Subcutanous ICDs Exchange Lead Risks for Erosion, Failures (CME/CE)

(MedPage Today) -- Complication rates similar but types differ versus transvenous devices

U.S. watchdog highlights dire state of Afghan road system

Billions of dollars spent building up Afghanistan's road infrastructure over more than a decade risk going to waste because of poor maintenance, a U.S. Congressional oversight body said on Saturday. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said U.S. agencies had spent $2.8 billion since 2002 building roads in Afghanistan but wear and tear as well as the Taliban insurgency had damaged the system badly. "USAID and (the Department of Defense) spent billions of dollars on road construction in Afghanistan, but have had only limited success in ensuring the long-term sustainability of those roads," the report said.

Nigerian activist held in solitary in Japan, prompting calls for her release

By Minami Funakoshi and Ami Miyazaki TOKYO (Reuters) - A prominent Nigerian asylum seeker and activist is being held in solitary at a Tokyo detention center, a case that has highlighted a growing crackdown on foreigners living in Japan without visas and prompted demands for her release. Elizabeth Aruoriwo Obueza was detained two weeks ago after authorities turned down an appeal against her asylum rejection, Obueza and her lawyer told Reuters. Obueza, 48, campaigns for asylum seekers and the 4,700 people on "provisional release" from immigration detention - a status that lets foreigners out from detention but bars them from working and traveling freely.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe skirts retirement talk at burial of friend

By Cris Chinaka HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's veteran President Robert Mugabe on Saturday avoided the controversial subject of his future as he buried a senior political colleague and friend who had been pressing him to retire. Mugabe, 92 and one of Africa's longest serving leaders, is eligible to seek re-election at the end of his current five-year term in 2018, but has increasingly looked frail, stoking a scramble in his ruling ZANU-PF party to succeed him. In an hour-long speech on Saturday at the state funeral of Cephas Msipa, a former cabinet minister and ZANU-PF member, Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, largely dwelt on his comrade's role in the 1960s-70s liberation struggle.

Sanders tells soda tax opponents to stop using his name

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Saying that consuming too much sugar is a serious health problem, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders told the soft drink industry to stop using his name in ads fighting proposed soda taxes in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Rural trauma patients more likely to die before reaching hospital

(Reuters Health) - Critically injured patients in rural communities are less likely to be treated at trauma centers than their urban counterparts, a U.S. study suggests.

You're Welcome, World: America's Behind Climbing Childhood Obesity Rates

From First Lady Michelle Obama's “Let's Move!” campaign and Jamie Oliver's “Food Revolution” to parents who pester their kids to eat their vegetables and put down the video games, health advocates around the world are doing their best to reduce childhood obesity. Despite these efforts, new research released this week shows the childhood obesity epidemic is on track to get worse over the next decade. The report, published in the October issue of Pediatric Obesity by the World Obesity Federation, found that the World Health Organization's goal of halting the rise in obesity levels for children, adolescents, and adults by 2025 is unlikely to be achieved-and the obesity rate for children is set to soar.

Concussion Specialists Debate Sports' Impact on Kids' Brains

(MedPage Today) -- Recommendations expected Friday

Teens with celiac disease may be smaller than peers

By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) – Girls diagnosed with celiac disease tend to be slightly shorter than their peers and boys to be underweight, but the size differences are not significant or concerning, Israeli researchers say. Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune disorder that damages the small intestine and interferes with the absorption of nutrients from food. The new study ultimately clarifies that regardless of gluten-free diet adherence, body measurements at late adolescence including final height are only marginally affected, said lead study author Dr. Amit Assa of Tel-Aviv University.

6 Symptoms You Shouldn't Ignore

Some medical symptoms are warnings that you need immediate care. WebMD describes how to recognize these six.

Bariatric Surgery Helps Forestall Gout (CME/CE)

(MedPage Today) -- Risk of gout decreased by 34% over more than 2 decades

U.N.'s Zeid cool on Syrian opposition plan to bypass Russian veto

By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - The top U.N. human rights official repeated his call on Wednesday for a dilution of big powers' United Nations veto in cases of serious war crimes, but he gave little support to Syrian opposition hopes of strong-arming Russia over eastern Aleppo. Russian war planes have bombed rebel-held eastern Aleppo in the past two weeks in support of Syrian and allied ground forces who are besieging about 275,000 civilians. The United Nations says hospitals have been hit and more than 400 people killed.

Changes in depression symptoms tied to lung cancer survival

(Reuters Health) – - Worsening depression symptoms are associated with shorter survival for lung cancer patients, particularly those in the early stages of disease, according to a new U.S. study.

Hurricane Matthew toll in Haiti rises to 1,000, dead buried in mass graves

By Joseph Guyler Delva PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haiti started burying some of its dead in mass graves in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, a government official said on Sunday, as cholera spread in the devastated southwest and the death toll from the storm rose to 1,000 people. The powerful hurricane, the fiercest Caribbean storm in nearly a decade, slammed into Haiti on Tuesday with 145 mile-per-hour (233 kph) winds and torrential rains that left 1.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. A Reuters tally of numbers from local officials showed that 1,000 people were killed by the storm in Haiti, which has a population of about 10 million and is the poorest country in the Americas.

RA: Switching to Tocilizumab OK When DMARDs Not Tolerated (CME/CE)

(MedPage Today) -- Tocilizumab monotherapy nearly as effective as combination therapy

Wirral health chiefs scrap homeopathy funding

Wirral health bosses are stopping funding for homeopathy after "overwhelming consensus" to end the practice.