Big studies give mixed news on fish oil, vitamin D

Big studies give mixed news on fish oil, vitamin D

CHICAGO

Taking fish oil or vitamin D? Big studies give long-awaited answers on who does and does not benefit from these popular nutrients.

Fish oil taken by healthy people, at a dose found in many supplements, showed no clear ability to lower heart or cancer risks. Same for vitamin D.

But higher amounts of a purified, prescription fish oil slashed heart problems and heart-related deaths among people with high triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood, and other risks for heart disease. Doctors cheered the results and said they could suggest a new treatment option for hundreds of thousands of patients like these.

Up to 10 percent of U.S. adults take fish oil . Even more take vitamin D, despite no major studies to support the many health claims made for it.

“Those who peddle it promote it as good for everything,” but in this definitive test, vitamin D “showed a big nothing,” said Dr. James Stein, a heart specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He had no role in the studies or ties to the companies involved.

Erdogan: Saudi officials, others heard tapes of writer’s death

ANKARA, Turkey

Officials from Saudi Arabia, the United States, Germany, France and Britain have listened to audio recordings related to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey’s president said Saturday, in the first public acknowledgement of the existence of tapes of the slaying.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also told reporters that Saudi Arabia had to “act fairly” and disclose those responsible for the Oct. 2 killing of The Washington Post journalist to rid itself of “suspicion.”

“We gave them the tapes. We gave them to Saudi Arabia, to America, to the Germans, the French, to the British, to all of them,” Erdogan said before departing for Paris to attend ceremonies marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.

“They (Saudi officials) also listened to the conversations, and they know. There is no need to distort this. They know for certain who among the 15 is the killer or are the killers,” he said.

Tight race in Georgia shines light on voting restrictions

ATLANTA

He aggressively deleted inactive voters from registration rolls, enforced an “exact match” policy that could have prevented thousands of Georgians from registering to vote and launched an investigation that disrupted a major voter-registration drive.

Now Republican Brian Kemp is declaring himself the victor in Georgia’s race for governor, a race so close that even marginal differences in voting and turnout could make the difference in determining whether the race goes to a runoff.

The Associated Press has not called the race between Kemp, who until this week was Georgia’s secretary of state, and Democrat Stacey Abrams, a former state lawmaker seeking to become the nation’s first black woman to be elected governor.

In a state dominated by Republicans, Abrams staked her campaign largely on getting new and infrequent voters to participate.

Meanwhile, Kemp and the state’s Republican legislature have imposed tighter voting and registration rules that can make it more difficult for just those voters to register and cast ballots. Most of those rules have come since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a key provision of the Voting Rights Act in 2013.

Egypt’s newly discovered tombs hold mummies, animal statues

SAQQARA, Egypt

A top Egyptian antiquities official says local archaeologists have discovered seven Pharaonic Age tombs near the capital Cairo containing dozens of cat mummies along with wooden statues depicting other animals and birds.

Mostafa Waziri told reporters Saturday that the discovery at Saqqara also includes mummies of scarabs, the first ever to be found in the area.

Of the statues found, those depicting cats were the majority, reflecting the reverence ancient Egyptians showed the felines, whose God Bastet was worshipped. Other statues depicted a lion, a cow and a falcon.

Egypt has been whipping up publicity for its new historical discoveries in the hopes of reviving a devastated tourism sector still recovering from the turmoil following a 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

BMV offers online renewals for overseas military, families

COLUMBUS

The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles is offering military members serving overseas along with their spouses and dependents online renewals of driver’s licenses and state identification cards.

BMV Registrar Don Petit says that while our “military heroes” are out of sight, “they are never out of our minds.”

Those who qualify can apply through the BMV website’s online services, which the bureau says will save an average of two weeks by eliminating the need to mail information to the bureau.

Applicants will receive emails notifying them about the status of their applications.

Police: Accidental shooting wounds teen at Akron dorm

AKRON

Authorities say an apparent accidental shooting inside a dormitory at the University of Akron has wounded a 19-year-old man who is not a student.

University police say the man was shot in the abdomen about 12:30 a.m. Saturday and was taken to a hospital. His condition hasn’t been released.

A 17-year-old boy who is not a student was taken into custody.

University of Akron Police Chief James Weber says the two are acquaintances. Police haven’t provided their names.

Jury tells Aetna to pay $25M to late cancer patient’s family

OKLAHOMA CITY

A jury has ordered Aetna to pay more than $25 million to the family of an Oklahoma City woman who died a year after the insurance company refused to cover a type of radiation therapy.

Jurors found that Aetna doctors didn’t spend enough time reviewing Orrana Cunningham’s case before denying her coverage for proton-beam therapy in 2014, The Oklahoman reported. The jury ruled that Aetna recklessly disregarded its duty to deal fairly and in good faith with Cunningham, who had nasopharyngeal cancer.

Aetna is considering whether to appeal the ruling, which was issued this week. Company attorney John Shely said the insurer tries to do the right thing.

An Aetna doctor denied Cunningham coverage for the therapy in 2014, deeming it experimental. Two other in-house doctors reviewed and upheld the decision.

The Food and Drug Administration had approved proton- beam therapy, which is also a treatment covered by Medicare, according to Doug Terry, the family’s attorney.

New York City’s Rockefeller Center Christmas tree goes up

NEW YORK

The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is in place and will soon be strung with 50,000 LED lights as one of New York City’s most prominent seasonal attractions.

The 72-foot-tall Norway spruce arrived on a flatbed trailer Saturday morning and was hoisted by a crane into a spot overlooking the Rockefeller skating rink.

Crowds will gather Nov. 28 for a televised ceremony to see the tree burst alive with 5 miles of multicolored lights and a 900-pound Swarovski crystal star.

The 75-year-old spruce comes from Wallkill, 60 miles north of New York. It was donated by Lissette Gutierrez and her wife, Shirley Figueroa, from their home property. They nicknamed it “Shelby.”

Millions of people are expected to visit the tree that will stay up until Jan. 7.

Associated Press