment unit Merck Millipore. Batra will succeed Robert Yates, who has decided to leave the German company to take on a new job outside of Merck, it said on Tuesday. Uta Kemmerich-Keil, who currently heads Merck’s allergy treatment unit Allergopharma, will succeed Batra to lead the Consumer Health unit, which makes non-prescription or over-the-counter (OTC) drugs and which owns the seven seas brand.