Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

J&J, U.S. states settle hip implant claims for $120 million

Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit have agreed to pay $120 million to resolve deceptive marketing claims by several U.S. states over the company's metal-on-metal hip implants. Attorneys general of 46 U.S. states announced the settlement agreement in statements on Tuesday. They alleged DePuy engaged in unfair and deceptive practices in the promotion of its ASR XL and Pinnacle Ultamet hip implant devices.

France holds trial of firms accused of selling horse meat as beef

Two former managers of French meat-processing firm Spanghero and two Dutch meat traders go on trial in Paris on Monday accused of passing off cheap horse meat as pricier beef in ready-made meals and burgers that were sold in countries across Europe. The scandal stems from the discovery by Irish authorities in early 2013 of horse meat in frozen burgers labeled "pure beef." Investigations widened when British frozen foods group Findus found horse meat in lasagna made by the Luxembourg unit of frozen food specialist Comigel, Tavola.

Many migraine sufferers wary of alcohol as a headache trigger

Many migraine sufferers avoid alcohol, saying it can trigger the severe headaches, a survey found. Among more than 2,000 migraine patients in the Netherlands, more than a third said alcohol was a migraine trigger for them. Of the 650 patients who had stopped consuming alcohol, one in four said it was to avoid triggering migraines. And 78 percent of patients who did drink alcohol cited red wine as the specific drink that could trigger an attack. Vodka was a trigger for only 8 percent.

New app may improve ability to focus

For people who have trouble concentrating, help may be on the way through a new game app that helps improve the ability to focus just by playing. Researchers documented improvements in attention among healthy young adults who played a game called Decoder twice a week for a month, according to a report in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.

New breast cancer gene tests don't faze women

Women with breast cancer who get newer genetic tests to estimate their risk of recurrence may not be any more anxious about their test results than their peers who get older tests that focus on fewer genes, a recent study suggests. Researchers surveyed 1,063 women with early stage breast cancer who had genetic tests between 2013 and 2015, a period when testing evolved from focusing on two genes - BRCA1 and BRCA2 - to examining a dozen or more genes that play a role in breast cancer.

Amateur rock climbers often lack skills to save themselves

Most hobbyist rock climbers lack the basic rescue skills needed to save themselves in dangerous situations, a study suggests. This is true regardless of climbers' confidence, experience, training or climbing frequency, researchers wrote in the journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine.

Elderly who don't want dialysis often pressured to get it

Doctors tend to steer elderly people with failing kidneys toward dialysis even when patients say they'd rather avoid such treatments, a new study finds. And when patients decline dialysis, which wouldn't buy much more time for a frail, elderly patient, doctors often try to convince them to change their minds, the study shows. "Dialysis is an amazing technology that has extended the lives of many people," said study leader Dr. Susan Wong, an assistant professor at the University of Washington and a core investigator at the VA Health Services Research and Development Center. "But the benefits are less certain in older, frailer patients."

U.S. insulin costs per patient nearly doubled from 2012 to 2016: study

The cost of insulin for treating type 1 diabetes in the United States nearly doubled over a five-year period, underscoring a national outcry over rising drug prices, according to a new analysis shared with Reuters. A person with type 1 diabetes incurred annual insulin costs of $5,705, on average, in 2016. The average cost was roughly half that at $2,864 per patient in 2012, according to a report due to be released on Tuesday by the nonprofit Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI).

Chinese scientist who gene-edited babies fired by university

A Chinese scientist who created what he said were the world's first "gene-edited" babies evaded oversight and broke ethical boundaries in a quest for fame and fortune, state media said on Monday, as his former university said he had been fired. He Jiankui said in November that he used a gene-editing technology known as CRISPR-Cas9 to alter the embryonic genes of twin girls born that month, sparking an international outcry about the ethics and safety of such research.

U.S. top court rejects Helsinn over anti-nausea drug patent in win for Teva

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to revive Swiss drug company Helsinn Healthcare S.A.'s patent on the lucrative anti-nausea drug Aloxi in a victory for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, which launched a generic version of it last year. The nine justices unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that had canceled Helsinn's patent on Aloxi for violating a provision in U.S. patent law that forbids sales of an invention before applying for a patent. Teva began selling its generic version of the drug in March 2018 after convincing the lower court to invalidate the patent.