San José, Costa Rica - Nov. 17th - The First Regional Forum for youths from the Costarican Caribbean coast “Climate Change and youth leadership: actions for the future”, was held on November 10th and 11th 2012, executed by Manos a la Costa Project, with the support of the European Union. This forum was organized by the Foundation for Peace and Democracy (FUNPADEM), the National Biodiversity Ins...

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK | Fri Nov 16, 2012 3:59pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A growing and aging population, along with increased access to health insurance, will create the need for 52,000 more primary care doctors within the U.S. by the year 2025, according to a new study. The researchers wanted to estimate how many such doctors the U...

By Nate Raymond NEW YORK | Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:52pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - A dozen large investors have sued Pfizer Inc for securities fraud, distancing themselves from a long-running shareholder class action over allegations the company misled them about the safety of the pain relievers Celebrex...

By Caroline Humer Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:48pm EST (Reuters) - Health insurer Cigna Corp said on Friday that it expects 2013 earnings growth of 4 to 9 percent, below its average long-term forecasts as it confronts U.S. unemployment in the high-single digits, limited wage growth and a gradual rise in the use of medical services. Cigna's outlook followed up on c...

By Kathleen Raven NEW YORK | Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:11pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Babies exposed to their mother's cigarette smoke in the womb later perform more poorly on reading comprehension tests, according to a new study. "It's not a little difference - it's a big difference in accuracy and comprehension at a critical time when children a...

By Caroline Copley ZURICH | Fri Nov 16, 2012 11:46am EST ZURICH (Reuters) - The European Medicines Agency has thrown Novartis' loss-making vaccines business a lifeline by recommending its meningitis B shot for approval, which means the pressure is on to make the product a commercial success. Novartis paid $5.1 billion to gain full control of U.S....

By Duff Wilson Fri Nov 16, 2012 10:59am EST (Reuters) - A federal grand jury in Boston is investigating Millennium Laboratories of San Diego, a fast-growing private company selling urine drug testing services to pain clinics across the United States. The company not only is under investigation by the Justice Department for allegations of health care fraud...

Fri Nov 16, 2012 10:45am EST (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc said on Friday a late-stage trial of a once-a-day formulation of its drug pregabalin did not significantly reduce the frequency of some types of seizures in patients with epilepsy. Pfizer's biggest product, sold under the brand name Lyrica, is used to treat epilepsy when given several times a day in combination ...

Fri Nov 16, 2012 10:08am EST (Reuters) - Allergan Inc, maker of anti-wrinkle drug Botox, on Friday said it would pay $350 million to acquire privately held SkinMedica Inc and its array of topical products to improve the appearance of the skin. Allergan, whose facial aesthetics business includes the widely used Juvederm facial filler, said it intends to complete t...

New eye care technology at the universal health care system (Caja) means that patients unable to produce tears to bathe the eye have relief from this painful condition, reports the national newspaper La Nacion. And cornea transplants today have an unprecedentedly low chance of being rejected due to new techniques. The paper cited the case of Amalia Alfaro, a Tica who endured three years of a...

By David Morgan WASHINGTON | Thu Nov 15, 2012 5:46pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic and Republican lawmakers said on Thursday they would alter the regulation of drug compounding pharmacies in hopes of preventing more crises like the rare fungal meningitis outbreak that has now cost 32 lives. The outbreak of 461 cases in 19 states has been ...

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO | Thu Nov 15, 2012 1:14pm EST CHICAGO (Reuters) - A breakdown of U.S. diabetes cases shows dramatic increases in the number of people diagnosed with diabetes overall between 1995 and 2010, with especially sharp increases among people in the South and in Appalachian states. According to a study released on Thursday by ...

PARIS | Thu Nov 15, 2012 12:49pm EST PARIS (Reuters) - Australia has reported its first case of a highly pathogenic bird flu virus in 15 years at an egg farm in the New South Wales region, the World animal health body OIE said on Thursday. So far 5,000 poultry have died in the infected farm in Maitland, 160 km (100 miles) north of Sydney, but 50,000 are ...

By Zeba Siddiqui Thu Nov 15, 2012 11:38am EST (Reuters) - AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc said its drug-device combination for post-operative pain was at least as effective as the standard of care, suggesting it has the potential to replace the current treatment. AcelRx plans to file for marketing approval for the device in the third quarter of 2013, Pamela Pa...

By David Morgan WASHINGTON | Thu Nov 15, 2012 11:37am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic chairman of a congressional panel investigating a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak linked to compounded steroids predicted on Thursday that U.S. lawmakers would take actions to prevent a similar public health disaster. The lawmaker, Senator Tom Harkin...

By Vrinda Manocha Thu Nov 15, 2012 10:47am EST (Reuters) - Tranzyme Inc said a preliminary analysis showed that its experimental drug to treat a type of paralysis of the stomach did not meet the main goal of a mid-stage trial, sending the company's shares to a life low. The shares, which started trading on the Nasdaq at $4.00 in April last year, fell to $...

KAMPALA | Thu Nov 15, 2012 10:29am EST KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda said on Thursday three people had died from an outbreak of the Ebola virus in its central region, near the capital Kampala, the latest bout of deadly haemorrhagic fevers to strike the east African nation in recent months. Health Minister Christine Ondoa said two of the dead were from one f...

Washington, D.C., November 15, 2012 (PAHO/WHO) — Diabetes has become a leading cause of death and disability in the Region of the Americas, and if current trends continue, the burden of the disease will increase substantially over the next two decades, according to experts at the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO). On November 14, PAHO/WHO will celebrate World...

By Deena Beasley Thu Nov 15, 2012 10:11am EST (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co Inc and Eli Lilly & Co, plan to launch a one-stop database of global clinical trial sites aimed at streamlining paperwork and speeding the process for testing new drugs. The partners have begun securing approval from as many as 100,000 clinical investigator...

By Elena Berton PARIS | Thu Nov 15, 2012 9:32am EST PARIS (Reuters) - When Sanofi boss Chris Viehbacher first met staff at Genzyme, the U.S. biotech he had just acquired after a long takeover battle, he told them he did not want "planeloads of people coming from Paris over here to kind of Sanofize Genzyme". More than one year later, the German-Ca...

GENEVA | Thu Nov 15, 2012 7:02am EST GENEVA (Reuters) - The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said on Thursday it had sacked its chief auditor after finding his performance "unsatisfactory", in the latest in a series of leadership changes at the Geneva-based organization. The fund was due later on Thursday to name a new executive direct...

Costa Rican women not only devote to household chores more than double the time men do, but also allocate more time to their professional training, according to local media. According to surveys of the National Statistics and Census Institute (INEC), the women have less leisure due to their double responsibility at work and at home, but they study more to reinforce their training. They spend...

By Jack Kim SEOUL | Mon Nov 12, 2012 12:39pm EST SEOUL (Reuters) - Global health officials agreed a deal on Monday to fight smuggling of tobacco products, a trade which robs governments of more than $40 billion in revenue each year and undercuts efforts to reduce smoking. The measures include making it mandatory for member governments to license ...

By Jonathan Stempel and Nate Raymond NEW YORK | Mon Nov 12, 2012 9:46am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc agreed to pay $67.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit by former Wyeth Inc shareholders who said they were misled about risks associated with the antidepressant Pristiq. The all-cash settlement was disclosed on Friday, one month after...

Those affected are mainly young men, as young as 17 years old, who conduct manual labor and farm work. Officials at Costa Rica’s Social Security System (CCSS- Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social) have reported an alarming increase in potentially fatal chronic kidney disease cases in different parts of the country. Guanacaste is the most affected region. In simple terms, chronic kidney diseas...

ZURICH | Mon Nov 12, 2012 2:23am EST ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis said on Monday its Certican, an immune system drug also known under the names Afinitor and Votubia, showed positive outcomes in a two-year phase III study in liver transplantation. The study, which Novartis said was the largest liver transplant trial to date, co...

ZURICH | Sun Nov 11, 2012 11:34am EST ZURICH (Reuters) - Novartis' Ilaris helps reduce patients' symptoms and the frequency of attacks in two rare inflammatory diseases, mid-stage studies showed, as the Swiss drugmaker looks to expand the use of the medicine. Results of two separate studies on Sunday in patients with Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) an...

Sat Nov 10, 2012 1:13pm EST (Reuters) - Gilead Sciences Inc on Saturday reported a 100 percent cure rate using a combination of drugs in a small number of patients with the most common and hardest to treat form of hepatitis C. Rival Abbott Laboratories Inc, meanwhile, said a trio of its oral medicines to treat hepatitis C produced unprecedented cure rates in a la...

By Ransdell Pierson Sat Nov 10, 2012 12:31pm EST (Reuters) - A trio of oral medicines from Abbott Laboratories Inc to treat hepatitis C produced unprecedented cure rates in patients who had failed to benefit from standard treatment, as well as very high cure rates for newly treated patients, Abbott said on Saturday. Detailed data from the mid-stage trial,...

PARIS | Sat Nov 10, 2012 12:03pm EST PARIS (Reuters) - The makers of the renowned Nutella food spread say they will not change the lucrative recipe even if France, its biggest market, endorses proposals to quadruple tax on a key ingredient of the gooey mix, palm oil. Senators in France, where a left-wing government is hiking tax generally to help slash a...

By Toni Clarke BOSTON | Sat Nov 10, 2012 10:00am EST BOSTON (Reuters) - Boehringer Ingelheim said on Saturday it plans to initiate a late-stage clinical trial of its experimental hepatitis C treatment following promising results from earlier studies. The company announced final data from a mid-stage trial of its treatment regimen which showed tha...

Fri Nov 9, 2012 7:33pm EST (Reuters) - Celgene Corp said on Friday that a clinical trial of Abraxane, its drug to treat breast and lung cancer, improved survival in patients with pancreatic cancer. The company did not give details of the extent of the improvement, saying it would do so at a medical meeting in January, but said the results were statistically signi...

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK | Fri Nov 9, 2012 5:59pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Smoking has long been linked with slower recovery in general from injuries and surgeries, and now a new study finds that smokers face more complications and higher chances of death following major surgery for colorectal cancers and other diseases. "We wanted to ...

Washington, D.C., November 9, 2012 (PAHO/WHO)- Three government-supported anti-malaria programs from Paraguay, Brazil, and Ecuador were named Malaria Champions of the Americas this week for their success in reducing the burden of malaria through improved diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance. The winners were honored during an event marking the 6th annual Malaria Day in the Americas, at the h...

This is the first in a series of recipe articles that will be published on The Costa Rica Star to compliment our news publishing content. Ingredients -1 cup long-grain white rice -2 cups low-sodium chicken broth -1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice -1 lime, juiced -2 tablespoons olive oil -1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish -2 garlic cloves, minced -1 teasp...

The State of the Nation researchers have come up with a startling figure from a recent poll, especially significant this time of the year: One in five Costa Rican workers do not receive a Christmas bonus (aguinaldo) and one-third lack such guarantees as sick pay, paid vacations, and workplace accident insurance. This is shocking for a nation whose laws appear to outsiders to benefit its work...

By Kate Kelland and Ben Hirschler LONDON | Fri Nov 9, 2012 9:11am EST LONDON (Reuters) - The world's first potential malaria vaccine proved only 30 percent effective in African babies in a crucial trial, calling into question whether it can be a useful weapon in the fight against the deadly disease. The surprisingly poor result for the vaccine, w...

GENEVA | Fri Nov 9, 2012 5:46am EST GENEVA (Reuters) - An outbreak of hepatitis E has infected at least 1,050 Sudanese refugees in South Sudan, killing 26 and threatening to spread further among people still arriving in crowded camps, the United Nations said on Friday. About 175,000 people have already fled to South Sudan to escape fighting in Sudan's So...

The Minister of Health of Costa Rica, Dr Daisy Corrales aims to strengthen the AIDS response among key populations at higher risk in her country, which is where the epidemic remains concentrated. During a meeting with UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé on 6 November at the UNAIDS Headquarters in Geneva, Dr Corrales highlighted the focus of her Ministry in developing HIV communications and edu...

By Bill Berkrot LOS ANGELES | Tue Nov 6, 2012 1:14pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Common visible signs of aging may not just be a vanity or employment problem. They may also be a harbinger of heart disease. In a large, long-term study, people who displayed three to four signs of aging, such as receding hairlines at the temples, baldness at the cro...