Uncle Sam to Start Tracking Tobacco Use in Movies Aimed at Kids

Federal health authorities said Friday they will begin monitoring how well movie studios are doing to reduce depictions of smoking and other tobacco use in youth-rated movies.Authorities at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Office on Smoking and Health said that voluntary efforts by movie studios to reduce tobacco use in youth-rated movies have been unimpressive. Data on tobacco use...

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Study tentatively links flu in pregnancy and autism

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Kids whose mothers had the flu while pregnant were slightly more likely to be diagnosed with "infantile autism" before age three in a new Danish study. But the children's overall risk for the developmental disorder was not higher than that of other kids.Researchers said it's possible that activation of a mother's immune system - such as by infection with the influenza...

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Nesquik Recall Q and A: Are Your Kids Safe?

 Nestlé announced late last week a recall of Nesquik for possible Salmonella contamination. Promoted by the Nesquik Bunny, the chocolate milk flavoring is consumed primarily by children. Here's what you need to know to make sure your kids are safe from this Salmonella risk.How Do I Know If My Nesquik Is Part of the Recall?The Nesquik recall covers only chocolate powder in 10.9, 21.8 and 40.7...

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Kids with Down syndrome twice as likely to be heavy

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - More than one in four children with Down syndrome in The Netherlands is overweight, a rate double that of Dutch youth without the developmental disability, according to a new study."We were alarmed by the high prevalence of overweight in children with Down syndrome," said Dr. Helma van Gameren-Oosterom, the lead author of the study from the Netherlands Organization for...

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A Good Reason -- Pregnancy, Your Dog, Money, Anything -- is Key to Quitting Smoking

 FIRST PERSON | I remember when I quit smoking one weekend. It was a Saturday night and I was pre-gaming with some friends before going out. Someone suggested taking a smoke break, and I went along to be with the crowd. Last thing I remember was having a great time, surrounded by secondhand smoke  from cigarettes and Black & Milds. Then I woke up the next morning with a fresh pack of...

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Even moderate drinking in pregnancy may affect child's IQ

LONDON (Reuters) - Women who drink even moderate amounts of alcohol while pregnant may risk lowering child's intelligence levels, according to a study by British scientists.Advice to pregnant women about drinking is contradictory, with some guidelines recommending no alcohol at all and others suggesting the odd drink now and then is safe.But in a study described as "hugely important" by one expert,...

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U.S. judge names lead plaintiffs in Facebook litigation

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A group of investors including state pension funds in North Carolina and Arkansas will be the lead plaintiffs in securities lawsuits arising out of Facebook Inc's $16 billion initial public offering, a U.S. judge ruled on Thursday. The investors, in a proposed class-action case, have accused Facebook of misrepresenting its financial condition in the run-up to...

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Recent hacking of U.N. nuclear agency not first attempt: IAEA

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A recently announced hacking of the U.N. nuclear agency's computer servers was not the first time an attempt had been made to break into the organization's computer system, the head of the agency said on Thursday. Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that a few months ago a group broke into the agency's computer...

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Software guru McAfee hospitalized in Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Software guru John McAfee, who is fighting deportation to Belize, was rushed to the hospital in Guatemala on Thursday after his lawyer said he suffered two mild heart attacks earlier in the day, Reuters witnesses said.McAfee was carried out on a stretcher from an immigration service cottage where he was detained after crossing illegally into Guatemala from neighboring Belize....

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Amazon and Google start e-book sales in Brazil

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc and Google Inc both opened their digital bookstores in Brazil on Thursday, hot on the heels of e-book offerings by local booksellers in a fast-growing online retail market. The simultaneous introduction of the two services highlighted the wide-open nature of Brazil's $12 billion e-commerce market. Low Internet penetration and a swelling middle...

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In brewing rivalry, Instagram trims ties to Twitter

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc's recently acquired photo-sharing service Instagram  removed a key element of its integration with Twitter, signaling a deepening rift between two of the Web's dominant social media companies.Instagram Chief Executive Kevin Systrom said Wednesday his company turned off support for Twitter "cards" in order to drive Twitter users to Instagram's own website....

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