News on Health and Fitness

Boston Scientific Suspension

2010-03-15T10:00:59Z

In this undated product image provided by Boston Scientific, a "Cognis" heart defibrillator implant is shown. The medical device maker on Monday, March 15, 2010 said it is suspending sales of its heart-shocking defibrillator implants after uncovering a documentation error with the manufacture of the top-selling devices. (AP Photo/Boston Scientific)

Copyright 2010 Medtronic to drug therapy over at least one year in 245 patients in the President Barack Obama launched an impassioned week-long closing campaign on Monday to drive his historic health reforms through Congress at a pivotal moment that may help define his presidency.</p><p>Obama left the White House for Ohio and an appearance designed to crank up pressure on lawmakers likely to...

Boston Scientific suspends defibrillator sales

2010-03-15T10:00:44Z

<div><p>Medical device maker Boston Scientific said Monday it is suspending sales of its heart-shocking defibrillator implants after failing to alert regulators to changes in manufacturing of the top-selling devices.</p><p>The company said it uncovered two production changes that were not cleared with the Bausch & Lomb</div><div><p>Two former Schering-Plough Corp. executives have taken charge at Bausch & Lomb Inc., whose chief executive retired after guiding the optical products maker through the aftermath of a devastating recall of its fla...

BioSante cancer vaccine gets 'orphan drug' status

2010-03-15T10:00:21Z

<div id="subtitle">FDA gives BioSante pancreatic cancer treatment 'orphan drug' designation</div><div><p>BioSante Pharmaceuticals has received orphan drug status for its potential pancreatic cancer treatment, the company said Monday.</p><p>The company said the Food and Drug Administration<...

Health Care 101: A consumer primer on Obama's bill

2010-03-15T10:00:18Z

<div id="subtitle">Health Care 101: If Obama's bill passes, the changes start small and keep getting bigger</div><div><p>It took lawmakers a year to shape President Barack Obama's health care bill. If it finally passes Congress, it'll take the better part of a decade to write the user manual for consumers and doctors, employers and insurance companies.</p><p>Some health insurance consumer protections woul...

Ohio woman says Pa. doc gave wrong breast implants

2010-03-15T09:30:32Z

<div id="subtitle">Ohio woman: Pa. doctor botched breast surgery, gave wrong implants on fiance's advice</div><div><p>An Ohio woman claims in a lawsuit that a Pennsylvania plastic surgeon used the wrong kind of breast implants on her, then kept her knocked out longer than necessary and continued with the botched operation on the advice of her fiance.</p><p>Brittany ...

Cryogenic balloon offers hope to heart patients

2010-03-15T08:15:51Z

<div><p>An experimental ablation therapy system that freezes heart tissue with a balloon catheter to treat a common heart rhythm disorder is far more effective than drug therapy, a study found Monday.</p><p>Researchers compared the safety and efficacy of the Arctic Front CryoAblation Catheter System produced by US firm Medtronic to drug therapy over at least one year in 245 patients in the Reuters Health) - Screening all pregnant women for a rare but fatal genetic disease is too expensive, researchers say in a new report that adds to a recent controversy about whether genetic tests are worth the cost.</p><p>Babies with the severe form of the disease -- known as spinal muscular atrophy or SMA -- become too weak to breathe effectively within months of birth. They usually die a...

Teams forcibly evacuate Mozambique flood victims

2010-03-15T05:45:14Z

<div id="subtitle">Rescue teams forcibly evacuate Mozambique flood victims; cholera fears worsen</div><div><p>Authorities say rescue teams have evacuated 6,000 people, some of them forcibly, from flood-stricken districts in central Mozambique.</p><p>Authorities said Monday that many impoverished households refused to be relocated for fear of losing their belongings, though their homes were surrounded by risin...

Study: Mini clip is safer than heart-valve surgery

2010-03-15T05:30:17Z

<div id="subtitle">Mini clothespin gives safer way to fix leaky valves without open-heart surgery, study finds</div><div><p>Many Americans with leaky heart valves soon might be able to get them fixed without open-heart surgery. A study showed that a tiny clip implanted through an artery was safer and nearly as effective as surgery, doctors reported Sunday.</p><p>The device is already on sale in Europe, and its maker,...

Steps to Make Your Stomach Smaller

2010-03-15T11:10:53Z

If you want to make your stomach small, you should know the right steps to do so and should avoid all those things which will make you simply lose time and add to your frustration. You can make your stomach small. It is up to you. This article will tell you the right ways of doing it.<br><br>Let us eliminate those things which will land you up to nowhere. There are many exercise which claims to give you flatter belly, but you are unable to achieve the flat stomach doing those exer...

China Lead Poisoning

2010-03-15T04:00:32Z

In this photo taken on Sunday, March 14, 2010, 2-year-old Lu Daixin, who has abnormally high blood lead level, looks on at Yujian town, located near the Zhongyi Alloy Co. in Longchang county of southwestern China's Sichuan province. Chinese authorities have ordered the closure ...

Sexy Workouts: getting fit with bumps and grinds

2010-03-15T03:15:28Z

<div><p>NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Vaudeville may be dead, but burlesque is alive and well at the gym.</p><p>Young women are strip-teasing, pole dancing and stretching sultrily in group fitness classes that seem to boost their sexual self-confidence as much as their cardio.</p><p>"These people are schoolteachers, secretaries, college kids," said ...

Pakistani doctors may separate conjoined twins

2010-03-15T02:45:09Z

<div><p>A Pakistani neurosurgeon says doctors are studying a pair of twin girls who were recently born connected at the head to determine whether they can separate them.</p><p>The infants were brought to a hospital in Islamabad on Monday from the city of Sahiwal in Punjab province where they were born a few days earlier. The two are c...

California Safer Slopes

2010-03-15T02:32:33Z

In this photo taken Thursday, Feb. 25,2010, ski helmets for youngsters are seen at the Alpine Meadows Ski Resort in Alpine Meadows, Calif. Two bills introduced by Democratic lawmakers from Northern California would require minors to wear a helmet while skiing or snowboarding. One of them also would extend to reso...

A Guide to Using Teeth Whitening Gel

2010-03-15T08:51:56Z

To get a brighter smile that exudes confidence, home teeth whitening kits that include teeth whitening gel are the most affordable and convenient option. When you look for teeth whitening kits you have to consider a number of important factors, not least the strength of the gel itself. The main thing about most of them is that they contain teeth whitening gel that is only about 3% peroxide, while a dentist will use 15% to 35% of carbamide peroxide to whiten your teeth. Therefore, as the first...

Donors asked for $4.3 billion for vaccines for poor

2010-03-15T02:00:10Z

<div><p>LONDON (Reuters) - A further $4.3 billion is needed if a global vaccines alliance is to meet its goal of supplying life-saving immunizations to millions of children in poor countries by 2015, the organization said on Monday.</p><p>The GAVI Alliance (Global Alliance on Vaccines and Immunisation) said it had asked existing and potential donors to a meeting in