Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Student designs controller to boost disabled sister's dexterity

Jess Searle has a type of cerebral palsy that means she has always struggled with handheld devices or game consoles. "It made me not really bother about technology, because I struggled so much," the 25-year-old told Reuters.

Life expectancy declines seen in U.S. and other high-income countries

Life expectancy is declining in high-income countries worldwide, driven in part by the effects of the opioid epidemic on younger adults in the U.S. and the impact of a severe flu season on older adults in other nations, two new studies suggest. Life expectancy is a measure of the health and wellbeing of a population. Widespread or sustained declines in life expectancy may signal problems in a nation's social and economic conditions or in the provision or quality of its healthcare services, researchers write in The BMJ.

Heart-healthy lifestyle in old age tied to lower dementia risk

(Reuters Health) - Older adults who take care of their heart may be less likely to develop dementia than people who don't focus on heart health, a French study suggests. Researchers focused on seven recommendations from the American Heart Association (AHA) for optimal cardiovascular health: not smoking; regularly exercising; routinely eating fish, fruits, and vegetables; avoiding excess weight; and keeping blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels within a healthy range.

Missouri judge affirms $4.69 billion talc verdict, J&J vows to appeal

A Missouri trial court judge has affirmed the massive $4.69 billion verdict against Johnson & Johnson in a case involving 22 women and their families who alleged the company's talc-based products, including its baby powder, contain asbestos and caused them to develop ovarian cancer. J&J in a statement on Wednesday said it would continue to pursue all available appellate remedies. The company, which denies the allegations and says its talc is safe, previously said it was confident the verdict would be overturned on appeal.

Exclusive: Pharma sector warns Saudis on German drug curbs

European and U.S. pharmaceutical associations have waded into a diplomatic row between Germany and Saudi Arabia, warning that ongoing restrictions on German-made drugs could hurt Saudi patients and dampen future investment in the kingdom. In a strongly worded letter to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a copy of which has been seen by Reuters, the associations highlighted the level of concern in Germany and elsewhere about restrictive procurement measures implemented by Riyadh in response to criticism of its policies.

U.S. appeals court finds Alabama abortion law unconstitutional

A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld a permanent injunction blocking Alabama from banning the most common method of second-trimester abortion. But two judges from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta used the 3-0 decision to cast doubt on the Supreme Court's abortion jurisprudence, including that terminating a pregnancy is a constitutional right.

Congo approves more experimental Ebola treatments as cases rise

Democratic Republic of Congo has approved four more experimental treatments against the deadly Ebola virus, the health ministry said as it raced to contain an outbreak in its violence-torn east. Health authorities last week started administering the U.S.-developed mAb114 treatment to Ebola patients, the first time such a treatment had been used against an active outbreak.

Pregnant Venezuelan women going to Brazil to give birth

Expecting Venezuelan women are leaving their country due to lack of prenatal care, medicine and diapers and giving birth across the border in Brazil, where three Venezuelan babies are born every day. "My baby would have died if I had stayed. There was no food or medicine, no doctors," said Maria Teresa Lopez as she fed her daughter Fabiola, who was born on Monday night by caesarian section in the maternity hospital of Boa Vista, the capital of Brazil's Roraima border state.

Toxin at heart of drug recall shows holes in medical safety net

A toxin inadvertently produced in the manufacture of a widely prescribed medicine but not spotted for years raises questions about regulators' ability to detect risks in a sprawling global drug supply chain increasingly reliant on factories in China. China's Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical , which produces bulk ingredients for drugmakers, told its customers in late June it had found NDMA in its valsartan, an off-patent blood pressure drug originally developed by Novartis.

Breastfeeding linked to lower stroke risk

(Reuters Health) - Breastfeeding may protect a woman from stroke later in life, and the benefit appears to increase with the length of time she nurses, a U.S. study suggests. Postmenopausal women who said they breastfed at least one child had a 23 percent lower risk of stroke in middle and old age compared with women who had children but didn't breastfeed, researchers found. The effect was strongest among black women, whose stroke risk was cut nearly in half with breastfeeding.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)