 Court denies Myriad motion to block rival genetic tests
(Reuters) - Myriad Genetics Inc said a U.S. court denied its motion to temporarily stop rival Ambry Genetics Corp from selling products similar to Myriad's gene-based cancer test, the latest setback for the diagnostics company. Myriad's shares fell 12 percent before the bell on Tuesday. Myriad's problems started last June when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the company could not patent naturally occurring human genes, curbing the company's monopoly over a type of gene-based cancer testing. That ruling allowed other test makers, including Quest Diagnostics Inc and privately held Ambry, to develop and market the so-called BRCA tests.
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Descent into madness entwines Van Gogh, Artaud at Paris exhibition
 By Alexandria Sage PARIS (Reuters) - The shrieks of mad women assault visitors entering the Musee d'Orsay's new exhibit on Vincent Van Gogh, an arresting look at the painter's work as seen through the eyes of the late avant-garde French theatre director and playwright Antonin Artaud. "The Man Driven to Suicide by Society", opening on Tuesday in Paris, is a fitting title for a display of 55 Van Gogh works using Artaud's own commentary to see them in a new light. Artaud - one of the great theorizers about the stage, renowned for his short but seminal 1938 tract "The Theatre of Cruelty" - was, like Van Gogh, tormented throughout his life by hallucinations and hospitalized in psychiatric asylums.
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The children of Japan's Fukushima battle an invisible enemy
By Toru Hanai and Elaine Lies KORIYAMA, Japan (Reuters) - Some of the smallest children in Koriyama, a short drive from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, barely know what it's like to play outside - fear of radiation has kept them indoors for much of their short lives. Though the strict safety limits for outdoor activity set after multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in 2011 have now been eased, parental worries and ingrained habit mean many children still stay inside. And the impact, three years on, is now starting to show, with children experiencing falling strength, lack of coordination - some cannot even ride a bicycle - and emotional issues like shorter tempers, officials and educators say. "There are children who are very fearful.
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A year on, Pope Francis faces challenges meeting reform hopes
 By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor (Reuters) - In the year since his surprise election, Pope Francis has raised so many hopes of imminent changes in Church teaching that managing all those expectations is going to be a challenge. The Argentine-born pontiff has caught world attention by suggesting he might ease the Catholic Church's strict rules on divorce, birth control, married or women priests and gay unions. Off-the-cuff comments such as "who am I to judge?" about gays has contrasted with the more distant style of his predecessors John Paul and Benedict. But while his words and public appearances have struck a chord with many Catholics, anyone hoping for a quick turnaround on those headline-grabbers is likely to be disappointed, said Boston College theologian Richard Gaillardetz.
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Couples' characteristics may predict condom use
By C. E. Huggins NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Whether heterosexual couples decide to use condoms during sex may be determined more by the nature of the relationship than by aspects of the individual men or women involved, according to a new Dutch study. When researchers looked at who used condoms regularly versus inconsistently, they found couple-related factors like age difference and how steady or casual the relationship was explained more than half of the variation in condom use. Previous research has focused on either the individual factors associated with condom use, such as gender, age and ethnicity, or on partnership factors, such as the duration and exclusivity of the relationship. In the current study, Amy Matser, of the Public Health Service of Amsterdam, and her team looked at both sets of factors to determine which were most important in predicting who would use condoms regularly.
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Israel's LabStyle launches mobile phone blood sugar monitor
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli start-up LabStyle Innovations Corp on Tuesday launched a mobile-phone glucose meter for diabetics to monitor their blood sugar levels. Called Dario, the meter plugs directly into a smartphone and has a software application that gives real time recording and analysis of blood sugar readings. The product is initially being launched in New Zealand, Italy, Australia and the United Kingdom. It will at first be available for Apple's iOS and later for Google's Android platform. ...
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Woman Grateful Mom Nagged Her Into Losing Weight
If your mother told you that you needed to lose weight, would you freak out? Would it destroy your self-esteem? Would you ever forgive her? Charlotte Alter, a journalist with Time magazine, said that when she was a 12-year-old middle schooler, her mother told her...
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FDA says Senomyx sweetener enhancer safe; shares jump
(Reuters) - Senomyx Inc said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had declared that its Sweetmyx food flavoring was safe, paving the way for customers such as PepsiCo Inc to add it to drinks to reduce the use of sugar and sugar substitutes. Senomyx shares jumped as much as 26 percent to their highest in nearly seven years after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration determined Sweetmyx to be Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
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Teva settles Medicaid false billing case tied to Chicago doctor
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd agreed to pay $27.6 million to settle charges that it paid kickbacks to a Chicago psychiatrist to induce him to prescribe an anti-schizophrenia drug to patients, resulting in more than 100,000 false Medicaid and Medicare claims. The world's largest generic drug manufacturer will pay about $15.5 million to the federal government and $12.1 million to the state of Illinois, according to statements from the U.S. Department of Justice and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Tuesday's settlement resolves charges that two Teva units, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc and IVAX LLC, violated the federal False Claims Act by making payments to the psychiatrist, Michael Reinstein, for nine years starting in August 2003.
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Justin Bieber faces May 5 trial date in Florida drunken driving case
 A Miami judge has set a May 5 trial date for pop singer Justin Bieber, who faces charges of driving under the influence, resisting arrest and using an expired license after police say he was caught drag racing in Miami Beach. The 20-year-old Bieber has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He did not attend the hearing on Tuesday in a Miami-Dade county court. The initial March trial date was postponed after lawyers for Bieber and several news organizations argued in court over whether the media should have access to video images of the singer while he was in police custody following his arrest on January 23.
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Medical groups question price of new hep C drug
WASHINGTON (AP) — An innovative hepatitis C drug that was only recently hailed as a breakthrough treatment is facing skepticism from some health care providers, as they consider whether it is worth the $1,000-a-pill price set by manufacturer Gilead Sciences Inc.
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Rouhani has not increased freedoms in Iran, U.N. chief says
 By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has failed to fulfil campaign promises to allow greater freedom of expression and there has been a sharp rise in executions since his election, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday. Rouhani, who won a landslide in June, led Iran to an initial nuclear deal with world powers. In a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Ban highlighted the prevalent use of capital punishment in Iran and called for the release of activists, lawyers and journalists as well as political prisoners that he said were in custody for exercising their rights to free speech and assembly. "The new administration has not made any significant improvement in the promotion and protection of freedom of expression and opinion, despite pledges made by the president during his campaign and after his swearing in," Ban said.
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Caring for a spouse tied to older women's wellbeing
In the survey of middle-aged and older Americans, husbands did not seem to experience any improvement in wellbeing when they were acting in the role of caregiver for their wife. "A lot of studies have focused on the burden of caregiving, especially for women, so we expected to see worse wellbeing for wives caring for a husband," Vicki Freedman told Reuters Health in an email. Freedman led the study at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Participants were also asked about their spouse's level of disability, if any, and the types of household chores like shopping, cooking and cleaning they had performed the day before.
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6-Year-Old Alleged Sex Assault Victim Must Testify in Court
Research shows that more sexual abuse cases are coming to light and children are increasingly being admitted as witnesses in court proceedings. An estimated 1.6 percent of children between the ages of 12-17 have been victims of rape/sexual assault and many must face their assailants.
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Carnival passengers sue for damages over disrupted 2013 cruise
 (This March 10 story's headline and 1st paragraph have been corrected to show passengers are not seeking $5,000 per month for life and corrects 11th paragraph quote to two hours from five hours) By David Quiñones MIAMI (Reuters) - Three passengers suing Carnival cruise lines for damages after an engine fire left their ship adrift for days are asking the company to pay $5,000 per year for life while the rest are seeking $2,500 to $5,000 for four to five years. A lawsuit brought by 33 passengers of the ill-fated 2013 voyage could change how cruise lines insulate themselves from legal actions, according to maritime legal experts. A second pending lawsuit with three-times as many plaintiffs has the potential to further undo the advantageous legal position cruise lines have long enjoyed. Stalled in the Gulf of Mexico for five days, passengers described human waste seeping into hallways, and being forced to sleep on deck under makeshift tarps with no cooked food.
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Challenges remain before docs use whole-genome sequencing
Researchers found that sequencing a person's whole genome - all three billion or so DNA nucleotides in the chromosomes - required a significant amount of manpower for a small payoff. One of the study's authors said the cost of sequencing a person's entire genome has dropped in recent years, but the technology has been mostly used for research. "We thought the time had come to do a small pilot study of patients in the clinical setting," Dr. Euan Ashley told Reuters Health. For the new study published in JAMA, he and his colleagues recruited 12 unrelated people between November 2011 and March 2012 to have their full genomes sequenced.
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Oxigene Inc says drug meets main goal of ovarian cancer trial
(Reuters) - Oxigene Inc said on Tuesday that its experimental drug Zybrestat combined with Roche's big selling cancer drug Avastin significantly slowed progression of recurrent ovarian cancer better than Avastin alone in a midstage clinical trial. Shares of tiny Oxigene, which had been halted prior to announcement of the trial results, more than doubled in extended trading. The drugs, which use different mechanisms to deprive tumors of blood supply and oxygen needed to grow, met the primary goal of the study by demonstrating a statistically significant increase in progression-free survival (PFS), or the time it takes before the cancer begins to worsen. "This promising combination warrants further evaluation particularly given the significant need for new treatment options in relapsed ovarian cancer," Dr. Bradley Monk, lead investigator of the study, said in a statement.
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Judge in Colorado theater massacre case appoints new sanity evaluator
 By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - A judge overseeing the Colorado movie theater massacre case appointed an evaluator on Tuesday to conduct a second sanity examination of accused gunman James Holmes after earlier ruling a first evaluation to be "incomplete and inadequate." Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour, in a written ruling, approved the selection by the state mental hospital of the new examiner, whose name was redacted in the order. Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to murder and attempted murder charges linked to the 2012 shooting during a viewing of a Batman film in a suburban Denver cinema that killed 12 moviegoers and injured 70 others.
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Alleged Sex Assault Victim, 6, Too Young to Testify?
Research shows that more sexual abuse cases are coming to light and children are increasingly being admitted as witnesses in court proceedings. An estimated 1.6 percent of children between the ages of 12-17 have been victims of rape/sexual assault and many must face their assailants.
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Profit-taking drags Wall Street lower
 By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday, with selling picking up late in the session, as investors cashed in some of the recent market gains, but the S&P 500 finished less than 1 percent away from a record high set last week. Indexes had swung between gains and losses in the first half of the session, as the lack of major corporate earnings or market-affecting data kept trading directionless, but they closed near the day's lows. Shares of retailers American Eagle and Urban Outfitters fell sharply after disappointing outlooks. ...
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Especially for women, hearing loss linked to depression
Higher rates of depression were most common among women and among the middle aged, compared to people over 70, researchers found. A few smaller studies have shown a connection between hearing loss and depression, but they were not based on nation-wide samples and the results were conflicting, Dr. Chuan-Ming Li said.
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When Zach met Barack: pitching Obamacare online
 By Mark Felsenthal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama took his quest to sign young people up for health insurance to an edgy comedy website on Tuesday, where he traded insults with host Zach Galifianakis while plugging his signature Obamacare health program. Obama sat for an interview on "Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis," on the Funny or Die website. The actor, who starred in "The Hangover" films, is known for his cringe-inducing banter on the program. ...
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Insurers wary of Obamacare unknowns as they plan for 2015
 By Caroline Humer NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. health insurers are struggling to set prices for their Obamacare plans in 2015 and decide which regions to return to before the deadlines for submitting those plans to regulators. Some insurers already expect to lose money this year following the rocky launch of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, which aims to provide coverage to millions of uninsured Americans with the help of government subsidies. ...
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Obamacare enrollment in private coverage rises to 4.2 million people
 By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration said on Tuesday that 4.2 million people have signed up for private health insurance under Obamacare, and indicated that total enrollment could surpass a 6 million-enrollee forecast by the end of March. New enrollment data for a five-month period from October 1 through March 1 came out as the administration threw its public relations campaign into overdrive, with President Barack Obama appearing for an interview on the comedy website, "Funny or Die," in a direct appeal to the site's audience of young adults. ...
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Louisiana man fined $600 after drunken fight with wife aboard flight
A judge in the Cayman Islands fined a Louisiana man $600 on Tuesday for forcing a Delta Air Lines flight to make an emergency landing after he got into a drunken argument with his wife aboard the plane on their anniversary. Michael Foret, 33, was escorted from a Delta Air Lines plane by police when it landed in the Cayman Islands on Sunday night. On Tuesday, Foret, who had been held in police custody, appeared before a Cayman Islands judge, his lawyer, Ben Tonner, said. Foret was fined for disruptive behavior aboard a commercial flight, he said.
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Republican Party wins Florida congressional seat in special election
 By Barbara Liston ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Republican David Jolly won an expensive battle to fill a vacant U.S. Congressional seat in a special election watched by both major parties for what it portends for November when all 435 congressional seats will be up for grabs. Jolly, 41, defeated Democrat challenger Alex Sink, 65, a former state chief financial officer, by 3,500 votes or a 1.87 percent margin - 48.43 percent to 46.56 percent, according to the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections website. Libertarian candidate Lucas Overby took 4.83 percent of the votes. Republicans were quick to declare the result a repudiation of President Obama's Affordable Healthcare Act, known as Obamacare.
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Motor racing-"Small, encouraging signs" in Schumacher condition - agent
(adds details from statement, background) PARIS, March 12 (Reuters) - There are small signs of encouragement in Michael Schumacher's condition but the most successful former Formula One champion of all time faces a long fight to recover after suffering severe head injuries in a skiing accident, his agent said on Wednesday. "We are and remain confident that Michael will pull through and will wake up," his agent and spokeswoman, Sabine Kehm, said in a written statement. Schumacher, 45, slammed his head on a rock while skiing off-piste in the French Alps resort of Meribel on Dec. 29.
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"Small, encouraging signs" in Schumacher condition - agent
There are small signs of encouragement in Michael Schumacher's condition but the most successful former Formula One champion of all time faces a long fight to recover after suffering severe head injuries in a skiing accident, his agent said on Wednesday. "We are and remain confident that Michael will pull through and will wake up," his agent and spokeswoman, Sabine Kehm, said in a written statement. Schumacher, 45, slammed his head on a rock while skiing off-piste in the French Alps resort of Meribel on December 29.
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Ackman accuses Herbalife of breaking laws in China
 By Svea Herbst-Bayliss BOSTON (Reuters) - Hedge fund manager William Ackman renewed his attack on Herbalife on Tuesday and said he has evidence the U.S.-based nutrition and weight loss company is breaking direct-selling laws in China, its fastest growing market. Ackman, who has placed a $1 billion short bet against Herbalife, said the company was making recruits pay an entry fee and letting distributors recruit new members, activities he said were illegal in China. Herbalife said it follows local laws. Chinese regulators have yet to comment on the matter but direct sales models have recently come under fire in China, where authorities launched a probe in January into Herbalife's rival NU Skin Enterprises Inc after state media reported that it brainwashed its members.
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AstraZeneca sells British R&D site, to take £165.50 million charge
AstraZeneca has agreed to sell its Alderley Park research site in northern England to a public-private partnership group as it moves drug discovery to a new global centre in Cambridge. The decision to close Alderley Park was a major blow for the northwest of the country, but the latest transaction has a silver lining as new owner Manchester Science Parks plans to keep the 400-acre site as a biotechnology campus. The site lies with within the Cheshire parliamentary constituency of British Finance Minister George Osborne, who said on Wednesday he was delighted it would continue to play a role as a centre for the life sciences industry. The sale follows a decision last March by AstraZeneca Chief Executive Pascal Soriot to move drug research and development to a new site in university city Cambridge in eastern England - a world-class centre for life sciences.
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Geron says FDA halts testing of lead drug
(Reuters) - Geron Corp said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had ordered to halt the trials of its cancer drug imetelstat due to concerns of liver damage. The company said the FDA verbally notified them about the hold, which will affect all trials of the treatment, including its thrombocythemia and multiple myeloma mid-stage studies. The experimental blood cancer drug was touted as a saviour for the company in November, after a number of trial patients were cured. Geron's shares closed at $4.40 on the Nasdaq on Tuesday. ...
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Gene mapping study shows promise, challenges
CHICAGO (AP) — These days, it's faster and cheaper than ever to decipher a person's entire DNA. But a small study suggests that looking for disease risks that way may not be ready for the masses.
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5 fitness apps that get results
Looking for a new way to reach your fitness goals? Now's the time to check out some of the hottest fitness apps as 2014 gets underway. 
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What to do about your bad breath
Millions of Americans suffer from bad breath. For some, it's ever-present, no matter what they do. But there are some steps you can take. 
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