Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. U.S. government extends deadline to sign up for Obamacare insurance plans

The U.S. government said on Monday the deadline for signing-up for 2020 insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been extended by three days to Dec. 18 to accommodate those who experienced issues while attempting to enroll. There were website glitches and call center delays reported on Sunday, the earlier deadline for the 2020 open enrollment, and the extension should help the final enrollment tally, said Evercore ISI analyst Michael Newshel. Bayer asks U.S. appeals court to reverse $25 million Roundup verdict

Bayer AG on Monday said it has asked a U.S. federal appeals court to throw out a $25 million judgment it was ordered to pay to a California man who blamed the company's Roundup weed killer for his cancer. In a filing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit dated Friday, Bayer said the verdict defied regulatory findings and sound science, adding that the "speculative case" should never have made it before a jury. Dengue fever finds breeding ground in war-weary Yemen

Ibrahim Ali al-Jadari's four teenage daughters lie at home on intravenous drips that will soon run out as they, like tens of thousands of other Yemenis, battle a seasonal surge of dengue fever. Mosquito-borne dengue is the latest challenge facing Yemenis who have endured almost five years of a conflict that has killed thousands, pushed millions to the brink of famine and caused major cholera outbreaks. Declining numbers of Americans have a primary care provider

In a little over a decade, the number of patients in the U.S. with primary care providers dropped by 2%, a new study finds. Between 2002 and 2015, fewer and fewer Americans of all ages, except for those in their 80s, had a primary care provider, researchers report in JAMA Internal Medicine. Vaping increases the risk of lung disease by a third: U.S. study

Using e-cigarettes significantly increases the risk of developing chronic lung conditions such as asthma or emphysema, U.S. researchers said on Monday. The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, is among the first to show the potential long-term harms of using e-cigarettes, which are often promoted as a safer alternative to tobacco and a means of helping smokers quit. Sacklers withdrew over $10 billion in a decade from Purdue Pharma: NYT

The Sackler family - owners of Purdue Pharma - transferred more than $10 billion in a decade from the OxyContin maker to its trusts and holding companies, the New York Times reported on Monday, citing a new audit commissioned by the drugmaker. The audit, which was prepared by consulting firm Alix Partners, is likely to add further scrutiny on how much the Sackler family should pay to resolve lawsuits that Purdue Pharma face regarding the U.S. opioid epidemic, the New York Times added. Male researchers call their work 'novel' more often than women

(Reuters Health) - Male scientists are more likely than their female counterparts to use superlatives like "first" or "novel" to describe their work, a new study suggests, and this disparity might contribute to other professional gender gaps, the authors say. The study team analyzed the language used in more than 6 million papers in peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals to see how often the findings were described with any of 25 words that have positive connotations, such as "excellent," "unique," "promising" and "remarkable." Gilead's NASH combination treatment fails mid-stage study

Gilead Sciences Inc said on Monday all combinations of its three drugs to treat NASH were unsuccessful in a mid-stage study, the latest failure in a string of trials seeking to develop the first approved treatment for the fatty liver disease. NASH, or non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, is a fatty liver disease related to obesity that affects about 5% of the global population and is poised to become the leading cause of liver transplants. Britain's GSK seeks U.S approval for rival to J&J's multiple myeloma drug

GlaxoSmithKline said on Monday it had applied for U.S. approval for its experimental multiple myeloma drug that showed meaningful response in nearly a third of patients, setting up a battle against Johnson & Johnson and Genmab's Darzalex. New data from the treatment, belantamab mafodotin, showed 30 of 97 patients experienced a reduction in their myeloma cells at the end of a mid-stage study, DREAMM-2. Ultra-processed foods linked to diabetes risk

(Reuters Health) - People who eat lots of ultra-processed foods are more likely to develop diabetes than those whose diets contain more foods found in nature, a new study suggests. Heavily processed foods are often high in sugar, fat and empty calories. Consuming lots of these foods has long been linked to an increased risk of a wide variety of health problems including heart disease, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, obesity and certain cancers.