http://www.post-gazette.com/ Health, Science, Environment, Medicare news en-us Copyright 2010, post-gazette.com. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:17:08 -0500 15 http://www.post-gazette.com/includes/2007design/images/150x30pg_now_logo.gif http://www.post-gazette.com/ 144 39 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10070/1041764-58.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml Mt. Lebanon resident Norman Waldman, 85, is on the fence when it comes to an opinion about the need for health-care cost reform. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:17:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10070/1042014-115.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles averages more than 300 days of sunshine a year, and it often seems as if environmentalists outnumber rattlesnakes in many parts of the sprawling city. It would seem, then, that solar energy would be a thriving local industry here. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10070/1042015-115.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml A group of top scientists from around the world will review the research and management practices of the United Nations climate change panel so that it can try to avoid the kinds of errors that have brought its work into question in recent months, officials said Wednesday. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10070/1041717-115.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, which just had its mission to explore Saturn extended to 2017, is one of the many robotic space probes NASA has used to explore the solar system since 1958. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10070/1041921-113.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml Despite the pleas of environmental groups and Lincoln residents, the Allegheny County Board of Health has approved a federally mandated air pollution control plan for the Liberty-Clairton area that fails to reduce pollution below federal health standards for part of that area. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10070/1041937-114.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml In recommendations that could make a dent in the nation's rising C-section rate, a national group of experts on Wednesday called for a revision of hospital guidelines to allow more women to avoid a repeat Cesarean birth. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10070/1041939-114.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml LONDON -- The average person's sex life ends by the age of 70, according to a report published Wednesday in the British Medical Journal. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10070/1041949-114.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- As they scrambled recently to trace the source of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds around the country, investigators from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention successfully used a new tool for the first time -- the shopper cards that millions of Americans swipe every time they buy groceries. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10070/1041958-114.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- President Barack Obama on Wednesday made an impassioned case for his health care proposal, delivering a folksy, partisan argument for reform as industry groups prepare a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign to defeat it. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10069/1041397-96.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml Need to find a hotel in Starkville, Miss.? Find one with confidence at TripAdvisor.com, or any number of online websites. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10069/1041567-115.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml Let's say you are a boy who collects frogs and snakes from a neighborhood bog and who keeps a spectacled caiman and boa constrictor as pets. Further, you take the boa into the family pool to cavort, although the human swimmers might have used a different verb. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10069/1041568-115.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml WASHINGTON -- China and India formally agreed Tuesday to join the international climate change agreement reached in December in Copenhagen, the last two major economies to sign up. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10069/1041539-113.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml Allegheny County has hired a consultant to conduct energy audits in 104 municipal building all over the county as part of its Energy Efficiency & Conservation Program, a part of a broad energy conservation policy that County Executive Dan Onorato implemented last year. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:19:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10069/1041165-114.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml Special events: Community Care, which is part of UPMC, is sponsoring its annual spring conference, "Creating Hope: Developing Communities of Care for Children, Youth, Young Adults and Families." Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10069/1041166-114.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml Events: The American Cancer Society is sponsoring a Daffy Workout, include toning, strength training, aerobics, water aerobics, spin, yoga and ta'i chi, from 8:30 to 11 a.m. March 20. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10069/1041398-114.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml Early last week, Walter Breidigan felt tired and had a funny sensation of dizziness, like his blood pressure was plummeting down. The symptoms were familiar. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10069/1041399-114.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml "I'm no longer afraid of a buffet," said Antoinette Jucha, 70, of Scott. "I've made my peace with food." Ms. Jucha has been overweight all her life. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10069/1041427-53.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml Seniors at The Residence on Fifth assisted-living facility in Oakland were notified Monday that the facility would close on May 8, with a sale of the property to Carnegie Mellon University pending this spring. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10069/1041486-258.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml Maple syrup season is late due to unseasonably cold days, but the recent rise in temperatures is giving producers some hope. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10069/1041487-114.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml WASHINGTON -- Thousands of liberal public-option backers and conservative tea partiers launched last-chance campaigns Tuesday in the nation's capital to persuade Congress to pass -- or reject -- sweeping health care legislation. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10069/1041524-114.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml An unusual study done in 49 remote Hutterite farming colonies in western Canada has provided the surest proof yet that giving flu shots to schoolchildren protects a whole community from the disease. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10068/1041241-455.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml For most of their 18-year-old daughter Hannah's life, Russell and Robalee Bruesewitz have been engaged in legal battle over compensation for her seizure disorder, which they believe was caused by a vaccine. Tue, 9 Mar 2010 06:33:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10068/1041333-115.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml In the Iranian desert, at a sprawling industrial site ringed by barbed wire and antiaircraft guns, a shift in the enrichment of uranium is producing global jitters because it could shorten Iran's path to the acquisition of nuclear weapons. Tue, 9 Mar 2010 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10068/1041334-115.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml It was "Mad Men" meets "Flash Gordon." Tue, 9 Mar 2010 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10068/1041203-114.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml The West Penn Allegheny Health System is considering changing its name, and it is re-evaluating services at its Suburban Hospital facility in Bellevue. Tue, 9 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10068/1041239-114.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml LOS ANGELES -- Women who drink moderate amounts of alcohol don't gain as much weight in midlife as those who abstain, according to a study released Monday. Tue, 9 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10068/1041275-114.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml GLENSIDE, Pa. -- President Barack Obama began an important political week for his health care legislation with a passionate argument for its urgency Monday at Arcadia University in Glenside, blasting the insurance industry for skyrocketing premiums, canceled coverage -- and suffering Americans. Tue, 9 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10067/1041168-100.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml The West Penn Allegheny Health System is looking at changing its name, and its Suburban Hospital facility in Bellevue may be undergoing operational changes in coming months. Mon, 8 Mar 2010 16:27:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10067/1041045-53.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml When we touch something hot, molecules in our body go to the surfaces of our nerve cells and open up signaling channels that start the pain message heading up the spine. Mon, 8 Mar 2010 13:01:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10067/1041136-84.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court will decide whether drug makers can be sued by parents who claim their children suffered serious health problems from vaccines. Mon, 8 Mar 2010 12:40:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10067/1041104-115.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml Red grouper are known for a few key characteristics -- their hue, which can range from pink to bright orange; their tastiness, whether they're grilled or sauteed; and their predation method, in which they ambush fellow sea creatures and swallow them whole. Mon, 8 Mar 2010 00:05:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10067/1040624-115.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml Take some time this week to observe the Pleiades, one of the brightest and easily recognized star clusters for naked-eye observing. Mon, 8 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10067/1041042-114.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml WASHINGTON -- The virus that causes AIDS can hide in the bone marrow, avoiding drugs and later awakening to cause illness, according to new research that could point the way toward better treatments for the disease. Mon, 8 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500