World News Center
Insurers make pitch for health coverage mandate (AP)
November 20, 2008AP - The health insurance industry said Wednesday it will support a national health care overhaul that requires them to accept all customers, regardless of pre-existing medical conditions but in return it wants lawmakers to mandate that everyone buy coverage.
Surgeon who did first US heart transplant dies (AP)
November 20, 2008
AP - Dr. Adrian Kantrowitz, a cardiac surgeon who performed the nation's first human heart transplant and who also developed lifesaving medical implants, has died. He was 90. Kantrowitz died Friday in Ann Arbor of complications from heart failure, said his wife, Jean Kantrowitz.
Doctors transplant windpipe with stem cells (AP)
November 20, 2008
AP - Doctors have given a woman a new windpipe with tissue grown from her own stem cells, eliminating the need for anti-rejection drugs. "This technique has great promise," said Dr. Eric Genden, who did a similar transplant in 2005 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. That operation used both donor and recipient tissue. Only a handful of windpipe, or trachea, transplants have ever been done.
Ginkgo fails to prevent Alzheimer's in large study (AP)
November 20, 2008AP - The dietary supplement ginkgo, long promoted as an aid to memory, didn't help prevent dementia and Alzheimer's disease in the longest and largest test of the extract in older Americans. "We don't think it has a future as a powerful anti-dementia drug," said Dr. Steven DeKosky of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, who led the federally funded study.
Fast-food ad ban could cut child obesity: U.S. study (Reuters)
November 20, 2008
Reuters - Banning fast-food advertising on television in the United States could reduce the number of overweight children by as much as 18 percent, researchers said on Wednesday.
Philippine family planning bill headed for defeat: Church (AFP)
November 20, 2008
AFP - The Roman Catholic church on Thursday said it has sufficient support in the Philippine congress to defeat a controversial family planning bill promoting sex education and the use of contraceptives.
Clinical Trials Update: Nov. 17, 2008 (HealthDay)
November 20, 2008HealthDay - (HealthDay News) -- Here are the latest clinical trials, courtesy of CenterWatch:
Health Tip: Is Your Child More Prone to Ear Infections? (HealthDay)
November 20, 2008HealthDay - (HealthDay News) -- Ear infections are common in children, and may occur for a variety of reasons.
Growth Hormone Boost May Not Slow Alzheimer's (HealthDay)
November 20, 2008HealthDay - WEDNESDAY, Nov. 19 (HealthDay News) -- A compound that boosts growth hormone levels in Alzheimer's patients may not slow the disease, new research suggests.
Technique Tracks Cancer-Killing Cells (HealthDay)
November 20, 2008HealthDay - WEDNESDAY, Nov. 19 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. researchers say they've developed a new long-term method of monitoring the location and survival of cancer-killing cells within the body.
