PLANET health

The FDA now forbids sale of tobacco products to youths under age 18; tobacco company sponsorship of athletic, musical, or social events; free samples of smokeless tobacco; and more.

Researchers in the US genetically engineer fruit flies to have glowing sperm in order to track its performance in the female.

Extreme obesity has reached ''alarming'' levels among children, according to a new study that looked at the weights and heights of more than 710,000 children aged 2 to 19.

Building the health care legislation was not a shopping spree, but more like a trip to the local fruit stand with a set amount of money in hand and every item clearly marked.

An unprecedented diverse and large number of national organizations released a joint message to Congress urging the enactment of health care reform. The groups announced their support for the pending reform legislation at a press conference today and in two-page advertisements in Capitol Hill newspapers...

About 1.7 million people suffer traumatic brain injuries in the United States every year and tens of thousands are fatal, the CDC says.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognizes the five-fold increase in unintentional drug overdose deaths noted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between 1990 and 2006 as a serious public health concern. Much of this increase follows from increases in the deaths from the use of opioid drugs, which in 2006 accounted for more overdose deaths than heroin and cocaine combined. The agency is also concerned about misuse of benzodiazepines (e.g., Valium and Xanax), which accounted for 272,000 emergency department visits in 2008 (compared to 306,000 for opioids)...

A British soldier who was blinded by a grenade in Iraq three years ago said his life has been transformed since he was fitted with a prototype BrainPort device that allows him to "see" with his tongue. 24-year old Lance Corporal Craig Lundberg from Walton in Liverpool, UK, told BBC News on Monday that while the device is only a prototype, it has a lot of potential to advance things for blind people: "the potential to change my life is massive," he said...

Leading US clinical speakers David Newkirk and William Bo Bruce are to headline the Friday lecture programme at the 2010 British Dental Conference and Exhibition. Both are renowned experts in the field of restorative and aesthetic dentistry and are accredited members of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. William Bo Bruce is Affiliate Assistant Professor at the Medical University of South Carolina College of Dental Medicine. David Newkirk is a general dental practitioner in Naperville Illinois...

Football fans travelling to the World Cup in South Africa should be vaccinated against swine flu, the Department of Health has warned.

Want to know how to get your cat to the veterinarian without being clawed? The CATalyst Council and American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) are holding a press conference on Friday, March 19, offering advice on how to make veterinary visits for feline patients pain free for cats and their owners. "Even more than dog owners, cat owners commonly report that it's difficult to get their pet to the veterinarian. With a little planning and training, cats can learn how to travel comfortably and safely in a carrier," explains Dr...

By THOMAS GOETZ Thomas Goetz is the author of "The Decision Tree: Taking Control of Your Health in the New Age of Personalized Medicine." The executive editor at Wired Magazine, you can follow him on Twitter twitter.com/tgoetz. One of the...

A study of a government database found that trials dealing with sexual functions often explicitly excluded people based on sexual orientation.

Leanne Metcalf, Director of Research at Asthma UK, says: 'There is now a broad spectrum of evidence which suggests that the pre-natal environment, including factors such as maternal stress and family history, can influence whether or not a child will go on to develop asthma symptoms. This study is important as it suggests that a newborn with a family history of asthma or allergy will respond more strongly to asthma triggers if their mothers have higher stress levels during pregnancy...

The School Nutrition Association and the School Nutrition Foundation announced that Dallas Independent School District in Dallas, Texas, Polk County Public Schools in Bartow, Florida, Willamina School District in Willamina, Oregon, and El Paso Independent School District in El Paso, Texas have received the District of Excellence in School Nutrition distinction...

A newspaper article has reawakened a controversy over whether provincial authorities improperly stored vaccines, rendering them ineffective, and then let them be administered to children.

Diabetes is one of the most significant health issues facing Alabama today and is expected to remain so in the years ahead. Two events are planned to educate and inform the public about diabetes on March 23, Diabetes Alert Day. In Central Alabama the Alabama Department of Public Health will sponsor a 30-minute special television call-in program titled "Diabetic Breakthroughs-A Central Alabama Diabetes News Special." The program will feature an expert medical panel who will answer questions from the public...

Source: HealthDay -
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