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ODDITIES, MUSINGS AND NEWS FROM THE HEALTH WORLD
How to keep children from smoking? This Web chat Tuesday can help

How to keep children from smoking? This Web chat Tuesday can help

Each day about 3,900 children younger than 18 smoke their first cigarette, and more than 950 will become regular smokers, according to the American Lung Assn. But parents can deter their kids from taking up this life-shortening habit.

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Autism's moral judgment gap explored

Imagine navigating a world of social situations in which you are a very poor judge of other people's motivations and state of mind. It could seem like a very random world indeed.

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Pain, being busy may be obstacles to having mammograms, a study finds

Pain, being busy may be obstacles to having mammograms, a study finds

Women who don't have mammograms may have various reasons why they skip the test, according to a study, including fearing the pain they may experience and being too busy.

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A different kind of Lab test to identify colorectal cancer

A different kind of Lab test to identify colorectal cancer

The doctor will see you now – and she has four legs and a tail.

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Head lice -- and school policies -- can present problems

Head lice -- and school policies -- can present problems

Fewer things provoke more disgust (even though they present no public health threat) than head lice. More and more parents are discovering this tiny beast, which spreads from head-to-head contact, in young children’s hair.

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Aerobic exercise can increase brain size, keeping you mentally sharp

Another reason to follow through with that New Year's resolution: Aerobic exercise keeps the aging brain -- as well as the aging body -- in fighting form. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Illinois, Rice University and Ohio State showed that a program of aerobic exercise, over the course of a year, can increase the size of the hippocampus -- a part of the brain key to memory and spatial navigation -- in adults ages 55 to 80. 

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Flu in kids typically spreads boy to boy and girl to girl

Flu in kids typically spreads boy to boy and girl to girl

Flu spreads faster in schools than rumors about a pop quiz. But science is revealing more about how germs jump from child to child and strategies that might prevent larger flu outbreaks.

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Dietary guidelines that tell us to eat less -- finally?

Dietary guidelines that tell us to eat less -- finally?

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans may seem unremarkable -- eat more vegetables, limit saturated fat, etc. But some nutrition scientists are pleased that they seem to do one thing more forcefully than before: Tell us to eat less.

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Race might play a role in how doctors counsel obese patients, study finds

Race might play a role in how doctors counsel obese patients, study finds

Reducing obesity in America has become a top priority among healthcare professionals, but what if your doctor doesn't explain how to lose weight?

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Two Guys Lose Weight: Hey Mom, where's the MEATLOAF??

The following is a blog documenting two Los Angeles Times editors' attempts to lose weight. It all began on Jan. 10.

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Two Guys Lose Weight: Society is to blame for my beer belly

Two Guys Lose Weight: Society is to blame for my beer belly

NOTE: This is a blog about two guys attempting to lose weight over a six-week period.  They kicked off their weight loss "strategies" on Jan. 10.

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Is Bill Gates' fight against polio quixotic or practical?

Is Bill Gates' fight against polio quixotic or practical?

Bill Gates is taking a tough stance on polio -- and not everyone in the research community agrees with it.

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CDC issues guidance on using Truvada as an HIV preventative

CDC issues guidance on using Truvada as an HIV preventative

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is in a tough spot. It has said repeatedly that the HIV-fighting drug Truvada may be used to treat HIV in gay and bisexual men, but it initially issued a cautionary note on using the drug for prevention before it could issue more detailed guidelines for its use.

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The Dietary Guidelines are coming!

The Dietary Guidelines are coming!

Yes, the Dietary Guidelines are coming!

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Diet Coke supports heart health despite soda's link to increased risk of heart disease

Diet Coke supports heart health despite soda's link to increased risk of heart disease

February is “American Heart Month,” and our e-mail inboxes are filling up with information about all sorts of cardiovascular-related events, including a celebrity-studded game of Capture the Flag at UCLA.

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Talk Back: Breast implants and cancer: Is the risk being downplayed  -- or overplayed?

Talk Back: Breast implants and cancer: Is the risk being downplayed -- or overplayed?

Breast implants might increase the risk of a rare type of cancer known as anaplastic large cell lymphoma -- or they might not.

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Heart attacks in public places: why you're more likely to survive

Every year, some 300,000 Americans suffer a heart attack outside of a hospital, and the overall statistics are pretty grim: only 7.9% survive.

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Breast implants and 'possible link' to rare cancer -- surgeon associations respond

Breast implants and 'possible link' to rare cancer -- surgeon associations respond

You've no doubt heard about the Food and Drug Administration’s investigation of the "possible association" between breast implants and a rare form of cancer known as anaplastic large cell lymphoma, or ALCL. And you've heard the media reaction (and possibly concerned friends or relatives or coworkers or...) Now let's hear from the folks who implant those implants.

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Tuition tension? More than half of those stressed-out freshmen have loans for college, survey says

Tuition tension? More than half of those stressed-out freshmen have loans for college, survey says

Here’s a postscript to the UCLA survey in which college freshmen gave themselves low grades for their emotional health. The big stressors for the students might be the same big stressors parents face: how to pay for college.

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Two Guys Lose Weight:  A healthy mind will lead to a healthy body

Two Guys Lose Weight: A healthy mind will lead to a healthy body

NOTE: This is a blog about two guys attempting to lose weight over a six-week period.  They kicked off their weight loss "strategies" on Jan. 10

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