Health Highlights: May 23, 2012

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Nancy Reagan Recovering From Fall

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan is still recovering from a fall in March in which she sustained a number of broken ribs, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. She was unable to attend an event Tuesday evening at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., CNN reported.

Reagan, 90, “has been recovering slowly and has been adding a few appointments back on to her schedule, but was advised by her doctor today not to try and attend large events too far from home just yet,” spokeswoman Joanne Drake said Tuesday.

According to CNN, Mrs. Reagan has been hospitalized at least two times over the past few years and rarely appears in public. In October 2008, she was hospitalized with a broken pelvis after a fall at her home, CNN said.

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Chan Reappointed WHO Director-General

Dr. Margaret Chan has won a second five-year term as director-general of the World Health Organization.

Chan ran unopposed and was reappointed Wednesday during a closed-door session, the Associated Press reported.

In a WHO news release, Chan said she will fight for universal health coverage as “the single most powerful concept that public health has to offer. It is a powerful equalizer.”

She also said uncertainty over international health funding is a top priority, the AP reported.

Chan is a Canadian-trained medical doctor with Chinese nationality who joined WHO in 2003, after serving as health director in Hong Kong.

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High Radiation Found Around Fukushima Nuke Plant: WHO

Several areas near the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan had radiation above cancer-causing levels, but most of the nation did not, according to a World Health Organization report released Wednesday.

The first global report about radiation exposure from last year’s meltdowns at the nuclear plant said increases in radiation were below cancer-causing levels in nearly all of Japan, the Associated Press reported.

Neighboring countries had radiation levels similar to normal background radiation, while the rest of the world had some minor radiation exposure through food.

Previously, the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that radiation levels in some Japanese vegetables and milk were much higher than Japan allows for consumption, the AP reported.

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Bagged Salads Recall Expanded

More types of River Ranch Fresh Foods bagged salads are being recalled after routine sampling detected contamination with Listeria monocytogenes bacteria.

The initial recall by the Salinas, Calif.-based growing included lettuce shipped to California and Colorado. The expanded recall includes bagged salads that were shipped nationwide and sold under the names River Ranch, Farm Stand, Hy-Vee, Marketside, Shurfresh, The Farmer’s Market, Cross Valley, Fresh n Easy, Promark and Sysco, reported CBS News and the Associated Press.

No illnesses have been reported, according to the company.

The recalled salad bags have “best by” dates between May 12 and May 29, or Julian dates of 118 and 125, CBS/AP reported.

For more information, consumers can call River Ranch 24 hours a day at 1-800-762-7708.