health/fitness

Since bursting onto the world health stage last spring, the novel H1N1 flu has become one of the most-studied pathogens ever.

Scientists have tracked how it spreads, how it infects, how it behaves in animal and human hosts, the symptoms it creates and why some people have much nastier experiences with it than others.

Maltodextrin is a food additive, but don't hold that against it. In fact, many people are downright sweet on it. We've been hearing some good things about this complex carbohydrate, so take our quiz:

1. From what natural source does maltodextrin derive?

a) Potato starch

b) Corn starch

c) Rice starch

TOLEDO, Ohio - A Sylvania Township couple received a double whammy of astonishing news this year from their fertility doctor. The first part they anticipated: Carolyn Savage was pregnant. But the follow-up that came later carried quite a jolt.

It's not their baby.

ART READY
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A few hours before he died on Aug. 24, Jim Dougan asked for his hospital bed to be wheeled to a window.

"He didn't have much of a voice at the end, but he told me he wanted to smell the rain one last time," said Rita Dougan, his widow.

A new government survey published Thursday finds that rates of vaccination for the nation's teens are rising, but are still well below goals in most states.

Estimated vaccination coverage rates, by percentage, nationally and in each state, among 13-17-year-olds according to 2008 National Immunization Survey.

The early arrival of seasonal flu vaccines -- to pave the way for the October release of the new H1N1 vaccine -- comes just in time for the fall checkups that are part of the health routine of children with asthma.

The first thing you notice is music. Boom! Boom! Boom! The big bass sucks you in and starts your hips shaking. Then, the Latin beat draws you closer until you muster the courage to open the door and peek inside.

"Come on in," Gemma Hughes hollers without missing a step. "We are just getting started."

In the last 50 years, circumcision in America has been on a steady decline, and is now done on only 55 percent of baby boys.

But that may change if two major health groups adopt new recommendations based on striking results from African studies that show circumcised men are much less likely to get HIV.

Certainly what we eat affects our weight.

But researchers are finding that when we eat, and with whom, can also have a major impact on our accumulation of pounds.

First there's the timing of meals.

One study, reported recently by scientists at Northwestern University in Chicago, suggests that calories consumed late at night tend to hang around as fat.