Reuters Health News Summary
Following is a summary of current health news briefs.
Soy supplements may be good for women with PCOS
Women with a common hormone disorder known as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) may have a lower risk of diabetes and heart disease when they take soy supplements, a small study suggests. PCOS develops when the female body makes higher than normal amounts of testosterone and androgens, sex hormones associated with male traits. Previous research has linked the condition to an increased risk of infertility, diabetes, high cholesterol, hardening of the arteries, high blood pressure and heart disease.
U.S. House Democrats' Pelosi: administration may shift funds for Zika
U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said the Obama administration may announce as early as Thursday that it is shifting more money into fighting the Zika virus. "Maybe today or tomorrow," Pelosi told reporters in a hallway on Thursday. She did not give an amount, but said, "I think they are going to try to do it a piece at a time, hoping that something else will happen," an apparent reference to the administration's request that the Republican-led Congress approve a funding bill to combat the virus.
Canada to allow medical patients to grow own cannabis
Medical marijuana patients in Canada will be allowed to grow a limited amount of cannabis for their own use or designate someone to grow it for them, the government said on Thursday. The government had been given six months to comply with a federal court ruling that struck down the previous administration's ban on medical patients' growing cannabis.
Paralysis partly reversed using brain-machine interface training
Paraplegic patients recovered partial control and feeling in their limbs after training to use a variety of brain-machine interface technologies, according to new research published on Thursday in the journal "Scientific Reports." The researchers followed eight patients paralyzed by spinal cord injuries as they adapted to the use of the technologies, which convert brain activity into electric signals that power devices such as exoskeletons and robotic arms.
DEA denies petition to reclassify marijuana: Federal Register
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on Thursday denied requests to loosen the classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no medical use. The Department of Health and Human Services "concluded that marijuana has a high potential for abuse, has no accepted medical use in the United States, and lacks an acceptable level of safety for use even under medical supervision," the DEA said in a letter on the issue.
Required translators missing from many U.S. hospitals
Nearly one-third of U.S. hospitals fail to offer interpreters to patients who speak limited English, although federal law requires it, a new study shows. "People have a right to hear a cancer diagnosis in a language they understand, not through hand gestures," lead author Melody Schiaffino said in a telephone interview.
Nigeria reports first polio cases in two years: WHO
Nigeria has reported that two children in Borno state have been paralyzed by polio, the first cases of the disease in the country in two years, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. Nigeria and the U.N. agency are conducting immunization campaigns and strengthening surveillance systems that help catch the virus early, the WHO said in a statement on the latest setback to its global program to eradicate polio.
Sleep apnea may worsen liver disease for obese teens
For teens with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), breathing disruptions during sleep may worsen scarring in the liver, according to a new study. Researchers found that among obese adolescents with NAFLD, those with the most severe liver disease also had the most severe sleep disordered breathing that caused them to experience periods of low oxygen at night.
Panera challenges U.S. restaurants to come 'clean' on kids menus
Panera Bread Co is launching a "clean" kids menu, the restaurant chain said on Thursday, and it challenged rivals like McDonald's Corp to stop luring children with junk food and toys that often have more taste and flash than nutritional value. Typical U.S. kids menus often are limited to hamburgers, pizza, chicken nuggets, french fries and sugary sodas.
U.S. government shifts $81 million to Zika vaccine research
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has shifted $81 million in funds from other projects to continue work on developing vaccines to fight Zika in the absence of any funding from U.S. lawmakers. In a letter addressed to Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat and minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said she was allocating $34 million in funding to the National Institutes of Health and $47 million to the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to work on Zika vaccines.
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