WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People with type O blood have a much lower risk for pancreatic cancer, while those with type B blood have the worst risk, researchers said on Tuesday in a study that may help explain what causes one of the deadliest kinds of cancer.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A healthcare overhaul that achieves small cost savings each year could have a big impact on the U.S. economy and federal budget in the long run, White House budget director Peter Orszag told Congress on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators will allow experimental use of Insmed's drug Iplex for certain patients with Lou Gehrig's disease, the Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday.

LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists said on Tuesday they had developed a treatment that transports anti-cancer genes selectively into cancer cells using nanotechnology.

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Recessions gripping economies around the world will hit men harder than women as job insecurity threatens an inherent sense of masculinity, damaging mental health, a British researchers said this month.

GENEVA (Reuters) - A pinch of salt, a handful of sugar and some clean water is all that is needed to save up to two million children who die each year from diarrhea, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Dangling a financial carrot in front of doctors as a way to improve health quality has changed the way some doctors practice medicine, but has yet to significantly improve quality and may be interfering with doctor-patient relationships, researchers said on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama signed an order lifting eight years of restrictions on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research on Monday as scientists gushed, activists cheered and shares in stem cell companies rose.

LONDON (Reuters) - U.N. members are expected to sign a declaration this week extending for another 10 years a "war on drugs" policy critics say is flawed an only feeds organized crime, helps spread HIV and undermines governments.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Men with a higher intake of vitamin C from food or supplements have a lower risk of developing gout, a form of arthritis from uric acid build-up that causes inflamed joints, researchers said on Monday.

LONDON (Reuters) - Warmer weather and changes in atmospheric pressure may trigger headaches and migraines, rather than pollution, researchers said Monday.

* End-of-life care could offer area for healthcare savings

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, who opposes limits on federal funding of stem cell research, will sign an executive order about stem cells on Monday, an administration official said on Friday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Men who are 75-80 years old and have a low prostate specific antigen (PSA) level -- that is, less than less than 3 nanograms per milliliter -- are unlikely to develop life-threatening prostate cancer during their remaining life span, according to newly reported findings.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A simple series of ankle and foot flexing exercises can improve strength and balance in older people, research from Portugal shows.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Mobile phones used by hospital healthcare workers are often contaminated with germs, including those that can causes illness in hospitalized patients, a Turkish research team reports.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Pregnant women given drugs to prevent the baby being born too soon may run the risk of having serious complications, a large study conducted in Belgium and The Netherlands suggests.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's administration will organize healthcare forums across the United States in the coming weeks to involve Americans and local policy makers in a push for reform, the White House said on Friday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Elderly people who've suffered a recent stroke benefit almost as much from treatment with a "statin" drug as do younger stroke patients, researchers report in the medical journal Neurology.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with bleeding peptic ulcers who are admitted to a hospital on a weekend for have poorer survival than those admitted on a weekday, according to the results of a new study.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Fitness, strength and flexibility do not inevitably fade away with age, and are more often a matter of lifestyle choices, according to a new report.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Carrying excess weight around the middle can impair lung function, adding to a long list of health problems associated with belly fat, French researchers said on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said on Thursday that he withdrew his name from consideration for U.S. surgeon general to focus more on his family and career as a surgeon.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists have taken another important step toward using ordinary skin cells that are made to behave like embryonic stem cells to find treatments for conditions like Parkinson's disease.

LONDON (Reuters) - Radiation therapy before surgery is a more effective way to treat rectal cancer for people with an operable form of the disease, British researchers said on Friday.

LONDON (Reuters) - People who put off regular exercise until they hit the age of 50 can still benefit from physical activity but it appears to take 10 years for the effects to kick in, Swedish researchers said Friday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Optimists live longer, healthier lives than pessimists, U.S. researchers said on Thursday in a study that may give pessimists one more reason to grumble.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama takes on healthcare reform at a White House forum on Thursday, seeking to design an overhaul of a costly and inefficient system he believes is threatening the U.S. economy.

ATLANTA/PHOENIX (Reuters) - When Paul Bowling suffered a stroke three years ago and lost his health insurance he turned not to an emergency hospital for long-term care but to a community health center.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Women in strained marriages are more likely than other wives to have high blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Use of snuff and chewing tobacco by U.S. adolescent boys, particularly in rural areas, has surged this decade, a federal agency said in a report on Thursday that raised concern among tobacco control advocates.

BOSTON (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline's experimental drug mepolizumab may help a small group of asthma sufferers whose illness can be difficult to control, researchers said on Wednesday.

ABUJA (Reuters) - An outbreak of meningitis in Nigeria has killed 333 people in the last three months, the health minister said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A cheap ingredient used in ice cream, cosmetics and found in breast milk helps protect monkeys against infection with a virus similar to AIDS and might work to protect women against the virus, researchers reported on Wednesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children who've been infected with measles are less likely to develop allergies, a large study in Europe has demonstrated.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Higher levels of aluminum in drinking water appear to increase people's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, whereas higher levels of silica appear to decrease the risk, according to French investigators.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A third of Americans under age 65 -- 86.7 million people -- went without health insurance at some point during the past two years, according to a report released Wednesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When parents have bipolar disorder, their children are at increased risk for psychiatric disorders themselves, according to a new report.

LONDON (Reuters) - Watching films and ads in which alcohol features prominently drives people to immediately reach for the bottle themselves, Dutch researchers said on Wednesday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Dead mice and rodent droppings were found throughout a Texas plant run by a company whose peanut products caused one of the biggest food recalls in U.S. history, food inspectors reported on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two powerful members of the U.S. Congress drew up battle lines on Tuesday over one of the most fundamental questions underlying healthcare reform -- how much government health programs will be involved.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Americans are exposed to seven times more radiation from diagnostic scans than in 1980, a report found on Tuesday as experts said doctors are overusing the tests for profit and raising health risks for patients.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who suffer a heart attack nearly double the risk of having another if they are taking the widely used blood thinner Plavix together with a heartburn drug like Prilosec, researchers said on Tuesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A review of previous clinical trial results shows that a multifaceted approach can be effective for treating fibromyalgia, German researchers report.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior Senate Democrat said Tuesday he would consider taxing U.S. workers on their employer-sponsored health insurance to help pay for extending coverage to millions of uninsured Americans.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Flat feet have no effect on a child's athletic ability, new research suggests.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Hospitalizations for respiratory problems rise on hot, humid days -- foretelling what global warming may bring -- a study of 12 European cities suggests.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new animal study may help explain why diets high in the sugar fructose have been linked to insulin resistance, a precursor to type 2 diabetes.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A mineral supplement derived from seaweed may help people with knee arthritis cut down on painkillers, a preliminary study suggests.

By Laura MacInnis GENEVA (Reuters) - Doctors are failing to diagnose HIV in older patients, who are exposed to greater risk of infection as erectile dysfunction drugs extend their sex lives, a study published by the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.