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Meet the Pint-Sized Vaccine Supporter Who Gives a ‘Damn’ About Vaccine Bill

A controversial California bill to end personal-belief exemptions for students who are unvaccinated has been helped by one very important, yet pint-size supporter. Rhett Krawitt, 7, became one of the faces for the new bill aimed at raising vaccination rates by ending personal-belief exemptions for students at California schools. “Vaccines save lives,” he told reporters before taking a petition to end personal-belief exemptions with 30,000 signatures to California Gov. Jerry Brown’s office earlier this week.

Polish parliament passes bill on right to IVF treatment

Poland’s parliament passed a bill stipulating the conditions for offering in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment on Thursday, fulfilling a key government promise as it looks to attract liberal voters before elections in October. IVF treatment has been available in Poland for 25 years but the traditionally Roman Catholic country has until now not passed legislation regulating it, remaining the only European Union member not to have done so. The Roman Catholic Church opposes in-vitro fertilization, saying it divorces marital sex from procreation and could result in the destruction of fertilized embryos.

Weight-loss surgery may help curb urinary incontinence

By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) – Weight-loss surgery may help reduce urinary incontinence in extremely obese people, a study suggests. Researchers followed nearly 2,500 obese men and women who had so-called bariatric surgery, which alters the stomach or intestines to induce weight loss.  Before the surgery, nearly half the women and about a fifth of the men had experienced urinary incontinence. A year later, the rate of incontinence was down to about 18 percent in women and 10 percent in men.

South Korea reports two more deaths in MERS outbreak, three new cases

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea's health ministry reported on Monday two more deaths in the country's Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak, bringing the number of fatalities to 27. The ministry also confirmed three new cases, taking the total to 172 in an outbreak that is the largest outside Saudi Arabia. The new fatalities were aged in their 80s with pre-existing health problems, according to the health ministry. (Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Richard Pullin)

Anthem offers $46 billion for Cigna, says CEO role holds up deal

U.S. health insurer Anthem Inc said on Saturday it had offered $46 billion in cash and stock for smaller rival Cigna Corp but that the deal was stalled over Cigna CEO David Cordani's role in the merged company. The announcement comes as the biggest U.S. health insurers seek acquisitions to boost membership in government-paid healthcare plans and the employer-based insurance that is Cigna's specialty. Anthem, the second largest health insurer in the United States, said in a statement that it had made four offers for Cigna in June, sweetening each one with better terms.

Toyota in damage control mode after American executive arrested

By Chang-Ran Kim and Joshua Hunt TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp moved into damage control mode on Friday after its new communications chief, an American and its first senior woman executive, was arrested on suspicion of illegally bringing pain killers into Japan just two months after her high-profile appointment. Japanese media reports on Friday quoted police investigators as saying 57 highly addictive Oxycodone pills from the United States were scattered in a small parcel addressed to Hamp in Japan and labeled “necklaces”. The former General Motors Co and PepsiCo Inc executive told police she did not think she had imported an illegal substance, a spokesman for Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department said.

Free animations spread lifesaving tips via smartphones

By Daniel Gaitan (Reuters Health) – Impoverished communities across the globe are receiving lifesaving tips for dealing with disease, draught and depression from short, user-friendly videos that are free online. Agriculture animations, for example, show how to build raised planting beds using layers of animal manure, vegetation and soil, or how to install drip irrigation systems to help conserve water. The free videos – more than 40 at this point – are produced by Scientific Animations Without Borders, or SAWBO (http://bit.ly/1ff4sqK), which was founded in 2011 by Barry Pittendrigh and Julia Bello-Bravo of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champagne.

South Korea conducts experimental plasma therapy on MERS patients

By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) – Two South Korean hospitals are conducting experimental treatment on Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) patients, injecting them with blood plasma from recovering patients, the health ministry said on Tuesday, as four new cases were reported. The procedure has been conducted on two consenting MERS patients in addition to existing care, the ministry's head of public health policy, Kwon Jun-wook, told a media briefing. “There is insufficient clinical basis about the result of plasma treatment among experts in the country,” Kwon said, but added: “The ministry has deep confidence in the medical staff on the direction of the treatment.” Plasma treatment was previously used in SARS patients with some positive results in seriously ill patients that led to a decrease in the death rate by up to 23 percent, Kwon said.