Health News Headlines

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Roman Catholic bishops stepped up their battle against President Obama's contraceptives policy on Friday by urging Congress to use its fiscal debate to free religious employers from a mandate requiring insurance coverage for birth control. In a letter to all 535 members of Congress, Archbishop …

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Showing diners how many calories are in restaurant food items may influence how much they eat - especially among the least health-conscious people, a new study suggests. "It's encouraging because the information may help the people who will need it the most," said Lorien Urban, who has researched …

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's health care overhaul is unfolding as a national experiment with American consumers as the guinea pigs: Who will do a better job getting uninsured people covered, the states or the feds?

When the Red Heifer restaurant opened its doors in upscale Bethesda, Maryland, some years back, the owners offered a steakhouse menu they thought customers would like, but they pinned their biggest hopes for profits on a room in the back of the restaurant complete with video screens and comfortable chairs. That room was …

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Prosecutors filed criminal fraud and conspiracy charges on Friday against former Chicago congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., son of the famed civil rights leader, accusing him and an unnamed co-conspirator of misusing $750,000 in campaign funds. Jackson, 47, released a statement as the charges …

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela published the first photos of cancer-stricken Hugo Chavez since his surgery in Havana more than two months ago and said the socialist president was breathing through a tracheal tube and struggling to speak. The pictures showed the 58-year-old, smiling but with his face looking swollen, lying …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Favorable results from a huge heart study could help redeem investors' faith in Merck & Co and its two biggest cholesterol drugs, Vytorin and Zetia, and potentially add billions of dollars in annual revenue. Investors have soured on the No. 2 U.S. drugmaker since late December, following setbacks to …

LONDON (Reuters) - In one of Britain's oldest butcher's shops, staff in straw hats are rushing to cope with a surge in demand for pricey pies and sausages from customers worried about a scandal over mislabeled horsemeat and rich enough to buy peace of mind. Founded in 1850, Lidgates in London's smart Notting Hill district …

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A daily dose of ospemifene, an estrogen-like drug, helped lessen pain during intercourse caused by vaginal atrophy in postmenopausal women, in a new study. "This appears to be a good alternative for women who can't or choose not to use estrogen therapy," Dr. JoAnn Pinkerton, medical director …

A woman who said she didn’t know she was pregnant arrived at the hospital and delivered a 10-pound baby girl hours later, a Michigan newspaper reported. Linda Ackley, 44, said she thought she had a hernia. She’d been told she couldn’t bear children. “She is...

A woman who said she didn’t know she was pregnant arrived at the hospital and delivered a 10-pound baby girl hours later, a Michigan newspaper reported. Linda Ackley, 44, said she thought she had a hernia. She’d been told she couldn’t bear children. “She is...

LONDON (Reuters) - A fourth person in Britain has contracted a potentially fatal SARS-like virus which was unknown in humans until a few months ago, but health officials said on Friday the risk to the population remained very low. Confirming the third British case this week of infection the new virus - known as novel coronavirus, …

MOSCOW (Reuters) - It is no coincidence the first videos that captured the images of a meteorite breaking apart over central Russia on Friday were shot from drivers' dashboard cameras. The small video cameras, fixed to the dashboard or rear view mirror of a car to film oncoming traffic and the road ahead, are immensely …

Wouldn't it be great if science finally gave us the silver bullet that would eliminate overweight and obesity -- and improve overall health at the same time? Would it be frustrating to learn that this miraculous intervention has been in front of our noses all the time? Prepare to be amazed and flustered: The "silver bullet" …

(Reuters) - U.S. health regulators have sent letters to nine Internet distributors of dietary supplements warning them against making false claims about their products' ability to fight the flu. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration posted the letters on its website late Thursday in an effort to steer consumers away from …

NAIROBI, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Three-times world 3,000 metres steeplechase champion Moses Kiptanui said on Friday doping was taking place in Kenyan running camps. "If you talk to athletes candidly, you get the feeling that doping is going on in these camps," he told Reuters by telephone from Eldoret. Kiptanui, who won three …

On Grey’s Anatomy this week, as Dr. Christina Yang – actress Sandra Oh – performed an operation to insert a parachute device into a patient’s heart. As she explained how it worked, her intern, Dr. Heather Brooks had one thing to say: “That is crazyballs.”...

A new study by the Zoological Society of London has found that 19% — nearly one in five — of the world’s 10,000 species of reptiles are threatened with extinction. The study, which has been printed in the journal Biological Conservation, was carried out by more than 200 experts who assessed the risk of extinction of 1,500 …