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Scientists Discover Why Olive Oil Lowers Blood Pressure

The secret to the Mediterranean diet may be in the salad.

Eating unsaturated fats, like those in olive oil, along with leafy greens and other vegetables creates a certain kind of fatty acid that lowers blood pressure, scientists said Monday.

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Better Care Can Save 3-m Babies, Mothers Per Year

The lives of three million women and babies can be saved every year by 2025 for an annual investment of about a dollar per head in better maternity care, researchers said Tuesday.

About 8,000 newborn babies die and another 7,000 are stillborn every day -- 2.9 million and 2.6 million per year respectively, according to a review of data from 195 countries published in The Lancet medical journal.

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Nine Dead from Cholera in War-Torn South Sudan

At least nine people have died in a cholera outbreak in war-torn South Sudan, scores of others are sick and the epidemic looks set to worsen, the World Health Organization said on Monday.

"There have been nine deaths and 138 cases so far," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told Agence France Presse in Geneva.

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Uganda Nurse is Sent to Jail over Spreading HIV

A court in Uganda has sentenced a nurse to three years in jail after finding her guilty of criminal negligence in a case stemming from allegations she intentionally tried to infect her patient with HIV.

The nurse, Rosemary Namubiru, maintained her innocence throughout the trial.

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New MERS Deaths Take Saudi Toll to 173

Saudi health authorities reported Monday new deaths from the MERS coronavirus, taking to 173 the overall number of fatalities from the disease in the world's worst-hit country.

The health ministry said on its website that five people have died, including a 28-year-old woman in the port city of Jeddah, and a 32-year-old man in northern Tabuk.

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New York Raises Minimum Age to Buy Cigarettes to 21

New York raised the minimum age to buy cigarettes to 21 on Sunday, in its latest initiative to encourage healthier behavior among residents.

The law, signed November 19 shortly before former mayor Michael Bloomberg finished his second term, had a six-month waiting period before it came into effect -- but its impact can already be clearly felt. 

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Saudi Reports Five New MERS Deaths

Saudi Arabia has reported five new deaths from the MERS respiratory virus, bringing the death toll in the world's worst-hit country to 168.

In its latest tally, issued on Saturday, the health ministry said the total number of infections in the kingdom from the coronavirus since it first appeared in 2012 now stood at 529 people.

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U.S. Reports Third Case of MERS Virus

An Illinois man has contracted the MERS respiratory virus after coming into contact with the first case of the mysterious Middle East pathogen in the United States, become the third infected person.

It was during an ongoing investigation on the first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus in the United States that officials identified the new case, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Saturday.

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Saudi MERS Death Toll Rises to 163

Health authorities in Saudi Arabia have reported three more fatalities from the MERS respiratory virus, taking the death toll in the world's worst-hit country to 163.

The health ministry website also revealed on Saturday that 520 cases have been recorded in the country since Middle East Respiratory Syndrome first appeared in Saudi Arabia in 2012.

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In U.S., Gay Men Clash over HIV Prevention Pill

A single daily pill may help prevent HIV. And in America, gay men who have lost countless loved ones to AIDS can't stop fighting about it.

Much of the debate has played out on the Internet and social media as tempers flare over promiscuity, erratic condom use and the potential to either eliminate or worsen the stubborn HIV/AIDS epidemic, which has killed 36 million people worldwide in the past three decades.

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