Health industry breathes easier as post-Obamacare path stabilizes

By Caroline Humer NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hospitals and health insurers are gaining confidence that their nightmare scenario - millions of Americans instantly losing health insurance once President-elect Donald Trump delivers on a promise to "repeal and replace" Obamacare - is looking more like a bad dream than becoming reality. The early view from the healthcare sector still includes an end eventually to President Obama's signature health program. Trump tapped Republican Representative Tom Price, an orthopedic surgeon who drafted legislation years ago to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Flu - or flu vaccine - in pregnancy not tied to autism in kids

By Andrew M. Seaman (Reuters Health) - Pregnant women who get the flu, or a flu vaccine, are not increasing their baby's risk for an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a new study suggests. Researchers analyzed data on 196,929 children born from 2000 through 2010 in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California healthcare system after at least 24 weeks gestation. During follow-up periods ranging from two to 15 years, 1.6 percent of the children were diagnosed with ASD.

Britain seeks to curb pollution by small-scale power plants

Britain plans to curb health damaging air pollution with emissions standards for small-scale power plants used to generate back-up electricity at short notice and to stem the rising use of diesel generators. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) suggests plants producing 1-50 megawatts (MW) of electricity should be subject to new rules to cut emissions of harmful pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide. "The combined impact of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) and Particulate Matter (PM) pollution in the UK is estimated to lead to the equivalent of approximately 50,000 premature deaths per year, at a cost of around 30 pounds billion per year," DEFRA said as it launched the consultation this week.

'Terrible time'

As figures show dementia is now the leading cause of death in England and Wales, one woman recounts the "distressing" way the condition affected her late mother.

Gut bacteria 'may help drugs fight cancer'

Bacteria living deep inside the digestive system seems to alter how cancer drugs work, a study suggests.

Cancer survivor: 'I was sacked for having lymphoma'

Cancer survivor Terry Foster, 58, says he was sacked after being diagnosed with lymphoma, as his company felt he “wouldn't be able to handle the stress of the job”.

After $195 million in talc verdicts, J&J strives to change court

After a $67.5 million jury verdict against Johnson & Johnson on Oct. 27 marked its third straight trial defeat in an onslaught of lawsuits claiming its talc-based products cause ovarian cancer, the company is hoping to reverse the trend by having the cases heard in a different court. All three awards, totaling around $195 million, were handed down in state court in St. Louis, Missouri, with the same judge presiding. The plaintiffs claim studies show J&J's Baby Powder and Shower to Shower products, when used in the vaginal area, increase the risk of ovarian cancer.

U.S. blames American Airlines fire on engine failure

WASHINGTON/SEATTLE (Reuters) - A fire on an American Airlines passenger plane as it was taking off from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport last week was sparked when the right engine broke apart, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Friday. The investigative update shed new light on a rare "uncontained" engine failure, in which pieces escaped the engine housing, that has been the talk of aviation circles since the incident on Oct. 28. The engine failure caused a fuel leak that resulted in a fire under the right wing.

Looking past vote, U.S. coal country sees millennials as key to revival

If recent history holds, over half of them will either not find work or leave the state, contributing to a brain drain of young talent that is pushing the state to try to reinvent its economy and break with a coal industry in long-term decline. "Companies don't come here to invest because they only associate us with coal," said Sellards, a 20-year-old sophomore who addressed the state legislature when she was in high school about the lack of opportunities for young people in a post-coal economy. The often stark choices faced by Sellards and other young, educated West Virginians underline the challenges awaiting Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton here and in other “Rust Belt” states if she wins the Nov. 8 election, as most polls suggest she will.

Industry funded studies don't find sweet drinks linked to obesity, diabetes

By Andrew M. Seaman (Reuters Health) - Do sugar-sweetened beverages like soda and fruit drinks cause obesity and diabetes? An analysis of 60 studies found 26 out of 26 papers that failed to find a link between sugar-sweetened beverages and obesity or diabetes were funded by industry sources, compared to one industry-funded study out of the 34 that did find a connection. Regulations, taxes and nutrition guidance hinge on whether these drinks cause health problems, but opponents of those initiatives continue to question whether the drinks are to blame, the study team writes in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Ultrasound Helps Diagnose Gout, Rule Out Pseudogout (CME/CE)

(MedPage Today) -- Specificity was more than 90% for some individual gout features

1st Zika Microcephaly Baby Born in Puerto Rico

1st Zika Microcephaly Baby Born in Puerto Rico

Surge in prescription opioid poisoning among U.S. youth

By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) - The number of children and teens hospitalized for prescription opioid poisonings has more than doubled in recent years, with both accidental overdoses and suicide attempts on the rise, a U.S. study suggests. Annually, the rate of these opioid poisonings among youth up to 19 years old surged from 1.4 per 100,000 children in 1997 to 3.71 per 100,000 kids by 2012, the study found. “I believe that the two-fold increase in hospitalization rates over time for opioid poisonings in children are a direct consequence of the increasing reliance in the U.S. on opioid analgesics to treat acute and chronic pain,” said lead study author Dr. Julie Gaither, a public health researcher at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

White House condemns Syrian government forces use of toxic gas

The White House on Saturday condemned the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government after an international inquiry found its forces responsible for a third toxic gas attack in Syria's civil war. The fourth report from the 13-month-long inquiry by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the global chemical weapons watchdog, blamed Syrian government forces for a toxic gas attack in Qmenas in Idlib governorate on March 16, 2015, according to a text of the report seen by Reuters. In August, the third report by the inquiry blamed the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for two chlorine attacks - in Talmenes on April 21, 2014 and Sarmin on March 16, 2015 - and said Islamic State fighters had used sulfur mustard gas.

ANA: Brain Features Tied to Personality in Chronic Daily Headache (CME/CE)

(MedPage Today) -- Is personality a modifiable risk factor for CDH?

Burning sulfur near Mosul sends hundreds to hospital, U.S. troops don masks

By Babak Dehghanpisheh QAYYARA, Iraq (Reuters) - Up to 1,000 people have been treated for breathing problems linked to fumes from a sulfur plant set ablaze during fighting with Islamic State in northern Iraq and U.S. officials say U.S. forces at a nearby airfield are wearing protective masks. A cloud of white smoke blanketed the area around the Mishraq sulfur plant, near Mosul, mingling with black fumes from oil wells that the militants torched to cover their moves. Local residents and the U.S. military said Islamic State militants deliberately set the sulfur plant ablaze as they strive to repel an offensive by Iraqi government forces to drive them from Mosul, their last major stronghold in the country.

Judge sides with Planned Parenthood over Mississippi abortion law

The decision by U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan III is the latest in a string of rulings striking down similar laws elsewhere in the country against the women's health provider. Jordan's two page order noted a ruling from the 5th U.S. District Court of Appeals that rejected a similar law in Louisiana, saying "essentially every court to consider similar laws has found that they violate" federal law. Medicaid is a health insurance program for the poor run jointly by the federal government and individual states.

Trump supporters tricked into buying beers at Mexico City booze-up

By Lizbeth Diaz MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Supporters of U.S. Republican candidate Donald Trump unwittingly helped pick up the tab for a booze-up in Mexico City on Thursday, after they were duped into buying cleverly concealed anti-Trump t-shirts designed by a local brewery. Trump, who has labeled Mexicans rapists and drug runners, has caused outrage south of the border with his vow to build a border wall that Mexico will pay for - a pledge that inspired brewer Cerveza Cucapa's ingenious scheme to get Trump supporters to cough up for Mexicans' brews. "It's amazing that we can have a party paid for by Donald Trump!" said 54-year-old Leticia Villanueva, cradling her free beer at the event which had attracted a few hundred people.

In last debate, Trump suggests he may reject election result

By Steve Holland and Amanda Becker LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Republican candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested he might reject the outcome of the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election if he loses, a possibility his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton called "horrifying." In their third and final presidential debate, Trump said he would wait to decide whether the outcome was legitimate. "I will tell you at the time, I will keep you in suspense," Trump said. Clinton said she was "appalled" by Trump's stance.

Eye doctors warn of e-cigarette liquid hazard

Since the bottles looked similar at a glance, and the nicotine-laced liquid carried no warnings about the harm of contact with the eyes, the authors of a case report in JAMA Ophthalmology say e-cigarette users should be aware of this risk. The researchers describe a patient in her 50s who presented to the Tennent Institute of Ophthalmology at Gartnavel General Hospital in Glasgow with eye irritation. When she mistakenly dripped e-cig liquid in her eye she immediately experienced pain, redness and blurred vision.