Vitamin D's wild days: Who to test, what to take?

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(AP) -- Don't be surprised if your doctor orders a vitamin D test during your next physical. Blood tests to check levels of the so-called sunshine vitamin are on the rise as doctors and patients react to headline-grabbing research that suggests having too little may not only hurt your bones - it might increase your risk of certain cancers or heart disease.


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All News summaries for August 18, 2008

Crafting your image for your 1,000 friends on Facebook or MySpace

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Students are creating idealized versions of themselves on social networking websites — Facebook and MySpace are the most popular — and using these sites to explore their emerging identities, UCLA psychologists report. Parents ...

Dutch state steps up fight against illegal smoking in bars

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The Dutch health ministry announced plans Tuesday to impose tougher fines and heavier punishments on restaurants and pubs that continue infringing a new smoking ban.

Methamphetamine abuse linked to underage sex, smoking and drinking

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Teens who have never done drugs, but engage in other risky behaviours such as drinking, smoking and being sexually active, are more likely to use crystal meth, medical researchers at the University of Alberta have concluded. ...

Team identifies 13 new tumor-suppressor genes in liver cancer

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Over the years, hunting for cancer-related genes and understanding how they work has been an important, although time-consuming, exercise. At Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), five different research groups have now combined ...

Study documents what may be first cases of certain tick-borne disease in China

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It appears that for the first time human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA), an emerging tick-borne infectious disease found in the U.S. and Europe, has been identified in China and apparently was transmitted from person to ...