Boston: Old medicine proven effective against blood clots

Steady low doses of an old-fashioned blood thinner have been shown to dramatically lower the risk of recurring, dangerous blood clots in the legs and lungs, offering the first effective treatment for an estimated 750,000 U.S. victims annually.

Until now, there has been no accepted long-term therapy to prevent these sporadic clots from coming back, as they often do. The new study, released Monday, found that a modest dose of the drug warfarin reduces this risk by two-thirds.

Dr. Paul Ridker of Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, who directed the federally sponsored study, said the treatment costs pennies a day and is easy to administer once the correct dose is determined for each patient.

China: Quake toll above 250

Survivors dug through rubble and called out for their missing loved ones after a powerful earthquake knocked down homes and schools on Monday in western China, officials said. At least 261 people were killed and more than 2,050 injured.

The quake toppled farmhouses on families and collapsed schools on students in Bachu county, near China’s mountainous border with Kyrgyzstan. Thousands were left homeless and without shelter overnight in 14-degree temperatures.

More than 2,000 soldiers and paramilitary policemen joined rescue efforts.

Colombia: Americans declared POWs

Colombian rebels declared Monday that three captured Americans were “prisoners of war” and will be freed only as part of a broad prisoner exchange with Colombian government.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, demanded a demilitarized zone from the Colombian government in order to exchange the three Americans and dozens of Colombian soldiers and police for insurgents in Colombian prisons.

The three Americans were captured on Feb. 13 after their U.S. government plane went down in FARC territory. A fourth American and a Colombian were shot and killed near the scene of the crash. Colombian authorities announced Monday they had captured a suspect in the killings.

Florida: Oldest American man dies

The oldest living American man died Monday from heart failure. He was 113.

John McMorran, of Lakeland, considered coffee his elixir and quit cigars at age 97. He was born June 19, 1889, in Michigan. He was the fourth-oldest person in the world.

He briefly held the title of the nation’s oldest person, but researchers confirmed Mary Christian of San Pablo, Calif., was born June 12, 1889, according to the California-based Gerontology Research Group.

The oldest person in the world is 115-year-old Kamato Hongo of Japan. She was born Sept. 16, 1887, according to the research group.