Too Much Or Too Little Weight Gain Poses Risks to Pregnant Mothers, Babies Women who gain more or less than recommended amounts of weight during pregnancy are likely to increase the risk of problems for both themselves and their child, according to a new report by the RTI International-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Evidence-based Practice Center. Read More | Post Opinion University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

After Divorce, Stable Families Help Minimize Harm to Children For children of divorce, what happens after their parents split up may be just as important to their long-term well-being as the divorce itself. A new study found that children who lived in unstable family situations after their parents divorced fared much worse as adults on a variety of measures compared to children who had stable post-divorce family situations. Read More | Post Opinion Ohio State University

Increased Jail, Community Collaboration Can Improve Return of Inmates to Society “Life after Lockup: Improving Reentry from Jail to the Community” is the first national resource focusing on jail inmates’ transition from incarceration to society. It presents an overview of U.S. jails and their population and how reentry from jail differs markedly from reentry from state and federal prisons. Read More | Post Opinion Urban Institute

New Report Details Unwanted Sexual Experiences at University A new study conducted by the University of New Hampshire about the unwanted sexual experiences of students shows the vast majority of incidents at the university are perpetrated by someone the victim knows, which is in direct contrast to the stereotype of the perpetrator being a stranger. Read More | Post Opinion University of New Hampshire

Climate Models Overheat Antarctica Computer analyses of global climate have consistently overstated warming in Antarctica, new research concludes. The study can help scientists improve computer models and determine if Earth's southernmost continent will warm significantly this century, a major research question because of Antarctica's potential impact on global sea-level rise. Read More | Post Opinion National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)

Vitamin D Linked to Reduced Mortality Rate in Chronic Kidney Disease For patients with moderate to severe chronic kidney disease (CKD), treatment with activated vitamin D may reduce the risk of death by approximately one-fourth, suggests a study in the August Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Read More | Post Opinion American Society of Nephrology (ASN)

Medical Research is Essential to Improving The Economy and Bettering Lives Health care in the United States is expensive, but its funding is crucial because it also is a major contributor to the economy and can better lives, according to an essay appearing in the June 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). Because of the cost of health care, this is not time to shrink the budget at the National Institutes of Health, which funds medical research that leads to potentially curative therapy. Read More | Post Opinion American Society of Nephrology (ASN)

Obesity Linked to Increased Risk for Dementia Obesity may increase adults’ risk for having dementia, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Read More | Post Opinion Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Living with Asthma is about Control, No Matter What Season Asthma is a serious chronic medical condition. About 1.8 million ER visits per year and more than $16 billion in direct and indirect healthcare costs are attributable to the disease. For some, asthma can simply make breathing difficult, for others, it can be potentially life-threatening. Change of season can bring more than asthma triggers; learning to control disease is more than just managing symptoms. Read More | Post Opinion Edelman PR, NYC

Blacks, Hispanics Less Aware of When to Call 911 for Heart Attack Signs Every year, an estimated 700,000 Americans have a first heart attack, with another 500,000 suffering a recurrent attack. About 40 percent of these people die as a result. However, many of these individuals might live if heart attack victims and bystanders recognize symptoms and call 911. While knowledge of heart attack symptoms is poor within the general population, it is especially poor among African-Americans and Hispanics. Read More | Post Opinion Health Behavior News Service

MIT Study Suggests Caution on New Anti-obesity Drug in Kids Anti-obesity drugs that work by blocking brain molecules similar to those in marijuana could also interfere with neural development in young children, according to a new study from MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. Read More | Post Opinion MIT

High Fuel Prices Could Slash U.S. Emissions High gasoline prices could lead to a dramatic saving in US greenhouse-gas emissions. That’s the conclusion of economists in the US, who suggest high fuel prices are turning consumers off SUVs and onto smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. Read More | Post Opinion New Scientist

Mental Disorders Cost Society Billions in Unearned Income Major mental disorders cost the nation at least $193 billion annually in lost earnings alone, according to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The study was published in the May 2008 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry. Read More | Post Opinion NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

Tightening Wallets Have Turned Pizza into a Weekend Treat In what appears to be another sign that consumers are trimming back on restaurant spending, foodservice consultants Technomic found that consumers have shifted their pizza-ordering habits, cutting back on weekdays but ordering more often on weekends. Read More | Post Opinion Technomic

U.S. Manufacturers Claim Presidential Candidates Are Ignoring Their Issues The presidential campaigns are ignoring issues around U.S. industrial competitiveness, much to the dismay of manufacturers, according to a new poll from Thomas Publishing Company, LLC. Read More | Post Opinion Thomas Publishing Company

Soft Existing-Home Sales Expected Near-Term But to Rise Midsummer A flat pattern in home sales activity should continue for the next couple months before improving over the summer, according to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors(R).  Read More | Post Opinion National Association of Realtors

Anesthesiologists Help Patients Extinguish Smoking Habits Responding to ongoing patient tobacco use, ASA has formed a Smoking Cessation Initiative Task Force to encourage smokers to quit prior to surgery. Smokers require special consideration when undergoing anesthesia for surgery, because smoking complicates anesthesia management and increases the risk of complications. Read More | Post Opinion American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA)

New Dating Site for Intelligent People Only A new dating site exclusively for intelligent people has just launched. IntelligentPeople.com is an online dating and networking community which requires that its members pass an IQ test in order to join. Read More | Post Opinion IntelligentPeople.com

One in Four Disabled Seniors Use Risky Or Ineffective Medicines Roughly a quarter of Americans with disabilities age 65 and older reported using at least one prescription drug deemed inappropriate for persons his or her age. These include drugs -- such as Xanax, Demerol, Darvon and Procardia -- either because they are ineffective, pose a high risk of side effects, or may be avoided in favor of a safer alternative. Read More | Post Opinion Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

New Study Links Desire, Competency, and MBA to Career Path Original research conducted by a team from Syracuse University, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the University of Utah that includes Kira Reed, assistant professor of management in the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, finds that competency and desire play key roles in “sector-shifting.” Read More | Post Opinion Whitman School at Syracuse University

America's Young Adults Face Serious Economic Challenges Today's young adults are feeling the impact of a massive shift in the U.S. economy -- changes that are documented in a new data report from Demos and an analysis of public opinion polling by The Center for American Progress. The studies were announced today with a press teleconference. Read More | Post Opinion Demos

Smoke-free Laws Have No Impact on Employee Turnover Supporting the argument that smoke-free laws do not damage the hospitality industry, restaurants that ban cigarette smoking haven’t suffered from increased employee turnover, according to a new report published in the current online issue of Contemporary Economic Policy. Read More | Post Opinion Substance Abuse Policy Research Program

Economic Growth to Continue Throughout 2008 Economic growth in the United States is sustainable throughout the remainder of 2008, say the nation's purchasing and supply executives in their spring 2008 Semiannual Economic Forecast. Expectations for the remainder of 2008 are encouraging in both the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors. Read More | Post Opinion Institute for Supply Management

Concerns Grow Among America’s Millionaires About Inflation, Personal Wealth Even America’s millionaires are now concerned about inflation’s corrosive effect on their nest egg, according to the ninth annual Phoenix Wealth Survey. The results are in stark contrast to the 2007 survey, which found record-high levels of optimism among the country’s millionaires. Read More | Post Opinion The Phoenix Companies

Prudential Study Finds Women’s Retirement Concerns Transcend Generation Whether they’re Millennials, GenXers, Boomers or Matures, American women are actively considering their future retirement and financial security—countering conventional wisdom that retirement is an “over 50” issue, according to a study issued today by Prudential Financial. Read More | Post Opinion Prudential Financial

Boomers Change Retirement Plans Due to Recession Fears The economic slowdown is hitting affluent baby boomers hard, just as they are preparing for retirement. One in four affluent 60-year-olds are changing their retirement plans and 40 percent “downsizing” their lifestyles, according to a national survey from Bell Investment Advisors, conducted in April. Read More | Post Opinion Bell Investment Advisors

Tail-End Boomers Avoid Participating in Parents’ Estate Planning A new national survey commissioned by LegalZoom.com, the leading online legal document and filing service, reveals that the creation of a last will or living trust is one of the most avoided topics between younger members of the Boomer generation and their parents. Read More | Post Opinion LegalZoom.com

Flu Vaccine Less Effective in Winter 2007/2008 than in Previous Winters A new Harris Poll confirms the findings of a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that the vaccine used to prevent the flu this last winter was less effective than the flu vaccines used in previous winters. Read More | Post Opinion Harris Interactive

Poll Reveals That Americans Want More Public School Options More than three out of four voters (77%) favor giving parents more options when choosing a public school for their children, according to a new national poll conducted for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Read More | Post Opinion National Alliance for Public Charter Schools

New Cell-Based Sensors Sniff Out Danger Like Bloodhounds University of Maryland engineers are collaborating across engineering disciplines to develop advanced “cell-based sensors-on-a-chip” technology. These tiny sensors, only a few millimeters in size, could speed up and improve the detection of everything from explosive materials to biological pathogens to spoiled food or impure water. Read More | Post Opinion University of Maryland, College Park

Policy Makers, Media Blamed for U.S., World Food Insecurity Problem A food security expert at the University at Buffalo says the worldwide food crisis is a direct result of the choices made by policy makers and the lack of attention paid to the food system and its relationship to global warming and fossil fuels. Read More | Post Opinion University at Buffalo

Many Increased Risks of Death From Smoking Reduced Within Years After Quitting Women who quit smoking significantly reduce their risk of death from coronary heart disease within 5 years and have about a 20 percent lower risk of death from smoking-related cancers within that time period, according to a study in the May 7 issue of JAMA. Read More | Post Opinion American Medical Association (AMA)

Common Drug Eases Leg Cramping, Enables Farther Walking People with leg cramps caused by narrowing blood vessels often stop walking because of the pain. In fact, some say they have “shop window disease,” because they pretend to gaze into store windows during the embarrassing pauses. But those who take a common drug don’t have to pause nearly as often, according to a new review from Belgium. Read More | Post Opinion Health Behavior News Service

Psychologist Investigates Newlyweds' Tribulations Beyond the bliss of a wedding day lies a load of tribulations for newlyweds. In their rookie year as parents, many will face a significant drop in marital satisfaction. And nearly one-third of newlyweds are physically aggressive. That's according to two studies led by Erika Lawrence, assistant professor of psychology in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Read More | Post Opinion University of Iowa Health Sciences

When Bears Steal Human Food, Mom’s Not to Blame Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) found that the black bears that become habituated to human food and garbage may not be learning these behaviors exclusively from their mothers, as widely assumed. Bears that steal human food sources are just as likely to form these habits on their own or pick them up from unrelated, “bad influence” bears. Read More | Post Opinion Wildlife Conservation Society

Delay in Reaching Hospital Can Be Deadly for Heart Attack Patients If heart attack symptoms such as chest or neck pain or shortness of breath persist for five minutes, call 911 or seek emergency medical care, recommends the American Heart Association. Read More | Post Opinion Mayo Clinic

Waterpipe Smoking on College Campuses Could Lead to Public Health Problem More and more U.S. college students are smoking tobacco using waterpipes – or hookahs – and it’s becoming a growing public health issue, according to a new study led by a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher. Read More | Post Opinion Virginia Commonwealth University

Signs of Aging Might Instead Be a Treatable Thyroid Disorder It’s wrong to assume that fatigue or memory loss is an inevitable sign of aging. They also are common symptoms of an underactive thyroid -- a condition that generally responds to treatment, according to the May issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter. Read More | Post Opinion Mayo Clinic

Low-Calorie Sweeteners: Sweet and Safe Diet soda tastes sweet and has virtually no calories. But is the soda’s artificial sweetener safe to consume? Read More | Post Opinion

Study Shows Children's Web Sites May Make Kids Cry Publishers of many major children's Web sites should do a better job disclosing sales and advertising information to parents, especially as more kids at younger ages go online to play and meet friends, says a study released today by Consumer Reports WebWatch and the Mediatech Foundation of Flemington, N.J. Read More | Post Opinion Consumers Union

Estimated 750,000 Problem Gamblers Among America's Youth Gambling activity is widespread among U.S. adolescents and young adults ages 14 through 21, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA). Read More | Post Opinion University at Buffalo

Pregnant Women Face Hostile Behavior When Applying For Jobs Pregnant women may still face judgment and obstacles to getting jobs, shows two recent studies by George Mason University and Rice University professors. The studies, co-written by Eden King of Mason, Michelle Hebl of Rice and their collaborators, explored different interpersonal reactions that pregnant women face in their daily lives. It was recently published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.  Read More | Post Opinion George Mason University