Washington, Nov 19 - The US Senate has unveiled a health care reform bill that was estimated to cost nearly $900 billion.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told a press conference Wednesday that the overhaul health care reform bill would expand health insurance coverage to 30 million more Americans, Xinhua reported.

Citing an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, Reid, a Democrat, said that the bill was estimated to cost $849 billion over 10 years but it can reduce the federal deficit by $127 billion in the first decade and more than $600 billion in the following decade.

The bill, which combines two separate drafts approved by Senate committees, will be sent to the whole floor for debate and vote, Reid said.

Washington - The first vaccine doses for the H1N1 influenza, or swine flu, will be available in the form of a nasal spray, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday.

About 3.4 million doses of the nasal spray vaccine - which can be used only by those between the ages of 2 and 49 - will be ready for distribution to 90,000 providers by the first week of October, said epidemiologist Jay Butler, chief of the CDC's 2009 H1N1 vaccine task force.

"The government has purchased 195 million doses. It's a very large logistical undertaking," Butler said. "You have to get this vaccine from five manufacturers out to some 90,000 provider sites around the country."

Latest research suggests that tears are not only a stress-buster; they also soothe the mind, and heal the body. But while almost all of us shed emotional tears at some time – at least 47 times a year for women, and seven for men – exactly why we cry, and much about what happens when we do, remains a mystery.

A clue to the purpose of crying may lie in the experimental finding that emotional tears contain different compounds from regular eye watering, such as that triggered by chopping onions.

In fact, emotional tears come from the same tear glands that produce the fluid that forms a protective film over the eyeballs to keep them free of irritants, and which also releases extra fluid when the eye becomes irritated, or is invaded by a foreign body.

About 80 – 90% cases of breast cancer in women are detected by mammography. "Mammography remains the most effective screening test for the early detection of breast cancer available to women today," Dr. Otis W. Brawley, the ACS's chief medical officer, said in a society news release. "Women are strongly urged to schedule their mammograms yearly and to talk to their doctor regularly about their risk for breast cancer."

The world’s biggest drugmaker, Pfizer has paid $894 million towards the settlement of its most outstanding litigation around its two painkillers – Bextra and Celebrex - sparked by concerns that they caused heart attacks and strokes. According to Jayne Conroy, a plaintiffs’ attorney, the company faced about 8,000 lawsuits over the drugs.

On a recommendation from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, New Jersey's Public Health Council has made it mandatory for all children to get the flu shot before they enroll in preschools and daycare centers.

Government research has shown that eight out of ten women are unaware of the increased risk of breast cancer and alcohol consumption despite it being established years ago. A large glass of wine is equal to three units of alcohol at 12 % strength and two glasses raises the risk by more than a third. For those who drink more than nine units or three glasses a day the risk doubles compared to those who don’t drink.

The recommended limit is 250 ml or one large glass of wine and around four million women drink more than two to three units a day.

Henry Reid, the former director of UCLA’s willed body program, pleaded guilty for his role in selling donated body parts to drug companies. The years long investigation into the body-for-parts profit scheme culminated when Reid pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit grand theft, said Nancy Greenstein, a university police spokeswoman.

The Food and Drug Administration is giving a "black box" warning to Raptiva, the psoriasis drug, about the risk of life-threatening infections including a rare brain infection and meningitis.

Genentech Inc.'s drug Raptiva will now have a Boxed Warning highlighting the risk of bacterial sepsis, viral meningitis, invasive fungal disease, PML and other opportunistic infections. The label will also include data from juvenile animal studies in mice, which indicate a potential risk for the permanent suppression of the immune system with repeat administration of Raptiva juveniles.

Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, and Herb Kohl, Democrat of Wisconsin, have sent letters to Columbia University and the Cardiovascular Research Foundation to question financial ties between high profile doctors and device and drug institutions.

US researchers have found that the brain's response to food is linked to future weight gain in women and a gene that made the response to food weak, was responsible for weight gain later in life. In two separate studies, activity in the dorsal striatum of the brain was measured in one group of 43 women 18 to 22 and the second of 33 girls 14 to 18. They were given a chocolate milkshake or a tasteless drink and activity to the brain was measured as well as a genetic variant TaqA1 - which is linked to a fewer dopamine receptors in the brain. Dopamine is a chemical that controls and senses pleasure. Dr.

The U.S. Drug Czar John Walters has said that he does not support Proposition 1, a controversial proposal which would legalize doctors prescribing medical marijuana to patients.  Walters, a Michigan native who heads the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy opposes this law as he believes that this “makes it easier for addicts to stay addicted,” and would lead to more marijuana abuse by teens. 

Proposition 1 is set to be on the November 4th ballot in Michigan and if passed would legalize the use of marijuana as a prescribed drug.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics says in a report that the U.S. ranks 29th worldwide in infant mortality. This has the U.S. worsening its ranking tying with Slovakia and Poland but falling behind Cuba. In 1960 the U.S. came in at 12th place and it was ranked 27th in 2004, while Japan which is ranked third has an infant mortality rate of less than half the U.S. at 2.8 per thousand live births.

Companies manufacturing baby containers and bottles have been issued letters by the attorneys of Connecticut, New Jersey and Delaware. The letters state about a ban on the use of Bisphenol A as it is toxic for babies.

The FDA guidelines do not state BPA as harmful for infants. But it has received severe criticism for its decision from the Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

According to a new study, more than four cups of coffee can increase the risk of breast cancer. The researchers found that caffeinated drinks are responsible for one third of the breast cancer cases. The study also highlights an increase in developing large tumours with high intake of caffeinated drinks.

The researchers, however, were unable to give a safe caffeine intake for women. But they did indicate that more than four cups of coffee a day can increase the breast cancer risk by 68%. The risk further aggravates with advancement ion age.