Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Vitamin D fails to prevent type 2 diabetes in large study

If you're talking vitamin D and expecting it to lower your risk of getting type 2 diabetes when you get older, it's time to lower your expectations. A new study, the largest of its kind, has found that taking 4000 international units (IU) per day, which is on the upper limit of the recommended intake, may double the amount of vitamin D in the blood but it gives most people roughly the same chance of developing blood sugar problems as people who don't take the vitamin. One in four Ebola cases undetected in Congo: WHO

Roughly a quarter of Ebola infections in eastern Congo are estimated to be going undetected or found too late, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert said on Thursday. But the WHO, in a weekly update issued subsequently, said there were "early signs" of an easing of the intensity with which the virus is spreading following weeks of insecurity that curbed access to communities and interrupted vaccination. Missouri secretary of state blocks 'heartbeat' abortion law referendum

A move to authorize a referendum over Missouri's recently enacted ban on abortions after the eighth week of pregnancy hit a roadblock on Thursday when the secretary of state rejected petitions filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and others to get the issue to the ballot. The rejection of the petitions by Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft was immediately challenged by abortion rights advocates, who sued Ashcroft on Thursday for "trying to deprive Missourians of their right to weigh in on the abortion question with a vote," said Tony Rothert, executive director of the ACLU. Fewer psychiatrists take Medicaid patients even as the program has expanded

Fewer and fewer psychiatrists are accepting Medicaid even as increasing numbers of patients have gained mental health coverage through expansion of the program, a new study suggests. The percentage of psychiatrists taking Medicaid fell from nearly 48 percent in 2010-2011 to 35 percent in 2014-2015, researchers report in JAMA Psychiatry. As pressure for Afghan peace grows, drug threat remains

Mohammad Ahmadi, a young opium farmer in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar has the kind of confidence that underlines how meager the results have been of years of effort and billions of dollars spent fighting narcotics. "I'm not afraid of anyone. No one can harm me and the others while we're harvesting poppy," he said as he took a break from working his field. Three dead after food poisoning linked to UK hospital sandwiches

Three people have died in northern England and three more are seriously ill from food poisoning thought to have resulted from eating contaminated pre-packaged sandwiches served in hospitals, Public Health England (PHE) said on Friday. The deaths were caused by an outbreak of listeria at hospitals run by the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the public health agency said in a statement. Will Europe's clampdown on faulty medical devices hurt patients?

When a Californian company founded by a U.S. veteran wounded in Afghanistan sought to register a new medical device this year, it turned to Europe before the United States. The European approvals system had long been quicker, the company said, but the introduction of new rules is changing all that. "Now it has flipped," said Bill Colone, CEO of San Clemente-based Spinal Singularity, which hopes to launch a 'smart' catheter for men with spinal injuries or disease early next year after squeezing in its application under the old European rules. Unit of drugmaker Insys pleads guilty to U.S. opioid bribe scheme

A unit of Insys Therapeutics Inc pleaded guilty on Friday to fraud charges as part of an $225 million deal with the U.S. Justice Department resolving claims that the drugmaker bribed doctors to prescribe an addictive opioid medication. The plea, in federal court in Boston by the Chandler, Arizona-based Insys' operating subsidiary, came in one of the few criminal prosecutions to date of a corporation accused of helping fuel the nation's deadly opioid epidemic. U.S. FDA warns flavored e-cigarette makers over social media posts

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission on Friday issued warning letters to four flavored e-liquid product makers, stepping up pressure on firms using social media influencers to promote their products. Social media marketing has come under increased scrutiny as part of attempts by health regulators to control the marketing of tobacco products, particularly the newest generation of products including the wildly popular Juul e-cigarettes. Holidays, vacations around the corner? Step on the scale every day to keep in shape

People who step on the scale every day during holidays tend to avoid gaining extra pounds, a new U.S. study suggests. Nutrition researcher Jamie Cooper of the University of Georgia and her colleagues set out to examine whether the simple act of weighing oneself daily could prevent weight gain during the winter holiday season, spanning mid-November to early January.