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MERS Kills 10 More in Saudi, Health Campaign Broadened

The MERS virus has killed 10 more people in Saudi Arabia over the past week, pushing the death toll above 400, as health officials broaden their campaign to halt its spread.

Saudi Arabia is the country worst-hit by Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

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FDA Study Finds Little Evidence of Antibiotics in Milk

In an encouraging development for consumers worried about antibiotics in their milk, a new Food and Drug Administration study showed little evidence of drug contamination after surveying almost 2,000 dairy farms.

In response to concerns, the agency in 2012 took samples of raw milk from the farms and tested them for 31 drugs, almost all of them antibiotics. Results released by the agency Thursday show that less than 1 percent of the total samples showed illegal drug residue.

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Hormone Disrupting Chemicals May Cost EU 157 Billion Euros a Year

Human exposure to hormone disrupting chemicals could cost the European Union some 157 billion euros a year in health care and lost productivity, according to a study published Thursday in a scientific journal.

The study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism linked endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) to IQ loss, autism, attention hyperactivity disorder, obesity, testicular cancer and male infertility.

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Chain of Kidney Transplants Begins at San Francisco Hospital

Zully Broussard thought she was going to help one person by donating a kidney.

Instead, she helped six.

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Study: Men More Narcissistic than Women

Men tend to be more narcissistic than women and as a result are more likely to exploit others, a U.S. study said Thursday after analyzing three decades of data from more than 475,000 people.

The findings were consistent across multiple age groups and generations, said the University at Buffalo School of Management, pointing out that narcissism has good and bad points.

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'Cloud Atlas' Author Hails Japanese Writer for Window on Autism

David Mitchell remembers the day he read the memoir of a 13-year-old boy with autism -- hailing it a "revelatory godsend" that offered a window on the life of his own autistic son.

The best-selling author of "Cloud Atlas" said Naoki Higashida was "one of the most helpful and practical writers on the subject of autism in the world."

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Lower California Pollution Spells Big Gains for Children's Lungs

A study conducted over 20 years in the Los Angeles area has shown that the region's improving air quality has led to children having better functioning lungs, researchers said.

The findings, which tracked 2,000 young people from age 11 to 15, were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Study: Gout May Lessen Alzheimer Risk

People who suffer from gout can take comfort in one thing: they may be less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease, researchers said Wednesday.

The same uric acid that can crystallize to cause gout, a form of arthritis, may protect against Alzheimer's, they wrote in the online journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

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Study: When Wives Take Ill, Divorce could be on Horizon

Marriages are more likely to end in divorce if the wife takes seriously ill, a U.S. study released Wednesday found.

The research, detailed in the March issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, found that divorce was six percent more likely if the wife fell ill, than if she remained in good health.

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After Ebola Ban, N. Korea Opens Marathon to Foreigners

After lifting travel restrictions it imposed because of concerns over the Ebola virus, North Korea says foreigners can now take part in one of its most popular tourist events — the annual Pyongyang marathon, a travel agency said Thursday.

Even though no cases of Ebola had been reported anywhere near North Korea, the country shut out foreign tourists in October with some of the strictest Ebola regulations in the world, including saying that only local runners would be allowed into the marathon in April.

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