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| Obama picks government trouble-shooter Koskinen to lead IRS Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 12:42 PM PDT  By Kim Dixon and Patrick Temple-West WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday nominated John Koskinen, known as a trouble-shooter of distressed organizations, to lead the Internal Revenue Service amid a controversy over the agency's scrutiny of conservative political groups. If confirmed by the Senate, Koskinen will take over the agency's 90,000 employees responsible for administering the increasingly complex tax code. ... Full Story | Top |
| Activists mobilize for busy August on immigration, Obamacare Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 12:41 PM PDT  By Caren Bohan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - August might not be much of a recess for U.S. lawmakers weary from bruising budget fights and nomination showdowns: the break promises a frenzy of meetings in their home districts with activists trying to pressure them on immigration and health care reform. Progressives, Tea Party conservatives, the business and faith communities and other interests have spent weeks - and in some cases months - planning for the five-week break that begins Friday when lawmakers return to their home districts. ... Full Story | Top |
| Quitting smoking post-angioplasty tied to longer life Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 11:19 AM PDT  By Veronica Hackethal, MD NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who quit smoking after a balloon angioplasty to improve blood flow to the heart live an average of two years longer than those who keep smoking, a new study suggests. Researchers found people who were undergoing balloon angioplasty in their 50s, on average, and quit smoking within one year after the procedure lived another 18.5 years. In contrast, those who continued to smoke lived about 16.4 years, on average, after angioplasty. ... Full Story | Top |
| Uruguay president defends 'cutting edge' pot legalization vote Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 10:41 AM PDT  MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - Uruguay's leftist President Jose Mujica said his country would not become a haven for pot smokers the day after its lower chamber of Congress narrowly voted to legalize the cultivation and sale of marijuana. The bill, which needs to pass the senate to become law, goes beyond the no penalization policy in the Netherlands and creates a government body to regulate legal sales and public smoking clubs and to monitor marijuana consumption for Uruguayans. To avoid making the country a drug tourism destination, only Uruguayans would be allowed to use marijuana. ... Full Story | Top |
| Top French court backs stem-cell research Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 10:30 AM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - France's top court approved a law on Thursday making it easier to conduct research on human embryos and stem cells as long as strict rules are followed to prevent cloning. Predominantly Roman Catholic France has until now had tough curbs on embryonic stem cell research under a 2011 law that only allows it with the explicit approval from the national biomedicine agency. ... Full Story | Top |
| Teva Pharm faces U.S. patent worries, dip in profits Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 10:16 AM PDT By Steven Scheer JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Teva Pharmaceutical Industries profits fell in the second quarter, hurt by a decline in U.S. and European generic drug sales, and its near-term outlook looks bleak in the face of prospective competition for multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone. Teva, the world's largest generics drugmaker, said it plans to appeal a decision from a U.S. appeals court that last week invalidated some patents and could lead to generic versions of Copaxone appearing from competitors in May 2014, a year sooner than expected. ... Full Story | Top |
| Portuguese court ruling says tipsy garbage men look happier Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 10:00 AM PDT LISBON (Reuters) - A Portuguese court has ordered a waste removal company to rehire an employee it fired for being drunk on his rounds and said tipsy trash men appear happier to members of the public. The appeals court in Porto, a northern city renowned for its port wines, also ordered the company to pay the man 14 months' worth of back wages. The three judges ruled that the waste collector had not broken any rules on alcohol consumption at work because the firm had not written any. It also rejected the use of a blood alcohol test submitted as evidence without his permission. ... Full Story | Top |
| Quintiles sees strong profit as drug development picks up Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 09:17 AM PDT By Pallavi Ail (Reuters) - Quintiles Transnational Holdings, the world's largest medical contract research provider, forecast full-year profit above market expectations as drugmakers looking to launch new products choose to outsource clinical development as a way to cut costs. Chief Executive Tom Pike said drug companies had more drugs in development as approval rates increase, benefiting large contract research organizations that will run the trials for the drugmakers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mylan earnings rise, but dollar drags on revenue Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 09:14 AM PDT (Reuters) - Generic drugmaker Mylan Inc reported a quarterly profit that edged past Wall Street expectations but said weakness of the Indian and Japanese currencies against the dollar would put 2013 revenue at the low end of its forecast range of $7 billion to $7.4 billion. Mylan also reiterated a long-term forecast calling for adjusted earnings of at least $6.00 per share in 2018, and provided a 2014 forecast above current Wall Street estimates. ... Full Story | Top |
| More fit patients likelier to survive heart bypass Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 09:13 AM PDT By Kerry Grens NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People in better shape heading into bypass surgery are less likely to die shortly following the procedure than those who are less fit, according to a new study. "We were not surprised because it makes intuitive sense that those patients who are not fit are going to do poorly with a large operation," said Dr. James Smith, the lead author of the study and an interventional cardiology fellow at Beaumont Health System in Royal Oak, Michigan. ... Full Story | Top |
| Whooping cough booster not enough to stop outbreaks Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 08:55 AM PDT By Anne Harding NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Giving adolescents and adults a booster shot of the whooping cough vaccine offers some protection against the infection - but not enough to prevent outbreaks, according to a new study. "The take-home message is, we need a new vaccine," lead author Dr. Roger Baxter, co-director of the Vaccine Study Center at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California, told Reuters Health. The booster, known as Tdap, protects against tetanus and diphtheria as well as whooping cough, also called pertussis. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cigna profit exceeds expectations; lower costs help Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 08:43 AM PDT By Caroline Humer (Reuters) - Cigna Corp, which provides U.S. and overseas health insurance as well as disability and life insurance, reported a second-quarter profit that beat expectations on Thursday as medical costs fell and revenue rose. A weaker U.S. economy has forced people to cut back on medical services in the past few years, reducing insurers' payments on claims. Companies like UnitedHealth Group Inc, WellPoint Inc, and Aetna Inc have beaten expectations for the quarter because of this trend. Cigna's net income rose to $505 million, or $1.76 per share, from $380 million, or $1. ... Full Story | Top |
| India's cheap food plan falls short on scope, quality Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 07:19 AM PDT  By Jo Winterbottom and Mayank Bhardwaj NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's multi-billion dollar plan to give cheap grain to 67 percent of its population bypasses some of the needy and does not tackle malnutrition, said the chief minister of Chhattisgarh state, which gives 90 percent of its people low-cost food. With an eye to elections which are due by May 2014, the Congress-led government last month sidestepped parliament by launching its $22 billion food subsidy plan with an ordinance, which brings it into law immediately. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kansas meatpacker recalls beef on contamination issues Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 07:17 AM PDT  (Reuters) - A Kansas meatpacker has recalled 50,100 pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli bacteria, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service said. The USDA said late on Wednesday that routine monitoring had confirmed the presence of E.coli O157:H7 in the meat produced by the National Beef Packing Co of Liberal, Kansas. It said there had been no reports of illness. The potentially deadly bacterium can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration and, in the most severe cases, kidney failure. ... Full Story | Top |
| Biohit announces fingertip celiac test, shares up Thursday, Aug 01, 2013 06:53 AM PDT HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finnish biotechnology firm Biohit announced a new test that allows diagnosis of celiac disease from a fingertip blood sample without endoscopy, sending its shares up more than 5 percent. Celiac disease, an autoimmune disease in which rye, wheat and barley protein cause inflammation, would be reliably diagnosed within ten minutes with the new test, Biohit said. The disease affects around 1 percent of Americans, according to most estimates, and is more prevalent in Finland and other northern European countries. Shares in the company were up 5.8 percent at 6. ... Full Story | Top |
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