BOSTON - The level of nicotine found in U.S. cigarettes has risen about 10 percent in the past six years, making it harder to quit and easier to get hooked, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Massachusetts Department of Health... The study found the three most popular cigarette brands with young smokers — Marlboro, Newport and Camel — delivered significantly more nicotine than they did years ago. Nicotine in Kool, a popular menthol brand, rose 20 percent. More than two-thirds of black smokers use menthol brands.

Permalink| Posted @ 12:13 AM | Comments: 0

For all the differences between the sexes, here's one that might stir up debate in the teacher's lounge: Boys learn more from men and girls learn more from women. That's the upshot of a provocative study by Thomas Dee, an associate professor of economics at Swarthmore College and visiting scholar at Stanford University... Vetted and approved by peer reviewers, Dee's research faces a fight for acceptance. Some leading education advocates dispute his conclusions and the way in which he reached them.

Permalink| Posted @ 12:01 AM | Comments: 0

I'm 7 months pregnant and I'm going to travel to Italy and it would take 3 hours journey by plane. I'd like to know if the cabin pressure would affect my baby. Please give me some information about this if it's true. Thanks.

Permalink| Posted @ 3:19 PM | Comments: 0

Forbes magazine may not be known for its relationship tips, but the business publication is getting a lot of attention right now for an article about finding a wife. Editor Michael Noer has written an editorial titled "Don't Marry a Career Woman" in which he outlines the pitfalls he says men will face if they defy that advice. He bases his theory on a batch of recent studies that claim career women are more likely to cheat on their husbands and get divorced. And they'll also want fewer children.

Permalink| Posted @ 12:01 AM | Comments: 0

Women may buy the morning-after pill without a prescription but only with proof they're 18 or older, federal health officials decided Thursday. The Food and Drug Administration ruling culminated a contentious three-year effort to ease access to the emergency contraceptive. Girls 17 and younger still will need a doctor's note to buy the pills, called Plan B, the FDA told manufacturer Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Permalink| Posted @ 12:15 AM | Comments: 0

You may not think of your auto as a fitness center, but those long commutes, maddening traffic snarls and endless carpools can provide a surprising opportunity to tone your muscles -- and maybe relieve a little stress. Besides, if you're doing some simple exercises in the car -- even just while waiting for another red light to change -- you're probably not snacking, a less benign pastime for many drivers and their passengers.

Permalink| Posted @ 12:01 AM | Comments: 0

Whenever you're making a major purchase, insist on seeing the contract well in advance of when you need to sign. Don't rely on the salesperson's summary of what the contract means. If possible, take a copy away from the business so you won't have to read it under the sharklike gaze of the manager. Take a coffee or lunch break and bring the contract with you. Better yet, take it home overnight.

Permalink| Posted @ 12:01 AM | Comments: 0

In more cases than would normally be expected, people who develop type 2 diabetes have a history of carpal tunnel syndrome. The wrist nerve problem sometimes predates the onset of diabetes by up to 10 years, according to a UK study.

Permalink| Posted @ 12:06 AM | Comments: 0

Researchers found that Americans have one-third as many close friends as they did 20 years ago, and nearly three times as many said they don't have a single confidante. This, by the way, is how close friends are defined in the study: people with whom one discusses important matters, though one person listed "getting a haircut" as an important matter.

Permalink| Posted @ 7:44 AM | Comments: 0

The Department of Homeland Security released a statement Wednesday advising Windows PC owners across the nation to update their computers or face a potential attack from hackers. "The Department of Homeland Security is recommending that Windows Operating Systems users apply Microsoft security patch MS06-040 as quickly as possible," the statement read. "This security patch is designed to protect against a vulnerability that, if exploited, could enable an attacker to remotely take control of an affected system."

Permalink| Posted @ 12:01 AM | Comments: 0

About 650,000 American teenagers have exchanged sex for money or drugs, and boys were more likely to have prostituted themselves than girls... close to 4 percent of more than 13,000 U.S. teens in grades seven through 12 reported having ever exchanged sex for drugs or money... boys were far more likely than girls to have participated in prostitution... About 15 percent of boys and 20 percent of girls who prostituted themselves reported that they had had a sexually transmitted infection, compared with 2 percent of boys and 4 percent of girls in the group who had never exchanged sex for money or drugs. Also, far more of those who exchanged sex reported using drugs, especially inhalants and injection drugs.

Permalink| Posted @ 12:01 AM | Comments: 0

The conflicting health information about seafood can make you feel ready to go off the deep end... It's a shame that people are running away from seafood at a time when it gives so many benefits," notes William Lands, a retired National Institutes of Health researcher... The benefits of eating seafood "are likely to be at least 100-fold greater than the estimates of harm, which may not exist at all," according to Walter Willett, professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Permalink| Posted @ 12:52 AM | Comments: 0

Americans have sipped and slurped their way to fatness by drinking far more soda and other sugary drinks over the last four decades, a new scientific review concludes.
An extra can of soda a day can pile on 15 pounds in a single year, and the "weight of evidence" strongly suggests that this sort of increased consumption is a key reason that more people have gained weight, the researchers say.

Permalink| Posted @ 12:42 AM | Comments: 0

Salt.. it's bad for your health. Chances are you're eating way too much of it. If you think setting down the shaker will make a difference, take that advice with a grain of salt. Most salt comes from processed foods and restaurants... For good health, most people need less than a quarter-teaspoon a day of salt — a natural mineral known as sodium chloride. Of course, except for medically supervised diets, it's almost impossible to consume that little... Most Americans consume as much as 2 teaspoons of salt a day, far above the recommended half-teaspoon for healthy adults... Though the mechanism behind it isn't fully understood, high-salt diets can cause high blood pressure, a risk factor for heart and kidney disease and stroke.

Permalink| Posted @ 12:01 AM | Comments: 0

LONDON (Reuters) - Breast-feeding's calming effects seem to be long-lasting. Years after being weaned, breast-fed children cope better with stressful situations like their parents' divorce than their bottle-fed peers, researchers said on Thursday... Breast milk is full of nutrients, hormones, enzymes, growth factors and antibodies that are passed from mother to child. Research has shown breast-feeding reduces infections, respiratory illness and diarrhoea in the child and cuts the risk of after-birth bleeding in the mother.

Permalink| Posted @ 12:21 AM | Comments: 0

In her new book, "The Price of Privilege"... [Madeline] Levine says that over-involved parents who pressure their children to be stars -- in school, on athletic fields, among their peers -- have created a generation that is "extremely unhappy, disconnected and passive." Unabashedly materialistic and disinterested in the wider world, they are both bored and "often boring," she writes. A large number suffer from depression, anxiety and substance abuse... Affluent teens, she writes, are among those least likely to receive treatment for emotional problems, because many of their parents are loath to mar the public image of the perfect family. One recent study found that upper-middle-class girls appear three times more likely to suffer from clinical depression than those from other socioeconomic groups.

Permalink| Posted @ 12:53 AM | Comments: 0