Reuters Health News Summary
Following is a summary of current health news briefs.
Humanoid robot startup Diligent taps Cruise executives as it looks beyond healthcare
Diligent Robotics has added two top executives from robotaxi firm Cruise as it prepares to scale beyond hospital logistics, the humanoid robot maker said on Thursday. The hires signal a strategic shift to broader commerical applications for Diligent, whose Moxi robot handles non-patient-facing tasks such as delivering supplies, medications and lab samples in hospitals.
Which countries restrict Brazilian chicken imports over bird flu?
An outbreak of bird flu in Brazil, the world's largest chicken exporter, has prompted countries to implement trade restrictions in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus after Brazil confirmed its first case on a commercial farm in May. Brazil declared itself free of the virus in commercial flocks after 28 days without any new outbreaks on commercial farms, and hopes importers will soon reverse those bans.
US again halts cattle imports from Mexico over flesh-eating screwworms
The flesh-eating livestock pest New World screwworm has advanced closer to the U.S. border with Mexico, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said, prompting Washington to block imports of Mexican cattle just days after it allowed them to resume at a port of entry in Arizona. Screwworms are parasitic flies whose females lay eggs in wounds on warm-blooded animals, usually livestock and wild animals. Once the eggs hatch, hundreds of screwworm larvae use their sharp mouths to burrow through living flesh, eventually killing their host if left untreated.
Europe's illegal pesticide trade surges as farmers cut costs
As the cost of spraying crops with pesticides becomes increasingly expensive, farmers in Greece's agricultural heartland have turned to a cheaper alternative: liquids in unlabeled plastic bottles smuggled over land and sea. The products are more effective, a dozen farmers across the Thessaly plain said. They are also potentially more harmful: laboratory tests shared with Reuters show the bottles contain pesticides banned in the European Union for several years because of suspected risks to humans or the environment.
Varda Space raises $187 million to accelerate development of drugs in space
Varda Space Industries said on Thursday it has raised $187 million in a funding round led by venture capital firms Natural Capital and Shrug Capital to boost the technology for robotic drug manufacturing in space. The latest round, which included participation from Lux Capital, billionaire Peter Thiel, Founders Fund and Vinod Khosla's eponymous investment fund Khosla Ventures, brings the total capital raised by Varda to $329 million.
Japan's Omron sees big market for BP monitors in India, CEO says
Japan's Omron is planning to boost its presence in the Indian market, its CEO said on Thursday, as a surge in hypertension cases in the country is expected to create a large market for its blood pressure monitoring devices. "The population of people with hypertension is huge compared to other countries, but penetration is still very low," Omron Health CEO Ayumu Okada told Reuters.
Moderna gets full US approval for COVID shot in at-risk children 6 months and older
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted full approval for Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, Spikevax, in children aged 6 months through 11 years who are at an increased risk of the disease, the company said on Thursday. The shot was previously available for pediatric populations under emergency use authorization. Moderna expects to make its updated vaccine available for eligible U.S. population for the 2025-26 respiratory virus season.
Japan, China take step towards resuming Japanese beef exports to China
Japan's farm ministry said on Friday that an animal health and quarantine agreement with China had come into force, paving the way towards the resumption of Japanese beef exports to China that had been halted in 2001. Beijing has banned beef imports from Japan since an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), popularly known as mad-cow disease, in September 2001.
Health Rounds: New autism discovery paves way for personalized care
The discovery of four different subtypes of autism is a major step toward understanding the condition´s genetic underpinnings and improving care, researchers reported in Nature Genetics. According to researchers, the four autism subtypes can be categorized as: Behavioral Challenges, Mixed Autism Spectrum Disorder with Developmental Delay, Moderate Challenges, and Broadly Affected. Each subtype exhibits distinct developmental, medical, behavioral and psychiatric traits, and importantly, different patterns of genetic variation, the researchers said.
