Health & Safety

Surgeon Seeks To Help Women Navigate Breast Cancer Treatment

3:51pm September 22, 2015

Thirty years ago no one uttered the words "breast cancer" in public. Now there's no shortage of information, but the glut can make it hard for women to make choices about care.

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Center For Public Integrity Details Dangers Of Paint Stripper Solvent

2:42pm September 22, 2015

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to Jamie Smith Hopkins of the Center for Public Integrity about a solvent found in common paint strippers that can trigger heart attacks and asphyxiation, causing rapid death.

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Six years after he was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease, Greg O'Brien is thinking differently about the future. Even as he fights to hold on to his memory, he and his wife, Mary Catherine, are discussing how to let go.

As Alzheimer's Symptoms Worsen, Hard Conversations About How To Die

4:54pm September 21, 2015

by Rebecca Hersher

Six years after he was diagnosed with both cancer and Alzheimer's, Greg O'Brien is beginning to talk to his doctor, and to his family, about his "exit strategy" for the final years of his life.

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Tablets of Lipitor and its generic equivalent, atorvastatin, are among the drugs commonly prescribed to prevent heart attacks and strokes among people at risk.

Health & Safety

Doubts Rise About Surge In Statin Prescriptions For Oldest Americans

3:16pm September 21, 2015

by Lisa Gillespie

About a third of people over the age of 79 are taking a cholesterol-lowering statin to prevent the first occurrence of a heart attack or stroke. Proof is scant that the benefits outweigh the risks.

You could get the fancy antibacterial soap. Or you could just wash your hands with plain old soap and water.

Do You Really Need Antimicrobials In Your Soap?

3:00pm September 21, 2015

by Lynne Shallcross

Triclosan is no better at getting germs off your hands than plain old soap, a study finds. Manufacturers are responding to safety concerns about that antimicrobial by switching to others.

Health & Safety

Senate Measure Could Help Yadkin In Hospital Deal

11:57am September 21, 2015

The state Senate has passed an amendment to a bill that changes how commun

The Essure contraceptive device is placed in the fallopian tubes, where it causes scarring that blocks sperm from reaching eggs.

FDA Revisits Safety Of Essure Contraceptive Device

10:23am September 21, 2015

by Rob Stein

It's the only available, nonsurgical permanent birth control option that's FDA-approved. But thousands of women have complained of serious side effects like severe pain, heavy bleeding and depression.

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Health & Safety

Pay, But Not Equity, Improves For Female Anesthesiologists

7:49am September 21, 2015

by Shefali Luthra

Anesthesiologists make a lot of money. But female anesthesiologists make much less than their male counterparts, a RAND study finds. It's the latest evidence of a persistent pay gap in health care.

Despite all the efforts to get kids to eat more healthfully, the rate of fast-food consumption hasn't budged in the past 15 years, the CDC finds.

Health & Safety

About A Third Of U.S. Kids And Teens Ate Fast Food Today

12:06am September 21, 2015

by Allison Aubrey

Kids' fast-food habits haven't budged in the past 15 years, a study by the CDC finds. The marketing, cost and taste of fast food still seem to have a hold on America's youth.

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Sleepless Fruit Flies Could Hold The Secret To Curing Insomnia

1:49pm September 20, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

Research on fruit flies with insomnia is revealing the pathways in the brain that can cause people to have trouble sleeping. This story originally aired on Sept. 18 on Morning Edition.

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