Chickenpox Lollipops? Mailing Tainted Suckers So Kids Develop Immunity Is Illegal

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Parents fearful of vaccinations are being warned by a federal prosecutor that making a deal with a stranger who promises to mail them lollipops licked by children with chickenpox isn't just a bad idea, it's against the law.Jerry Martin, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, said he was spurred by reports this week by KPHO-TV in Phoenix and WSMV-TV in Nashville about people turning to Facebook to find lollipops, spit or other items from children who have chickenpox.“Can you imagine getting a package in the mail from...

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Fast Food's Biggest Customer: Not the Poor, But the Middle Class

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Contrary to popular wisdom, eating at McDonald's isn't exactly cheap, costing some $28 for a family of four. Which might help explain the results of a recent study from the University of California, Davis, which found that people's visits to fast-food joints increased along with their incomes, and that poor people were spending fewer dollars on fast food than lower-middle and middle-income Americans.The authors said their study suggests that the availability of fast food isn't the only driver of obesity in poor groups. "There is a correlation between...

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Halloween Humor: Did Jimmy Kimmel Go Too Far Encouraging Parents to Deceive their Kids?

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Late-night shows are, by definition, irreverent, but Jimmy Kimmel may have taken it a bit far last week when he challenged parents to record themselves telling their kids that they'd binged on all their Halloween candy.Last Monday, I took issue on Healthland with the mean parents who scheme to deny their kids of their Halloween loot: they collaborate with neighbors to hand out only healthy snacks, they let them trick-or-treat only to force them to hand out their stash to kids who ring their doorbell later in the evening; they whisk it away and leave...

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NYC Marathon Sunday: Healthland's Tips for a Safe, Fun Run

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty ImagesOn Sunday, Nov. 6, tens of thousands of participants of the annual ING New York City Marathon will hurtle through the city's five boroughs. That's a lot of potential for fun — and for pain.Following are a few tips Healthland has collected for running a safe race and recovering from the post-marathon blues.Are you ready? This is a no-brainer, but make sure you are in truly race-ready shape — the fitter you are before...

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Trick or Treat? FDA Warns Against Too Much Black Licorice

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Just in time for Halloween, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning people away from eating too much black licorice.For adults age 40 or older, the FDA says, eating 2 ounces of black licorice a day for at least two weeks may lead to arrhythmia, or irregular heart rhythm, which could land you in the emergency room.The culprit is glycyrrhizin, a sweetening compound derived from licorice root. In large amounts, glycyrrhizin can cause the body's potassium levels to drop, which in turn, may lead to abnormal heartbeat and high blood pressure....

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FDA Touts Increased Drug Approvals, Near Record for a Decade

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Number of new drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the year ending in September 2011 — an approval rate that has been exceeded just once in the previous decade. The FDA said it was the first in the world to approve 24 of the drugs, including many that were "truly medically important," according to FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg, such as the first drug for lupus in 50 years, the first drug for Hodgkin's lymphoma in 30 years, and the first drug to prolong survival in late-stage melanoma patients. The FDA pointed to its increase...

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It's No Guarantee, But You Should Get the Flu Shot Anyway

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota As vaccines go, the flu shot is no exemplar. A comprehensive new review of the research, published online by The Lancet Infectious Diseases, finds that the vaccine prevented illness in 59% of adults aged 18 to 64, and in eight of 12 flu seasons studied.The authors said that evidence of effectiveness was particularly lacking in children aged 2 to 17 and in certain populations that are especially vulnerable to flu like elderly people over 65.Still, said lead author Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy...

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Your Product Is Free of Parabens, Sulfates and Lots of Other Things: Should You Care?

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Roxanne Green is a corporate ingredient-reader. What that means is she gets paid to do what savvy (neurotic?) consumers spend hours doing in the cosmetics aisle.Green, who works at PCC Markets outside Seattle, follows an extensive list from the nonprofit Natural Products Association (NPA) detailing what ingredients the group prohibits. She scrutinizes every label and tosses any products that don't meet the NPA's strict standards. In the course of this laborious work, she's noticed a new marketing trend: an increasing number of shampoos, soaps...

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How Being Socially Connected May Sap Your Empathy

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Feeling socially connected is good for you, both physically and mentally, but in a paradox, it may also make you less empathetic to the plight of others.Numerous studies have established that having lots of social support is associated with longevity and better psychological health, but past studies have also hinted that there's something about the chemistry of connection that inclines people toward unkindness — particularly toward stigmatized groups like those with disabilities or addictions.The researchers of the new study wanted to explore this...

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Study: H1N1 Can Be Deadly Even for Healthy Kids

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Flu prevention is important for everyone, but here's another reason to make sure to get vaccinated: in a study of childhood flu deaths from the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, researchers found that otherwise healthy kids can succumb to the virus, particularly if they've already got an increasingly common bacterial infection.The infection, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), sent previously healthy kids to the hospital and increased their risk of death from flu to eight times that of MRSA-free children, according to research published...

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Study: Whites More Likely to Abuse Drugs Than Blacks

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Black youth are arrested for drug crimes at a rate ten times higher than that of whites. But new research shows that young African Americans are actually less likely to use drugs and less likely to develop substance use disorders, compared to whites, Native Americans, Hispanics and people of mixed race.“Our goal is to alert people to the burden of drug problems and also to how some of our concern about who has these problems may not be true,” says Dr. Dan Blazer, senior author of the study and a professor of psychiatry at Duke University. “There's...

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Why Leather Football Helmets Could Provide a Better Defense Against Concussion

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota If we want to cut down on football concussions, should we bring back the leather helmet? Not quite, says a new study in the Journal of Neurosurgery, though the noggin-protectors of yore do at least as good of a job as modern helmets at staving off concussions.Modern helmets do a much better job of preventing deadly skull fractures. But on the type of lower-impact hits to the head you typically see in college and high school games — the constant subconcussive blows that can also cause brain damage — leatherheads do a comparable, and sometimes...

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Why Air Fresheners Can Trigger Respiratory Problems

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota They may smell sweet, but popular air fresheners can cause serious lung problems.That's the message from a new study presented over the weekend at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI). Home fragrance products often contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that include such nasty chemicals as formalehyde, petroleum distillates, limonene, esters and alcohols. (Download a copy of the presentation here.Exposures to such VOCs — even at levels below currently accepted safety recommendations — can...

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This race isn't about running

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Chris Fenton completed his sixth marathon of the year in Appleton, Wisconsin, in September. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's team raises money for blood cancer researchChris Fenton is running 10 marathons in six months in honor of his motherSharing personal stories helps runners focus on the goal, donors open wallets(CNN) -- While the coastal town of Savannah, Georgia, fills with spectators on Saturday for the Rock 'n' Roll marathon, Chris Fenton...

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The Plutonium Problem: Who Pays For Space Fuel?

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota November 8, 2011Audio for this story from Morning Edition will be available at approx. 9:00 a.m. ET NASA NASA's next Mars rover, Curiosity, seen in this artist's concept, will use 8 pounds of plutonium-238 as its power supply. That's a significant portion of the remaining space fuel. NASA and the Department of Energy have offered to split the costs of producing the fuel, but Congress has so far opposed that arrangement.When NASA's next Mars rover blasts...

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Nebraska May Play Key Role In Canada Pipeline Battle

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Nati Harnik/AP TransCanada plans to build the Keystone XL pipeline through Nebraska's Sandhills region shown here in Mills, Neb. State legislators have introduced bills barring pipelines in environmentally sensitive areas like the Sandhills and the Ogallala aquifer.Thousands of demonstrators ringed the White House on Sunday afternoon, demanding that President Obama deny permission for a proposed pipeline to carry crude oil from the tar sands of Canada...

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Are you missing your child's pain?

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Pediatric pain experts say children's pain is often undermedicated.Doctors say they children's pain is often undermedicatedParents, doctors worry about drug overdoses or misuseParents encouraged to ask doctors questions before child leaves hospitalDoctors, parents often miss the pain of quiet children(CNN) -- It's happened so many times that Dr. Raymond Pitetti has lost count: A child comes into the emergency room with, say, a broken leg, and doctors...

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New pain for cancer baby and family

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Both Saoirse Fitzgerald and her mother, Kezia, have battled cancer this year.A family faces new setbacks as both mom, baby have struggled with cancerFamily relies on food stamps after dad loses job and health insuranceMedical events are leading cause of bankruptcies, 2009 study says(CNN) -- Since Kezia Fitzgerald and her 1-year-old daughter, Saiorse, started cancer treatments this year, the disease has upended nearly every aspect of their lives.CNNHealth.com...

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Nobel Prize-Winning Physicist Norman Ramsey Dies

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota If you want to know what time it is, a smart way to find out is call the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. We owe this accurate timekeeping to a man named Norman Ramsey. Ramsey died Friday at 96. It was his scientific research in the years following World War II that revolutionized how we keep track of time.Copyright © 2011 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.GUY RAZ, host: If you want to know what time it is, a smart way to do so is call the U.S. Naval...

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After dieting, hormone changes may fuel weight regain

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota "Maintenance of weight loss requires continued vigilance and conscious effort to resist hunger," lead researcher says.Hunger-related hormones can remain at altered levels for at least a yearA drop in body fat percentage causes a decrease in the levels of certain hormones Finding an appetite suppressant of this sort is the next logical step in research(Health.com) -- Losing weight is hard, but keeping the pounds off can be even harder.By some estimates,...

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A love story of Halloween

This is a weekend full of things, go in the dark, boo, so here a little Boo (a love story between a skeleton and a beautiful maiden is). They meet - or they have already made? -in a famous Bookstore in Paris.That comes from director Spike Jonze and Olympia Le-Tan-Designer. It is called mourir auprès de Toi, or to die by your side.Many beautiful books and a very famous whale make cameo appearances.Warning: There is explicitly sexual behaviour at the end, while the credits, but since they are all dead, there is no x-rated parts of the body. However, should imaginative left young people when the...

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Dad's depression may rub off on kids

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota A child's odds of developing emotional problems increase by as much as 70% if the father shows signs of depression.The situation is predictably worse if both parents are depressedThat proportion increases to 11% if the father is depressedGenes often play a role in passing depression and other mental-health problems(Health.com) -- Doctors and researchers have known for years that children are more likely to develop mental-health problems if their mother...

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From Nebraska Lab To McDonald's Tray: The McRib's Strange Journey

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Enlarge Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images Fast food giant McDonald's has brought back the McRib until Nov. 14. The sandwich has gained cult acclaim over the past three decades because of its limited availability. Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images Fast food giant McDonald's has brought back the McRib until Nov. 14. The sandwich has gained cult acclaim over the past three decades because of its limited availability.Since McDonald's announced the seasonal...

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