Geron drops brain cancer drug, to cut jobs

(Reuters) – Geron Corp confirmed it will discontinue development of an experimental drug to treat cancer that has spread to the brain from elsewhere in the body and also cut about 40 percent of its workforce, after patients failed to respond to the drug in a mid-stage study.The company said it will now focus on the development of another drug candidate, imetelstat, as a treatment for blood cancers...

Read More..

UK economy ‘not as bad in 2012′

3 December 2012 Last updated at 19:07 ETThe British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has increased its forecast for UK growth for 2012, but still expects the economy to shrink.The UK will shrink by 0.1% this year, less than the 0.4% contraction it had predicted previously, the BCC said.That is “entirely due to the stronger-than-expected” growth in the last quarter, helped by the Olympic Games.But it now...

Read More..

Euro zone crisis drags down European ad spending: report

LONDON (Reuters) – The euro zone crisis has left Western Europe the only world region to see a fall in advertising spending this year, market research group ZenithOptimedia said.The forecasting group said advertising expenditure in Western Europe fell 2.2 percent to $ 106.8 billion this year compared with an average increase of 3.3 percent worldwide.North American ad spending rose 4.1 percent to $...

Read More..

Young down by boardwalk for benefit show

NEW YORK (AP) — Neil Young said Sunday that he couldn’t see performing in the area devastated by Superstorm Sandy without doing something to help people who were affected by it.Young and his longtime backing band, Crazy Horse, will hold a benefit concert for the American Red Cross‘ storm relief effort Thursday at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City. The New Jersey coastline areas were...

Read More..

Diabetes may be linked to hearing loss: study

(Reuters) – Diabetes has already been tied to an increased risk of kidney and cardiovascular troubles, nerve damage and vision loss, and now a Japanese study finds diabetics to be more than twice as likely as those without the disease to have hearing impairment.In a review of past research on the issue, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, scientists found that younger...

Read More..

The Cash-Only Doctors Club

An anxious woman in her mid-40s showed up last winter at Atlas MD, a family doctor’s office in Wichita. She had lost her job as a restaurant cook, and along with it her health insurance and her home. She needed to see a doctor.Atlas MD isn’t a free clinic. It’s a concierge medical practice, which means you can’t get an appointment unless you pay cash. Atlas MD’s two physicians, Josh Umbehr and Doug...

Read More..

Egypt’s Mursi calls referendum as Islamists march

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt‘s President Mohamed Mursi called a December 15 referendum on a draft constitution on Saturday as at least 200,000 Islamists demonstrated in Cairo to back him after opposition fury over his newly expanded powers.Speaking after receiving the final draft of the constitution from the Islamist-dominated assembly, Mursi urged a national dialogue as the country nears the end of the...

Read More..

NBC sets premiere date for “Do No Harm” drama

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – NBC will premiere its new drama “Do No Harm” at 10 p.m. on January 31, NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt said Friday.The premiere date takes advantage of the one-hour series finale of “30 Rock,” which will air at 8 p.m. on that same night.“Do No Harm” stars “Rescue Me” alum Steven Pasquale as Dr. Jason Cole, a neurosurgeon whose life is going swimmingly until...

Read More..

Asperger’s dropped from revised diagnosis manual

CHICAGO (AP) — The now familiar term “Asperger‘s disorder” is being dropped. And abnormally bad and frequent temper tantrums will be given a scientific-sounding diagnosis called DMDD. But “dyslexia” and other learning disorders remain.The revisions come in the first major rewrite in nearly 20 years of the diagnostic guide used by the nation’s psychiatrists. Changes were approved Saturday.Full details...

Read More..

Bank of America shelves plan on new fees: WSJ

(Reuters) – Bank of America Corp , the second largest U.S. bank, is holding off on plans for new checking-account fees that could have affected some 10 million customers by year’s end, avoiding a possible repeat of last year’s protests over consumer banking fees, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.The move to back off on its plan at least until late 2013 comes amid a review of Bank of America‘s...

Read More..