Florida: Drywall has material that can emit corrosive gas

Strontium sulfide, a material that can emit corrosive gases in moist air, was found at trace levels in testing of Chinese-made drywall, the Florida Department of Health said. The drywall samples gave off a sulfurous odor when heated, and in at least one case, sulfide gases corroded copper coils in an air conditioner of a Florida home containing Chinese drywall, said the department, which commissioned the study.

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The Growing Case Against Red Meat

In more news that has steak lovers feeling deflated, a study published in this week’s issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine finds that people who indulge in high amounts of red meat and processed meats, including steak, bacon, sausage and cold cuts, have an increased risk of death from cancer and heart disease. The findings add power to the growing push — by health officials, environmentalists and even some chefs — to cool America’s love affair with meat

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Study: Anesthesia in Infancy Linked to Later Disabilities

Every surgery poses risk, as doctors will inform you, but in most cases it’s a necessary one. The benefits of going under the knife frequently outweigh the risks of infection or complications, or the dangers associated with anesthesia. But balancing the benefits and risks is more difficult when the patients are babies, the most fragile population

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Chef: Virus could have caused Fat Duck illnesses

The mystery illness that forced famed chef Heston Blumenthal to temporarily close his award-winning Fat Duck restaurant last month was possibly norovirus, a highly contagious stomach bug, Blumenthal said Thursday. After exhaustive tests of the restaurant in Berkshire, England, and of staff and customers, norovirus was the only potential cause that had been found, Blumenthal told Australia’s Hospitality magazine.

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Families find little comfort at Afghan children’s hospital

Babies lie side by side in warming beds or sprawled on blankets atop crude wooden tables. Children with wounds and broken bones are carried in by their parents to wait on stiff plastic chairs. Outside, coughing youngsters squat on the pavement with their anxious families, waiting for care

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Chinese-made drywall ruining homes, owners say

Officials are looking into claims that Chinese-made drywall installed in some Florida homes is emitting smelly, corrosive gases and ruining household systems such as air conditioners, the Consumer Product Safety Commission says. The Florida Health Department, which is investigating whether the drywall poses any health risks, said it has received more than 140 homeowner complaints

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The Idiot’s Parade Down Wall Street

HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Update 2008 Washington, D.C., Department of Health 82 pages The Gist: There are few who still shrug off HIV and AIDS as exotic calamities that befall only specific segments of the world’s population. But many of us are probably oblivious to just how badly the virus is ravaging our nation’s capital

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A New Approach to Designing the AIDS Vaccine

The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services boldly announced in 1984 that there would be an AIDS vaccine within two years. The discovery of an AIDS-causing virus , she said, was already demonstrating “the triumph of science over a dreaded disease.” Today, 25 years and many failed attempts later, an AIDS vaccine seems as elusive as ever

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American, 88, freed after two months in Mexican jail

An elderly American man has been released from a Mexican jail more than two months after the grandson he was traveling with was arrested on child pornography charges, a family member said. Edward Chrisman, 88, and his grandson had traveled to Algodones, Mexico, for discount dental care, as a part of a growing trend known as medical tourism

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