Condoms with QR codes enable smartphone check-ins
www.WhereDidYouWearIt.com
(CBS News) Think social media couldn't get any more personal? Planned Parenthood has introduced new QR-coded condoms that take social sharing to another level.
PICTURES - Unsafe sex? Poll shows where young people do it most
As part of National Condom Week (Feb. 14 - Feb. 21), Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest distributed 55,000 condoms throughout western Washington. The condom packaging contained QR codes, barcodes that can be scanned by smart phones which direct users to a mobile website. What site did the QR codes take users to? www.WhereDidYouWearIt.com, a geo-location service website that allows users to "check-in" their safe sex activity.
Continue »World of Warcraft boosts seniors' brainpower: Study
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(CBS News) If Grandma's favorite game is bingo, it may be time for a change. A new study suggests that the popular online role-playing game World of Warcraft may keep aging brains sharp.
For the study, researchers from North Carolina State University's Gains Through Gaming lab tested 39 adults between ages 60 and 77. Twenty of those adults played World or Warcraft for 14 hours over the course of two weeks. The other 19 formed a control group that did not play WoW. The cognitive function of all the participants was tested both before and after the two-week study.
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Rare Disease Day spotlights need for treatments
Twelve-year-old South African Ontlametse Phalatse is one of only 80 children in the world diagnosed with progeria, a premature aging condition. She's also the first black child with the condition.
(CBS News) February 29, known as a "leap day," is a rare day. And this year, it's Rare Disease Day.
PICTURES - Progeria: First black child with rare aging disease
PICTURES - Proteus syndrome: The Elephant Man and beyond
In the U.S., a rare disease is one that affects fewer than 200,000 people. There are about 6,800 such diseases, according to the National Institutes of Health. As many as one in 10 Americans suffers a rare disease, often struggling not just from the medical condition itself, but also to get proper diagnosis, information and care.
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Happiest states: Hawaii is No. 1, which is last?
Michael Robles
(CBS News) Are warm weather and beautiful beaches the keys to happiness? If Hawaii's residents are any indication, yes. For the third year in a row, Hawaii ranked first place in the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. The state received a score of 70.2 - a score of 100 represents ideal well-being.
The results are based on daily telephone surveys conducted from January through December 2011. A random sampling of over 350,000 adults were asked questions about their well-being, including present satisfaction as well as what they anticipate things will be like in five years.
Continue »Improper condom use a global health problem: Study
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(CBS) Do condoms go hand in hand with safe sex? Only if they're used correctly. But public health officials are saying improper condom use is a problem, not just within the U.S. but everywhere around the world.
A new study published in the journal of Sexual Health provides a global picture of condom use, based on 50 articles representing 14 countries. Led by the Kinsey Institute Condom Use Research Team, researchers from around the world compared notes on condom habits and issues, including the use of female condoms in South Africa and counterfeit condoms in China.
Continue »Alcohol abuse problem found among surgeons: Study
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CBS) Alcohol abuse is not a surprising condition to find within hospital walls. But a new study suggests the ones with a drinking problem might be the surgeons.
PICTURES - Booziest states in America: Who drinks most?
For the study - published in the Feb. 20 issue of the Archives of Surgery - researchers surveyed over 25,000 surgeons about their work, lifestyle, and mood. Only 7,000 of them responded, and the researchers used the information to screen for alcohol abuse or dependence.
Continue »Heart attacks: Fewer women feel chest pain, more die
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(CBS) Women are more likely than men to die from heart attacks. That provocative claim is one of several gender differences found in a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
PICTURES: 9 surprising heart attack risks
The study looked at 1.4 million patients who had experienced a heart attack between 1994 and 2006 to investigate the relationship between age and gender and heart attacks, specifically symptoms and death rates. Data revealed 14.6 percent of women hospitalized with a heart attack died, compared with 10.3 percent of men.
Continue »Gluten-free diets not always necessary: Study
Gluten-free foods
/ APPICTURES - Celiac disease symptoms: 8 red flags
Gluten intolerance causes celiac disease, a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with the absorption of nutrients from food. Celiac disease is diagnosed through blood and bowel tests. But some people not diagnosed with celiac disease can still experience discomfort after eating gluten, a condition which researchers refer to as nonceliac gluten sensitivity.
Continue »Plastic surgery takes years off appearance: Study
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(CBS) Can plastic surgery turn back the clock? According to a new study, it can make patients look up to nine years younger than their chronological age.
PICTURES - Celebrity body parts: 48 stars who inspire plastic surgery
The study, published Feb. 20 in the Archives of Plastic Surgery, aimed to put a number on the years that could be "restored" through surgery.
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Remote-controlled microchip implant delivers drug: Study
MicroCHIPS
(CBS) An under-the-skin microchip device that releases drugs has been tested in humans for the first time.
The study - published in the Feb. 16 issue of Science Translational Medicine - involved eight postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. The microchip-based device containing osteoporosis treatment was implanted in these women for four months and wirelessly programmed to release doses of the medicine once a day for 20 days.
Did it work?
Heart Attack Grill owner responds to incident
A man - not the man who suffered from heart attack symptoms - eats a burger from the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas.
/ CBS(CBS) The Heart Attack Grill saw its name in action yesterday when a diner suffered a heart attack at the restaurant. The man was eating a 6,000-calorie Triple Bypass Burger at the Las Vegas branch of the restaurant, HealthPop reported. Moments later, he was wheeled out of the restaurant after a waitress - dressed as a nurse, as part of the restaurant's gimmick - called 911.
At the restaurant, owner Jon Basso calls himself "Dr. John" and his waitresses "nurses." Diners wear hospital gowns. The restaurant's slogan is "A taste worth dying for."
Arsenic found in infant formula, cereal bars
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(CBS) Is arsenic in your breakfast? A new study suggests that might just be what you - or your children - are having each morning.
PICTURES - Arsenic, lead in 10 juices: Which ones?
Researchers at Dartmouth College already knew that rice can be a major source of inorganic arsenic. This includes rice products, such as organic brown rice syrup, an alternative sweetener to high fructose corn syrup. Exposure to high levels of inorganic arsenic over time has been tied to increased risk for cancer.
For the study - published in the Feb. 16 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives - the researchers investigated levels of arsenic in commercially available brown rice syrups, and in products containing the syrups, including infant formula, cereal and energy bars, and high energy foods used by endurance athletes.
Continue »Decision time for deadly bird flu research
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(CBS) Should scientists be allowed to create a deadly bird flu virus to study how it spreads? That difficult question lies at the heart of a debate that weighs the risks and benefits of avian influenza research. The World Health Organization has called for the debate to end this week during a Feb. 17-18 meeting in Geneva to decide how far scientists can go, Reuters reported.
PICTURES: Bird flu self-defense: 7 key questions answered
The mutant H5N1 bird flu virus that scientists created has the potential to cause a human pandemic - especially if it gets into the wrong hands - but it also has the potential to yield knowledge about reducing risk for contamination. So far, the virus has been shown to transmit only between ferrets. But this has raised concerns about transmission between other mammals, including humans, according to the journal Nature.
Continue »Valentine's Day: 7 ways to harm your health
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Overeating may double odds of memory loss in elderly
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(CBS) Can stuffing your mouth clog your brain? A new study suggests overeating may double the risk for memory loss, or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), among people age 70 and older.
Alzheimer's disease: 7 things that raise your risk
The study - to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 64th Annual Meeting in April - involved over 1,200 dementia-free people between ages 70 and 89. Of those, 163 people had MCI. Participants filled out a questionnaire about the amount of calories they consumed daily.
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