Medical Newswire!

Health News Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News Get the latest health news headlines from Yahoo! News. Find breaking health news, including analysis and opinion on top health stories. Sports seem OK for many with heart-zapping device 20 May 2013 at 4:17pm WASHINGTON (AP) ? New research is challenging medical guidelines that say people with a heart-zapping device in their chests should avoid intense sports like basketball and soccer in favor of golf or bowling. Measles surges in UK years after flawed research 20 May 2013 at 7:34am LONDON (AP) ? More than a decade ago, British parents refused to give measles shots to at least a million children because of now discredited research that linked the vaccine to autism. Now, health officials are scrambling to catch up and stop a growing epidemic of the contagious disease. WHO says single yellow fever shot is enough 17 May 2013 at 2:10am GENEVA (AP) ? The World Health Organization says a yellow fever booster vaccination given 10 years after the initial shot isn't necessary. Keyboardist Ray Manzarek of The Doors dies at age 74 20 May 2013 at 4:49pm By Eric Kelsey LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Ray Manzarek, a founding member and keyboardist of 1960s rock group The Doors, died on Monday at a medical clinic in Germany at age 74 following a battle with cancer, the group's manager Tom Vitorino said. Manzarek, who lived in Northern California's Napa Valley wine country for the past decade, had been seeking treatment in Germany for bile duct cancer, Vitorino said. He died in Rosenheim, Germany, surrounded by his wife and brothers. ... UK first in EU to get Merck's new Schmallenberg vaccine 20 May 2013 at 4:05pm LONDON (Reuters) - British farmers will be the first in Europe to get a vaccine against Schmallenberg virus, a new livestock disease that hit the continent in 2011. Britain's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said on Tuesday that MSD Animal Health, a unit of Merck & Co, had been issued a license for the new vaccine after an accelerated assessment to make it available this summer. As a result, farmers will be able to vaccinate sheep and cattle before most of them become pregnant, which is important as exposure to the virus can cause damage to foetuses. ... U.S. charges 3 NYU researchers in Chinese bribery case 20 May 2013 at 3:34pm By Nate Raymond and Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. authorities brought criminal charges against three New York University researchers on Monday, alleging they conspired to take bribes from Chinese medical and research outfits for details about NYU research into magnetic resonance imaging technology. A criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan charged Yudong Zhu, 44, Xing Yang, 31, and Ye Li, 31, with commercial bribery conspiracy in connection with NYU research financed by the U.S. government. ... Pfizer halts study of lymphoma drug unlikely to help survival 20 May 2013 at 2:57pm (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc, which has been on a hot streak with three recent approvals of cancer drugs, stumbled on Monday, saying it was halting a late-stage trial of a drug for aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma after independent monitors found it was not likely to improve survival. Pfizer said it would continue to study the experimental drug, inotuzumab ozogamicin, in other hematologic cancers. ... Swine virus confirmed in Iowa, Indiana hog herds 20 May 2013 at 2:33pm By P.J. Huffstutter (Reuters) - Farms in two of the nation's leading pork producing states have tested positive for the potentially fatal porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), U.S. pork industry veterinarian official said Monday. Three farms in Iowa and one Indiana operation have confirmed cases of the virus, said Dr Lisa Becton, director of swine health information and research for the National Pork Board. The cases in Iowa were located on farms "all across the state, not in one specific area," Becton said. PEDV does not pose a food safety or health risk to humans and the pork is safe eat. ... Want to Know If You're Sober Enough To Drive? Don't Ask an App 20 May 2013 at 2:05pm Put ?alcohol? and ?apps? into Google and you?ll get dozens of possible downloads for your smartphone. Many are specifically aimed at helping you track your blood alcohol content (BAC), and each works pretty much the same way: You key in info every time you have a cocktail, and the app then uses that to track your BAC and gauges your fitness to drive. It?s just an app, though, and in many cases these tools don?t know how much you weigh; if you?ve taken medication; or even if you?ve eaten recently or had water?all of which affect your BAC. Does prostate cancer treatment help older, sick men? 20 May 2013 at 2:02pm By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older men with other illnesses may not live long enough to benefit from aggressive prostate cancer treatments, such as prostate removal or radiation, and they'd have to live with their side effects, says a new study. "If you're going to die of a heart attack in five years, what's the point of going through radiation?" asked Dr. David Penson, the study's senior author from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. ... Sleep and Couples: For Better or Worse, Day AND Night? 20 May 2013 at 1:47pm Sleep. It occupies about one-third of our lives. We need it for our mental         Pricey radiation no better post prostatectomy: study 20 May 2013 at 1:25pm By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Men who get an older and less costly form of radiation after their cancerous prostates are removed fare just as well as men who get a new and expensive type of radiation, according to a new study. "What we demonstrate is that both (therapies) are very safe and effective after prostatectomy, and patients should feel very confident receiving either technology," said Dr. Ronald Chen, the study's senior author from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Conformal radiotherapy (CRT) delivers radiation over a large area to kill cancer cells. ... Health sites too complex, full of cliches: study 20 May 2013 at 1:22pm By Ivan Oransky NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The importance of health literacy hit home for Lisa Gualtieri when a Cambodian refugee diagnosed with cancer asked her to act as a patient advocate. She played the role of a "salty tongue," a Cambodian expression that paints outspokenness in a positive light. But even though the patient's family was in the room when doctors took the time to answer every last question about test results and treatment options, the refugee's family would call Gualtieri hours later to review what doctors had said. ... Omaha police exploring possible link in two double homicides 20 May 2013 at 1:03pm By Katie Schubert OMAHA (Reuters) - Investigators in Omaha are looking at whether the murders discovered last week of a doctor and his wife are connected to the unsolved 2008 murders of a young boy and his family's housekeeper, police said on Monday. Dr. Roger Brumback and his wife, Mary, both 65, were found murdered last Tuesday in their west Omaha home. Brumback was a professor at Creighton University School of Medicine and a doctor with Alegent Creighton Health. ... Royalty raises Elan bid, issues ultimatum to shareholders 20 May 2013 at 12:28pm By Padraic Halpin and Jessica Toonkel DUBLIN/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Royalty Pharma raised its hostile bid for Elan to $12.50 per share and threatened to withdraw the bid if Elan shareholders approve a series of defensive transactions announced by the Irish drug firm. Royalty Pharma, which buys royalty streams of patented drugs, said Elan's efforts to reinvent itself through a series of acquisitions and debt deals were hasty and ill-conceived. Royalty's new bid for Elan values the company at around $6.4 billion and comes in the face of Elan's insistence that it is worth more. ...