Month: February 2013

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – People make more educated decisions about screening tests when they’re given a personalized assessment of their own risk, rather than one-size-fits-all information, according to a new review of past studies. Those personalized evaluations take into account factors such as age, race, gender, weight, lifestyle and family history to determine an individual’s chances of developing a certain type of cancer, for example. …

CLINTON, Miss. (AP) — Michelle Obama on Wednesday congratulated this Southern state for a more than 13 percent drop in its child obesity rates, saying its example should inspire the rest of the country.

Toni Wild, 50, overcame breast cancer twice and received a heart transplant.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans in the House of Representatives are planning to put up for a vote next week a plan that avoids yet another nasty partisan budget fight, this time a potential shutdown of the government when the current temporary spending law runs out at the end of March. House Republican lawmakers said their caucus voiced strong support at a meeting on Wednesday for a stop-gap measure that would keep federal agencies and programs funded through the September 30 end of the fiscal year. …

The fraternity Phi Alpha Tau is raising money for sophomore’s “top surgery.”

(Reuters) – A record but still narrow majority of California voters, or 54 percent, favor legalizing marijuana for personal, recreational use with restrictions like those placed on alcohol, a poll showed on Wednesday. California was the first of 19 states and the District of Columbia to legalize pot for medical use, doing so in 1996, although voters rejected efforts to legalize the drug for recreational use in 2010. But support for legalizing pot, which the federal government considers an illegal narcotic, appears to be growing in the U.S. …

BOSTON (AP) — Loved ones knew it was her at the hospital when they saw her teeth.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas House voted 53-28 Wednesday to override Gov. Mike Beebe’s veto of a bill that would outlaw most abortions starting in the 20th week of pregnancy, hours after a state Senate committee approved a package of even tighter abortion restrictions.