AP – Being fat in middle age may slash women’s chances of making it to their golden years in good health by almost 80 percent, a new study says. American researchers observed more than 17,000 female nurses with an average age of 50 in the U.S. All of the women were healthy when the study began in 1976. Researchers then monitored the women’s weight, along with other health changes, every two years until 2000.
AP – A British health official said Tuesday that the sudden death of 14-year-old girl was very unlikely to have been caused by the vaccine she was given hours before she died.
AP – Fast-food places have them. Banks and pharmacies do, too. Now hospitals are opening drive-thrus and drive-up tent clinics to screen and treat a swelling tide of swine flu patients.
AP – The common cold and flu both the seasonal and the new swine flu are caused by different viruses but can have some similar symptoms, making them tough to tell apart. In general, the flu is worse and symptoms are more intense.
Reuters – Congo’s army has suspended an officer accused of drinking with the enemy ahead of a militia attack that the United Nations said left six soldiers dead, a top army commander said Tuesday.
Reuters – Italian fashionistas on Wednesday hit back at foreign media reports that their latest creations were for “bimbos” inspired by the sex scandals surrounding Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s private life.
Reuters – Only in Tokyo could you hire a cat out for an hour and stroke it while you have a cappuccino — or better still, while a robot cooks your noodles for you.
AP – Democrats sought to give government the right to sell insurance in competition with private industry Tuesday as the Senate Finance Committee opened a second week of debate over massive health care legislation.
AP – British health officials temporarily suspended a vaccination program in an English city Tuesday after a 14-year-old girl died a few hours after being vaccinated against the virus that causes cervical cancer.
AP – A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a program that requires some members of the military to be vaccinated against anthrax over objections from service members who say the vaccine has not been proven to be effective.
AP – Less than 10 percent of U.S. high school students are eating the combined recommended daily amount of fruits and vegetables, a finding that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called “poor” in a report Tuesday.
AP – It’s hard for pregnant women to escape the message: You’re at extra risk from swine flu it could trigger premature labor, hospitalize you for weeks, even kill you so be among the first in line for vaccine next month. But only about one in seven pregnant women gets a flu shot each winter.
AP – Hundreds of school buildings across the United States have caulk around windows and doors containing potentially cancer-causing PCBs, the Environmental Protection Agency says.
Reuters – Guido Westerwelle, who is widely expected to become foreign minister in the next German government, admonished a reporter who asked him a question in English on Monday, saying: “We’re in Germany here.”
Reuters – Lurking deep in the mist-glazed forests of east Africa, Uganda’s mountain gorillas are preparing to ‘tweet’ for their survival.
Reuters – Top Pentagon officials are calling for an end to the U.S. military’s historical ban on allowing women to serve in submarines.
AP – Call it a health care gamble: the decision by some people to opt out of health insurance, paying cash for routine care while playing the odds that an accident or catastrophic illness won’t plunge them into financial ruin.
AP – More than half a million U.S. children yearly have bad reactions or side effects from widely used medicines that require medical treatment and sometimes hospitalization, new research shows.
