Beyond coffee-table books, workable ideas

Negotiate a payment plan with the doctor
Don't ignore medical bills; find ways to cover them on your terms. A move by a growing number of physicians to ask patients to pay their full share of an office visit (the co-pay, the deductible if still not met, and any coinsurance) on the day of the appointment could catch many consumers by surprise.
Scientists Watching For Alaska Eruption

Alaska's Mount Redoubt could blow its top imminently, scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory say. Ash could spew 50,000 feet into the air and could reach Anchorage, 100 miles away. Tom Miller, a scientist emeritus at the observatory, says an eruption could come anytime within a few hours or weeks.

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Beyond coffee-table books, workable ideas
A good coffee-table book is easy to find. Browse the home-and-garden section of a bookstore and you'll find plenty of bonbons featuring luxurious homes and lush landscapes.
Criminal investigation opens for peanut plant
Federal health officials opened a criminal investigation yesterday into the Georgia peanut-processing plant at the center of the national salmonella outbreak. President Barack Obama pledged stricter oversight of food safety to prevent breakdowns in inspections.

FDA advisers recommend banning painkiller Darvon

Senate passes children's health insurance bill
The largely party-line vote foreshadows a bigger partisan struggle for overhauling the nation's healthcare system. President Obama and his congressional allies took a modest step toward reshaping the nation's healthcare system Thursday as the Senate passed legislation to expand health insurance for children.
Harold Varmus Reflects On A Life In Science

Harold Varmus wrote his college thesis on Charles Dickens. He went on to win the Nobel Prize in medicine. Last month he was tapped by President Obama to serve as a science adviser. He describes his unusual career path in his new memoir The Art and Politics of Science.

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Helpful advice for Jimmy Buffett's Saturday on-sale date
Word to the wise: If you're planning on buying tickets for Jimmy Buffett's April 23 Raleigh date, which go on sale Saturday, don't try to do it online at LiveNation.com.
FDA advisers recommend banning painkiller Darvon
Government medical advisers today recommended a ban on Darvon, a prescription medicine that's been used to treat pain for more than 50 years but left a trail of problems such as addiction and suicide.
Q&A: Water Pushed to the Limit
SANTIAGO, Jan 30 (Tierramérica) - When it comes to water, "humanity does not have the full awareness of the danger it is facing and will only act under extreme circumstances. The bad news is that those extremes are drawing near," Manuel Baquedano, president of the Chilean non-governmental Institute of Political Ecology, told Tierramérica.

Salmonella concerns tied to peanut plant force fresh recall

Recall of peanut products widens in salmonella outbreak
The discovery by federal officials that a Georgia plant had shipped contaminated supplies prompts calls for reforms, investigation. In one of the largest food recalls in history, the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday asked retailers, manufacturers and consumers to discard every product made in the last two years from peanuts processed by a Georgia plant at the heart of a deadly nationwide outbreak of salmonella illness.
Tainted Peanut Product Recalls, Illnesses Grow

More companies are recalling products containing peanuts since the government them to an outbreak of salmonella now tied to the deaths of eight people. More than 430 products have been pulled from shelves so far, and nearly 500 illnesses have been linked to the outbreak.

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Acts of Faith
Photojournalists document how people live their beliefs.
Salmonella concerns tied to peanut plant force fresh recall
Worried about salmonella, the Army said today it's removing some peanut butter items from warehouses in Europe, the latest in an ever-growing list of recalled peanut products linked to a national salmonella outbreak.
DEVELOPMENT: Urgent Aid Sought for Victims of "Silent" Crises
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 27 (IPS) - The United Nations children's agency UNICEF said Tuesday that it must raise over a billion dollars this year to meet the basic needs of women and children in disaster zones worldwide, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

Wings take flight

Birth of octuplets rattles fertility experts
Although Kaiser hasn't revealed conception information, observers say current methods try to avoid such huge births because of high risks. br/br/ Even as the birth of octuplets at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center drew attention and applause from around the country, questions arose Tuesday about whether the mom's physicians did enough to prevent such a risky pregnancy.pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/6qDdbkcBDlMHdfyqoBtA698WhnE/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/6qDdbkcBDlMHdfyqoBtA698WhnE/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/latimes/features/health/~4/zUZsRx02lwk" height="1" width="1"/
Bill Aims To Subsidize Health Care For Laid-Off
COBRA policy requires that laid-off workers be allowed to continue their health care, but paying the full premium can be prohibitively pricey. The stimulus bill proposes a 65 percent subsidy for COBRA premiums for workers laid off as long ago as September 2008.
Wings take flight
Here's a bit of sports food trivia: How many wings does it take to feed a nation of hungry Super Bowl fans?
'Courageous' Calif. woman and her octuplets doing well
Just think: eight cribs, eight highchairs, eight strollers (or maybe four double-strollers), and far too many dirty diapers to count.img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/baltimoresun/news/health/rss2/~4/Vd-UTKvCCx4" height="1" width="1"/

DVD Helps Kids With Autism Read Faces, Emotions
A video developed by British researchers uses human faces on trains, trucks and other vehicles to help teach children with autism how to recognize the emotions behind facial expressions. A study found that children who watched for at least 15 minutes a day for a month became more adept.
Getting to the point of pain relief
Acupuncture has been widely practiced in China for thousands of years but in the West has been recognized as an effective treatment only over the past decade or two.
Source: Investigators find 4 kinds of salmonella in peanut probe
Officials say four kinds of salmonella have been identified in the growing investigation of tainted peanut products.img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/baltimoresun/news/health/rss2/~4/Z6YNEN7_BL4" height="1" width="1"/
DEVELOPMENT: Urgent Aid Sought for Victims of Silent Crises
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 27 (IPS) - The United Nations children's bureau UNICEF said Tuesday that it must raise over a billion dollars this year to meet the basic needs of women and children in disaster zones worldwide, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

Global Warming Is Irreversible, Study Says

Greatest Internet threat to teens may be teens themselves
Teens are relatively safe from adults cruising on-line for sex with minors, a Harvard-led investigation finds. But beware the bullying and harassment by peers. br/br/ Since emerging from the primordial ooze, parents have wrung their evolving appendages over ways to shield their offspring from hungry predators, lurking maniacs and strangers from without.pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/3vxAxCZ2-1bapw3u-VuyLgre2eM/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/3vxAxCZ2-1bapw3u-VuyLgre2eM/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/latimes/features/health/~4/mDcwcj_DOh4" height="1" width="1"/
Global Warming Is Irreversible, Study Says
Even if carbon dioxide emissions were halted today, global warming and the environmental disruption that comes with it would continue for 1,000 years, says a sobering study. Scientists are urging politicians to proceed with caution as they set new target levels for emissions.
NO Beauty Panel finishes its stint
As far as NO Beauty Panels go, this group was our most sensory panel yet. Too smelly? Ding. Too greasy? Gone. Too sticky? Nixed. Over and over it went with lotions, lip glosses, body butters and cleansers.
Is a Virus Making You Obese? Fat Chance
By DAN CHILDS, ABC News Medical Unit What if obesity was an insidious infection you could catch from your friends and colleagues? Such is the scenario proposed in new research on an adenovirus known as AD-36. A team of scientists...
Healthy at a glance
Giant, Shoppers join restaurants, food makers in attempt to help consumers br/br/ Some grocery chains are joining restaurants and food makers in labeling products with nutritional information to help consumers.img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/baltimoresun/news/health/rss2/~4/Id9zURKzUwE" height="1" width="1"/

New techniques may improve a swimming pool workout
Make sure your pool and swimsuit are suitable, then check your swimming form and work on different muscle groups and breathing. br/br/ Last in a seriespa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/bCczz2_DZj6u8IwtKRIBgMkNcNk/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/bCczz2_DZj6u8IwtKRIBgMkNcNk/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/latimes/features/health/~4/4JmiGIUeAsE" height="1" width="1"/
NASA To Test New-Generation Space Rocket
NASA is developing a new rocket to replace the aging shuttle fleet scheduled to retire next year. If all goes well, the unmanned and experhymental Ares I-X rocket will blast off from Kennedy Space Center in July.
Video Gamers May Be 'Virtually' on Their Own
By AUDREY GRAYSON, ABC News Medical Unit I have a dark secret from my past. It involves a phase in my life which I am not proud to admit that I went through. From the age of about 12 to...
Stem cell trials OK'd
Embryonic tests in city possible br/br/ The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given the go-ahead for a California biotechnology company to inject humans with embryonic stem cells for the first time -- a turning point in the decade-long debate over whether the potential of the cells to heal injuries and cure diseases outweighs the ethical questions raised by their use.img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/baltimoresun/news/health/rss2/~4/2YmN0pv_be8" height="1" width="1"/
HEALTH: Obama Lifts quot;Global Gag Rulequot;
WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (IPS) - U.S. President Barack Obama Friday lifted an eight-year ban on U.S. funding for overseas family-planning groups and clinics that perform or promote abortion or lobby for its legalisation.

Celine Dion performance wows fans

Gates Foundation donates $255 million to fight polio
Microsoft's Bill Gates says the allow will go to Rotary International. A World Health Organization expert estimates that it would cost $2 billion to stamp out the last traces of the polio virus. br/br/ In one of its hugest allows ever, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated $255 million Wednesday toward the push to eradicate polio, a goal that has eluded world health agencies for decades but that many still think about doable, possibly within five years. pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/XaQpsJ-66WQ4p_9xUDh7wVwkC-o/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/XaQpsJ-66WQ4p_9xUDh7wVwkC-o/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/latimes/features/health/~4/EipjruBv95c" height="1" width="1"/
U.S. Life Expectancy Increases As Cities Clear Air
Researchers have concluded that Americans may have tacked on an average of about five months to their life spans owing to improvements in air quality over the past 40 years. The study shows that the greater a city's reduction in pollution, the more life is breathed into its inhabitants.
Celine Dion performance wows fans
An almost-capacity crowd turned out at the RBC Center for Dion's concert, postponed one day because of the snow. Young and old fans teetered over chunky snow and sheets of ice in the RBC parking lot.
Cleaner air increases life span
For those wondering just how much impact cleaning up the air can have, researchers now have a much fuller picture.img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/baltimoresun/news/health/rss2/~4/9_PePZ8wwh0" height="1" width="1"/

Study Busts Antarctica's Chill On Global Warming

Cleaner air, longer life: Study provides evidence
In a boon for supporters of air-quality management, new findings show that the more particulate air pollution is reduced, the more life anticipateancy increases. br/br/ For those wondering just how much impact cleaning up the air can have, researchers now have a much fuller picture. pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/BYJsuU3rW-T9hX2EbteUGWgJN34/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/BYJsuU3rW-T9hX2EbteUGWgJN34/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/latimes/features/health/~4/sgYIzfk5Tzg" height="1" width="1"/
Study Busts Antarctica's Chill On Global Warming
The world makes more sense today for some scientists: New data show Antarctica is warming up after all. Researchers had been at a loss to explain why the rest of the planet is heating up, but not the southern continent. The new study has filled in the holes.
Salt to taste
Salty. Leathery. The skin dried so hard, it can take a band saw to cut through it. Before cooking, you've to heft it into a sink and scrub off the mold. This isn't most people's definition of food.
2 from city among 8 Maryland salmonella cases
Two Baltimore children are among eight Marylanders reportedly sickened by salmonella contamination that federal authorities have traced to peanut butter products from a plant in Georgia.img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/baltimoresun/news/health/rss2/~4/Sd2-iCWEOZ0" height="1" width="1"/
POPULATION: Bridging the Family Planning Gap
WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (IPS) - Some 43 countries around the world now have populations that are either essentially stable or declining slowly.

Trade meals for cookies, and lose weight -- it's a dieter's fantasy.
The lesson here's portion control. But will results stick? br/br/ So you ate a few more cookies over the holidays than you should have, and now you're weighing in at a few more pounds than you'd like. What to do?img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/latimes/features/health/~4/BiXQqVrckm4" height="1" width="1"/
Celebrating Darwin's Evolution Revolution
The world is getting ready to celebrate the 200th birthday of one of the most influential biologists mdash; some would say THE most influential biologist mdash; ever born. Charles Darwin revolutionized the way scientists think about how life on this planet evolved.
Taking out toxins
'Detox' diets that 'cleanse' the body are attracting stars and other converts #8212; and some skeptics, too br/br/ 'Detox' diets that 'cleanse' the body are attracting stars and other converts #8212; and some skeptics, tooimg src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/baltimoresun/news/health/rss2/~4/nr5amgCArZM" height="1" width="1"/

Trade meals for cookies, and lose weight -- it's a dieter's fantasy.

Trade meals for cookies, and lose weight -- it's a dieter's fantasy.
The lesson here is portion control. But will results stick? So you ate a few more cookies over the holidays than you should have, and now you're weighing in at a few more pounds than you'd like. What to do?
Taking out toxins
'Detox' diets that 'cleanse' the body are attracting stars and other converts — and some skeptics, too 'Detox' diets that 'cleanse' the body are attracting stars and other converts — and some skeptics, too

Celebrating Darwin's Evolution Revolution

Celebrating Darwin's Evolution Revolution
The world is getting ready to celebrate the 200th birthday of one of the most influential biologists — some would say THE most influential biologist — ever born. Charles Darwin revolutionized the way scientists think about how life on this planet evolved.
Childbirth pains
CDC reports sudden uptick in births, troubling medical details

Weights add muscle to exercise routine
A four-week strength-training program focuses on such major groups as quads and glutes, building endurance and improved cardio function. br/br/ Third in a series.img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/latimes/features/health/~4/3EiSSy2GJZs" height="1" width="1"/
FDA: Avoid Products Made With Peanut Butter
U.S. health authorities told consumers Saturday to avoid eating products made with peanut butter until they can determine the scope of an outbreak of salmonella food poisoning that may have contributed to six deaths.
Spring onions add color and flavor
Sprinkle spring onion seeds among spring flowering bulbs. The strappy onion tops are attractive and fill in the blank spaces between plants.
BOOKS-US: Wounded Veterans Treated as an Afterthought
MARFA, Texas, Jan 16 (IPS) - But the [George W.] Bush administration was never seriously interested in helping veterans. The sorry say of care for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans isn't an accident. It's on purpose.

Weights add muscle to exercise routine
A four-week strength-training program focuses on such major groups as quads and glutes, building endurance and improved cardio function. Third in a series.
FDA: Avoid Products Made With Peanut Butter
U.S. health authorities told consumers Saturday to avoid eating products made with peanut butter until they can determine the scope of an outbreak of salmonella food poisoning that may have contributed to six deaths.
Spring onions add color and flavor
Sprinkle spring onion seeds among spring flowering bulbs. The strappy onion tops are attractive and fill in the blank spaces between plants.
BOOKS-US: Wounded Veterans Treated as an Afterthought
MARFA, Texas, Jan 16 (IPS) - "But the [George W.] Bush administration was never seriously interested in helping veterans. The sorry state of care for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans is not an accident. It's on purpose."

O'Malley hears plea for Medicaid expansion

UnitedHealth settles lawsuit over insurance claims
Managed-care company UnitedHealth Group Inc. said Thursday that it would pay $350 million to settle a lawsuit over out-of-network medical claims. The deal comes two days after the insurer pledged $50 million to set up a new database to determine payments for those claims.
FAA: Major Accidents From Bird Strikes Are Rare
Collisions between birds and aircraft are surprisingly common, with more than 56,000 bird strikes recorded in a 14-year period, says the FAA. Major accidents, however, are rare. But aviation authorities say hazards are increasing as more planes take to the sky.
Serving up the year in food
Historians have already dubbed 2008 The Beginning of the Obama Era. The local food scene in 2008 now has a fitting nickname: The Year of Strange Coincidences and Unlikely Pairs.
Think Birth Control Pills Are Dangerous? Try Pregnancy
By JOANNA SCHAFFHAUSEN, ABC News Medical Unit Since hormonal birth control first appeared in the 1960s, nearly 80 percent of women have taken it at some point in their lives. The pills and patches are so commonplace now that many...
O'Malley hears plea for Medicaid expansion
Health care advocates implored Gov. Martin O'Malley yesterday to continue a planned expansion of the Medicaid program even as he is expected to severely cut the state's budget to fill a huge budget shortfall.
HEALTH-LATAM: Too Many Women and Children Dying
SANTIAGO, Jan 15 (IPS) - "Latin America is not in the tragic conditions of the least developed countries, but an average rate of 130 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births is very high," UNICEF representative Egidio Crotti told IPS.

Going 'locavore'

Rates of chlamydia, syphilis on the rise in U.S.
Chlamydia infections now top 1.1 million, more than ever recorded. Syphilis cases are up for the 7th year in a row. And gonorrhea is not declining as hoped. Rates of the sexually transmitted disease chlamydia are climbing in the U.S., and rates of syphilis -- once on the verge of elimination -- rose for the seventh consecutive year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday in its annual report on STDs.
Salmonella Outbreak Leads To Peanut Butter Recall
Government officials are investigating an outbreak of salmonella linked to peanut butter sold in bulk. Officials say peanut butter bought at supermarkets is not at risk for contamination.
Going 'locavore'
A year ago we introduced the Pekar family of Chapel Hill, two working parents with two children under the age of 6, committed to eating local food.
How Your Zzzs Can Ward Off Disease
By DAN CHILDS, ABC News Medical Unit Call it another reason to turn in early. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University released a study Tuesday showing that people who get less than seven hours of sleep per night were three times...
UnitedHealth to set up new pay-rate database
Ending a practice doctors say underpaid them and led to higher costs for patients, UnitedHealth Group agreed yesterday to pay $50 million to establish a new database that will be used to determine rates for patients who choose physicians outside of the insurance giant's network.
HEALTH-NEPAL: On Course to Achieve MDG on Maternal Health
KATHMANDU, Jan 13 (IPS) - Impoverished Nepal has dramatically reduced maternal mortality cases from 540 per 100,000 live births in 2001 to the present 280 -- a feat experts attribute chiefly to the legalisation of abortion.

PETA Attempts To Make Fish More Adorable
The animal rights organization is attempting to rebrand fish as the "kitten of the sea" in order to discourage people from catching and eating it. In the fishing town of Unalaska, even young children are mystified by the campaign.
In with the new
If there are any lessons to be learned about the state of Triangle fashion from the Inaugural Ball Friday night, it is that being willing to take fashion risks is hotter than ever.
Vaccinations are for adults as much as for kids
Vaccinations are not just for kids; grown-ups need them, too Vaccinations are not just for kids; grown-ups need them, too

Triangle arts in 2009: Still thriving

A Little Less Flash At Annual Gadget Show
The Consumer Electronics Show this weekend is the industry's annual showcase where companies hawk their crispest flat-screen TVs, their smartest smartphones and their loudest video games. There's still a lot of that — but the terrible economy is just as much a presence this year as GPS navigators and stereo systems.
Triangle arts in 2009: Still thriving
In a lousy economy, the arts could be the first to go. But 2009 seems to promise that they will continue to thrive in the Triangle.
Helping across borders
Boy Scout works toward giving Russian hospital a playground Boy Scout works toward giving Russian hospital a playground

Scenes of winter

For back pain sufferers, surgery isn't always the answer
Back pain sufferers can wind up desperate for relief. But just because a treatment is new, expensive or elaborate doesn't mean it will actually make you feel better. An aching back -- a dull twinge or a stabbing pain, lasting days or years -- is a source of annoyance, misery or even disability for millions of sufferers.
Galapagos Surprise Again With Pink Iguana
The Galapagos Islands have been famous for their wildlife ever since Charles Darwin hatched his theories on evolution by studying Galapagos finches. Twenty years after spotting the strange lizard, scientists have discovered its secret.
Scenes of winter
Dragon-claw thorns, twisting branches or stunning streaks of color keep a garden interesting in a bleak season.
Alzheimer's Drug Death Risk Means Tough Questions for Families
By AUDREY GRAYSON, ABC News Medical Unit When an elderly patient with dementia enters into nursing home care, his or her family is often faced with a difficult choice. On the one hand, they can put their loved one on...
7 local cases tied to nationwide Salmonella outbreak
A spokeswoman for Maryland's health department says seven salmonella cases in the state have been tied to a nationwide outbreak of the disease.
AIDS-AFRICA: Some Signs of Progress
JOHANNESBURG, Jan 10 (IPS) - The latest UNAIDS Report estimated that 33 million people around the globe are living with HIV; 22 million in Sub-Saharan Africa alone. Around 2.7 million new HIV infections occurred worldwide in 2007. However, encouraging new data suggests there have been significant gains in preventing new infections in several African countries with high prevalence rates.