Forty percent of the nearly 637,000 children in kindergarten through the eighth grade were found to be overweight or obese in the 2008-9 school year.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers to discard cheeses from Estrella Family Creamery of Montesano, Wash., because they may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. Environmental samples and one product sample collected by the FDA during an August 2010 inspection at the facility have tested positive for L. mono.

Sparboe Farms issued the following clarification regarding the previously announced recall of shell eggs supplied by Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms. One additional brand is linked to this recall associated with possible Salmonella contamination.

The Hartz Mountain Corporation is voluntarily recalling one specific lot of Hartz Naturals Real Beef Treats for Dogs due to concerns that one or more bags within the lot may have been potentially contaminated with Salmonella. Hartz is fully cooperating with the US Food and Drug Administration in this voluntary recall.

Real Taste Noodle Manufacture of Chicago, IL is recalling bags of Egg Noodle (5lbs per bag, 10 bags per case), because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

Safety experts have advice on ways to germ-proof your food, and still save money.

High levels of cortisol in the hair shaft may increase the risk of heart attack, a study shows.

SAM-e plus prescription antidepressants may spell relief for hard-to-treat depression, according to a new study.

Cibo Vita, 280 N. Midland Ave Saddle Brook, NJ 07663 is recalling Mediterranean Mix of Woodpecker brand because it may contain undeclared sulfites. People who have severe sensitivity to sulfites run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reactions if they consume this product. The recalled Mediterranean Mix, in plastic containers of 8.5 OZ was sold to the list of the attached customers.

Does depression cause weight gain or weight loss? Does weight gain or weight loss cause depression? WebMD helps to unravel the mystery surrounding the link between depression and weight.

You wake up feeling crummy. Should you drag yourself to work and risk infecting coworkers? Or should you phone in sick, even though your boss desperately needs you to pitch in during a stressful week?

Steamed and grilled leeks are paired with romesco sauce, a nut-thickened pepper purée.

Good Taste Noodle MFG. of Chicago, IL, is recalling its “EGG NOODLES and WONTON SKINS, labeled with production date from June 19, 2010 to August 19, 2010”, because they have the potential to be contaminated with salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune system. Healthy persons infected with salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan today highlighted the Connecting Kids to Coverage Challenge to enroll five million children in Medicaid and CHIP within five years.

The long-term use of oral bisphosphonate osteoporosis drugs such as Actonel, Boniva, and Fosamax may be associated with a doubling in esophageal cancer risk, but the risk to individual users remains small, researchers say.

“No religion, no politics”, reads the sign above the bar in one of north London's otherwise very accommodating public houses, and it is a rule that all the customers seem happy to abide by. In a culturally pluralist society, there are areas of shared public life in which the respect for personal autonomy that defines most democracies in the developed world precludes any intrusion by politics or religion, which are so often seen as wellsprings of division. Medicine in developed countries is a secular profession, and it is taken somewhat ironically as an article of faith that a doctor's religious beliefs will have no influence on his or her professional judgment.

William S Burroughs II, the American Beat Generation author, published Junkie: Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict in 1953 about life dependent on heroin (some editions use Junky). Junk was a slang term for heroin, possibly from users being seen as the “junk of society”, an early use of a stigmatising phrase.

To coincide with the annual European Respiratory Society meeting, in Barcelona, on Sept 18–22, The Lancet today focuses on asthma and respiratory diseases. WHO estimates that asthma affects 300 million people worldwide, and vulnerable groups—particularly children and elderly people—can be especially difficult to treat. Two Reviews in this issue focus on these groups, for which asthma is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality, and is characterised by scarce data from research.

Respiratory events are a major risk for perioperative morbidity and cause 30% of perioperative cardiac arrests in children. In The Lancet today, Britta von Ungern-Sternberg and colleagues present a prospective cohort of more than 9000 children who had had general anaesthesia in a single children's hospital. The investigators evaluated specific details in the children's history (with the International Study Group for Asthma and Allergies in Childhood [ISAAC] questionnaire), demographic data, and anaesthetic management, and correlated these variables with occurrence of perioperative respiratory adverse events. Multivariate analysis showed that airway sensitivity, eczema, a family history of airway disorders, and anaesthetic management statistically contributed to the risk of such events. Although today's results are mostly consistent with previous studies, they do raise questions.

Breathlessness is a frightening and devastating symptom which affects patients with many diseases in advanced stages. The prevalence reaches 90% in cancer, 95% in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 88% in cardiac failure, and 80% in advanced-stage renal disease. Patients with various neurological conditions also become breathless. Oxygen therapy is often used to manage breathlessness. However, although there is accepted evidence for using oxygen in patients with COPD and hypoxaemia, palliative oxygen is often used in patients with advanced life-limiting illness, irrespective of the partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood (PaO2). Three systematic reviews raised concerns about a lack of robust evidence with trials that were underpowered, inadequately controlled, or had unclear outcomes.