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Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News
  • Watch: Walking to Cure Arthritis
    Four members of the Schultz family have been affected by a form of arthritis.        

  • 5 Memorial Day Weekend Health Hazards
    Protect yourself from food poisoning and other Memorial Day mishaps.        

  • New bird flu strain may be capable of spreading from human to human - study

    Chickens sit inside cages in a market in New Taipei CityBy Lavinia Mo HONG KONG (Reuters) - The H7N9 bird flu virus may be capable of spreading from human to human and can be transmitted not only through direct contact but also through airborne exposure, researchers at the University of Hong Kong have found. The researchers found in a study, presented at a news briefing on Friday, that three ferrets - the main animal used for research into human influenza - that were placed in close contact with ferrets injected with H7N9 contracted the virus. One out of three that were kept in different cages became infected through airborne exposure. ...




  • Novo obesity drug could launch in U.S. end 2014
    COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk said it could launch obesity treatment liraglutide in the United States by the end of next year and rejected some analysts' doubts over the medicine's commercial potential. The world's biggest insulin producer is hoping the treatment for severe obesity will help to at least partly offset the delay to its next generation insulin treatment Tresiba after U.S. regulators asked for more tests. ...

  • 3-D Printed Windpipe Gives Infant Breath of Life
    3-D Printed Windpipe Gives Infant Breath of Life

  • Autistic People Find Job Niche in Tech
    SAP not the only company committing to hire more autistic employees.        

  • Study: No higher cancer rate at Conn. Pratt plants
    EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — An 11-year study of the incidence of brain cancer at jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney in the state ended Thursday with university researchers saying they found no statistically significant elevations in the rate of cancer among workers.

  • Cannes auction of space trip with DiCaprio raises 1.2 million euros for charity

    Actor Leonardo DiCaprio attends the 'The Great Gatsby' world premiere at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New YorkBy Belinda Goldsmith CANNES (Reuters) - A trip to space with Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio raised 1.2 million euros ($1.5 million) for charity at a glitzy fundraiser at the Cannes film festival on Thursday. At the 20th annual event organized by amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, DiCaprio emerged as the mystery guest to accompany the winner on a Virgin Galactic flight into space. DiCaprio stars in the film "The Great Gatsby," which opened the 66th Cannes film festival. ...




  • Lawyers in Colorado shooting case challenge insanity defense law

    File photo of the accused Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes at his arraignment in CentennialBy Keith Coffman CENTENNIAL, Colo. (Reuters) - Lawyers for accused Colorado movie theater gunman James Holmes argued on Thursday the state's insanity defense law was unconstitutional because it forces him to cooperate with court-appointed psychiatrists or forfeit the right to raise mental-health issues at sentencing. Prosecutors countered during a hearing before Arapahoe County District Judge Carlos Samour Jr. that without an independent examination, there would be no way to evaluate defense claims that Holmes was legally insane at the time of the crime. ...




  • Study: No higher cancer rate at Conn. Pratt plant
    HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — An 11-year study of the incidence of brain cancer at jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney in the state ended Thursday with university researchers saying they found no statistically significant elevations in the rate of cancer among workers.

  • Boy Scouts Vote to End Ban on Gay Scouts
    Some gay rights advocates call the move a step forward, but others say the 103-year-old organization has sent the wrong message to youth if it denies membership to gay leaders.        

  • Hobby Lobby tests birth-control coverage mandate

    Customers are seen at a Hobby Lobby store in Denver on Wednesday, May 22, 2013. A challenge to the federal health care law faces its most prominent test yet in a full 10th Circuit hearing in Denver on Thursday. Hobby Lobby stores is challenging a federal mandate requiring it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morining-after birth control pill. The Oklahoma based arts and crafts chain says the mandate violates the religious beliefs of its owners. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)DENVER (AP) — In the most prominent challenge of its kind, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. asked a federal appeals court Thursday for an exemption from part of the federal health care law that requires it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill.




  • Aveo says partner Astellas will not seek EU nod for kidney cancer drug
    (Reuters) - Aveo Pharmaceuticals Inc said it was informed by its partner Astellas Pharma Inc that the Japanese company would not be seeking marketing approval for their experimental kidney cancer drug in Europe. Aveo shares fell about 13 percent in extended trade, after closing at $2.70 on the Nasdaq. They have lost about 55 percent of their value since April 30, when FDA reviewers raised questions about the drug. Astellas does not intend to fund any future studies of the drug, tivozanib, in renal cell cancer, Aveo said in a regulatory filing on Thursday. (http://r.reuters. ...

  • Birth control coverage up for federal appeal

    Customers are seen at a Hobby Lobby store in Denver on Wednesday, May 22, 2013. A challenge to the federal health care law faces its most prominent test yet in a full 10th Circuit hearing in Denver on Thursday. Hobby Lobby stores is challenging a federal mandate requiring it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morining-after birth control pill. The Oklahoma based arts and crafts chain says the mandate violates the religious beliefs of its owners. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)DENVER (AP) — In the most prominent challenge of its kind, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. asked a federal appeals court Thursday for an exemption from part of the federal health care law that requires it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill.




  • California reveals prices for health insurance under Obamacare
    By Sharon Bernstein LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California unveiled prices on Thursday that consumers will pay for a selection of health plans offered through the state under the Affordable Care Act, providing a glimpse into how health care reform may look as it is rolled out across the nation. Under the federal health care reform law, Californians who do not get or cannot afford health insurance through their jobs can buy coverage through an exchange, at a group rate negotiated by state regulators. ...

  • Lawmaker would give FDA more oversight of drug compounding
    By Toni Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Representative Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, on Thursday became the latest lawmaker to propose legislation that would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration greater regulatory authority over drug compounding. U.S. lawmakers, responding to a deadly meningitis outbreak in 2012, continue to wrestle with ways to regulate the pharmacies that compound large volumes of drugs for hospitals, individuals and clinics. ...

  • U.S. House won't follow Senate lead on immigration bill: Boehner

    House Speaker Boehner holds a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in WashingtonBy Richard Cowan and Rachelle Younglai WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Thursday his chamber would chart its own path on immigration rather than simply considering a Senate-passed measure, quashing hopes some Democrats had for quickly enacting the landmark legislation. "While we applaud the progress made by our Senate colleagues, there are numerous ways in which the House will approach the issue differently," Boehner said in a statement. "We will not simply take up and accept the bill that is emerging in the Senate if it passes," he added. ...




  • WHO: Scientific red tape mars efforts vs. virus

    China's Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, WHO, delivers a speech during the 66th World Health Assembly at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Keystone, Jean-Christophe Bott)GENEVA (AP) — International efforts to combat a new pneumonia-like virus that has now killed 22 people are being slowed by unclear rules and competition for the potentially profitable rights to disease samples, the head of the World Health Organization warned Thursday.




  • Maine Medicaid expansion passes but governor sets veto
    By Dave Sherwood BOWDOINHAM, Maine (Reuters) - Maine's Democratic-controlled legislature on Thursday passed a bill to expand access to its Medicaid program as outlined by the Affordable Care Act, setting up a showdown with the state's Republican governor, who immediately began veto procedures. At issue is lawmakers' effort to link expanded access to the health insurance program for low-income residents to a plan to pay the state's share of $484 million in debt owed to Maine's hospitals. ...

  • New J&J anti-depressant related to 'Special K' party drug
    By Ransdell Pierson NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson said it plans to seek approvals for 11 new drugs by 2017, including a treatment for patients with depression who have failed to benefit from standard medications. The intranasal drug, called esketamine, is closely related to a pediatric anesthetic called ketamine that has been shown in academic studies to ease symptoms rapidly in such patients, including a reduction in suicidal thoughts. Ketamine is also the active ingredient of the mood-altering party drug known as "Special K. ...