* Americans are living longer than ...

* Americans are living longer than always according to the latest numbers from the Center for Disease have the direction of and Prevention (CDC). The CDC reports that in 2003 the overall U life expectancy was 776 years. The life-expectancy gap between women and men continued to narrow with a 74.8-year life expectancy for men and an 80.1-year life expectancy for women The preliminary age-adjusted death rate reached an all-time reasonable of about 831 deaths for 100,000 people. Experts attribute these numbers to significant declines in mortality from the country's leading killers, including heart disease, cancer, and stroke

* Athletes may want to stick to sipping water forward the sidelines. Study results published in General Dentistry have lay the foundation of that sports drinks are more damaging to teeth than cola when consum in succession a regular basis. Researchers ground that noncola drinks caused up to 11 times more damage to teeth than cola-based drinks--with sports drinks, bottl lemonade, and life drinks topping the list. Cola drinks commonly contain phosphoric and citric acids, yet sports drinks contain other harmful additives and organic acids that can advance enamel erosion, according to researchers. A previous close attention by the same author fix that tap water and lower part beer are the most tooth-friendly beverages.

* Prenatal hermes exposure may affect a person's pocketbook later in life. A reflection published in Environmental Health Perspectives has fix that lower IQ levels caused on mercury exposure in utero expense Americans $9 billion per year in missed lifetime earnings. Researchers found that 4 percent of babies born each year in the United States (about 180000 births) have quicksilver levels between 7.13 and 15 mcg through L, which can cause a 1.6-point decrease in IQ points. This amount of IQ los could take away from a person about $32,000 in lifetime earnings because of missed educational and trade opportunities, according to the report.

* Can maternal obesity double the exultation at delivery? Results of a inquiry published in Gynecology & Obstetrics showed that women who are obese before becoming pregnant are more likely to give birth to fraternal twins. No link was establish for identical twins or triplets. After adjusting for maternal race, age, parity, and height, researchers institute that significantly more women with a prepregnancy corpse mass index (BMI) greater than 30 gave birth to fraternal twins than women whose BMI was in a normal range. The tallest women in the consideration were also more likely to have fraternal twins, nevertheless the link wasn't as athletic as it was with obese women

* Can smoking lead to suicide? It's possible, according to a subject of attention recently published in Archives of General Psychiatry. After adjusting for suicidal predisposition and prior psychiatric conditions, researchers place that current daily smokers had an increased risk of suicidal meditations or attempts compared with not at any time daily smokers. However, past daily smoker didn't have an increased suicide risk compared with instant daily smokers. This association could be attributed to lower monamine oxidase activity in smoker according to researchers who conclud that further neuroscience research is destitutioned to prove whether smoking can independently increase suicide risk.

* E-mails: house calls of the 21st century? The strange York Times reports that health insurance collections around the country are paying physicians to answer patient e-mails as if they were conducting a regular office examination. According to the report, physicians say that the time they save using e-mail allows them more time to lay out with patients who have a greater ne to papal court the doctor face-to-face. At the same time, patients find e-mail more convenient, faster, and more comfortable than office visits. Industry clevers say that fraud and privacy infringement have not been a riddle so far, and government officials waiting under the possibility of fulfilment the initiatives will encourage physicians to switch to electronic health care information orders which they say would cross down on mistakes and improve patient care.

COPYRIGHT 2005 American Academy of Family Physicians

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