Reuters - Health Report

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Friday, November 24, 2017

Border without doctors? South Koreans urge more funding for trauma care after defector drama

SEOUL (Reuters) - A defector’s treatment for critical injuries suffered during a dramatic dash from North Korea has highlighted a shortage of South Korean trauma doctors and again underscored Seoul's lack of preparedness in the event of hostilities with Pyongyang.

Avatars can help schizophrenia patients control threatening voices

LONDON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - - An experimental therapy for people with schizophrenia that brings them face to face with a computer avatar representing the tormenting voices in their heads has proved promising in early stage trials.

Germany reports outbreak of mild bird flu on farm: OIE

PARIS (Reuters) - Germany has reported an outbreak of low pathogenic H5N2 bird flu on a farm in the Lower Saxony region in the north of the country, the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Thursday.

Teva Pharmaceutical set for major layoffs in Israel, U.S.: report

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is expected to cut 20-25 percent of its workforce in Israel, where it employs 6,860 people, and a few thousand more jobs are to go in the United States, financial news website Calcalist said on Thursday.

U.S. judge strikes down Texas measure to limit second-trimester abortions

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A U.S. district judge on Wednesday struck down parts of a Texas law that would ban the most common type of second-trimester abortions in the state, after plaintiffs argued the procedure was safe, legal and necessary for women's health.

Sign-up pace slows in third week of 2018 Obamacare enrollment

(Reuters) - The pace slowed in the third week of enrollment for 2018 Obamacare individual insurance as nearly 800,000 people signed up through the federal government website HealthCare.gov, down about 75,000 people from the previous week, a U.S. government agency reported on Wednesday.

Unhealthy lifestyle may cause half of diverticulitis cases

(Reuters Health) - Men’s risk for a painful inflammation of colon walls may be drastically reduced if they follow an overall healthy lifestyle, a recent U.S. study suggests.

Fatty liver linked to a shrinking brain

(Reuters Health) - Fatty liver disease that is not related to excess drinking is associated with greater brain shrinkage than normally happens with age, researchers say.

Pre-surgery cognitive screen can flag elderly complications risk

(Reuters Health) - Screening older surgery patients for cognitive impairment can catch undiagnosed problems that raise risk for complications, researchers say.

Pregnant and breastfeeding women travelers underprotected from disease

(Reuters Health) - Pregnant and breastfeeding women who travel to places with high risk of diseases like malaria and yellow fever are less likely than other women travelers to be protected by vaccines and drugs, recent U.S. research suggests.