Online Features
Health & Wellness
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Making money health more manageable
(BPT) - When you stray from your fitness goals with a fast-food meal or by skipping a few days at the gym, it’s important to not use those moments as an excuse to stop trying. Financial fitness is the same. When you miss a month of paying into your savings, or allow a credit card balance to roll over to the next month, ...
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Making heads or tails of health care plan options
Health insurance is confusing – regardless of whether your employer provides your insurance, you qualify for Medicare or Medicaid, or if you are footing the bill yourself for private insurance. If you’re in the market to buy insurance on your own, you may worry you might be turned down due to a pre-existing medical con...
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Ask the Pharmacist: Poison prevention starts at home
(BPT) - It’s a serious problem with a simple solution. Nearly 1 million children under the age of 5 are exposed to potentially poisonous medicines and household chemicals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There is no better time than now to learn more about preventing accidental and u...
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Good sleep is essential to leading a healthy life
It’s no secret that getting a good night’s sleep has tremendous health benefits such as improved learning and productivity, protection against serious illnesses, more energy and a better mood. But what you may not know is that not getting enough sleep can have a destructive impact on health, work and overall quality of life. In today’s fast-paced society, many people think it is OK to forego getting enough sleep. Whether it’s due to stress, lifestyle choices or chronic sleep disorders like ...
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Better romance to beat the seasonal blues
(BPT) - As spring struggles to break through in much of the country, many of us can’t help being affected and feeling comfort food, sitcoms and even chocolate aren’t enough to lift our mood. Relationship expert Ian Kerner, Ph.D, the author of five books on sex and relationships, including “Sex Recharge,” shares how to ...
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New technologies offering hope for those with tinnitus - or ringing in the ears
(BPT) - If you experience a constant ringing in your ears that’s bothersome at best and debilitating at worst, you are far from alone. Tinnitus affects roughly one in five Americans and about 16 million people have serious tinnitus that requires medical attention. It’s also the most common disability for military vete...
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Stroke around the world: the shocking truth
If there’s one thing people of different nationalities, cultures and backgrounds have in common, it’s health. Many health threats on the minds of Americans are also issues for people in nations across the world. The silent killer known as stroke not only ends an American life every four minutes, it kills 6 million people around the globe every year. A stroke occurs when an obstruction or rupture in a blood vessel disrupts blood flow to the brain. It can occur as an ischemic stroke, the most...
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When ordinary distraction is something more: diagnosing ADHD
(BPT) - What parent hasn’t had to call a child’s name more than once to get his attention? Or wondered how she can still be “bouncing off the walls” at the end of a long, tiring day. Moments of intense activity or occasional inattention are typical kid behavior, but for some children the problem is extreme and impairing...
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Finding inspiration in basketball
(BPT) - If you love March basketball, here’s how to use the time and energy you spent on choosing a winning bracket to live your own hoop dreams. Step 1: Put down the remote. If you enjoy the game enough to watch others play, it stands to reason that basketball will be an enjoyable way for you to get cardiovascular ex...
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Helping the brain use alternative fuel may ease symptoms of Alzheimer's
(BPT) - Whether a patient faces a simple health problem, such as a head cold, or one as complex as Alzheimer’s disease, relieving the symptoms is often as important as resolving the issue itself. Yet for the more than 5 million Americans affected by Alzheimer’s, treating the symptoms is even more vital. Some of the ear...
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Medical device innovations lead to extraordinary advances
From custom prosthetics to minimally invasive surgery, innovations in medical devices are leading to some astonishing advances. One example: an artificial heart that uses plastic tubes instead of heart valves to move blood in and out of two plastic ventricles. Implanted in more than 1,000 patients, this plastic heart ...
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Iron matters for patients with chronic kidney disease
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major health problem in the United States, impacting more than 25 million Americans, according to the National Kidney Foundation. Kidneys perform many important functions in the body, including regulating and controlling the production of red blood cells. When kidneys are not fully func...
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national news
Boston poised to begin condom giveaway in high schools

A bowl of free New York City condoms are seen in a lobby at the AIDS Service Center of New York City (ASC/NYC) lower Manhattan headquartersBy Stephanie Simon (Reuters) - Students at all Boston public high schools may soon be able to obtain free condoms at the front office - as long as they sit through a few minutes of counseling about safe sex - under a policy due to be voted on Wednesday by the school board. Condoms are already available in 19 high schools with on-site health centers. The policy, up for a vote by the Boston School Committee, would expand distribution to all 32 high schools in the system. Parents would have the right to exempt their children. Several U.S. ...


2013-06-19 14:05:28 -0500
Jury selection in Trayvon Martin murder case moves into final phase

Defense Attorney O'Mara and prosecutor de la Rionda talk as jury selection continues in George Zimmerman's second-degree murder trial in SanfordBy Barbara Liston SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - The final round of jury selection began in Florida on Wednesday in the trial of a former neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, who is charged with the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager in February last year. Lawyers on both sides are working to whittle down a group of 40 potential jurors to form a panel of six and at least four alternates with the expectation that prosecutors and lawyers will deliver opening arguments on Monday. ...


2013-06-19 13:48:47 -0500
Theft of F-35 design data is helping U.S. adversaries: Pentagon

Handout photo of three F-35 Joint Strike Fighters flying over Edwards Air Force BaseBy David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The theft of sensitive design data by hackers targeting programs like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter takes away a big U.S. advantage by allowing rivals to speed up development of their own stealth aircraft, a top Pentagon official said on Wednesday. Defense acquisitions chief Frank Kendall told a Senate hearing he was reasonably confident that classified information related to the development of the F-35 was well-protected. "But I'm not at all confident that our unclassified information is as well-protected," he said. ...


2013-06-19 13:41:54 -0500
TWA Flight 800 crash not due to gas tank explosion, former investigators say
The producers of an upcoming documentary on TWA Flight 800—which exploded and crashed into the waters off Long Island, N.Y., on July 17, 1996, killing all 230 people on board—claim to have proof that a missile caused the Paris-bound flight to crash. And six former investigators who took part in the film say there was [...]
2013-06-19 09:16:24 -0500