Reuters Health

(Reuters Health) - Drinking water that is contaminated with even moderate levels of arsenic may lead to harmful thickening of the heart's main chamber walls, a new U.S. study suggests.

Georgia became the fourth U.S. state this year to outlaw abortion after a doctor can detect a fetal heartbeat, when its Republican governor on Tuesday signed a bill that an abortion-rights group vowed to challenge immediately.

A push by makers of electronic cigarettes to raise nicotine levels in the European Union towards their far higher American levels is running into opposition, a senior executive at U.S. market leader Juul said on Tuesday.

Some 700 women in the United States die from pregnancy-related complications each year, up to a year after giving birth, and the deaths are usually preventable, according to a study released by U.S. health officials on Tuesday.

Rubber playground surface material may protect kids from some injuries but be harboring a different source of harm, a study in Boston suggests.

Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay about $1 billion to resolve the bulk of lawsuits claiming the company sold defective metal-on-metal hip implants that ultimately had to be removed, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The World Health Organization's strategic advisory group (SAGE) of vaccine experts have recommended speeding up vaccinations to tackle the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo, the WHO said on Tuesday.

More than 34,000 people across Europe caught measles in the first two months of 2019, with the vast majority of cases in Ukraine, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday as it urged authorities to ensure vulnerable people get vaccinated.

Georgia's Republican governor on Tuesday is expected to sign a bill outlawing abortion if a doctor can detect a fetal heartbeat, part of a concerted effort to restrict abortion rights in states across the country.

Denver voters will decide on Tuesday whether to decriminalize possession of psilocybin, a hallucinogenic drug that puts the magic in "magic mushrooms," in a vote that would make the Colorado capital the first U.S. city to stop such prosecutions.

Three out of four Americans believe children should be vaccinated against measles even if their parents object, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found, showing little sympathy for the anti-vaccination movement that U.S. officials blame for the ongoing outbreak.

U.S. electronic cigarette company Juul Labs Inc plans to launch in multiple Asian locations in 2019 and the Middle East and Africa by 2021 as part of its international expansion, a senior executive said on Tuesday.

GV, Alphabet Inc's venture capital arm, led a $58.5 million investment to launch Verve Therapeutics, a new biotech focused on developing therapies that edit the human genome to treat heart diseases.

Jacobus Pharmaceutical Co Inc on Monday won U.S. approval for the first drug to treat children with Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, a rare autoimmune disorder.

(Reuters Health) - Physician Compare, a U.S. website created to help patients find high-quality doctors, is missing so much information on individual providers that it may not be helpful, a new study suggests.

GW Pharmaceuticals Plc said on Monday its drug Epidiolex was successful in treating seizures in patients with a rare form of childhood epilepsy called tuberous sclerosis complex during a late-stage trial.

The active ingredients of commonly-used sunscreens end up in the bloodstream at much higher levels than current U.S. guidelines from health regulators and warrant further safety studies, according to a small study conducted by U.S. Food and Drug Administration researchers and published on Monday.

(Reuters Health) - American adults are more likely to use e-cigarettes when they have children at home, especially when kids have asthma, a U.S. study suggests.

(Reuters Health) - Transgender adolescents may be less likely to be sexually assaulted when they can use school bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity rather than their sex assigned at birth, a U.S. survey suggests.

The United States is in the midst of its largest measles outbreak in 25 years, with the disease mainly hitting people who have failed to receive the recommended two doses of the live measles vaccine.