Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Judge strikes down healthcare reform law

MIAMI (Reuters) - A federal judge in Florida struck down President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare overhaul as unconstitutional on Monday in the biggest legal challenge yet to federal authority to enact the law. U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ruled that the reform law's so-called individual mandate went too far in requiring that Americans start buying health insurance in 2014 or pay a penalty.
African Americans still have higher cancer fatality rate

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fewer African Americans are dying from cancer, but compared with white Americans their length of survival is shorter and the fatality rate is still far higher, according to a report released on Tuesday. The conclusions were part of a new American Cancer Society report on African-Americans and cancer.

New diet guidelines say eat more fruit, less salt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans need to cut salt and fat and eat more fruits and vegetables, the Obama administration said in its latest set of dietary guidelines released on Monday. The new dietary guidelines also advise cutting out sugary drinks and drinking water instead, and eating less overall.

U.S. rejects Orexigen diet drug over heart risks

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators rejected Orexigen Therapeutics Inc's <OREX.O> weight-loss drug and requested a clinical trial to resolve heart safety concerns, dealing a huge blow to what stood to be the first new diet pill in a decade. Its shares tanked 73 percent to $2.44 on the news on Tuesday. The U.S. regulatory response raised new doubts about the drug industry's ability to develop prescription drugs to address obesity, a field littered with disappointments.

Program reduces serious hospital infections: report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. program to help make sure hospital staff maintain strict hygiene standards lowered death rates in intensive care units by 10 percent, U.S. researchers reported on Monday. Their study, published in the British Medical Journal, adds to a growing body of evidence that changing the hospital culture, including using checklists modeled on those employed by pilots, can reduce errors, saving lives and costs.

Stroke survival better for African Americans

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Despite facing a greater risk of stroke, African Americans may have better survival rates than whites in the first year after the event, a study published Monday suggests. The findings are surprising, researchers say, because black stroke patients are generally thought to have worse outcomes.
Sanofi, Takeda drugs on FDA early safety probe list

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators have launched early investigations into potential risks of drugs from Sanofi-Aventis <SASY.PA>, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co <4502.T> and other companies, the Food and Drug Administration said on Monday. The FDA released its quarterly list of investigations into possible drug-safety problems. The newest list covers probes launched between July and September 2010.

New target, drug potential found for colon cancer

LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists said they have found a new target for treating advanced bowel cancer which could also be used to identify tumors that will respond to Bristol Myers Squibb's <BMY.N> cancer drug Sprycel. In a study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) found that Sprycel, known generically as dasatinib and already used in other cancers, reduced bowel cancer cell growth in the lab by blocking the effects of an enzyme called lysyl oxidase, or LOX.

Bariatric surgery cuts pounds, adds years

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Obese individuals may add years to their lives by drastically cutting pounds with bariatric surgery, according to a new review of clinical trials of popular gastric bypass and banding procedures. Italian researchers found that undergoing one of the two operations reduced a patient's odds of dying by nearly half over an average study period of seven to eight years.