For kidney donors, no long-term risk of premature death

Live kidney donors have similar long-term survival rates as non-donor peers, according to a new study published in the March 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Each year, an estimated 6,000 healthy people donate kidneys to ailing loved ones or, in some cases, to strangers through large chain donations. Yet previous [...]

Many Americans say they’re too tired for sex

The results of a new poll from the National Sleep Foundation, highlighted yesterday in the New York Times, reveal that roughly one in four Americans who are married or living with a romantic partner regularly feel too exhausted for sex. The survey, which included more than 1,000 randomly selected people ages 25 to 60, focused [...]

Generosity Can Be Contagious

Image courtesy of James Fowler, U.C. San Diego

One person’s initial generosity can spark a chain reaction of benevolence, according to the latest study from prolific social contagion researchers James Fowler and Nicholas Christakis.

Beverage makers voluntarily cut soda sales to schools

Even former President Bill Clinton, not always the model of healthy eating, admitted he was surprised by the results of a three-year program to remove full-calorie soft drinks from schools. At a press conference in New York City on Monday, Clinton announced that since 2006, 88% fewer beverage calories were shipped to U.S. elementary, middle [...]

McNuggets—on the Weight Watcher’s plan?

As part of a broader effort to shed their unhealthy food reputation, in Australia and New Zealand McDonald’s is teaming up with Weight Watchers to market some menu items as healthy options that fit into the diet program’s points system, the Telegraph reported last week. The collaboration means that McDonald menus will bear the Weight [...]

More cocaine overdoses in warmer weather

When the weather gets nicer, frequency of cocaine-related deaths tends to go up, according to a study published last week in the journal Addiction. By comparing New York City mortality data from 1990 through 2006 with average temperature information for the region from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, researchers found that more people died [...]

Bedazzling… below the belt?

Recently, on the George Lopez Show, actress Jennifer Love Hewitt gushed about “vajazzling,” a new trend in ladies’ intimate fashion that involves rounding out a bikini wax with the decorative application of Swarovski crystals, Salon reports. The procedure, which is offered at Completely Bare spa in New York City for $115, including the cost of [...]

Keep liquid detergent capsules out of kids’ reach

A recent surge in eye injuries among small children caused by exposure to capsules of liquid detergent prompted eye specialists to issue a warning about keeping the soap packets out of children’s reach. Writing in the British Medical Journal this week, a team of British eye doctors said that problems caused by exposure to the [...]

Migraine treatment with a magnetic pulse

Administering a small magnetic pulse to the back of the head may be an effective, and drug-free, method for combating migraine pain, according to new research published online this week, and in the April issue of the journal Lancet Neurology. Previous research has suggested that this single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (sTMS) may be an effective [...]

Regular analgesic use may increase hearing loss risk

Men who regularly take aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil) or acetaminophen (Tylenol) more than twice a week may be at increased risk for hearing loss, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Medicine and highlighted by the L.A. Times‘ health blog. The research included nearly 27,000 men between ages 40 to 74 at [...]