Beijing Olympics: Reuters Health Report

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Good evening Srini,

THU 13 Nov 2008

today's headlines

U.S. trails other nations in chronic illness care

U.S. smoking rate is under 20 percent for first time

Experts urge more health care aid to states

Pregnancy pounds predict kids' weight as teens

U.S. health leaders to go to China over food safety

U.S. faulted over failure to nab TB travelers

Lymph node injections offer fast allergy therapy

COPD deaths increase among women

Mystery solved: How bleach kills germs

Four drug combination helps in lung cancer: U.S. study

more details

U.S. trails other nations in chronic illness care

November 13, 2008 04:20 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chronically ill Americans are more likely to forgo medical care because of high costs or experience medical errors than patients in other affluent countries, according to a study released on Thursday.

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U.S. smoking rate is under 20 percent for first time

November 13, 2008 01:17 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. adults who smoke has dropped below 20 percent for the first time on record but cigarettes still kill almost half a million people a year, health officials said on Thursday.

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Experts urge more health care aid to states

November 13, 2008 01:24 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A huge boost in federal aid to states for health care programs could help kick-start the moribund U.S. economy where consumer and business demand has fallen dramatically, a former senior Clinton administration aide told a congressional panel on Thursday.

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Pregnancy pounds predict kids' weight as teens

November 13, 2008 02:45 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who gain too much weight during pregnancy may not only have bigger babies, but bigger teenagers as well, a study suggests.

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U.S. health leaders to go to China over food safety

November 13, 2008 04:58 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two top U.S. health officials will go to China next week to talk about food safety after a series of health scares from Chinese-made products.

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U.S. faulted over failure to nab TB travelers

November 13, 2008 05:10 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has failed to fix all the coordination problems among agencies that helped two men with a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis elude border security in 2007, investigators said on Thursday.

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Lymph node injections offer fast allergy therapy

November 13, 2008 02:45 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Direct administration of an allergen - the substance that triggers an allergic reaction -- into the lymph nodes, rather than the skin, reduces both the number and dose of injections required to induce tolerance to the offending substance, researchers report. This appears to offer a rapid, save and effective way to treat IgE-mediated allergies.

Full Article

COPD deaths increase among women

November 13, 2008 02:47 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Between 2000 and 2005, the number of annual deaths in the United States due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) rose by 8 percent, an increase driven primarily by climbing mortality rates among women with the disease, according to a report in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.