Two women face each other at a small table at the back of a café in Berkeley, California. A hot autumn sun pulses through the glass. One of the women, sturdy in a chambray shirt and large glasses, shakes her head with a false smile: “Then I just lost it.”Her friend, on the other side, slightly older, her lean left knee tucked below her chin,…
A federal appeals court will consider on Monday whether a U.S. congressional committee and one of its former staff are immune from having to cooperate with an insider-trading investigation. A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals plans to hear arguments on enforcing two subpoenas that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sent to Congress as part of its investigation. The SEC is investigating the trading of Humana Inc stock in 2013 ahead of a government announcement about physician reimbursement rates, which affect the revenue of Humana and other health insurers.
Pensions and the publicly funded National Health Service could face cuts if Britons vote to leave the European Union, Prime Minister David Cameron told a Sunday newspaper, seeking to win support from some of the most pro-Brexit members of the public. Polls, which show Britons are evenly divided ahead of a June 23 referendum on EU membership, also indicate the elderly are among the most likely to turn out on polling day and are also among the most eurosceptic voters.
The more fit people are when they reach middle age, the less likely they are to suffer a later-in-life stroke, according to new US research out Thursday. The findings, published in a journal of the American Heart Association, are based on a study of nearly 20,000 adults aged 45 to 50. The individuals, 79 percent of whom were men and 90 percent were white, were subjected to tests to measure their heart and lung exercise capacity.
By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) – Marriage has been linked to health benefits, especially happy marriage, but when it comes to developing or controlling type 2 diabetes, marriage quality seems to have opposite effects on men and women, according to a U.S. study. For women, a happier marriage meant lower risk of developing diabetes over a five-year period, but for men, declining marriage quality was tied to lower risk of diabetes and better control of the condition for those who had it, researchers found. “The results for men suggesting that an increase in negative marital quality is related to lower risk of developing diabetes and higher chance of controlling diabetes are surprising,” said lead author Hui Liu of the department of sociology at Michigan State University in East Lansing.
(Reuters) – Brazil's Sports Minister Leonardo Picciani expects there to be almost no cases of the Zika virus during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, adding that the country is prepared for the Games, despite health concerns and political instability. The World Health Organization's Emergency Committee on Zika will meet in the coming weeks to evaluate the risks associated with the event. U.S. health officials have concluded that infections by the mosquito-borne Zika virus in pregnant women can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies.
A newly approved immunotherapy from Roche Holding proved effective as an initial treatment for some patients with advanced bladder cancer, according to data presented on Sunday. Results of the mid-stage trial could help make the case that the drug, Tecentriq, should become the first option therapy of choice for patients with metastatic bladder cancer, according to a researcher leading the study. Known chemically as atezolizumab, Tecentriq last month won U.S. approval for bladder cancer that had progressed following chemotherapy, becoming the first new drug for the disease in 30 years.
Former world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, whose record-setting boxing career, unprecedented flair for showmanship, and controversial stands made him one of the best-known figures of the 20th century, died on Friday aged 74. Ali's death was confirmed in a statement issued by family spokesman Bob Gunnell late Friday evening, a day after he was admitted to a Phoenix-area hospital with a respiratory ailment. “A part of me slipped away, the greatest piece,” George Foreman, a former heavyweight boxer who fought Ali, said on Twitter after the news of Ali's death.
(Reuters) – Tests showed music superstar Prince, who was found dead in his home in a Minneapolis suburb in late April, died of an opioid overdose, the Associated Press reported on Thursday, citing a law enforcement official. (Reporting by Megan Cassella in Washington; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
The bacteria strain behind the outbreak has not been found in any of General Mills' Gold Medal, Wondra and Signature Kitchens flour or their manufacturing plant, the company said. “Out of an abundance of caution, a voluntary recall is being made,” General Mills said. U.S. and state health authorities are probing an outbreak of E. coli O121 from Dec. 21 to May 3, General Mills said.