By Deena Beasley and Bill Berkrot LOS ANGELES | Tue Nov 6, 2012 12:57pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Amgen Inc's experimental cholesterol-lowering drug, AMG145, reduced levels of "bad" cholesterol up to 66 percent in patients already taking statin drugs, according to results from a mid-stage trial that were presented on Tuesday. The trial results ...

By Kerry Grens NEW YORK | Tue Nov 6, 2012 12:15pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many new heart devices, such as valves and stents, are approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) without good studies showing that they offer any benefits beyond existing treatments, according to a new study. "This really leaves open the questi...

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK | Tue Nov 6, 2012 11:15am EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The number of smokers lighting up on hospital grounds has fallen about seven percentage points since 1995, according to a new study. "It is encouraging that there has been improvement, but it's discouraging that the nicotine replacement therapy has not been abl...

HONG KONG | Tue Nov 6, 2012 11:12am EST HONG KONG (Reuters) - Nearly two-thirds of women of reproductive age in China are exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke at home and over half are exposed in the workplace, which raises the risk of complications in pregnancy, including stillbirths and infant death. The findings, released by the World Health Organisat...

By Amy Norton NEW YORK | Tue Nov 6, 2012 11:11am EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - U.S. states with laws requiring kids to ride in car booster seats have had fewer child deaths in accidents, especially among 6- and 7-year-olds, researchers reported Monday. Nearly all U.S. states require that children who have outgrown traditional car seats use a ca...

For the fifth year in a row, the U.S. Embassy and Costa Rica’s D.A.R.E. Foundation are joining together to pay tribute to DEA Special Agent Enrique Kiki Camarena who was murdered by Mexican drug traffickers in 1985. Over a week, known as Red Ribbon Week, students from different primary and high schools will receive special training in the prevention of drug use and abuse, participate in cultu...

In the past The Costa Rica Star has published extensively on Monsanto in Costa Rica. While United States citizens will be lining up at the polls to vote on Tuesday, November 6th, Costa Ricans will be handing in the first batch of public signatures against Monsanto’s genetically modified corn seeds. Signatures will be handed over at 12:30 p.m. to the State Phytosanitary Service, which is ...

By Deena Beasley and Bill Berkrot Mon Nov 5, 2012 7:38pm EST (Reuters) - Stem cells culled from the bone marrow of healthy donors work as well or even better as cells harvested from patients themselves as a treatment for damaged hearts and are more convenient to use, according to new research. The 13-month trial was the first to compare the safety and eff...

WASHINGTON | Mon Nov 5, 2012 7:01pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two congressional oversight committees will hold hearings next week on the deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak linked to tainted steroid injections and one panel has invited an official from the compounding pharmacy involved, aides said on Monday. The House of Representatives Energy and Commerce ...

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK | Mon Nov 5, 2012 6:04pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - For people who have had a negative colonoscopy, less-invasive screening options may work just fine for follow-up cancer tests, a new analysis suggests. "No one screening test is right for everyone," lead researcher Amy Knudsen, from the Institute for Technology A...

Mon Nov 5, 2012 3:13pm EST (Reuters) - St Jude Medical Inc said on Monday its procedure that deadens nerves near the kidneys helped lower blood pressure in a small study of patients whose hypertension could not be controlled with drugs. Patients in the study who were treated with the Enlightn renal denervation system saw an average reduction of 28 points in systo...

In an attempt to shorten patient lists awaiting routine care, a medical center of routine births and surgery on ambulant patients has will open Monday in Desamparados. Although the center has an unwieldy name--Center for Integral Attention in Health--its aim is to attend patients faster than in regular Caja (Social Security) hospitals. To the already cumbersome name must be added that it wil...

By Amy Norton NEW YORK | Fri Nov 2, 2012 12:11pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Does living near a bar encourage people to overindulge, or do heavy drinkers move to neighborhoods with easy access to alcohol? A new study suggests it may be the former for some people. Researchers in Finland found that of nearly 55,000 Finnish adults followed for s...

Thu Nov 1, 2012 7:37pm EDT (Reuters) - Nine more cases of deadly fungal meningitis were reported from an outbreak tied to steroid medications shipped by a Massachusetts company, bringing the national total to 377 cases, U.S. health officials said on Thursday. No new deaths were reported on Thursday and the Centers for Disea...

By Bill Berkrot Thu Nov 1, 2012 7:20pm EDT (Reuters) - Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc reported a net loss for the third quarter on Thursday with results hurt by fast-declining sales of its Incivek hepatitis C drug, as the company turned its attention to developing a next generation of treatments for the serious liver disease. Vertex posted a net loss of $57.5...

Thu Nov 1, 2012 7:19pm EDT (Reuters) - U.S. health officials have found bacteria in lots of an injected steroid and a heart drug made by New England Compounding Center, the pharmacy linked to contaminated steroids that have claimed the lives of at least 28 people. The Food and Drug Administration said it identified different types of bacteria in three separate re...

By Susan Heavey WASHINGTON | Thu Nov 1, 2012 4:43pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. school children searching for a healthy snack at school - perhaps an apple or some celery sticks - may find that a bag of potato chips is much easier to come by, a report released on Thursday said. Students in states such as Connecticut and West Virginia have limi...

BOSTON | Thu Nov 1, 2012 4:33pm EDT BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts adopted new regulations on Thursday that it said will allow it to keep a closer eye on compounding pharmacies, a class of drug supplier linked to the U.S. meningitis outbreak that has so far killed 29 people. The state, home to the New England Compounding Center that produced the inject...

By Amy Norton NEW YORK | Thu Nov 1, 2012 3:42pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The health clinics in pharmacies and other retail stores may be convenient, but they may also take a bite out of the traditional doctor-patient relationship, a new study suggests. Retail health clinics operate mainly out of chain pharmacies, but they're also in some g...

By Ransdell Pierson Thu Nov 1, 2012 3:27pm EDT (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc on Thursday posted quarterly revenue well below Wall Street expectations, as sales of the pharmaceutical company's Prevnar pediatric vaccine disappointed and emerging market revenue dropped sharply. A sharper-than-expected decline for Lipitor, the cholesterol fighter that began facing c...

By Kerry Grens NEW YORK | Thu Nov 1, 2012 1:32pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In a new study, about half of HIV patients on antiretroviral therapy skipped their medications whenever they were drinking alcohol, an ill-advised behavior that could lead to higher viral loads, researchers say. Nearly 200 people with HIV who were on antiretroviral d...

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK | Thu Nov 1, 2012 10:32am EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Dieters who eat meals and snacks high in protein might lose a bit more weight than those who get less protein and more carbohydrates - all other things being equal, a new analysis of past studies suggests. Researchers found that over an average of 12 weeks, peop...

Bertilio Quiros, 72, died at a farm in San Isidro de El General in the southern part of the country, trampled under the hooves of his own oxen in an accident unique even in the days when oxen were common farm animals here. Quiros used the team every working day to gather up and haul sugar cane. Apparently, he slipped and fell Tuesday, the slow moving and docile, but weighty beasts continuing to...

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK | Thu Nov 1, 2012 10:10am EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - South American babies and toddlers living at high altitude were more likely to score poorly on early tests of brain development, in a new study. Of all kids age three months to two years, one in five was at high risk of developmental delays, according to tests d...

MADRID | Wed Oct 31, 2012 4:23pm EDT MADRID (Reuters) - The region of Madrid said on Wednesday it would introduce an unpopular one-euro surcharge for medical prescriptions next year as pressure mounts on Spain's cash-strapped regions to curb deficits. The plan is part of Madrid's efforts to save some 2.7 billion euros ($3.5 billion) in next year's budget...

By Marice Richter DALLAS | Wed Oct 31, 2012 3:53pm EDT DALLAS (Reuters) - The number of people infected with the mosquito-borne West Nile virus in the United States continues to grow, but the pace of this year's outbreak is slowing, federal health officials said on Wednesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 4,891 people have c...

BOSTON | Wed Oct 31, 2012 3:33pm EDT BOSTON (Reuters) - Ameridose, a sister company of the pharmacy linked to a meningitis outbreak that has killed 28 people, announced Wednesday a voluntary recall of all its products, a move to cooperate with regulators that could nevertheless create shortages of some drugs. In particular, the Food and Drug Administrati...

Wed Oct 31, 2012 3:18pm EDT (Reuters) - Another patient has died in Virginia after contracting fungal meningitis from potentially tainted steroid injections supplied by a Massachusetts company, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday, bringing the death toll from the outbreak to 29 nationwide. The latest death brings to three the num...

By Kerry Grens NEW YORK | Wed Oct 31, 2012 3:02pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Almost a third of women on asthma control medications stop using them during the first few months of pregnancy - despite advice that a mother's uncontrolled asthma is more dangerous to the developing fetus than the drugs, according to a new study from the Netherland...

By Debra Sherman Wed Oct 31, 2012 2:00pm EDT (Reuters) - The best medical innovations for next year include an almond-size device implanted in the mouth to relieve severe headaches and a handheld scanner resembling a blow dryer that detects skin cancer, the Cleveland Clinic said on Wednesday. The clinic's annual list of the best medical innovations for 20...

By Amy Norton NEW YORK | Wed Oct 31, 2012 12:58pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Twenty minutes of exercise may help kids with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) settle in to read or solve a math problem, new research suggests. The small study, of 40 eight- to 10-year-olds, looked only at the short-term effects of a single bout of e...

ZURICH | Wed Oct 31, 2012 12:09pm EDT ZURICH (Reuters) - Canadian and Swiss health authorities lifted a ban on Novartis's flu vaccines on Wednesday after the drugmaker showed they posed no risk to safety. Italy last week banned the sale of four anti-influenza vaccines produced by Novartis pending tests for possible side effects after small particles were...

Tue Oct 30, 2012 6:24pm EDT (Reuters) - BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc said it would withdraw an application to test its experimental hepatitis C drug in humans after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expressed concern about its safety. The FDA had concerns about the preclinical toxicity profile of the drug candidate, BCX5191, the company said.The drug belongs ...

By Dhanya Skariachan NEW YORK | Tue Oct 30, 2012 4:45pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - At one New York hospital where backup generators failed, staff carried premature babies down more than a dozen flights of stairs in one of the more dramatic moments for healthcare workers during powerful storm Sandy. Record flooding and power outages across the north...

By Kerry Grens NEW YORK | Tue Oct 30, 2012 4:16pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who imbibe sugary soft drinks almost every day are 83 percent more likely to have a certain type of stroke than women who rarely drink sodas and other sweetened beverages, according to a new study from Japan. Although the findings don't prove that sweet drinks...

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK | Tue Oct 30, 2012 4:15pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Smokers miss an average of two or three more days of work each year than non-smokers, according to a new analysis of 29 past studies. Based on that finding, absenteeism due to smoking cost the UK alone 1.4 billion pounds - or $2.25 billion - last year, researche...

Tue Oct 30, 2012 3:02pm EDT (Reuters) - Three more patients have died after contracting fungal meningitis from potentially tainted steroid injections supplied by a Massachusetts company, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday, bringing the death toll from the outbreak to 28 nationwide. Two of the new deaths were in Michigan, which now...

By Amy Norton NEW YORK | Tue Oct 30, 2012 2:33pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Kids who experiment with menthol cigarettes are more likely to become habitual smokers than their peers who start out with the regular variety, new research findings suggest. In a study of tens of thousands of U.S. students, researchers found that kids who were dabbl...

By Amy Norton NEW YORK | Tue Oct 30, 2012 1:43pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new U.S. government study suggests that during a serious flu epidemic, closing schools can keep people - especially kids - out of the ER. Now, researchers say, the big questions include, When is it best to close schools? And what are the downsides?The study, report...

By Chris Wickham LONDON | Tue Oct 30, 2012 6:33am EDT LONDON (Reuters) - Breast-cancer screening saves lives even though it also picks up cases in some women that would never have caused them a problem, according to a review published in The Lancet medical journal. The independent review, commissioned by the charity Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and ...