HAVANA -- President Fidel Castro, 79, one of the last of the Communist dictators, underwent intestinal surgery tonight, according to Havana television in a statement signed by the Cuban leader himself. There were no other immediate medical details. Castro's brother, Raul, was put in interim charge. Fidel Castro, whose 80th birthday is Aug. 13, took over in 1959.
MONTREAL -- The first puff on a cigarette may be enough to trigger the start of nicotine dependence, which grows stronger with every additional puff, according to investigators here.
ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA has suddenly signaled that it is ready, after three years, to move forward on limited over-the-counter status for Plan B, an emergency contraceptive. The move came the day before Andrew von Eschenbach, M.D., the acting FDA commissioner, is scheduled to testify before a Senate committee on his nomination as permanent FDA chief.
BALTIMORE -- A lot of family physicians and internists need to brush up on the signs and symptoms of chronic kidney disease, according to investigators here.
SAN DIEGO -- Skin cancer -- long thought to be of major concern primarily to Caucasians -- is a danger to those with darker skin as well, investigators reported here.
BOSTON -- Although thrombotic events among living liver donors are rare, the there is no agreement among transplant centers about the best approach to preventing them.
URBANA, Ill. -- Just when it is highly difficult for a stressed mother to offer the most support, when a baby is wailing inconsolably, is when the infant needs loving attention the most-an approach said to pay dividends for later security.
BALTIMORE -- The shortage of kidneys for transplant could be eased by the selfless kindness of living strangers if an approach called the domino strategy were adopted widely, according to researchers here.
BOSTON -- A federal agency that compensates fairly for kidney procurement could go a long way toward solving the shortage of donor organs, according to a radical proposal by a Minneapolis transplant surgeon.
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Lethargy, a reluctance to face pain, and a lack of incentive and encouragement from physicians are keeping too many patients with arthritis on the couch, further disabling themselves, said investigators here..
BOSTON -- The major immunologic barriers to xenotransplantation of solid organs are beginning to fall, researchers reported here.
VIENNA, Austria -- Patients with a first venous thromboembolism but a thrombin generation of less than 400 nM had a 60% lower risk of a recurrent leg or lung clot, according to a study here.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The efficacy of office-based treatment and counseling for opioid addiction with Suboxone (buprenorphine-naloxone) was roughly about 40% in spite of variations in the protocols, according to researchers here.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Possible strategies aimed at boosting levels of estradiol and one of its metabolites are being considered to help prevent osteoarthritis of the knee in women approaching menopause, a study here suggested.
RICHMOND, Va. -- When the FDA issues an advisory or recall on an implanted cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) or pacemaker, physicians must decide whether to replace it immediately or monitor it closely until the scheduled replacement time.
BOSTON -- The increase of obesity in the U.S. has doubled the number of poor-quality radiology reports, labeled "limited by body habitus," over 15 years, researchers reported.
CLEVELAND -- After a real-world multicenter evaluation with varying levels of expertise, the multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) got a thumb's down as a noninvasive competitor for coronary angiography.
INNSBRUCK, Austria -- Impaired olfactory function among chronic alcoholics appears to be associated with prefrontal lobe cognitive dysfunction, researchers here reported.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- As a breast cancer preventive agent, tamoxifen has little effect on mortality for most women, according to researchers here.
UTRECHT, The Netherlands -- For men ages 70 to 91, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias have been associated with high levels of endogenous estrogen, but not high levels of testosterone, researchers here reported.
