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. Report: US adult smoking rate dips to 18 percent 18 Jun 2013 at 1:56am ATLANTA (AP) ? Fewer U.S. adults are smoking, a new government report says. Report: Slowdown in health care costs to continue 18 Jun 2013 at 2:12am WASHINGTON (AP) ? There's good news for most companies that provide health benefits for their employees: America's slowdown in medical costs may be turning into a trend, rather than a mere pause. Nonprofit launches campaign to reach uninsured 18 Jun 2013 at 12:54pm CHICAGO (AP) ? A nonprofit group helping to spread the word about President Barack Obama's health care overhaul launched a campaign Tuesday that will target states with high numbers of uninsured Americans and tackle their skepticism with straightforward messages. Call for overhaul of drug industry business model 18 Jun 2013 at 4:03pm By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Pharmaceutical companies need to boost the benefits of drug research by working with regulators and healthcare providers to overhaul the way medicines are approved and paid for, a thinktank backed by investors says. After years of disappointing research and development (R&D) productivity, a new report backed by leading institutional investors sees "early indications of a recovery", with U.S. approvals of new drugs last year the highest since 1996. ... 18 mayors: Limit use of food stamps to buy soda 18 Jun 2013 at 3:57pm NEW YORK (AP) ? The mayors of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and 15 other cities are reviving a push against letting food stamps be used to buy soda and other sugary drinks. Mississippi leans on Google to crack down on illegal products 18 Jun 2013 at 3:18pm By Diane Bartz WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mississippi's attorney general said on Tuesday he would subpoena documents from Google Inc as part of a probe into allegations the Web search company facilitated the sale of drugs without a prescription and other illegal products. Google responded in a blog post that it had been vigorous in working to limit drug advertisements to legitimate companies that comply with the law and to combat what it called "rogue online pharmacies. ... Enroll America sets private outreach for Obamacare sign-up 18 Jun 2013 at 3:07pm By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Enroll America, a nonprofit group at the center of the political fight over President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law, launched a multi-state grassroots campaign on Tuesday to help sign up millions of uninsured Americans for health coverage in the coming months. The group, which has strong ties to the Obama administration and the healthcare industry, announced plans for more than 50 events in 18 states, including California, Florida and Texas, as part of its "Get Covered America" campaign. ... FDA probes deaths of two patients on Lilly schizophrenia drug 18 Jun 2013 at 3:06pm By Ransdell Pierson (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating the cases of two individuals who died after injections with Eli Lilly and Co.'s long-acting treatment for schizophrenia, Zyprexa Relprevv. Both patients died three to four days after receiving "an appropriate dose" of the medicine, and both had very high levels of the drug in their bloodstreams, the FDA said in a bulletin released on its website on Tuesday. ... Lullaby Medicine for Premature Babies 18 Jun 2013 at 2:32pm Something as old as mankind itself is helping keep pre-term babies alive ? the lullaby. Research shows that music has become an important new ally for babies who are born too soon and struggle to breathe and eat. The neonatal intensive care unit in a hospital is filled with technology that helps keep the hospital's tiniest, most fragile patients alive. At New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell ? and others across the country ? the relentless beeping of monitors fades when music takes over. The effect on preemies isn't just dramatic; it's physical.         Ohio residents accused of holding disabled woman in slavery 18 Jun 2013 at 2:25pm By Kim Palmer CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Three Ohio residents are accused of holding an intellectually disabled woman and her daughter against their will and forcing the woman to perform physical labor for them, threatening her with snakes if she didn't comply, authorities said on Tuesday. The trio, Jordie Callahan, Jessica Hunt and Daniel Brown, conspired to beat the woman and her child and forced them to sleep in a padlocked room with a large iguana, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. ... Naked gymnast faces charges over San Francisco transit stop antics 18 Jun 2013 at 1:49pm By Laila Kearney SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A trained gymnast whose naked acrobatics and harassment of passengers at a San Francisco public transit station were captured on video and circulated widely on the Internet is facing criminal charges over his antics, authorities said on Tuesday. Yeiner Alberto Perez Garizabalo, 24, was caught on video doing handstands and contortions on turnstiles and front flips off a concrete newsstand - all in the nude - at a Bay Area Rapid Transit District station on May 10. ... Past care tied to later treatment's success 18 Jun 2013 at 1:46pm By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - If a person doesn't have much success with one pain treatment, they may say the next one they try doesn't work so great either, suggests a new study from Germany. Previous studies have found that people receiving a dummy pill in clinical trials don't fare as well once they're switched to the real drug, compared to those who have been getting the real treatment all along, according to Dr. Ulrike Bingel, the study's lead author from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. ... New Hampshire nears approval of medical marijuana law 18 Jun 2013 at 1:38pm By Jason McLure LITTLETON, New Hampshire (Reuters) - New Hampshire is set to become the final state in New England to allow medical marijuana after negotiators from the Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic-controlled House agreed Tuesday on a bill backed by Governor Maggie Hassan. The law would allow up to four marijuana dispensaries to open as soon as 2015. Patients with cancer, HIV, glaucoma and other diseases would be eligible to purchase the drug with state-issued identity cards from a physician or nurse practitioner certifying that they need it to soothe pain. ... U.S. court finds Novo Nordisk Prandin diabetes drug patent invalid 18 Jun 2013 at 1:25pm (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court found the patent on Novo Nordisk's Prandin diabetes drug in combination with metformin to be invalid, paving the way for introduction of a generic version of the medicine, the Danish drugmaker said on Tuesday. In a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court ruling handed down in 2011, the company said. Novo said it still believes the patent to be valid and was reviewing the ruling. ... Obamacare-like groups tied to lower costs: study 18 Jun 2013 at 1:23pm By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Large independent doctor practices that focus on primary care tend to spend less money and are more likely to meet guidelines for Americans on Medicare than smaller groups, according to a new study. The findings suggest that the so-called Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) created by the 2010 Affordable Care Act may improve the quality of care while lowering spending, said the study's lead author. "I think our analysis is sort of searching for pockets of excellence and seeing whether those pockets of excellence echo the ACOs. ...