After Oakland voters backed a marijuana tax expected to raise about $294,000 in its first year, San Francisco and Berkeley are weighing similar measures. A state bill and a proposed 2010 ballot initiative would legalize and tax cannabis more broadly.
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Miscellaneous
Other health and consumer news.
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Miscellaneous
Health care rates soar with weight
Annual US medical costs for treating obese people reached an estimated $147 billion, more than double the figure of less than a decade earlier. Obese people spent $1,429 more than normal-weight people in 2006, nearly all of it on treating the diseases obesity promotes.
Miscellaneous
Chinese researchers make mice from skin cells
Chinese researchers reported in Cell Stem Cell that one line of induced pluripotent stem cells made from reprogrammed skin cells produced live mice, one of which reached adulthood. Lead author Shaorong Gao cautions it is premature to call iPS cells equal to embryonic cells.
Miscellaneous
Small businesses would pay less for health care plans
A Council of Economic Advisors report says the administration's health plan would give small businesses insurance exchanges, a tax credit and subsidies, and bar screening for pre-existing conditions. Without change, it projects 72 million uninsured by 2040.
Miscellaneous
FDA Warns of Health Risks Posed by E-Cigarettes
The FDA warns that e-cigarette cartridges may contain chemicals toxic to humans and that, with no safety studies submitted to the agency, users cannot know what they are inhaling. Commissioner Margaret Hamburg says the devices may deepen nicotine addiction among young people.
Miscellaneous
Virginia Tech Shooter's Files Found
Virginia's governor said Seung Hui Cho's counseling records were found at the home of Robert C. Miller, the university counseling center's former director, who left a year before the 2007 shootings. Lawyers for two families suing over alleged gross negligence traced the file.
Miscellaneous
Parental Stress Raises Kids' Risk of Asthma
A new study links a parent's stress level to whether their young children develop asthma, a disease up 160 percent since 1980. Stress engages the body's inflammatory response, and earlier research tied a mother's stress to schizophrenia risk in her child later in life.
Miscellaneous
Depressed? Hopeless? Stop Looking at the Help Wanted Ads
A satirical column on help-wanted ads a decade after the dot-com crash, translating the stock phrases — “self-starter,” “growing team,” “tremendous income potential” — and noting that stock options have given way to postings with no salary at all.
Miscellaneous
Embryonic-like cells repair damaged mouse hearts
A Mayo Clinic study injected induced pluripotent stem cells, made by reprogramming adult skin cells, into mice whose hearts were damaged by cardiac arrest. Two weeks on, the animals had grown muscle, blood vessels and vessel-lining cells, and heart function improved.
Miscellaneous
New Weight Loss Drug Helps Craving Control
Orexigen Therapeutics' Contrave combines the antidepressant bupropion with naltrexone, used against alcohol and opiate addiction. In trials more than half of participants lost an average of 8 percent of body weight, exceeding the FDA standard of a third losing at least 5 percent.
Miscellaneous
Pregnant women urged to get both vaccines against swine flu
Britain now tells pregnant women to avoid large crowds, and Canada reported three pregnant women in intensive care with H1N1. The CDC's Anne Schuchat urged pregnant women with fever or respiratory symptoms to seek care promptly and to get both the H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccines.
Miscellaneous
Sexual and Reproductive Health of Persons Aged 10--24 Years --- United States, 2002--2007
A CDC compilation of 2002-2007 data on the sexual and reproductive health of Americans aged 10 to 24, drawn from vital statistics and several surveys and surveillance systems and assembled as one reference for policy makers, researchers and program providers.
Miscellaneous
Health Officials Sued for Not Protecting Actors and Actresses Against Spread of AIDS
With help from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a porn performer who tested HIV positive sued in Superior Court, alleging the government failed to protect performers by not requiring condoms. County officials have found 18 AIDS cases in the industry since 2004.
Miscellaneous
Males aren't disappearing, scientists conclude
Penn State researchers say the Y chromosome has shed genes fast enough that it could vanish within a few million years. Team leader Kateryna Makova says that would not end males, since another chromosome pair would likely take over. The Y carries under 200 genes to the X's roughly 1,100.
Miscellaneous
Best U.S. hospitals
U.S. News and World Report surveyed 4,861 hospitals and ranked them across 16 specialties, mostly on reputation, death rate, patient safety and care. Johns Hopkins topped the honor roll, ahead of the Mayo Clinic and Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
Miscellaneous
Group sues LA County to require condom use in porn industry
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation sued the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to force it to require condoms on porn sets, after an actress tested positive for HIV. The Los Angeles Times reported as many as 22 performers may have tested positive in five years.
Miscellaneous
What are the Dangers of Mandatory Swine Flu Vaccination?
Mercola traces how Sebelius called H1N1 milder than feared in May, then by June urged schools to prepare as vaccination clinics, and questions another $1 billion for vaccine ingredients. WHO's phase 6 alert reflects how fast a virus spreads, not how severe it is.
Miscellaneous
Heart transplant may normalize damaged heart in British teen
Hannah Clark received a donor heart at 11 months while her own was left in place. It regained normal function by age 4, and at 10 the graft was removed. She is now off immunosuppressants and in remission from a transplant-related cancer, a Lancet case report says.
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