Reuters Health News Summary

08/02/2016 16:56

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

For obesity surgery, consider accredited centers

Patients have better weight loss surgery outcomes in accredited centers, a review of past studies has found. Researchers analyzed 13 studies with a combined 1.5 million participants that examined the differences in deaths and major complications at accredited versus non-accredited centers.

Tobacco, fast food in easier reach of minority and low-income students

Compared to schools with mostly white students, schools with higher numbers of Hispanic, black, and low-income students are more likely to have tobacco retailers and fast-food restaurants in easy reach, researchers say. "Schools are places where we expect to be healthy, supportive environments for kids, but right outside the door (students) could be exposed to unhealthy influences," lead author Heather D'Angelo of Westat in Rockville, Maryland told Reuters Health in a phone interview.

Remote heart monitoring can help detect emergencies

(Reuters Health) - Instead of having heart monitors with noisy alarms near patients' beds in the hospital, it might be better to have off-site technicians do the heart monitoring remotely, a recent study suggests. Traditional on-site heart monitoring can involve a lot of false alarms that don't always help detect cardiac arrests and other serious events, said lead study author Dr. David Cantillon, a researcher at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

Florida travel warning issued for pregnant women after more Zika cases

U.S. health officials warned pregnant women to avoid traveling to a neighborhood in Miami on Monday after Florida said it had 10 more cases of Zika caused by the bite of local mosquitoes, bringing the total to 14. At the request of Gov. Rick Scott, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sending in a special emergency response team of eight disease experts to assist Florida in its investigation.

Theranos CEO faces critics, presents new product plans

The chief executive of embattled Theranos Inc on Monday presented plans for a new product and said the blood testing company was working diligently to rectify all of its outstanding issues involving its product and laboratory operations. CEO Elizabeth Holmes described new technologies that she said were "distinct from the operations of our clinical laboratories" that have come under scrutiny - part of a presentation before some 2,650 scientists at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry meeting in Philadelphia.

Few seniors seeking health advice from Dr. Google

Even though most seniors have cell phones and computers, they still don't go online to find answers to medical questions, contact doctors or fill prescriptions, a U.S. study suggests. "While we found that the majority of seniors use basic digital technology, very few are using digital health technology or the advanced features the internet has to offer, said lead study author Dr. David Levine, a researcher at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Pfizer beats estimates, but branded drugs disappoint

Pfizer Inc reported better-than-expected quarterly results, driven by lower taxes and sales of generic medicines, but revenue from its branded patent-protected medicines brought disappointment. The largest U.S. drugmaker did not offer any hints on whether it plans to split into two separate companies, a long-mulled potential decision that has kept investors in suspense.

UK court says state health system can fund preventative HIV drug

A high court judge ruled on Tuesday that an HIV pill to prevent infection can be funded by the state health service in England, in a victory for AIDS campaigners who have been calling for its widespread use. So-called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) against HIV, using Gilead Sciences' medicine Truvada, can cut the risk of getting the virus during sex by more than 90 percent, according to clinical studies.

U.S. officials provide stopgap Zika funds, Congress urged to act

Federal health officials, scrambling to fund efforts to combat the spread of the Zika virus in the United States, said on Tuesday they have provided more stopgap money to various locales while calls grew for Congress to cut short its recess and act. Concern is mounting about the threat posed by the mosquito-borne virus after authorities in Florida last week reported the first signs of local transmission of Zika in the continental United States.

China's 'mosquito factory' aims to wipe out Zika, other diseases

Every week, scientists in southern China release 3 million bacteria-infected mosquitoes on a 3 km (two-mile) long island in a bid to wipe out diseases such as dengue, yellow fever and Zika. The scientists inject mosquito eggs with wolbachia bacteria in a laboratory, then release infected male mosquitoes on the island on the outskirts of the city of Guangzhou.

08/02/2016 16:56