Year: 2014

Gains were broad, with the Nasdaq closing at its highest level since 2000 and nine of the 10 major S&P 500 sector indexes rising on the day. This is the second straight week of gains for all three.

(Reuters) – Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc eliminated its stake in Dish Network Corp in the fourth quarter and added a stake in financial giant Goldman Sachs, according to a regulatory filing on Friday. Berkshire had taken the Dish position in the second quarter. The regulatory filing does not disclose exactly when in the fourth quarter that Berkshire sold its 547,312 shares in the satellite TV company. The changes were disclosed in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing made public on Friday, which detailed Berkshire equity investments as of December 31.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Like 78 million other Americans, MaryJane Harrison is obese.

One hundred people are about to donate their live bodies to science as part of an unprecedented new study that will examine how to improve personal health, researchers said Friday. Then, for the next 25 years, they will take regular measurements of sleep patterns, heart rate, gut bacteria, proteins that track organ health, blood samples, immune cell activity and more. "What is unique about humans is their individuality," said Leroy Hood at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting. Hood said scientists will be on the hunt for "actionable opportunities for each individual," such as how they could change their nutrition to improve their health or avoid certain drugs that might be dangerous given their genetic makeup.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A special blend of mother's milk just for girls? New research shows animal moms are customizing their milk in surprising ways depending on whether they have a boy or a girl.

By Thomas Ferraro and Richard Cowan CAMBRIDGE, Maryland (Reuters) – President Barack Obama sought on Friday to ease strains with his Democratic allies in the U.S. Congress, who are fearful they could face election consequences from the botched rollout of the president's signature healthcare law known as "Obamacare." Speaking to House of Representatives Democrats during their three-day retreat, Obama cited an increase in the number of people signing up for insurance coverage under Obamacare as evidence that the law's implementation was going more smoothly after a troubled start. Republicans, who have denounced Obamacare as an unpopular disaster, have put the issue at the center of their strategy for November's congressional elections. But Obama has touted the administration's progress in ironing out the glitches. At the retreat, he predicted that the 2010 Affordable Care Act will be seen by Americans in five to 10 years as "a monumental achievement." "We now have well over 3.5 million people who have signed up and are getting insurance through the marketplaces for the first time," Obama said.

By Ronnie Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – After a desperate mother in South Wales, UK, posted a video of her baby having a seizure on Facebook, one of her friends provided the diagnosis that had eluded the boy’s doctor. The discovery that Evan Owens suffers from reflex anoxic seizures, a rare but treatable disease, provided a happy ending and is just one example of the public health benefits of digital media, says a new perspective in the Journal of Public Health. Evan’s story, published in the UK’s Daily Mail, illustrates how people are turning to the Internet for healthcare advice and how important it is for healthcare professionals to participate in the discussion, the perspective’s lead author, Amelia Burke-Garcia, told Reuters Health. (The Daily Mail story is online here: http://dailym.ai/1eWaEl6.) “There’s always the risk of misinformation or false information floating around on these channels,” Burke-Garcia said.