WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared the way for the world’s first study of human embryonic stem cell therapy, Geron Corp said on Friday.
The California biotechnology company plans to start a clinical trial to try to use the stem cells to regrow nerve tissue in patients with acute spinal cord [...]

MANILA (Reuters) - At least one person has tested positive for the Ebola-Reston virus in the Philippines, where the disease has broken out in pigs at two farms north of the capital, the government said on Friday.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque told a news conference that there was little immediate health risk but experts warned the [...]

By Emma Graham-Harrison
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese parents of children stricken by toxic milk pressed compensation demands on Friday, a day after a court sentenced two people to death and jailed 19 over the scandal in which six infants died.
At least eight provincial officials have been sacked and the country’s former quality inspection chief has resigned, [...]

LONDON (Reuters) - People caring for family members with dementia commonly abuse them with behavior such as swearing and shouting, researchers said on Friday in a study that shows a more widespread problem than previously thought.
“The study shows abusive behavior is very common and not something doctors are regularly asking about and therefore finding,” Claudia [...]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dr. Richard Besser, who heads disaster and pandemic preparedness for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was named on Thursday to head the agency.
Besser, trained as a pediatrician and infectious diseases expert, replaces Dr. Julie Gerberding, the high-profile CDC head who announced her resignation quietly last week. William Gimson, who [...]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, hampered by increasing globalization and a rise in complex products, may not be able to adequately protect the public’s health, the watchdog arm of Congress said in new findings released on Thursday.
“As a result, the American consumer may not be adequately protected from unsafe and ineffective [...]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Drug and medical device manufacturers would need to publicly disclose all doctor payments and gifts exceeding $100 per year under U.S. legislation unveiled on Thursday.
Companies would face penalties as high as $1 million for knowingly failing to report the payments if the bill by Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley and Wisconsin Democrat [...]

By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A quick urine test can spot a serious complication in people who have had a kidney transplant, enabling doctors to take steps aimed at preventing kidney failure, researchers said on Thursday.
The test, described by researchers at the University of North Carolina, detects a viral condition called polyomavirus nephropathy that affects [...]

By Anne Harding
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who suffer from winter depression known as “seasonal affective disorder” or SAD — or the less severe but more common “winter blues” — shouldn’t seek relief in a tanning bed or booth, a leading expert on light therapy warns.
SAD is often treated with daily sessions of exposure [...]

By Lucy Hornby
SHIJIAZHUANG, China (Reuters) - Families hit by China’s toxic milk scandal demanded revenge, compensation and plain answers on Thursday as they awaited the sentencing of company executives accused of wrongdoing.
At least six Chinese babies died and nearly 300,000 fell ill last year with kidney stones after drinking formula tainted with the industrial compound [...]