The diabetes medication liraglutide helped more than twice as many obese subjects in a clinical trial lose 5% of their body weight, and more than three times as many lose a tenth of their body weight, compared with subjects taking a placebo, according to new research. Read more.

First lady Michelle Obama is expected to be among the dignitaries in attendance at the opening ceremony of the Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles in July. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/TNS)

First lady Michelle Obama is headed to Los Angeles next month to cheer on athletes with disabilities at the Special Olympics World Games, organizers say. Read more.

Terri Anderson signed up for California’s Medicaid program earlier this year, hoping she’d finally get treatment for her high blood pressure. But the insurer operating her Medicaid plan assigned the 57-year-old to a doctor across town from her Riverside, Calif., home and she couldn’t get there.

“It was just too far away,” says Anderson, adding that she cares for her 90-year-old ill father and can’t leave him alone to make an hour round-trip drive to the doctor. Now she’s crossing her fingers that a health clinic near her house will accept her new insurance. Read more.

The online rating service Angie’s List is better known as a place to find plumbers and painters, but reviews are increasingly popping up for providers who assist people with disabilities. (Thinkstock)

“The information we get on providers is very limited,” said Lisa Ryan, whose 32-year-old son has developmental disabilities. “We desperately need something to make it easier for the consumer.” Read more.

The stares and whispers were one thing, but when somebody broke in and stole their pet chickens, many of the developmentally disabled adults of Farm to Fork felt like the world was against them.

In the weeks that followed, something encouraging happened. Strangers reached out and offered to help in myriad ways, easing the hurt and transforming the feeling of alienation into a more complex understanding. “The biggest thing is they realized there are kind and caring people out there,” Farm to Fork co-founder and executive director Jennifer Van Buskirk said. Read more.