Weird Signs of Health Troubles
Whether you realize it or not, many conditions and diseases start with physical changes you may not pinpoint as problematic. The good news: If you know what to look for, you can spot many issues early—and treat them fast. Here are seven ways your body could be signaling a health hazard.

Panel recommends Northwest Bio brain-cancer trial continue
(Reuters) - Northwest Biotherapeutics Inc on Friday said an independent monitoring board had recommended that a late-stage study of its experimental brain-cancer treatment be continued, based on an interim safety review. The study involves more than 300 patients newly diagnosed with Glioblastoma multiforme, the most serious form of brain cancer. The main goal of the trial is to determine if the medicine, DCVax-L, can delay progression of the disease when taken on top of standard treatment. Shares of Northwest Biotherapeutics rose 12 percent in premarket trading, from their closing price on Thursday of $5.96 on the Nasdaq.

GoBe: a calorie tracker that reads your glucose levels

GoBe is a new innovation in wearable fitness technology, automatically tracking calories consumed and burned by measuring the glucose in your cells.  Marketed as the "Original 100% Automatic Body Manager," Healbe Corporation's GoBe allows users to track caloric intake, calories burned, hydration, sleep and stress levels. GoBe works via patented Healbe FLOW Technology, with three sensors calculating calories consumed by using your skin to read the amount of glucose in cells. GoBe is one of the latest pieces of wearable fitness tech, a market expected to grow to $5.8 billion in global sales by 2018, according to Transparency Market Research.

Ted Turner rushed to clinic in Argentina with appendicitis: media

Philanthropist and former media tycoon Ted Turner was rushed to hospital with appendicitis early on Friday in Argentina's Patagonia region, where we he owns property, local media said. After a brief stay in the San Carlos clinic in the picturesque lake-side city of Bariloche, the 75-year-old founder of cable TV powerhouse CNN was flown to Buenos Aires to be operated on, according to several Argentine newspapers. Media said he took a private jet to Buenos Aires.

Nurse numbers, education linked to patient death rate
By Allison Bond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Both the quality and quantity of nurses on a hospital staff have significant influence on the chances patients will die following even simple surgery, according to a large new study. Researchers found the proportion of staff nurses with a bachelor's degree and the number of patients each nurse had to care for could add up to a difference of 30 percent or more in mortality rates for inpatients. "If you go to a hospital in a developed country like the U.S. or UK, you think you'd get equal care, but that's really not the case," said the study's lead author, Linda Aiken, a professor of nursing and director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. "Research suggests we haven't really made any progress in decreasing deaths even though we've been spending lots of money on patient safety.

New hemophilia drugs aim to simplify treatment

By Deena Beasley LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - For 33-year-old video editor and hemophilia patient Travis Roop, being able to get life-saving infusions of a blood clotting agent every two weeks, instead of rushing to treat a bleeding episode, meant he could jog for the first time. Roop was enrolled in a clinical trial testing a long-acting treatment for hemophilia B from Denmark's Novo Nordisk. The therapy is one of several new blood clotting agents in development that will help hemophilia patients cut by half, or more, the number of regular intravenous infusions they need to prevent traumatic bleeding in their daily lives. "I always avoided trauma to my left ankle ... With this, I knew it would take care of itself." People with hemophilia have a fault in a gene that regulates the body's production of proteins called clotting factors.

Despite progress, tuberculosis persists in West European cities
By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Tuberculosis is becoming concentrated among immigrants, drug addicts, and the poor and homeless in Western Europe's big cities despite progress in reducing national rates of the disease, experts said on Friday. The contagious lung infection, once known as the "white plague" for its ability to render its victims pale, skinny and feverish, is being well tackled at national levels, they said, but is persisting in high-risk, marginalized groups. In a study of European Union (EU) cities with populations of more than 500,000, the researchers found that on average the rate of tuberculosis (TB) in big cities was twice the rate of the national TB incidence. In Britain, data from the government's health agency, Public Health England (PHE) show that more than 8,750 TB cases were reported 2012, and 3,426 of them - or 40 percent of the national total - were in London.

Surgery for 'Brainy' Scalp Changes a Man's Life
CVG is a rare disorder that thickens the scalp into folds.

Canadian guilty of sexual assault after piercing condoms
By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Supreme Court of Canada on Friday upheld the sexual assault conviction of a Nova Scotia man for poking holes in his condoms before having consensual sex with his girlfriend in order to try to make her pregnant. Craig Jaret Hutchinson's girlfriend, whose name the court has protected, said she had agreed to sex as long as it was with a condom so that she would not get pregnant. The country's top court held 7-0 that while she may have consented to sex, she had not consented to unprotected sex, and that by poking holes in the condoms first, he had committed sexual assault. "We conclude that there was no consent in this case by reason of fraud... Mr Hutchinson is therefore guilty of sexual assault," Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and Justice Thomas Cromwell wrote in arguments joined by two other justices.

Abortion Ship Travels Globe Offering Pills to End Pregnancy
Misoprostol, a prostaglandin inhibitor, is usually used as part of a two-part, FDA-approved medical abortion with mifepristone or RU486. Alone, it is routinely used off-label for obstetrical and gynecological procedures such as cervical ripening, labor induction and mid-trimester terminations. It can be used to induce miscarriage, typically up to nine weeks, but can also be safely given in through the second semester.

Colorado theater shooter lawyers ask Supreme Court for reporter's sources

Attorneys for the man charged with mass murder for shooting dozens of people at a Colorado movie theater have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to force a reporter to reveal confidential sources she used for a story about the massacre. James Holmes, 26, faces the death penalty in the shooting rampage that killed 12 people and injured dozens more at a screening of the Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises" on July 20, 2012. His attorneys filed a petition on Thursday, asking the Supreme Court to consider overturning a 2013 ruling by New York's top state court, the Court of Appeals, which found that New York's journalist shield law protected Fox News reporter Jana Winter from being compelled to testify in Holmes' case in Colorado. Holmes' lawyers said Winter's testimony is necessary to determine the identity of law enforcement officials who violated a gag order and divulged some of the contents of a notebook Holmes allegedly sent to a psychiatrist before the shooting incident.

U.N. says almost all Muslims have fled Central African capital
By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Fewer than 1,000 remain of more than 100,000 Muslims who once lived in the capital of the Central African Republic, after a campaign of violence by Christian militias, the U.N. aid chief said on Friday. With 650,000 people displaced by the religious conflict, Valerie Amos said the United Nations had received much less than a fifth of the $551 million it asked for in December to provide food, medical care and shelter. "The demography of CAR is changing, from a situation where you had 130,000 to 145,000 Muslims in Bangui, to where you had around 10,000 in December," Amos told a news conference. France has deployed 2,000 troops to support a 6,000-strong African Union peacekeeping mission in the country of 4.5 million people but they have failed to halt the violence.

Veterans Go for the Gold at Sochi Paralympic Games
Highest number ever of veterans and active military members are competing in Sochi.

Redditor Proud of Organ-Donor Mom Who Saved Lives
Reddit user got letter about all the people his mom's organs saved.

Watch: 'The Possibilities Are Endless'
Rock lyricist Edwyn Collins had the contents of his mind effectively deleted after experiencing a stroke.

Mentor women after maternity leave, says Morgan Stanley boss

By Anjuli Davies and Sophie Sassard LONDON (Reuters) - For top Morgan Stanley financier Cecile Houlot-Hillary, every day brings pressure in the form of complex bond deals, intense competition and demands from high level clients. But, says the 17 year veteran of investment banking, the most challenging part of her career so far has been navigating her three spells of maternity leave. "It was clearly the crunch point - coming back and making sure I was still on track and nothing was going to stop me." Her successful return to work was largely down to the support of her managers, says French-born Houlot-Hillary, who believes such coaching is key for banks and their female employees. The 39-year-old, co-head of debt capital markets for financial firms at Morgan Stanley, is now a key player in the bank's diversity program, which includes coaching for women returning to work after having children.

Film 'Vessel' Follows Ship That Offers Women DIY Abortions

Ship Travels Globe Offering Pills to End Pregnancy

Judgment Day for Surgeon Who Admitted to Fake Surgeries
Dr. Spyros Panos was convicted on one count of mail fraud in connection to botched and faked surgeries.

Ohio Attorney General DeWine in hospital after falling ill
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine collapsed during a speaking engagement on Friday and was taken to a Cincinnati hospital, his office said in a statement. DeWine, 67, a former two-term U.S. senator, was elected Ohio's attorney general in 2010. The statement said DeWine was, "as a precaution ... taken to The Christ Hospital to be evaluated." The Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper reported that DeWine was alert after passing out during the speaking event. DeWine's office oversaw a grand jury investigation into a cover-up by school officials in Steubenville after two football players were accused of rape last year.

Mom who drove kids into ocean off Florida charged with attempted murder

By Barbara Liston and Kevin Gray ORLANDO/MIAMI (Reuters) - A pregnant woman who drove a minivan with her children inside into the surf off a Florida beach was charged with three counts of attempted murder, law enforcement officials said on Friday. A tourist's video showed lifeguards and bystanders rushing to help rescue the woman, Ebony Wilkerson, and her children, ages 3, 9 and 10, as their van bobbed in the waves on Daytona Beach on Tuesday. Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson said Wilkerson told authorities she was not trying to hurt the children. Wilkerson, 32, was arrested on Friday after a mental health evaluation and charged with three counts of child abuse.

One in 100 Americans has chronic hepatitis C infection
By Will Boggs MD NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - At least one percent of Americans are chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus, which over time can severely damage the liver, according to a new study. "Hepatitis C has a severe impact on the health and well-being of millions of Americans, especially baby boomers (those born from 1945 through 1965)," Dr. Scott D. Holmberg told Reuters Health in an email. "The new data from a nationally representative survey of the general United States population (the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, or NHANES) found about 2.7 million people have chronic hepatitis C infection," he added. "This number should be considered a minimum estimate for those infected in the U.S., because some populations known to be at high risk for hepatitis C, such as those who are homeless or incarcerated, are not included in the sample," Holmberg said.

Study ties troubled sleep to lower brain volume

By Ronnie Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who have trouble sleeping tend to have less volume in certain regions of the brain than those without sleep problems, a new study of Persian Gulf War veterans suggests. "People discount the importance of sleep. "The study suggests we shouldn't discount sleep importance," she said. In their study, sleep was associated with the amount of gray matter in the brain's frontal lobe in particular.

Pretty plating can improve likability of foods
"I'm very happy that chefs are now looking at things like this, because people eat out more and more, so to have chefs being aware that what they do may have a long lasting effect on people's food choices is a good thing," lead study author Debra Zellner told Reuters Health. Zellner is a researcher and professor in the psychology department at Montclair State University in New Jersey. In previous studies, she's found that people were "turned on" by neatness and balance in the plating of food, but she wanted to see if stepping up the presentation to a professional level would make a difference, so she contacted the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, to invite them to collaborate. "Chefs have all these ideas of what they should be doing and how they should be doing it - and they believe it matters to the consumer - but there's no data," Zellner said.

U.S. deadly pig virus cases on the rise
(Reuters) - Cases of the deadly Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus, a highly contagious pig disease, are increasing across the U.S. farm belt, a group of animal health researchers said. Confirmed cases of PEDv increased by 252 in the week ending March 1, bringing the total number to 4,106 in 26 states, according to data released on Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Animal Health Laboratory Network.

U.S. extends Terremark contract as HealthCare.gov host

The Obama administration said on Friday Verizon Communications Inc's Terremark unit will remain under contract as host of the federal website HealthCare.gov to better ensure a smooth end to Obamacare's open enrollment period on March 31. Terremark's contract with the Department of Health and Human Services was due to expire on March 30, the day before the end of open enrollment for 2014, a time when high daily volumes are expected as consumers from 36 states rush to use to website to sign up for subsidized private health insurance. It would be extended for up to seven months, according to federal documents. Hewlett-Packard Co has been named to replace Terremark as website host and operator of the department's federal data center as part of Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

FDA probes cognitive impact of new cholesterol drugs
The Food and Drug Administration has asked Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and Sanofi SA to assess potential neurocognitive side effects of their experimental cholesterol drug, Sanofi said in its annual report on Friday. Amgen Inc, which is developing a similar drug, said it has also been in communication with the agency. The FDA said it could not discuss specific development programs, but is "aware of concerns raised with neurocognitive adverse events and other lipid-lowering therapies, including statins, and as part of our oversight of new drug development, we are carefully monitoring these events." The new drugs are part of an experimental class known as PCSK9 inhibitors designed to block a protein that maintains "bad" LDL cholesterol in the bloodstream.

Obama visits Florida ahead of bellwether special election

By Roberta Rampton MIAMI (Reuters) - President Barack Obama gave a feel-good campaign-style speech at a gymnasium packed with screaming high school students on Friday, sketching out the main points of his populist agenda ahead of a special election in Florida on Tuesday. Obama did not mention the race for the House of Representatives seat that had been held by the late Republican Bill Young in a congressional district that includes St. Petersburg, a city north of Miami. The White House said it was a coincidence that his speech came just before the election. Obama and his family plan to spend the rest of his weekend in Florida, at a lush Key Largo private resort.

Malaysia's Anwar convicted of sodomy, political future in doubt

By Al-Zaquan Amer Hamzah PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (Reuters) - A Malaysian court convicted opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim of sodomy and sentenced him to five years in prison on Friday, shattering his plan to take control of the country's richest state and stoking political tension in the Southeast Asian nation following a divisive national election last year. The former deputy prime minister, who was previously jailed for six years on sodomy and corruption charges, will not be jailed immediately as his lawyers won a stay of the sentence pending an appeal. But the ruling bars Anwar from running for a seat in the state assembly of Selangor this month, a move that would likely have paved the way for him to become chief minister of Malaysia's most populous state - a potent platform from which to attack the government ahead of the next national election. This has been choreographed," he added, saying the government had underestimated "the wrath of the people." A government spokesman said that Malaysia had an "independent judiciary." "This is a case between two individuals and is a matter for the courts, not the government," the spokesman said.

Watch: Family Hospitalized by LSD-Laced Meat
Florida family of four, including a pregnant woman, was sickened after eating steak bought at Walmart.

U.S. fraternity ends pledging for new members after hazing deaths
By Mary Wisniewski CHICAGO (Reuters) - Sigma Alpha Epsilon, one of the oldest and largest U.S. college fraternities, said on Friday that it would eliminate its member initiation practices, following a number of hazing-related deaths and other incidents. Starting Sunday, the fraternity with 14,000 undergraduate members across the country will end pledging, according to a statement from SAE, based in Evanston, Illinois. Pledging usually involves doing chores and learning fraternity history for weeks or months. "We have experienced a number of incidents and deaths, events with consequences that have never been consistent with our membership experience," SAE said in a statement.

Ohio couple found guilty of enslaving woman and child
By Kim Palmer CLEVELAND (Reuters) - An Ohio couple was convicted on Friday of holding captive a cognitively disabled woman and her young child, who were forced to eat dog food and threatened with a large snake, federal prosecutors said. A jury found Jordie Callahan, 27 and Jessica Hunt, 32, guilty of engaging in labor trafficking, conspiracy and forced labor after a three-week trial in a Youngstown federal court. Prosecutors told jurors during the trial that Callahan threatened to kill the adult victim if she did not engage in sex acts with him, clean the apartment, go to the store and care for the couple's numerous dogs and reptiles. Prosecutors also said the victims were beaten, threatened with pit bulls and a 130-lb (60-kg) Burmese python, fed dog food and made to crawl on the floor while wearing a dog collar as they were being held captive in a room in the couple's Ashland apartment, some 85 miles northeast of Columbus.

California bill seeks to curb sexually explicit Internet bullying by teens

By Laila Kearney SARATOGA, California (Reuters) - Teenagers who share sexually explicit images of others on the Internet to harass them could soon face tougher punishment under California legislation proposed on Friday, spurred by the suicide of a teen after images of her sexual assault were circulated to other students. The new bill, dubbed Audrie's Law after 15-year-old Audrie Pott, who killed herself in Los Altos in September 2012, is the latest effort by lawmakers in California and other states to curb online cruelty that has been blamed for a number of teen suicides. The law would make it a crime for juveniles, those under age 18, to take or distribute images of a sexual nature of a minor with the intent to harass, shame or intimidate the person, said Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen, who helped draft the legislation. The proposed law would also allow juveniles to be tried as adults if they are accused of sexually assaulting an intoxicated, developmentally disabled or otherwise incapacitated person.

Republicans press Medicare attack in congressional elections

By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans, looking for ways to turn November's congressional elections into a referendum on President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law, are trying to portray Obamacare as a danger to Medicare. The aim is to court one of the biggest and most reliable voting blocs in midterm elections, senior citizens and people near retirement, by depicting Republicans as defenders of the federal healthcare program for 42 million seniors. It's an attempt to turn the tables on Democrats, who in the 2012 presidential election attacked Republican Mitt Romney over Republican proposals to overhaul Medicare. "You'd have to be a blind man in a dark room not to see the political implications of Obamacare in general and now specifically with respect to Medicare," said Brock McCleary, former polling director for the Republican National Committee.

Republicans gain momentum in close fight for U.S. Senate

By John Whitesides WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eight months before the November 4 elections, Republicans have expanded the number of competitive races for U.S. Senate seats and have a growing chance of gaining control of that chamber and stalling Democratic President Barack Obama's second-term agenda. Public dissatisfaction with the president, concerns about his healthcare overhaul and a sluggish economy, and a series of retirements by key Democratic senators in conservative states have made a rugged year for Democrats even more so, analysts and strategists in both parties say. Republicans, who are widely expected to retain control of the U.S. House of Representatives, need a net gain of six seats to take back the 100-member Senate. Although the primary season is just starting and the candidates in many races are not set, polls suggest Republicans have boosted their odds of gaining additional Senate seats by becoming competitive in politically divided states such as Michigan and Colorado, where a year ago they were given little chance of winning.

Ranbaxy recalls some batches of generic Lipitor in latest quality blow
By Zeba Siddiqui and Kanika Sikka MUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, reeling under a flurry of regulatory rebukes due to manufacturing quality concerns, has recalled more than 64,000 bottles of the generic version of a cholesterol-lowering drug in the United States after doseage mix-up was detected. Ranbaxy recalled tablets of atorvastatin calcium, the generic version of Pfizer Inc's cholesterol fighter Lipitor, after a pharmacist found a 20-milligram tablet in a sealed bottle marked for 10-milligram tablets, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on its website. Ranbaxy, India's biggest drugmaker by revenue and majority owned by Japan's Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd, confirmed the recall of select batches of the drug, but said the company had not received any product complaints. "Ranbaxy is proactively recalling the lots out of an abundance of caution, keeping the safety of its patients in mind and with the full knowledge of the U.S. FDA," the company said in a statement issued to Reuters on Saturday.

$1.2 million bail set for Florida mom who drove kids into ocean

By Barbara Liston ORLANDO (Reuters) - A judge set bail at $1.2 million on Saturday for a pregnant woman facing attempted murder charges for driving a minivan carrying her three young children into the surf off a Florida beach, according to jail records. Ebony Wilkerson, 32, has been charged with three counts of first-degree attempted murder and three counts of child abuse in the incident, which occurred on Tuesday at Daytona Beach. Wilkerson had come to Florida three days before the episode to escape an abusive marriage, according to the arrest affidavit. The children told investigators their mother had been acting "crazy" since they arrived in Florida, and Wilkerson's sister tried twice to get mental health treatment for her the day before she drove the van into the water, the affidavit said.

LSD-laced steak sickened Florida family: medical examiner

A blue balloon announcing "Baby Boy" fluttered on Saturday outside the home where the family has since returned after Jessica Rosado, who was nine months pregnant when she arrived at the hospital near her home in Tampa, gave birth after having labor induced. Rosado, her partner Ronnie Morales and her two young daughters fell ill on Monday evening after eating some bottom round steak bought from a local Wal-Mart, according to the Tampa Police Department.

WHO: 5 percent of calories should be from sugar

LONDON (AP) — Just try sugar-coating this: The World Health Organization says your daily sugar intake should be just 5 percent of your total calories — half of what the agency previously recommended, according to new draft guidelines published Wednesday.

Study: Surgery helps some prostate cancer patients

Surgery to remove the prostate saves lives compared to "watchful waiting" for some men whose cancers were found because they were causing symptoms, long-term results from a Scandinavian study suggest.

Doctors hope for cure in a 2nd baby born with HIV

A second baby born with the AIDS virus may have had her infection put into remission and possibly cured by very early treatment — in this instance, four hours after birth.