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Online only: Ophthalmologists focus on preventing eye injuries at home

What do a bungee cord, a pan of frying bacon and lawn-care chemicals have in common? They are just a few of the common items around the house that can cause eye injuries, which a new study from the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Ocular Trauma reports are increasingly occurring at home.

Online only: Booster vaccination may help with possible future avian influenza pandemic

New evidence suggests that a booster vaccination against H5N1 avian influenza given years after initial vaccination with a different strain may prove useful in controlling a potential future pandemic.

Online only: Traumatic brain injuries can result from senior falls

Traumatic brain injuries due to falls caused nearly 8,000 deaths and 56,000 hospitalizations in 2005 among Americans 65 and older, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and published in the June 2008 issue of the Journal of Safety Research.

Online only: More than 2 million cases of cancer linked to tobacco from 1999 to 2004

About 2.4 million cases of tobacco-related cancers were diagnosed in the United States from 1999 to 2004, with lung and bronchial cancer accounting for almost half of these diagnoses, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

Online only: Breast MRI spots other cancers

In about 20 percent of women with breast cancer who plan to undergo a lumpectomy, breast magnetic resonance imaging reveals important diagnostic information that alters their treatment plan, according to University of Florida surgeons.

Online only: Worldwide efforts to confront tuberculosis making slow progress

Progress to control the tuberculosis epidemic slowed slightly in 2006, the most recent year for which data were available, according to a World Health Organization report released in March. The new information documents a slowdown in progress on diagnosing people with tuberculosis.

Online only: Smokers flock together and quit together

When smokers kick the habit, odds are they are not alone in making the move. Instead, the decision to quit smoking often cascades through social networks, with entire clusters of spouses, friends, siblings and co-workers giving up the habit roughly in tandem, according to a new study supported in part by the National Institutes of Health.

Online only: Mental disorders cost society billions in unearned income

Major mental disorders cost the nation at least $193 billion annually in lost earnings alone, according to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health.

Online only: Air quality standards for lead now 10 times stronger

The Environmental Protection Agency dramatically strengthened the nation’s air quality standards for lead, improving public health protection, especially for children. The new standards tighten the allowable lead level 10 times to 0.15 micrograms of lead per cubic meter of air (ug/m3).

Online only: Women with disabilities at risk for partner abuse

A new study shows that women with a disability are far more likely to experience a physical assault by a spouse or other intimate partner than those without a disability.


Online only: ATVs imperil lives of child operators

Serious injuries caused by all-terrain vehicles have increased for the seventh consecutive year, and children younger than 16 continue to suffer a significant portion of those injuries, according to a report by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Estimated deaths on all-terrain vehicles, or ATVs, have increased as well.


Online only: High school students showing improvements in health-related behaviors

Today’s high school students are less likely to engage in many health risk behaviors than high school students in the early 1990s, according to the 2007 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey released in June by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.