Health News Roundup: School gardens, sugar in cigarettes, African swine fever tests

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

U.S. lifts blocks on some fresh, frozen pork imports from Poland

The United States has lifted restrictions on some imports of fresh and frozen pork from Poland, specifically from facilities that are in contiguous areas free of the highly contagious hog disease African swine fever, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday. The ban remains in place on imports of raw and heat-treated pork products that are not fully cooked, as USDA officials review Poland's export protocols, the agency said.

Trump seeks to base Medicare drug prices on lower overseas rates

U.S. President Donald Trump, taking aim at "global freeloading," said on Thursday his administration would seek to lower prescription drug prices by basing what the government's Medicare program pays for some medications on the lower prices paid in other countries. Under the proposed rule, the government would create an "international pricing index" to help Medicare pay prescription drug prices that are more closely aligned with those of other countries. The government health insurance program for the elderly and disabled covers more than 40 million Americans.

Eisai, Biogen Alzheimer's data fails to convince sceptics

Eisai Co Ltd and partner Biogen Inc said on Thursday that the highest dose of their experimental Alzheimer's disease drug showed effectiveness in a new analysis, but investors remained sceptical about the reliability of the data and Biogen shares fell about 2 per cent. The companies have been trying to put to rest concerns about trial results of the drug, BAN2401, which in July showed that patients in early stages of Alzheimer's experienced 30 per cent less cognitive decline after 18 months of treatment than those on a placebo.

Abbott, AbbVie settle TriCor marketing case for $25 million

Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie Inc will pay a total of $25 million to resolve allegations that Abbott paid kickbacks to doctors in exchange for prescribing the cholesterol drug TriCor and promoted the medication for unapproved purposes. The U.S. Justice Department on Friday announced the settlement, which resolves claims first raised in a whistleblower lawsuit filed in federal court in Philadelphia in 2009 by a former Abbott sales representative. AbbVie was spun out of Abbott in 2013.

Eighth child dies at New Jersey centre hit by viral outbreak

An eighth child has died at a New Jersey rehabilitation centre where 23 people have been infected in a deadly viral outbreak, state health officials said on Friday. The outbreak of adenovirus at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Haskell, New Jersey, was first reported by the New Jersey Department of Health on Tuesday with the deaths of six children with compromised immune systems. The seventh death was announced the next day.

Mindfulness meditation may reduce anxiety with breast biopsy

A brief session of guided mindfulness-based meditation may help women undergoing a stereotactic breast biopsy to feel less anxious, a small study suggests. Mindfulness meditation encourages participants to relax and stay in the moment instead of attending to wandering thoughts and emotions. Past research has found that it can alter brain activity in areas associated with emotional regulation, attention and self-awareness, the study team notes in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

China mandates more labs to conduct African swine fever tests

China will mandate more laboratories to conduct African swine fever virus tests, the country's agriculture ministry said on Friday. Animal disease control departments below the provincial level, laboratories in universities, and third-party labs will be able to conduct tests on samples for the deadly virus, with the approval of provincial authorities, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in a notice on its website.

Time, staffing top obstacles to sustaining school gardens

Lack of time and staff support are the two biggest barriers to school garden success, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health. "The physical space itself doesn't seem to be the problem," Dr Kate G. Burt of the City University of New York in The Bronx, who led the study, told Reuters Health in a telephone interview.

Hospital accreditation not linked to patient outcomes in U.S.

Hospital accreditation isn't necessarily tied to better outcomes for U.S. patients, researchers say. Based on records for more than 4.2 million patients over age 65 covered by Medicare, the study team found no difference between accredited and unaccredited hospitals in patient death rates, and only a slightly lower rate of patient readmissions at accredited hospitals, according to the report in The BMJ.

Few smokers know about added sugar in cigarettes

Very few smokers know there is sugar added to cigarettes, a new survey suggests. In addition, very few realize that added sugar increases toxins in cigarette smoke, the study authors wrote in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.

(With inputs from Reuters)