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AP Health NewsBrief at 5:36 p.m. EDT
(AP Online Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Lens implant offers chance at beating lazy eyeWASHINGTON (AP) _ Dr. Paul Dougherty delicately slipped a tiny lens inside the right eye of 7-year-old Megan Garvin _ a last-ditch shot at saving her sight in that eye. The California girl last week became one of a small number of U.S. children to try an experimental surgery to prevent virtual blindness from lazy eye diagnosed too late, or too severe, for standard treatment.
Immigrants kids even less active than U.S.-bornCHICAGO (AP) _ Immigrant children of all backgrounds get even less vigorous exercise than their U.S.-born counterparts, the largest study of its kind suggests. Plenty of earlier evidence shows that U.S. children are pretty inactive. The new study of nearly 70,000 children simply found even lower levels of activity among immigrants.
Study: Restaurant kids' meals loaded with caloriesWASHINGTON (AP) _ Parents looking for healthy meal choices for their children are likely to find slim pickings on the menus of the nation's top restaurant chains, according to a report released Monday by a nonprofit public health group. Nearly every possible combination of the children's meals at Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, Sonic, Jack in the Box, and Chick-fil-A are too high in calories, the report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest said.
In era of pills, fewer shrinks doing talk therapyCHICAGO (AP) _ Cartoons about the psychiatrist's couch were recently the subject of a museum exhibition. Now, the couch itself may be headed for a museum. A new study finds a significant decline in psychotherapy practiced by U.S. psychiatrists. The expanded use of pills and insurance policies that favor short office visits are among the reasons, said lead author Dr. Ramin Mojtabai of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.
HIV-positive migrants accuse US of neglectMEXICO CITY (AP) _ Olga Arellano sobs as she recalls how her HIV-positive daughter spent two months succumbing to infections in a U.S. migrant detention center, complaining that she didn't see a doctor or get the right medicine. Fellow inmates also begged for help after Victoria Arellano started vomiting blood in their holding cell, where her lawyer said 105 detainees were crammed onto bunks and mattresses in a space designed for 40.
Lax oversight risks millions of Medicare dollarsWASHINGTON (AP) _ The government is putting millions of Medicare dollars at risk by authorizing fictitious sellers of wheelchairs, prosthetics and other medical supplies to submit reimbursement claims with only limited review, congressional investigators say. The study by the Government Accountability Office obtained by The Associated Press sought to follow up on oversight gaps that have plagued the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services since at least 2005. Roughly $1 billion of the $10 billion in annual Medicare payments the government makes for medical equipment are later deemed improper.
12-year-old with HIV to open world AIDS conferenceMEXICO CITY (AP) _ Keren Dunaway was 5 when her parents used drawings to explain to her that they both had the HIV virus _ and so did she. Now the 12-year-old is one of the most prominent AIDS activists in Latin America and a rarity in a region where few children are willing to break the silence and tell their classmates they have HIV for fear of rejection. She edits a children's magazine on the virus.
Clinton in Africa says nutrition key to AIDS fightDAKAR, Senegal (AP) _ Former President Clinton said Sunday that keeping HIV-infected children in the developing world well-fed amid the pressures of skyrocketing global food and fuel prices will be crucial to fending off the deadly virus. Speaking on the final day of a four-nation Africa tour that began last week, Clinton said he saw children in Ethiopia who "cannot live" because they were so malnourished they could not absorb lifesaving antiretroviral drugs.
Abbott faces more litigation over AIDS drugSAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ When Abbott Laboratories Inc. hiked up the price of a popular AIDS drug by 400 percent in 2003, executives prepared for the inevitable public relations hit, but assured themselves the backlash would be brief. Nearly five years later, the accusations against Abbott are still flying.
Grass-roots effort in Egypt fights 'cutting' girlsSULTAN ZAWYIT, Egypt (AP) _ In this small Nile River farming village, Maha Mohammed has started to doubt whether she should circumcise her two daughters. A year ago, she had few qualms about female genital mutilation, the practice of cutting a girl's clitoris and sometimes other genitalia. She herself was cut two decades ago, and she fears her daughters will not find husbands otherwise.
Copyright ? 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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