Associated Press   1/30/2012 11:52 AM   

MARIETTA, Ga. — A group of Georgia parents and educators plans to open a school this fall that would serve elementary and middle school-aged children who have dyslexia. The Marietta Daily Journal reports (http://bit.ly/AdP84S ) that plans call ...

  Associated Press   1/26/2012 11:06 AM   

LONGMONT, Colo. — Public health officials have ordered more testing after several Longmont High School students tested positive for the tuberculosis bacteria. Officials will test about 140 more students who shared just one class with a student ...

By SUE MANNING   Associated Press   1/23/2012 11:51 AM   

LOS ANGELES -- If you are too cold to be outside without a coat, your dog probably is, too. If your cat eats just one of your acetaminophen cold or flu pills, it could be fatal. Those are just a few of the tips experts offer to keep pets safe this wi ...

By Brian Parr   brianp@usca.edu   1/23/2012 11:51 AM   

It's that time of year again. The new season of The Biggest Loser is on TV, inspiring numerous weight loss challenges in the community. These programs are a popular way to get started losing weight with friends or coworkers. The contest atmosphere an ...

McClatchy-Tribune     1/23/2012 11:51 AM   

"Being in therapy is great," comedian Caroline Rhea once joked. "I spend an hour just talking about myself. It's kinda like being the guy on a date." It's not a bad analogy - the dating one - when you're setting out to find a therapist. You want some ...

By NEDRA PICKLER   Associated Press   1/10/2012 9:48 AM   

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Obama administration argued Monday that Guatemalans unknowingly exposed to sexually transmitted diseases by U.S. researchers in the 1940s cannot sue the United States, no matter how shameful and unethical the studies were. In ...

  Associated Press   1/10/2012 9:42 AM   

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The U.S. Agriculture Department announced Monday it will close nearly 260 offices nationwide, a move that won praise for cutting costs but raised concerns about the possible effect on food safety. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsac ...

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR   Associated Press   1/10/2012 9:42 AM   

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Is health-care relief finally in sight? Health spending stabilized as a share of the nation's economy in 2010 after two back-to-back years of historically low growth, the government reported Monday. Experts debated whether it's a ...

By BEN FOX   Associated Press   1/10/2012 9:33 AM   

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Suleiman al-Nahdi waits with dozens of other prisoners in a seemingly permanent state of limbo five years after he was cleared for release from Guantanamo Bay. "I wonder if the U.S. government wants to keep us here forever," ...

  Associated Press   1/9/2012 12:17 PM   

SIOUX FALLS — A federal judge is allowing two pregnancy help centers to intervene in a court battle over a requirement in South Dakota that women seeking an abortion wait 72 hours. Planned Parenthood has sued the state to stop the law that the ...

By BRIAN PARR   Feature columnist   1/9/2012 12:16 AM   

If you are finding that the diet you recently started is difficult to follow, you are not alone. Most weight loss diets require that you change the foods you eat, sometimes dramatically. This can create challenges in preparing meals at home, ordering ...

  Associated Press   1/6/2012 11:06 AM   

ORLINDA, Tenn. — A Middle Tennessee man doesn't remember the mosquito bite that infected him with the West Nile virus. But Robert Allen recalls every faltering step on his road to recovery. Allen, who lives in Orlinda near the Kentucky border, ...

By MARY CLARE JALONICK   Associated Press   1/4/2012 1:54 PM   

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Food and Drug Administration says it will limit the presence of one type of antibiotics in meat, saying they could increase human resistance to the drugs. The agency said Wednesday it will restrict the use of cephalospor ...

By BRIAN PARR   brianp@usca.edu   1/1/2012 11:53 PM   

Before you start an exercise or weight loss program, you may want to have a fitness test to evaluate your current status and to examine improvement as you progress through the program. If you join a gym, a fitness assessment may be required. This is ...

  Associated Press   12/29/2011 11:20 AM   

GRAHAM, N.C. — Alamance County health officials are contacting parents and employees at one elementary school who had contact with three students now diagnosed with whooping cough. Officials say they got the first report of a student with the a ...

  Associated Press   12/29/2011 10:48 AM   

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela is offering free surgeries for women to remove faulty French-made breast implants, the country's top health official said. Health Minister Eugenia Sader said women with implants made by the now-defunct French company P ...

By CARLA K. JOHNSON   Associated Press   12/28/2011 9:45 AM   

CHICAGO -- Bill Dunphy thought his colonoscopy would be free. His insurance company told him it would be covered 100 percent, with no copayment from him and no charge against his deductible. The nation's 1-year-old health law requires most insurance ...

  Associated Press   12/21/2011 3:11 PM   

SEATTLE — State officials will consider a request to allow medical marijuana for people with attention deficit disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. The petition is the latest attempt to add mental illnesses to Washington's list of quali ...

By Andrea Walker   McClatchy-Tribune   12/19/2011 12:30 AM   

If you're feeding your kids Honey Smacks or Apple Jacks for breakfast you might as well just give them a chocolate chip cookie or Twinkie, according to results from a nutritional analysis of kids' cereals. The Environmental Working Group analyzed 84 ...

By Ellen Warren   McClatchy-Tribune   12/19/2011 12:03 AM   

You finally decide to get off the couch and start an exercise program. You faithfully go to the gym, walk in the neighborhood, swim, bike - whatever - and your weight stays stubbornly the same. Or, even worse, you put on a few pounds. Obesity expert ...