A few drinks while pregnant may be OK
When a woman drinks heavily during pregnancy, it can cause profound damage to her unborn child. Nobody knows how much alcohol, if any, is safe, so the U.S. surgeon general and the Centers for Disease...
View ArticleDementia complicates romance in nursing homes
Relationships are never easy. If the partners in love happen to be living in a nursing home, there are even more challenges. And if they're showing signs of dementia, then things get really tricky....
View ArticleFeds move to curb abusive debt collection by nonprofit hospitals
Deb Waldin was in agony when she arrived at the emergency room of Fairview Southdale, a nonprofit hospital in suburban Minneapolis. On a scale of 1 to 10, she says her pain was at 12. She turned out to...
View ArticleCats might threaten your mental health
There's fresh evidence that cats can be a threat to your mental health. To be fair, it's not kitties themselves that are the problem, but a parasite they carry called Toxoplasma gondii. A study of more...
View ArticleDistractions come naturally to teenage drivers
Distracted driving is a problem for all drivers, but teens are at higher risk. Yes, it's true that drivers under 25 are up to three times more likely to send text messages or emails while behind the...
View ArticleDallas Deploys Old Weapon In New Mosquito Fight
The recent outbreak of West Nile virus in the Dallas area has led to a new round of large-scale spraying for mosquitoes — a method of treating outbreaks that has generations of success, and even...
View ArticleTeen pregnancy declines, but U.S. still lags
Roxana Castro sits in an orange chair in the waiting room at Mary's Center in Washington, D.C. She's 17, and expecting a baby boy next month. The pregnancy was a surprise, she says, mostly for her...
View ArticlePlanned Parenthood windfall funds breast health expansion
When the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure moved to cut funding for Planned Parenthood's work to screen women for breast cancer early this year, the reaction was swift and furious.
View ArticleThe perils of teens sacrificing sleep for late-night studying
High school students with heavy academic course loads often find the demands of homework colliding with the need for adequate sleep.
View ArticleOldest Americans living longer, and are fitter and richer, too
America's oldest citizens are generally getting healthier, living longer and doing better financially. But there's lots of room for improvement. That's the take-home from an exhaustive picture of...
View ArticleOfficials say West Nile outbreak could be worst ever in U.S.
As cases of West Nile virus continue to increase, authorities warned today that this could turn out to be the worst outbreak since the virus first showed up in the United States in 1999. The New York...
View ArticleSubtracting calories may not add years to life
Scientists have known for decades that lab rats and mice will live far longer than normal if they're fed a super-low-calorie diet, and that's led some people to eat a near-starvation diet in the hopes...
View ArticleDoes mother's abortion history affect baby's birth weight?
Women who had multiple abortions before giving birth to a first child were more likely to have that child very prematurely or to deliver a child with a low birth weight, according to one of the first...
View ArticleStudy questions whether organic food is healthier for you
Yes, organics is a $29 billion industry and still growing. Something is pulling us toward those organic veggies that are grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. But if you're thinking that...
View ArticleLet Sleepless Babies Cry (For A While), If They Want To
When cranky babies won't sleep, is it OK to let them cry it out? The short answer: Yes, within limits. Many parents these days try to help their babies learn to sleep better by letting them cry a little.
View ArticleThe next frontier for elite med schools: Primary care
Johns Hopkins, Yale, Harvard, Columbia and Cornell. What do these medical schools have in common? Beyond their first-rate reputations, they're also on the short list of top U.S. med schools that don't...
View ArticleKids exposed to 'startling' amounts of background TV, researchers say
Parents, if nobody is watching the TV, please turn it off. Researchers who conducted a national survey of kids' exposure to TVs droning on in the background say, "The amount of exposure for the average...
View ArticleHow some parents could learn adult daughters' birth control habits
The 2010 health law removes one of the big barriers to contraception for many young women: cost. But if they don't feel confident that the care they will receive is confidential, these women may not...
View Article'Addictive' cigarette smoking games on smartphones target kids
You can do just about anything with your phone these days. Take an electrocardiogram. Confess your sins. Even smoke a cigarette
View ArticleBeer, wine and spirits: When counting our liquid calories, are we honest?
When it comes to tallying our liquid calories, we're not always so accurate. Does that tiny 5-ounce serving of wine really count as a glass of wine? (The answer is yes.) So as the season of...
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