Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Children risk serious injuries on golf carts

Golf cart crashes involving children can result in seriousinjuries, a new study confirms. Researchers found that childrenas young as nine years old were driving golf carts, often notwearing seat belts, and faced the risk of the cart overturning.

U.S. infant mortality high even for full-term babies

Infant mortality rates for full-term babies vary across theU.S., but all states are worse than many European countries, anew study suggests. Previous research has found babies morelikely to die in the U.S. than in other developed and affluentnations, but the current study offers fresh evidence that thisis true even for infants born at the very end of pregnancy whenthey should have excellent survival odds.

Judge blocks Mississippi law that would ban abortions after15 weeks

A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a Mississippilaw that would ban abortions after 15 weeks in a ruling handeddown one day after the state's governor signed the measure. TheMississippi law was the most restrictive abortion measure in theUnited States.

GlaxoSmithKline prescribes commercial reboot for pharmadivision

In January, GlaxoSmithKline's new head ofpharmaceuticals Luke Miels issued a blunt challenge to hismanagers: find budget savings of 20 percent. The plan was topool the savings and reallocate the money to priority medicinesand markets for Britain's biggest drugmaker, according to peoplefamiliar with the meeting.

Childhood `toxic stress’ leads to parenting challenges lateron

Parents who endured “toxic stress” during childhood may bemore likely to have kids with developmental delays and have aharder time coping with their children’s health issues, newresearch suggests. Adverse childhood experiences, commonlycalled ACEs, can include witnessing parents fight or go througha divorce, having a parent with a mental illness or substanceabuse problem, or suffering from sexual, physical or emotionalabuse.

Britain's use of copycat biotech drugs takes off while U.S.lags

Cut-price copies of an expensive Roche biotech drugfor blood cancer have taken 80 percent of the British marketsince launching last year, saving the healthcare system 80million pounds ($113 million) a year, experts said on Wednesday.The rapid adoption of two so-called biosimilar forms ofrituximab from Celltrion and Novartis hasbeen accompanied by discounts of 50-60 percent as the NationalHealth Service (NHS) has used tenders to bring down costs.

Shoe inserts may not help plantar heel pain

Mass-produced shoe inserts available on drugstore shelvesand customized orthotics may not work for plantar heel pain, aresearch review suggests. Plantar heel pain is one of the mostcommon foot ailments, accounting for about 15 percent of footsymptoms requiring medical attention and 10 percent of runninginjuries, researchers note in the British Journal of SportsMedicine. Many doctors recommend shoe inserts to ease this painby supporting the arches and taking pressure off the heel, butresearch to date has been inconclusive about the effectivenessof this approach.

Scientists develop brain scanner in a helmet

British scientists have developed a lightweight and highlysensitive brain imaging device that can be worn as a helmet,allowing the patient to move about naturally. Results fromtests of the scanner showed that patients were able to stretch,nod and even drink tea or play table tennis while their brainactivity was being recorded, millisecond by millisecond, by themagnetoencephalography (MEG) system.

Top court mulls California law on anti-abortion facilities

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday tackles a dispute overwhether a California law requiring Christian-based facilitiesthat counsel pregnant women against abortion to post signsdisclosing the availability of state-subsidized abortions andbirth control violates their right to free speech. The ninejustices are set to hear an hour of arguments in an appeal by agroup of non-profit facilities called crisis pregnancy centersof a lower court ruling upholding the Democratic-backed 2015law.

Germany confirms H5N6 bird flu case on island farm

German authorities have confirmed outbreak of the highlypathogenic H5N6 bird flu type at a farm on an island off theGerman North Sea coast, the Schleswig-Holstein state agricultureministry said on Wednesday. The virus was found on a farm ofwith 57 chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese on the island ofHallig Suederoog. All the birds on the farm have been culled.