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

Senate Passes Historic Medicare Reform

The most sweeping changes to the 38-year-old Medicare program won final Congressional approval Tuesday morning as the U.S. Senate passed legislation that includes a prescription drug plan for seniors. The vote was 55-44.

The $395 billion measure now goes to President Bush, who is certain to sign it.

The drug plan does not begin until 2006, although starting next year, seniors will be able to buy a discount card that informed sources say will cut their drug bills by as much as 25 percent, the Associated Press reports.

"For the first time since 1965, Medicare has been expanded to provide important prescription drug coverage and financial relief for millions of older and disabled Americans and their families," AARP head Bill Novelli said in a statement. The AARP lobbied hard for the bill, much to the dismay of its critics and many of its members.

Opponents vowed to continue fighting. "This is not the final vote," the New York Times quotes Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) as saying. "This is the beginning of the end; it is not the end. We will see many many more votes."

The House of Representatives barely passed the Republican-sponsored drug bill early Saturday. The final House vote was 220 for, 215 against.

The bill, which will also expand the role of private insurers, has created deep divisions in Congress. Supporters call it a fundamental change that would help older Americans rein in their prescription drug costs, while opponents see it as a handout to insurers and drug companies that would ruin Medicare.

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'Morning After' Pill May Go Over the Counter

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering a plan to make the so-called "morning after" pill an over-the-counter medication that would not require a doctor's prescription, the Associated Press reports.

In order to prevent pregnancy, the pill should be taken within 24 hours but not more than 72 hours after sexual intercourse. Proponents say making it over the counter would speed a woman's ability to acquire the drug following rape, contraceptive failure, or simply forgetting birth control.

While the FDA says the drug is very safe to use, there is concern that some women may not know exactly how and when to use it without having seen a doctor first.

In five states -- Washington, California, Alaska, Hawaii, and New Mexico -- women are already able buy the emergency contraceptive without a doctor's approval, the AP reports. Laws in those states are designed to make access to the drug quicker and easier, especially on weekends and holidays when finding a doctor may be difficult.

Critics of the medication, including the Vatican, oppose any medical interference with a fertilized egg. Proponents counter that making the drug more widely available could prevent as many as 1.7 million unplanned pregnancies a year, the AP reports.

The FDA's scientific advisors are to begin debate on the matter next month.

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NBA Star Retires Due to Kidney Ailment

New Jersey Nets center Alonzo Mourning has been forced to retire immediately because of a chronic kidney condition, the NBA club announced Monday afternoon.

His condition, focal glomerulosclerosis, attacks the kidney's filters that remove waste from the blood. The resulting damage can lead to kidney failure, which requires dialysis or, at worst, a kidney transplant.

Mourning's doctor, kidney specialist Dr. Gerald Appel of Columbia University Medical Center, says the seven-time All-Star had been in partial remission, but his condition rapidly worsened in recent weeks.

"Although he still feels well, the chemical imbalances in his blood make it dangerous for him to play," Appel says in a prepared statement. Mourning will need a kidney transplant and a search is already under way for a prospective donor, the team said.

Mourning, 33, was diagnosed in 2000 while a player with the Miami Heat. He sat out all of last season due to the illness, joining the Nets as a free agent in March.

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Morning Workout Promises a Good Night's Sleep: Study

A little workout in the morning could translate into a lot more shut-eye at night, particularly if you are an older woman who has trouble sleeping.

Morning exercisers had fewer complaints about a bad night's sleep and those who stretched in the morning had somewhat better sleep, scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle report in the November issue of the journal Sleep. Women who exercise in the evening, on the other hand, were more likely to be up at night, they say.

The women in the study didn't need much morning activity to get the benefit. "It's like doing a brisk walk," researcher Anne McTiernan told the Associated Press. "Nobody is saying people have to be athletes and do marathons."

The research involved postmenopausal women between 50 and 75 who were cancer-free and not exercising at the start of the project. Eighty-seven were placed in an exercise program, which involved 45 minutes of walking or pedaling an exercise bike five days a week, and 86 in a stretching program, which was done for an hour a week under supervision and a half-hour three times a week on their own. Both groups were followed for a year.

Women who exercised averaged 70 percent better sleep, and women who stretched averaged 30 percent better sleep, the study found.

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Sugary, Starchy Foods Linked to Birth Defects

Pregnant women who eat sugary, starchy, and highly processed foods like white bread may have double the risk of conceiving children with birth defects, University of California researchers say.

They compared the diets of more than 900 mothers, finding that those who ate foods that gave a quick sugar high also doubled their risk of having a baby with neural tube defects like spina bifida. The foods were rated according to their glycemic index (GI), a measure of how likely they are to cause blood sugar to surge.

Foods that contain highly refined carbohydrates include potatoes, white bread, rice, and many popular breakfast cereals, the Sydney Morning Herald says.

Experts caution against initially reading too much into these results, however, since some of the "problem" foods cited also have proven beneficial to pregnant women and their unborn children.

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