Seonam Hospital will take care of North Korean defectors as part of efforts to help them settle in South Korea and enhance their health, the hospital said Tuesday. The hospital has allied with Hana Center, a state-run institution to assist settlement of North Korean defectors in South Korean society, to provide them with medical care. The hospital will reorganize itself to better treat North Korean defectors and develop health programs suitable to them. (baejisook@heraldm.com)

LOS ANGELES ― She has had four surgeries to remove her thyroid, parathyroid and vocal cord nerve, along with muscle and tissue.Once a year, she goes to a hospital and swallows a radioactive iodine capsule to attack the remaining cancer cells ― and then remains in isolation for four days. During what she calls her quarantine, she can’t touch ― or even be in the same room as ― anyone else. The treatment causes soreness, swelling, nausea and headaches.Each year, as the ordeal approaches, she scans

A pair of 2-year-old formerly conjoined twin girls from the Philippines are recovering well after an operation to separate them in California, a hospital spokeswoman said.Angelina and Angelica Sabuco, born joined at the chest and abdomen, were separated Tuesday by a team of 20 doctors during 10 hour

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials have approved a first-of-a-kind artificial heart valve that can be implanted without major surgery, offering a new treatment option for patients who are too old or frail for the chest-cracking procedure currently used.The Food and Drug Administration

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― People who took yoga classes for chronic lower back pain experienced more lifestyle improvements and better overall health than those who sought a doctor’s advice, said a study published Monday.The research in the U.S. journal the Annals of Internal Medicine, led by scientists at the University of York, included more than 300 people and was described as the largest of its kind to date in the United Kingdom.Researchers derived their study samples from a group of people who were

TOKYO (AFP) ― After months of being told to strip off to keep cool for summer, Japanese workers were Tuesday being urged to wrap up for winter in an energy-saving “Warm Biz” campaign.As the nation continues to face possible electricity shortfalls in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster that has left dozens of atomic reactors offline, the government is asking people to keep warm the old-fashioned way.Officials are telling homes and offices to set heaters and air conditioners no higher than

ALBANY, New York (AP) ― When Billy Joel sang about “a bottle of white, a bottle of red” 40 years ago, the Long Island native probably wasn’t in a New York state of mind.But the wine universe is growing and changing, and today New York regularly tangles with Washington state in a two-coast tussle to maintain the No. 2 spot in behind California for domestic wine production.And it’s not just about quantity. The Empire State is getting a reputation as a quality maker of Long Island white, Hudson Val

NEW YORK (AP) ― Offer. Wanted. Taken.With those three words, Deron Beal of Tucson, Arizona, helped move the yard sale online, only with no money changing hands.Beal is the founder of The Freecycle Network, or Freecycle.org. It’s a grassroots gifting network that ― thanks to the sour economy and a growing commitment to the environment ― has transformed into a global movement of millions offering, wanting and taking all manner of stuff.Staffed by volunteer moderators and loosely overseen by Beal,

Artist welfare law to take effect November 2012The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said about 57,000 South Korean performing artists will benefit from industrial accident insurance, just as employees in other industries do.The ministry’s announcement comes after the passing of the Artist Welfare Act by the National Assembly on Friday. The law, which takes effect in November 2012, aims to protect artists’ job security and rights as they are often excluded from two major types of insurance

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Michael Jackson’s doctor finally made a decision he had long delayed, telling a judge Tuesday he would not testify in his involuntary manslaughter trial.Minutes later, the defense rested its case and the prosecution, after presenting brief rebuttal testimony, closed its presentation of evidence in the six-week trial. That set the stage for closing arguments to begin Thursday.Dr. Conrad Murray’s announcement came while jurors were out of the room and he was not asked to repeat

NEW YORK (AP) ― The fourth of Robert A. Caro’s Lyndon Johnson books, continuing one of the most acclaimed and debated biographical series in memory, is coming in May.And a fifth volume is now planned for what Caro had intended to be a three-, then four-part story on the man who became president when John F. Kennedy was assassinated.“The Passage of Power” will focus on the years 1958-64, from the time he began seeking the presidency, through his years as vice president under Kennedy, and to Johns

CHICAGO (AP) — Whether sipping beer, wine or whiskey, women who drink just three alcoholic beverages a week face slightly higher chances for developing breast cancer compared with teetotalers, a study of more than 100,000 U.S. nurses found.The link between alcohol and breast cancer isn't new,