Will "Dancing" help Kirstie Alley lose weight?
Kirstie Alley at an event in Los Angeles on March 9, 2011.
/ Getty Images(CBS) Can Kirstie Alley dance her way to weight loss? She says that's one of her goals as a contestant on the upcoming season 12 of "Dancing with the Stars."
"I've lost 60 pounds, and I have 30 or 40 more to go," the former "Fat Actress" star told US magazine. "And I think with this strenuous, rigorous dance schedule, I think it's going to work."
Continue »New lupus drug leaves many behind
Lady Gaga is perhaps the most famous Lupus patient. Will Benlysta help her?
/ MARK RALSTON(CBS/AP) WASHINGTON - In the fight against lupus, there's good news and bad and unfortunately it depends on who you are.
On Wednesday, the FDA approved Benlysta, the first new medication for lupus in 50 years. But the drug doesn't distribute its benefits equally. It works in only 35 percent of patients, isn't effective for those with the deadliest form of the disease and didn't show positive results for African Americans.
Continue »Cost of preemie-preventing drug to skyrocket
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(CBS/AP) ATLANTA - The price of prematurity is going up - way up.
For years, a drug given to high-risk pregnant women to prevent premature births has cost $10 to $20 per injection. Next week, the price shoots up to $1,500, meaning the total cost during a pregnancy could be as much as $30,000.
Continue »Bicycle crash kills marathoner Sally Meyerhoff
Sally Meyerhoff.
/ personal photo(CBS/AP) MARICOPA, ARIZ. - The bicycle accident that took the life of 27-year-old marathoner Sally Meyerhoff is a tragic reminder of just how dangerous bicycling can be.
Meyerhoff - winner of the women's 2011 P.F. Chang's Rock 'n Roll Marathon and a qualifier for the 2012 Olympic marathon trials - died instantly on Tuesday after colliding with a truck while riding her bike here.
Continue »Seven-year itch now down to three: Why?
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(CBS) Seven-year itch? These days, couples' passion starts to cool after only three years, according to a new survey.
Weight gain by a partner, lack of money, snoring, and overexposure to the in-laws are top passion-killers, the Daily Mail reported. Did someone say lack of racy underwear? That's another biggie, along with toenail clippings left on the bathroom floor.
Continue »Size matters for male fertility: Size of what?
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(CBS) In the tale of the tape, size might matter after all when it come to male fertility. Just not the size you think.
Scientists took a look at the distance from the anus to the scrotum of 126 men and tested how it related to fertility. Don't ask why they did this or why someone gave them a pile of money to figure it out. The important news is that they discovered that the size of that nether zone relates to semen volume and sperm count - and a bigger distance is definitely better.
Continue »Hawaii tops list of happiest states
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(CBS) Blue may describe the water that surrounds Hawaii but apparently not the people who live there.
The Aloha State comes out on top of a new national survey of Americans' well-being, scoring a 71.0 out of a possible 100. Rounding out the top five are Wyoming, with a score of 69.2, North Dakota (68.4), Alaska (68.3), and Colorado (60.0).
Pictures: Saddest states in America
Continue »Fat Tuesday 2011: King cake calorie catastrophe
King cake is traditional fare on Mardi Gras, a.k.a. Fat Tuesday.
/ istockphoto(CBS) Mardi Gras revelers know all about king cake, a traditional part of Fat Tuesday celebrations. The gooey, buttery cake is named for the three kings whose journey to Bethlehem to honor the baby Jesus took 12 days, according to one website.
But given all the sugar, milk, and butter in the cake, it wouldn't be far from the mark to say it's called "king" because it's the king of fatty, high-calorie desserts.
Continue »Mediterranean diet cuts disease risk: Study
The Mediterranean diet includes lots of olive oil.
/ iStockphoto(CBS) If you want to stay healthy, eat like a Greek.
That's the message from new research linking the so-called Mediterranean diet to all sorts of health benefits, including a lower risk for obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
PICTURES: 10 Reasons Greeks outlive Americans
Continue »Lab-grown urethra fixes boys' urinary tracts
Urethra replacements made from patients' own cells worked well in recent study. Here, muscle cells are "seeded" onto tissue scaffolds.
/ Wake Forest University(CBS) Need a spare urethra? Doctors soon may be able to tailor one for you in the lab.
That's the promise of a new study from the fast-growing field of regenerative medicine, in which doctors successfully repaired injured urinary tracts using "urine tubes" made from cells taken from the patients' own bladders.
Continue »McDonald's urged to retire Ronald McDonald: Why?
Ronald McDonald gives a speech at McDonald's World Children's Day on November 9, 2004 at McDonald's in the Silverlake section of Los Angeles, California.
/ Photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images(CBS) Should Ronald McDonald be put out to pasture?
Absolutely, says one watchdog group. Corporate Accountability International has launched a campaign calling for the retirement of the red-haired clown who has been pedaling McDonald's food for almost 50 years. The group says Ronald has been hooking kids on unhealthy food, helping spur America's epidemic of obesity and all the health ills that spring from being fat.
A 2010 study published in "Pediatrics" found that branding food products with cartoon characters clearly influences young children's taste preferences, easily luring them to eat junk food.
Continue »Demi Lovato said to end rehab for self-injury
Demi Lovato in Santa Monica, Calif. on January 28, 2011.
/ Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images(CBS) Friends and family are key to recovery during rehab, and nobody knows that better than Demi Lovato. The 18-year-old Disney star made her first formal appearance since coming out of rehab in late January, thanking her fans for their support in an online video.
Continue »Japan halts vaccinations after four children die
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(CBS/AP) TOKYO - Parents worried about the safety of childhood vaccines got a jolt Monday after news broke that Japan had stopped using vaccines from two drugmakers while it investigates the deaths of four children who were inoculated, the health ministry said Monday.
Skippy peanut butter spreads recalled
Skippy reduced-fat peanut butter spreads affected by recall.
/ Skippy(CBS) Skip the Skippy? Maybe not a bad idea, now that some jars of Skippy Reduced Fat peanut butter have been recalled over concerns that they may be contaminated with Salmonella germs.
Salmonella infection (salmanellosis) typically causes diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps. Most cases usually last four to seven days even without treatment. But some people develop severe infections that require hospitalization and treatment with antibiotics.
Continue »Circumcision: Beneficial or genital mutilation?
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(CBS) Is circumcision a key to better health for men and women - or a form of genital mutilation?
An anti-circumcision activist in San Francisco, Lloyd Schofield, goes with the latter view, saying that removing the male foreskin - a coveted ritual in Judaism and Islam - causes "excruciating pain, nerve destruction, loss of normal, natural and functional tissue, infection, disfigurement and sometimes death," according to his website, sfmgmbill.org.
Schofield is so convinced circumcision is a bad idea that he's collecting signatures to put a measure on San Francisco's fall ballot that would ban the practice there.
