Daily Rounds: Fact-Checking Newt On Health Care; Device Maker Settles for $23.5M; A Protein For Anxiety; Saudi Woman Beheaded

Newt Gingrich's changing stance on health-care mandates (Fact Checker biography) - The Washington Post (The Washington Post) 'We had no trouble finding evidence of Gingrich’s support for health-insurance mandates. In 1993, the former speaker appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” saying: “I am for people, individuals — exactly like automobile insurance — individuals having health insurance and being required to have health insurance.” Gingrich reiterated that point in 2005 during an interview on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation.” “Our goal has to be for 100 percent of the country to be in the insurance system,” he said. “So that means finding ways through tax credits and through vouchers so that every American can buy insurance, including, I think, a requirement that if you’re above a certain level of income, you have to either have insurance or post a bond.”'

Medtronic to Pay $23.5M to Settle Kickback Claims - NYTimes.com "Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries depend on their physicians to make decisions based on sound medical judgment, especially when they are choosing which pacemaker or defibrillator to implant," B. Todd Jones, U.S. attorney for Minnesota, said in a statement. "Medical device manufactures must not be permitted to use improper payments to cloud that judgment." (nytimes.com)

Bold mice yield a clue about anxiety - Business - The Boston Globe "So instead of studying memory, the researchers designed a slate of experiments that could unravel the source of the unexpected fearlessness. The MIT researchers and collaborators reported last week in the journal Cell that the protein best known for the role it plays in aging also appears to influence anxiety, depression, and exploratory behavior in mice." (bostonglobe.com)

Saudi Woman Beheaded for Sorcery - The Daily Beast "Saudi Arabia executed a woman Monday for practicing magic and sorcery, which is banned in the ultra-conservative kingdom. But it obviously doesn’t ban beheading, which was how Amina bin Abdulhalim Nassar was killed, according to the interior ministry. The woman reportedly claimed she could treat people’s illnesses using witchcraft. Another woman was executed in October, reportedly for setting her husband’s house on fire, killing him. Saudi Arabia has beheaded 73 people this year." (The Daily Beast)