Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Trump administration restricts some e-cigarette flavors

The Trump administration on Thursday announced a ban on some popular e-cigarette flavors, including fruit and mint, to curb rising teenage use of vaping products, allowing only menthol and tobacco flavors to remain on the market. The ban came under immediate criticism from public health advocates who said it does not go far enough. Polish bird flu outbreak spreads, with two more cases

Two more outbreaks of bird flu have been reported in Poland at opposite ends of the country, authorities said on Friday, bringing the total number of incidents in Europe's largest poultry producer to five this week. One of the outbreaks of the H5N8 strain reported on Friday was in the eastern Lubelskie region at a farm about 500 metres from where three cases in turkeys were reported this week. Gun homicides of teens rise after 'Stand Your Ground' self-defense law

Florida's "Stand Your Ground" self-defense law has been associated with a surge in teen deaths by homicide with a firearm, a new study suggests. The 2005 law, making it legal to respond to a perceived threat with lethal force even when it might be possible to safely flee, has previously been linked to a 32% increase in firearm homicides of adults in Florida, researchers report in Injury Prevention. The current study suggests that gun homicides among adolescents also surged 45% after the law took effect. China seeks to identify cause of mystery pneumonia infecting 44

Chinese health authorities are working to identify the virus behind a pneumonia outbreak in the central city of Wuhan, officials said on Friday, as the tally of victims rose to 44 and Singapore said it would screen arrivals on flights from there. Authorities this week said they were investigating 27 cases after rumours on social media suggested the outbreak could be linked to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). UK tobacco stocks rise after U.S. e-cig ban seen not as severe

Shares of British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands Plc rose on Friday after the U.S. health regulator exempted menthol and tobacco from a list of popular e-cigarette flavors that it banned under its new guidelines. BAT and Imperial Brands rose between 1% and 2% in morning trading and were among a handful of gainers on a day most stocks on the wider FTSE 100 index were hammered by heightened tensions in the Middle East. Britain's Greggs follows vegan sausage roll success with meatless steak bake

Britain's Greggs launched a vegan version of its popular steak bake on Thursday, aiming to capitalize on the success of the meatless sausage roll that has boosted the baker's profits and helped fuel an 80% rise in its share price last year. Greggs said the new product mirrored the original but used meat substitute Quorn instead of steak in its filling. Vaping industry offers academic scholarships to high school kids

Even as makers of e-cigarettes insist they are not marketing to U.S. youth, others in the vaping industry are offering academic scholarships targeted to high school kids, a new study finds. Searching online, researchers found 21 vaping-related entities - including manufacturers, distributors and review websites - offering a total of 40 scholarships to high school and college students in the U.S., according to the report in the journal Tobacco Control. More January U.S. price hikes take 2020 tally to over 330 drugs with higher cost

AbbVie Inc on Thursday raised the cost of rheumatoid arthritis treatment Humira, the world's top-selling medicine, joining other drugmakers that have now hiked U.S. prices of more than 330 prescription drugs for 2020, according to data analyzed by healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors. That is currently below the average of 371 drug price increases in the first two days over the past five years. However, more price hikes could still be announced, including some that would be effective as of Jan. 1, 3 Axis said. Novo Nordisk to offer free insulin to U.S. patients in immediate need

Novo Nordisk said on Thursday it would offer free, one-time supply of insulin to people in immediate need and at risk of rationing the medication, the rising price of which has attracted fierce criticism from lawmakers and regulators. Novo said https://prn.to/36kkhaq patients with prescription can get a free, one-time supply of up to three vials or two packs of pens of its insulin, after which they should find a longer-term solution from its other affordability offerings. Study finds Google system could improve breast cancer detection

A Google artificial intelligence system proved as good as expert radiologists at detecting which women had breast cancer based on screening mammograms and showed promise at reducing errors, researchers in the United States and Britain reported. The study, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, is the latest to show that artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to improve the accuracy of screening for breast cancer, which affects one in eight women globally.