Currently browsing author

elegant, Page 7

Organized programs help prevent or delay diabetes

By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) – Organized diet and exercise programs can stave off diabetes for those at risk, according to a new recommendation. The Community Preventive Services Task Force, an independent, unpaid group of public health and prevention experts who develop recommendations for community health, commissioned a review of 53 studies describing 66 combined diet and physical activity promotion programs. The Task Force found strong evidence that these programs are effective at reducing the number of new cases of diabetes, according to a report in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Meet the Pint-Sized Vaccine Supporter Who Gives a ‘Damn’ About Vaccine Bill

A controversial California bill to end personal-belief exemptions for students who are unvaccinated has been helped by one very important, yet pint-size supporter. Rhett Krawitt, 7, became one of the faces for the new bill aimed at raising vaccination rates by ending personal-belief exemptions for students at California schools. “Vaccines save lives,” he told reporters before taking a petition to end personal-belief exemptions with 30,000 signatures to California Gov. Jerry Brown’s office earlier this week.

South Korea reports two more deaths in MERS outbreak, three new cases

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea's health ministry reported on Monday two more deaths in the country's Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak, bringing the number of fatalities to 27. The ministry also confirmed three new cases, taking the total to 172 in an outbreak that is the largest outside Saudi Arabia. The new fatalities were aged in their 80s with pre-existing health problems, according to the health ministry. (Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Richard Pullin)

Toyota in damage control mode after American executive arrested

By Chang-Ran Kim and Joshua Hunt TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp moved into damage control mode on Friday after its new communications chief, an American and its first senior woman executive, was arrested on suspicion of illegally bringing pain killers into Japan just two months after her high-profile appointment. Japanese media reports on Friday quoted police investigators as saying 57 highly addictive Oxycodone pills from the United States were scattered in a small parcel addressed to Hamp in Japan and labeled “necklaces”. The former General Motors Co and PepsiCo Inc executive told police she did not think she had imported an illegal substance, a spokesman for Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department said.

Get the Fortune, Cookie Optional

One of our most important life tasks is to know what we care about the most. And attaching our true responses — not necessarily the ones we’ve learned or have been told we should feel — to our emotions is a major life lesson.Overeating is not a cure for loneliness, personal dissatisfaction or lack of purpose. Overeating produces unwanted…

Despite Obamacare, gap health insurance market explodes

By Beth Pinsker NEW YORK (Reuters) – Despite the promise of coverage through the U.S. Affordable Care Act (ACA), the number of people applying for non-compliant, short-term health insurance policies was up more than 100 percent in 2014, according to new data available from companies who broker these policies. This type of health insurance is exactly the kind that the ACA, known commonly as Obamacare, was supposed to upgrade. The government does not count these gap plans as qualifying health insurance, so people who have them are subject to penalties for being uninsured.

4 Lessons from Luis Lang’s Lost Eyesight

Recently, on the “Dr. America” show, I reported on the now-viral story of Luis Lang, a 49-year-old man from South Carolina who initially opposed Obamacare, and is now facing financial ruin as he suffers some dire health problems, including possible blindness. I made a small donation on his GoFundMe online fundraiser, as did many progressives…

Rugby-Concussion-prone Wallabies hooker Polota-Nau gets more rest

Wallabies hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau, who said earlier this month he might retire if he was badly concussed again, will be rested from Super Rugby for another three weeks to ensure he has fully recovered from a head knock. The hard-running rake suffered the latest in a long string of concussions in the New South Wales Waratahs’s win over the ACT Brumbies in Canberra on May 1 and has not played since. Michael Cheika, both Waratahs and Australia coach this year, said the 29-year-old would not play against Canterbury Crusaders this weekend or on the two-match tour of South Africa that follows the 2014 Super Rugby final re-match.

Mozart-loving chickens may answer quest for healthier nugget

By Naveen Thukral and Gavin Maguire YONG PENG, Malaysia (Reuters) – In barns filled with classical music and lighting that changes to match the hues outside, rows of chickens are fed a diet rich in probiotics, a regimen designed to remove the need for the drugs and chemicals that have tainted the global food chain. As food giants face growing pressure to offer healthier produce, Southeast Asian poultry firm Kee Song Group says its use of “good” bacteria in feed and water means it can meet one the industry's biggest challenges: how to mass produce drug and hormone-free poultry at a reasonable price. A series of scandals in the last few years from melamine-tainted milk powder in China, horse meat supplied as beef in Europe and growth drugs causing lameness in U.S. cattle has triggered a consumer backlash over food standards and safety. Recently, Tyson Foods Inc pledged to eliminate the use of human antibiotics in chicken by 2017, one of the most aggressive timetables yet by a U.S. poultry firm.