General health has improved worldwide, thanks to significant progress against infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria in the past decade and gains in fighting maternal and child illnesses. The study's main findings were that global life expectancy at birth for both sexes rose by 6.2 years — from 65.3 in 1990 to 71.5 in 2013. Healthy life expectancy at birth rose by 5.4 years — from 56.9 in 1990 to 62.3 in 2013.
By Roxanne Nelson (Reuters Health) – Although there are plenty of opinions about what causes tiny, painful stress fractures in the bones of regular runners, a new review of existing research finds solid evidence for only two risk factors. Having had a stress fracture in the past raised the risk of having them again by five-fold and being female more than doubled it, researchers reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel's leadership during the Greece crisis has given her conservatives a chance of winning an absolute majority if an election were held next week, an opinion poll on Sunday showed. The chancellor has ruled Germany since 2005 and now governs in coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD). Not since Konrad Adenauer's third term as chancellor ended in 1961 has the CDU/CSU ruled with an absolute majority.
Allergan CEO Brent Saunders said on Monday the company will use the $36 billion it nets from the sale of its generics business to Teva for more deals, including large, “transformational” merger opportunities. Saunders, who led the $66 billion combination of Actavis and Allergan that closed only a few months ago, told investors that it would use the proceeds from its $40.5 billion sale to Teva to increase the size of existing drug businesses, expand into new therapy areas, and pursue larger deals. “We can accelerate our timing on transformational M&A,” Saunders said during the conference call, describing the sale to Teva as “reloading” its balance sheet.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge has ruled that control of a landmark project on Alzheimer’s disease belongs to the University of California, San Diego — handing the school a major victory in its lawsuit against the University of Southern California.
Aberdeen hope to stop scenes reminiscent of the Alfred Hitchcock classic ‘The Birds’ at their Pittodrie Stadium where seagulls have been scaring the Scottish club’s players and supporters. Scores of fans raised concerns following this month’s Europa League qualifiers against FK Shkendija and Rijeka. “For obvious reasons we cannot fly birds of prey during games,” the club said.
By Joseph D'Urso LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – When playing cricket, as when practising safe sex, it is best to wear protection, be faithful to one's partner, and duck away from anything that seems a bit risky, says Sonyanga Ole Ngais, captain of the Maasai Cricket Warriors, a Kenyan side. A group of young Maasai men are taught to play cricket, wearing white leg pads and gloves as well as traditional Maasai dress, their red shawls and bright jewels fluttering as they learn to bowl, bat and catch against stunning landscapes.
The U.S. Agriculture Department wants to improve its handling of the nation's worst-ever outbreak of bird flu in poultry after coming under criticism for a slow and confusing response. The USDA is aiming to assign one person to communicate with each infected farm during the entire time the facility is affected by the deadly virus, John Clifford, the chief U.S. veterinary officer, said at a U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on Tuesday. Currently, a USDA representative deals with an infected farm for a period of about three to four weeks as part of a rotation, Clifford told lawmakers.
MOMBASA (Reuters) – More than 2,000 workers at East Africa’s biggest port in Kenya's coastal city Mombasa went on strike on Wednesday protesting an increase in the amount they will have to pay for state-run health insurance. The port, the biggest in the region, handles imports such as fuel for Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia. Interruption of the port activities threatens regional business which heavily relies on cargo passing through the trade gateway.
Poland’s parliament passed a bill stipulating the conditions for offering in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment on Thursday, fulfilling a key government promise as it looks to attract liberal voters before elections in October. IVF treatment has been available in Poland for 25 years but the traditionally Roman Catholic country has until now not passed legislation regulating it, remaining the only European Union member not to have done so. The Roman Catholic Church opposes in-vitro fertilization, saying it divorces marital sex from procreation and could result in the destruction of fertilized embryos.