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Former studies have found that radiation exposure increases cancer risk. It has also been found that the average lifespan of survivors from the atomic bombing was only reduced by a few months. Such findings refute any popular conception about health risks caused by exposure to radiation. Scientists have not found health effects or any radiation-associated mutations on children of the survivors. Jordan suggested it would be possible to find subtle effects through more detailed tests on survivors’ genomes. Even then, the biologist believes that the children of survivors will face small health risks linked to atomic bombs. “Most people, including...

METHUEN, Mass. —An 86-year-old Massachusetts woman needed to be rescued by firefighters over the weekend after she was left behind at a dialysis clinic in Methuen that had closed for the day. Fire Chief Scott Sullivan says rescuers came to the aid of Maureen Perry just before 4 p.m. Saturday. The Wilmington woman was taken for treatment to the Fresenius Dialysis Center, where she remained three hours after it closed.

The federal government ranks dead last in a new Gallup poll measuring Americans’ views of U.S. business and industry sectors. More than half of the public — 55 percent — said their view of the federal government was either “very negative” or “somewhat negative. Seventeen percent expressed a “neutral” view of the federal government, and only 28 percent viewed the federal government as “very positive” or ”somewhat positive.” Of the five worst-rated U.S. business sectors, the federal government was last, just behind the pharmaceutical industry (51 percent total negative, 28 percent total positive) and the health care industry (54 percent...

The health insurance exchanges that are the beating heart of Obamacare are on the edge of collapse, with premiums rising sharply for ever narrower provider networks, non-profit health co-ops shuttering their doors, and even the biggest insurance companies heading for the exits amid mounting losses. Even the liberal Capitol Hill newspaper is warning of a possible “Obamacare meltdown” this fall. Three states — Alaska, Alabama, and Wyoming — are already down to just a single insurance company, as are large parts of several other states, totaling at least 664 counties. UnitedHealth is pulling out completely, Humana is pulling out of...

I know never to mix cleaners and to certainly never mix ammonia and chlorine but many cleaners contain ammonium chloride. Is this not essentially ammonia and chlorine? If not, how does it differ? If it is similar, what is done to it so it doesn't kill the user? I am obviously not a chemist and have merely an nodding acquaintance with the periodic table, so I would ask that your explanations be simplified as much as possible, as Einstein said, "As simple as possible but no simpler." Thanks

The number of drug overdose deaths has soared by 73% in the city over the last five years, data released Tuesday by the Health Department show. There were 937 accidental fatal ODs in 2015 — up from 800 the year before, and from 541 in 2010. The rate of people dying from drug overdoses jumped for the fifth-straight year, to 13.6 for every 100,000 residents — a 66% jump from 2010. …

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual high school students are significantly more likely to be the victims of physical and sexual violence and bullying than other adolescents, according to new government data. In the first nationally representative study of LGB teens, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that these students were three times more likely to have been forced to have sexual intercourse and two times more likely to have experienced sexual or physical dating violence when compared to their heterosexual peers. Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, told CBS...

A government report finds that the cost of expanding Medicaid to millions more low-income people is increasing faster than expected, raising questions about a vital part of President Barack Obama’s health care law. The law provided for the federal government to pay the entire cost of the Medicaid expansion from 2014 through the end of this year. Obama has proposed an extra incentive for states that have not yet expanded Medicaid: three years of full federal financing no matter when they start. But the new cost estimates could complicate things. In a recent report to Congress, the Centers for Medicare...

An off-the-shelf cotton candy machine from Target spins together gelatinous cubes of living capillaries. Go to your local fair and watch a carny spin you a cone of candy floss. You might not know it, but that's how your body is put together: the structure of cotton candy is remarkably similar to the fibrous tissue that knits together our organs and our bones. Now, a team of researchers are showing how a souped-up cotton candy machine could be the key to 3-D printing artificial organs on demand. In a new article published in the Advanced Healthcare Materials journal, an assistant...

Decide For Yourself: Transgender Crime Whenever a woman provides evidence of sexual crimes against women by males who identify as transgender, she can predict the response by transactivists. First, the transactivists will call her a bigot for pointing out the sexual crimes. Next, the transactivists will deny the sexual crimes took place. After that, they’ll deny that the perpetrator is “really transgendered,” and insist he’s a male who “uses” transgender identity to facilitate his crimes. They’ll insist this even when the perpetrators are prominent transactivists who’ve been central to passing laws granting male access to women’s spaces, and even when...

Those dark red, spots dotting Olympians’ shoulders and backs are not cigar burns. They’re not perfectly circular hickeys either. Viewers watching the Olympics this weekend may have spotted the pepperoni-like bruises on athletes and wondered: What is that? Olympians at Rio have taken to cupping — an ancient therapy that have mostly been used in Middle Eastern and Asian countries, especially China. The therapy consists of having round glass suction cups that are warmed, then placed on sore parts of the body. The placement of the glass cup creates a partial vacuum, which is believed to stimulate muscles and blood...

Decades of authoritarian one party rule have perhaps reduced one man's ability to question authority as a Chinese bloke awaiting the birth of his child was erroneously whisked in for a haemorrhoidectomy. Doctors at Shenyang Hunnan Xinqu Hospital mistook Mr Wang for another chap with a bad case of the pink grapes and whisked him into the operating theatre, according to a report in Bandao City News. Wang thought he was going to help his wife with the delivery of their child but then medics asked him to drop his pants and jump onto the operating table. “It felt strange,...

It is also interesting to note that most of the organ recipients are not Christians though the donors are priestsWith Fr Davis Chiramel founding the Kidney Federation of India, Kerala has witnessed a good number of priests and nuns donating organs. Fr Chiramel was the first priest in the world to donate an organ. He donated his kidney to Thekkemadathil Gopinathan, a poor electrician, in 2009. T Ramavarman for The Times of India reports that 15 priests, including a bishop and a nun, have donated their kidneys in the state till date. The report also says that Kerala is now...

If parliamentarian Elvira Savino has her way, Italian parents who insist on a vegan diet for their children will risk up to four years in jail. Savino, from the conservative Forza Italia party, has put forward a law that would hold parents legally responsible for feeding their children on "a diet devoid of elements essential for healthy and balanced growth," according to its text. "I have nothing against vegans or veganism as long as it is a free choice by adults," she told Reuters on Wednesday, days after she presented the proposed law in the lower house Chamber of Deputies.

A cyclist is pedalling across the country from Land's End to John o'Groats - from the comfort of his own living room. Aaron Puzey, 44, from Dundee, is nearly halfway on his journey, which he is completing through virtual reality technology.So far, he has cycled over 400 miles, with his route taking him through Cardiff, Bristol and Manchester.Mr Puzey says it was initially boredom that made him come up with the idea to cycle the 1,500 kilometers via virtual reality software. He said that he had been using an exercise bike every day for years, but had found it 'monotonous'....

Battle Creek, MI – Usually an anticipated time of fun-filled family festivities, the Fourth of July was anything but a day of celebration for the family of Cree Erwin. In the early morning hours, Cree’s mother, Tanya, made a gruesome discovery. Her daughter, Cree, lay dead in Tanya’s own bed, cold as ice. While important questions remain, 911 records just obtained by Operation Rescue, along with a police report provided by long-time Michigan pro-life activist Lynn Mills, shed a bit more light on what happened to 24-year old Cree Erwin in her final hours of life as she struggled with...

A new study reveals that genetic manipulation of mice, rats, cows and pigs has increased threefold since 2004. Between 2004 and 2013, the number of tests conducted using genetically modified animals in Germany nearly tripled, according to reports by Funke Mediengruppe, citing a study by research group Testbiotech, which investigates the “consequences of genetic engineering”. In total nearly 950,000 animals, mainly mice and rats, were genetically tested in 2013 alone — one third of all animals on which scientific testing was conducted during that year in Germany. …

Today Brain publishes a new study indicating that antiepileptic drugs designed to reduce seizures, may also induce psychotic disorders in some patients. Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders. People with epilepsy have increased vulnerability to psychiatric problems. However, it is also possible that the drugs used by patients to control their seizures may increase the risk of psychotic symptoms in certain people.

Texas has confirmed that an infant who recently died in Harris County had microcephaly linked to the Zika virus. The baby passed away shortly after birth and is the first Zika-related death reported in Texas. During her pregnancy, the mother was in Latin America, where she was infected, and the baby acquired the infection in the womb. Recent test results confirmed the baby's condition and link to Zika. The mother and baby are classified as travel-related cases, and there is no additional associated risk in Texas. Last month Texas reported the state's first case of microcephaly linked to Zika, also...