Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Sustained weight loss in middle-age may lower breast cancer risk

In women over age 50, losing just four pounds and keeping the weight off can lower breast cancer risk, a new study suggests. Researchers who reviewed data from 180,000 women found the more weight a woman lost - and kept off - the lower her risk of breast cancer, according to the report published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Germany moves to ban gay 'conversion therapies'

Germany moved a step closer to banning so-called gay "conversion therapies" on Wednesday, as the cabinet backed a law that would punish bogus practitioners with up to a year in prison. Activists hailed the move, saying Germany would become the first major European power to outlaw attempts to change a person's sexual orientation with techniques including hypnotism and electro-shock treatment. Clinic waiting room in Harlem becomes experiment in humanizing medicine

Brightly-colored artwork by patients adorns the walls of the waiting room at a small community healthcare center in New York City, the result of a project by two young doctors on a mission to humanize medicine. The two, who met in medical school, felt the decor of the waiting room at the Charles B. Rangel Community Health Center in Harlem did not reflect the identities and experiences of the patients it serves, who are mainly low-income African-American and Hispanic families dependent on Medicaid for healthcare costs. Special Report: FDA targets e-cigs that hook teens but don't help smokers quit

E-cigarette makers face an existential threat. By May, they must submit applications to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proving that their products provide a net benefit to public health. If a company fails to make its case, the FDA has the power to order its products off the market. The agency will judge that benefit with a two-part test: Are e-cigarettes effective in getting smokers to quit? And, if so, does that benefit outweigh the health damage to new e-cigarette users - including teenagers - who never smoked in the first place? U.S. sues CVS for fraudulently billing Medicare, Medicaid for invalid prescriptions

CVS Health Corp and its Omnicare unit were sued on Tuesday by the U.S. government, which accused them of fraudulently billing Medicare and other programs for drugs for older and disabled people without valid prescriptions. The Department of Justice joined whistleblower litigation accusing Omnicare of violating the federal False Claims Act for illegally dispensing drugs to tens of thousands of patients in assisted living facilities, group homes for people with special needs, and other long-term care facilities. Biohaven Pharma says treatment for acute migraine succeeds in study

Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company Ltd said on Tuesday two doses of its experimental treatment for acute migraine were effective in reducing headaches in a pivotal study. The drug, vazegepant, belongs to a new class of treatments for migraine called CGRP inhibitors. UK ad watchdog bans BAT from Instagram e-cigarette promotion

British American Tobacco (BAT) must stop advertising its e-cigarettes from any public account on Instagram, including some influencers' accounts, the UK's advertising watchdog ruled on Wednesday. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) also directed the company to remove all ads related to Vype on Instagram. More than 20% of U.S. high school seniors vaped THC in 2019: study

More than 20% of U.S. high school seniors reported vaping marijuana in 2019, the second largest single-year increase in any substance of abuse ever recorded in the annual study of national drug use trends, researchers reported on Wednesday. Results of the study https://bit.ly/34tuccc funded by the National Institutes of Health are alarming as federal officials continue to investigate fatal lung injuries associated with vaping. Human exposure to BPA may be greater than previously thought

Humans may be exposed to higher than expected levels of bispehnol A (BPA), a toxic chemical thought to interfere with hormones involved in normal growth and development, according to a study using a new method for measuring the chemical in people. Longstanding tests for human BPA exposure have relied on an enzyme solution made from snails to transform BPA metabolites - breakdown products formed as the chemical passes through the body - back into whole BPA that can then be measured, researchers note in the The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. Addictive nicotine in Juul nearly identical to a Marlboro: study

The nicotine formula used by controversial e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc is nearly identical to the flavor and addictive profile of Altria Group Inc's highly successful Marlboro cigarette brand, new research suggests. A study https://bit.ly/35yos2b released on Tuesday from researchers at Portland State University in Oregon helps to explain why a growing number of young people who never smoked cigarettes have become regular users of Juul vaping devices.