The joy of reading

Reading to your child can be one of life's sweetest pleasures. You're spending focused time together and teaching a habit that can open countless doors throughout his or her life.

Plan B advocates seek access for all

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Had unprotected sex? Condom break?

100-year-old: Try cold showers for long life

(CNN) -- Still vigorous at 100 years of age, Edward Rondthaler writes a weekly column for his local newspaper, walks a half-mile every morning and drives himself on errands around his hometown of Croton-on-Hudson, New York.

Morning-after pill to be available without prescription

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Women may buy the morning-after pill without a prescription -- but only with proof they're 18 or older, federal health officials ruled Thursday, capping a contentious 3-year effort to ease access to the emergency contraceptive.

$50 million in mistaken refunds sent out by Medicare

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Don't cash that check.

Men feel pressure to build perfect bodies

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -- Men are catching up to women in one area. They too are feeling pressure to achieve perfect bodies, and this can lead them down unhealthy paths.

Stem cells created without harming embryos, company says

NEW YORK (AP) -- A U.S. biotechnology company has developed a new way of creating stem cells without destroying human embryos, billing it as a potential solution to a contentious political and ethical debate.

Recall curbs outbreak of rare eye infection, CDC says

CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) -- Bausch & Lomb Inc.'s global recall of a popular contact lens solution in May appears to have stopped the spread of a serious eye infection but U.S. scientists still don't know what caused the outbreak, according to a study released on Tuesday.

Herpes infection declines, especially among youth

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Nearly 25 years after a news magazine declared that an epidemic of genital herpes threatened to undo the sexual revolution, a new study finds an encouraging decline in the percentage of people infected with the herpes virus.

Shaking the salt habit

Doctors call it "the white-coat effect:" the natural rise in blood pressure that comes with exam-room anxiety. But a simple case of nerves couldn't explain the numbers that Roger Moeller, a 60-year-old editor and publisher in Bethlehem, Connecticut, was hearing during an annual physical.

No child left out of the dodgeball game?

(CNN) -- As more of America's school-age children are growing fatter, the physical education curriculum that might help them win the fight is gasping for air, says a recently released report.

Fewer Vietnam vets had stress disorder

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -- The widely cited estimate that one in three Vietnam veterans suffered post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of their service may be too high, researchers are reporting.

Positive steps toward HIV awareness

STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania -- When most people learn they are HIV positive it is a very private moment, and for Tom Donohue it was no different, at first.

Kids who witness abuse at home may bully others

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -- Children who witness abusive behavior in the home are more likely to bully other children and are at greater risk of depression and anxiety, a new study shows.

Breast implants linked to suicide, but not cancer

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -- A large Canadian study adds to evidence that women with breast implants do not face a higher risk of cancer or other major diseases, but they may have a higher-than-average rate of suicide.

Domestic violence takes toll in workplace

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Victims of domestic violence suffer at work as well as home, losing costly work hours to distraction and absenteeism, new research shows.

Study: TV can be a painkiller for kids

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sometimes the numbing effect of TV can be helpful.

How your child learns

(Parenting) -- Stick with what works. That's what Judi Newell thought when she started talking about coins with her daughter, Fiona, 3. "A penny is brown and worth one cent," she began, pointing to a drawing of one in a book. "A nickel is worth five cents." This is how she'd taught her older daughter, Anna, 9, about money.

Watching TV wrestling linked to date violence

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -- High-school boys, and girls in particular, who regularly watch pro wrestling television shows seem to be more likely than non-viewers to get into fights with their partners when they're on dates, new research suggests.

Arkansas gets aggressive with childhood obesity

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) -- Rhonda Sanders received an eye-opening letter from her daughter's school three years ago: At age 10, her 5-foot, 137-pound child was heavier than 98 percent of her peers.