Neighbors of Dartmouth College property where for years the Ivy League school disposed of mice and other small animals used in science experiments say they fear pollution from the site has contaminated their groundwater and they worry the school hasn’t been completely up front with them. The site has contaminated the well water of at…
Gloomy Start to Year of Rooster as Bird Flu Hits South Korea
The year of the rooster looks set for a gloomy start. Egg prices are soaring and new year’s festivals are being canceled as South Korea fights its worst bird flu outbreak in more than a month. South Korea’s government said Tuesday that about 26 million head of poultry will be culled by Wednesday including about…
Nearly 400 Drug Addicts Helped in Police Effort, Research Shows
A novel drug addiction program developed in a small Massachusetts fishing town and since replicated in dozens of cities nationwide was able to place almost 400 addicts into treatment nearly each time they sought it during the first year of operation, researchers say in a report being published Thursday in the New England Journal of…
Researchers: Widespread Coral Diseases in Upper Keys
Researchers say a widespread disease outbreak continues to afflict corals off the Upper Florida Keys. The Florida Reef Resilience Program says a spike in coral diseases first recorded in 2014 has continued through 2016 at the northern end of the island chain. Jennifer Stein of The Nature Conservancy told The Citizen (http://bit.ly/2ij8LD4 ) that lower…
Don’t Cut the Cord Too Fast—A Pause Benefits Most Newborns
Don’t cut that umbilical cord too soon: A brief pause after birth could benefit most newborns by delivering them a surge of oxygen-rich blood. New recommendations for U.S. obstetricians, the latest in a debate over how quick to snip, suggest waiting “at least 30 seconds to 60 seconds after birth,” for all healthy newborns. That’s…
Death Toll in Alcohol Poisoning in Russia Climbs to 72
Local health officials in Russia’s Siberia say the number of people who have died from drinking a bath lotion that contained methanol has climbed to 72. The health ministry in the Irkutsk region said on its website Thursday that another 33 were still in hospital while six others have been discharged. Bottles with the lotion…
Testing Stem Cells in Tiniest Hearts to Fight Birth Defect
The 4-month-old on the operating table has a shocking birth defect, nearly half his heart too small or even missing. To save him, surgeons will have to totally reroute how his blood flows, a drastic treatment that doesn’t always work. So this time they are going a step further. In a bold experiment, doctors injected donated…
2 Charged in Fatal Meningitis Outbreak Face Separate Trials
Two men facing multiple murder charges stemming from a national meningitis outbreak in 2012 that killed 64 people will be tried separately, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Stearns said in his decision last week that he severed the trials of Barry Cadden and Glenn Chin reluctantly because their lawyers plan…
US FDA Clears Ovarian Cancer Drug for Hard-to-Treat Disease
U.S. health officials have approved a new option for some women battling ovarian cancer: a drug that targets a genetic mutation seen in some highly aggressive tumors. The Food and Drug Administration cleared the drug, Rubraca, from Clovis Oncology Inc. for women in advanced stages of the disease who have already tried at least two…
Czechs Open Production of Batteries Based on Nanotechnology
A Czech company has opened a production line for batteries based on nanotechnology, using tiny parts invisible to human eyes. The batteries are touted as potentially more efficient, longer-lasting, cheaper, lighter and above all safer. The automatic line will operate for several months to get all necessary certifications. Then, Prague-based company HE3DA said Monday it…
Does a Doctor’s Gender Affect Your Chance of Survival?
What if your doctor’s gender could influence your chance of surviving a visit to the hospital? A big study of older patients hospitalized for common illnesses raises that provocative possibility — and also lots of questions. Patients who got most of their care from women doctors were more likely to leave the hospital alive than…
Maui Gives Initial OK to Limits on Plastic Foam Containers
Restaurants in Maui County would have to pack food in eco-friendly containers free of plastic foam under a measure that could be approved early next year. Councilmembers decided at their last meeting in December to advance a measure that restricts the use and sale of plastic foam containers. It also bans the products at county…
The Latest: Chemical Leak Traced to Industrial Property
The Latest on a warning by the Texas city of Corpus Christi for residents to not use tap water (all times local): 12:15 p.m. The possible chemical contamination of a Texas city’s water supply has been traced to an asphalt producer on an industrial property where officials say there is no means to stop the…
New Data Show Spike in Severe Black Lung Disease
New data show many more coal miners across Appalachia suffering from the most serious form of black lung disease than federal regulators previously reported. National Public Radio says (http://n.pr/2hWzhSi ) its investigation shows cases 10 times more prevalent, with 11 black lung clinics in Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio recording 962 cases so far…
Mylan Launches Cheaper Version of EpiPen Allergy Treatment
Drugmaker Mylan has started selling a generic version of its emergency allergy treatment EpiPen at half the price of the branded option, the cost of which drew national scorn and attracted Congressional inquiries. The launch of Mylan’s long-promised generic alternative is expected to still generate millions of dollars in revenue for the drugmaker while also…
EPA Seeks to Fine Chemical Giant Nearly $5M for Hawaii Case
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it’s seeking nearly $5 million in fines against a unit of the Swiss chemical giant Syngenta for the company’s alleged violations of pesticide regulations in Hawaii. The violations allegedly occurred on Jan. 20 at Syngenta Seeds’ crop research farm on Kauai where workers entered a field recently sprayed…
San Antonio-Based H-E-B Recalls Raw-Shelled Pistachios
B grocery store chain has recalled bulk and packaged raw shelled pistachios. San Antonio-based H-E-B on Wednesday said there’s a potential that the raw shelled pistachios could be contaminated with salmonella. The issue was discovered through routine Food and Drug Administration sampling. Salmonella is a bacterial illness that can cause serious and potentially fatal infections…
Key Findings of Investigation into Harder-to-Abuse Opioids
The Associated Press and the Center for Public Integrity investigated how pharmaceutical companies are using their political clout to push a new form of opioids as their answer to the epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse. The pills are marketed as abuse-deterrents because they usually are difficult to crush and dissolve, but they also are lucrative…
Treated Sawdust May Help Sop up, Burn off Arctic Oil Spills
Federal researchers looking for ways to contain petroleum spills in frigid Arctic waters are investigating whether a powder form of humble sawdust can provide a solution. Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are testing chemically modified wood flour to determine whether it can enhance the burning of crude oil after a…
Surge in Drug-Affected Newborns Driven by Rural Opioid Use
A surge in U.S infants born with symptoms of withdrawal from heroin or strong prescription painkillers is driven largely by rising drug use among women in rural areas, a new study found. The study, led by University of Michigan researchers, estimates that about 21 percent of newborns in rural counties had withdrawal symptoms in 2013,…
EPA: ‘Data Gaps’ Block Verdict on Fracking, Drinking Water
Hydraulic fracturing to drill for oil and natural gas poses a risk to drinking water in some circumstances, but a lack of information precludes a definitive statement on how severe the risk is, the Environmental Protection Agency says in a new report that raises more questions than answers. The report removes a finding from a…
Chinese Treated to Clear Views of Another ‘Supermoon’
Another “supermoon” has landed in the skies over China. The moon shone brightly Tuesday night in Beijing, as the smog that often blankets China’s capital and most of the industrial north in winter subsided for the evening. The supermoon phenomenon occurs when the moon, which follows an elliptical orbit around the Earth, reaches a point…
Sand Dune Opponents Invoke Zika Fears in Bid to Stop Project
This shoreline community has tried everything it can think of to prevent protective sand dunes from being built along the beach, invoking lost views, wrongly seized property rights and damaged tourism prospects. Now that those big-picture issues have failed to kill the project, Margate is using a mosquito to make a questionable claim: that the…
Texas to Launch Massive Youth-Athlete Concussion Study
This week, Texas will launch what state officials say is the nation’s largest effort to track brain injuries among young athletes. The University Interscholastic League, Texas’ governing body for public high school sports, is partnering with the O’Donnell Brain Institute at UT Southwestern Medical Center for the project, from which they hope to gauge whether…
Protect Against Carbon Monoxide as Researchers Hunt Antidote
Scientists are on the trail of a potential antidote for carbon monoxide poisoning, an injected “scavenger” that promises to trap and remove the gas from blood within minutes. It’s very early-stage research — but a reminder that, however it turns out, there are steps people should take now to protect themselves from this silent killer.…