Archive for May 11th, 2012
Study finds fit middle-age adults have lower future health costs
May 11th, 2012 | 
Author: Physically fit middle-age adults have medical costs that are 38% lower later in life compared with unfit adults, according to data from Medicare claims. Researchers from the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center and the Cooper Institute said that medical costs were lower even after factoring in other health risk factors.
Posted in 
Analysis: Regular fish intake lowers risk of colon, rectal cancer
A report in the American Journal of Medicine found that people who regularly ate fish had a 12% lower risk of colon or rectal cancer. The analysis of 41 studies showed that people consuming the highest levels of fish had a 21% lower risk of rectal cancer compared with those who ate the least, and a 4% lower likelihood of colon cancer.
Observations of an Asteroid Provide Hints of How the Earth Came Together
Vesta, the second-largest asteroid in our solar system, has planetlike features but fails the gravitational bully test for full status, says a report in Friday’s issue of the journal Science.
Painted Maya Walls Reveal Calendar Writing
Hacking through jungle growth and clearing away rubble, archaeologists made their way to excavate a house buried at the edge of ruins of a large Maya city in the remote Petén lowlands of northeastern Guatemala. It turned out to have been the studio for royal scribes with a taste for art and a devotion to the heavens as the source of calculations for the ancient culture’s elaborate calendars …
Rest assured, however, that nothing written on those walls foretells the world coming to an end on Dec. 21, 2012, as some have feared through a misinterpretation of the Maya Long Count calendar.
Eye Color May Indicate Risk for Serious Skin Conditions
Eye color may be an indicator of whether a person is high-risk for certain serious skin conditions. A study, led by the University of Colorado School of Medicine, shows people with blue eyes are less likely to have vitiligo …
Most child deaths “preventable”
Most deaths of young children around the world are from mainly preventable infectious causes, experts say.
A U.S. team, writing in the Lancet, looked at mortality figures from 2010.
They found two-thirds of the 7.6m children who died before their fifth birthday did so due to infectious causes – and pneumonia was found to be the leading cause of death.
Half of young U.S. adults sunburned
Half of U.S. young adults age 30 and under report being sunburned in the past year and indoor tanning rates are highest among white women, researchers say.