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Google Making Sugar-Sensing Contact Lens for Diabetics

The Google lab known for working on unusual projects like self-driving cars is crafting a contact lens that could help diabetics manage blood sugar levels.

"We're now testing a smart contact lens that's built to measure glucose levels in tears," project co-founders Brian Otis and Babak Parviz said Thursday in a blog post.

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China Reports New H7N9 Bird Flu Death

China has reported a new death from the H7N9 bird flu virus, state media said Friday, bringing the toll this year to at least four as the disease returns following its 2013 outbreak.

The unnamed patient in Yangjiang in the southern province of Guangdong died on Wednesday from respiratory failure, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing local health authorities.

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U.S. Health Report: Cigarettes more Dangerous than Ever

Smoking cigarettes can cause even more health problems than lung cancer, including blindness, diabetes, erectile dysfunction and liver cancer, said a major U.S. government report on Friday.

The latest Surgeon General's findings on the health consequences of smoking were to be formally announced at the White House, in a ceremony marking 50 years since the first landmark report of its kind warned Americans that cigarettes caused lung cancer.

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S. Korea Culls Ducks after Suspected Bird Flu Test

South Korea on Friday started culling thousands of poultry after a preliminary test indicated the first possible outbreak of bird flu since 2011, officials said.

A suspected case of avian influenza was reported Thursday at a poultry farm in Gochang in North Jeolla Province, some 300 kilometers (187.5 miles) southwest of Seoul, the agricultural ministry said.

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Beijing Air Pollution at Dangerously High Levels

Beijing's skyscrapers receded into a dense gray smog Thursday as the capital saw the season's first wave of extremely dangerous pollution, with the concentration of toxic small particles registering more than two dozen times the level considered safe.

The air took on an acrid odor, and many of the city's commuters wore industrial strength face masks as they hurried to work.

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Study: More than Two Drinks a Day could Speed Memory Loss

Men who consume more than two alcoholic drinks per day while in middle age may speed up their memory loss in later life by up to six years, said a study Wednesday.

However, there were no differences in memory or mental function between non-drinkers and those who drank less than two drinks, or 20 grams per day, said the findings in the journal Neurology.

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U.S. Urges Acetaminophen Limits due to Liver Risks

U.S. regulators said Wednesday they are urging doctors to cease prescribing drugs that contain more than 325 milligrams of acetaminophen per tablet due to concerns over liver damage.

Prescription painkillers such as Vicodin and Percocet, can contain acetaminophen and may be dangerous if taken with other popular pain-relievers, like Tylenol, or with alcohol.

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Researchers Edge Closer to a Pill Cure for Hepatitis C

Clinical trials show that a combination of pills, one still in the experimental phase and one that was just approved for the U.S. market, are effective at curing hepatitis C, researchers said Wednesday.

However, the cost of the treatment is expected to be at least $80,000 per year, making it out of reach to many of the 150 million people chronically infected with the liver disease worldwide, experts have said.

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Brazil Sees 50,000 Road Deaths Per Year

About 50,000 people died on Brazilian roads last year, down 10 percent from 2012, according to police estimates published Tuesday in local media.

A traffic police report obtained by the O Globo daily logged 8,375 deaths or 23 per day and 103,075 injuries in 185,877 accidents on federal motorways alone in the Latin American giant.

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Swine Flu Kills Two Men in Spain

Two men have died of swine flu in northern Spain, where an outbreak of the H1N1 virus has left over 40 people in hospital, officials said Tuesday.

Laboratory tests confirmed that the virus killed a 62-year-old man, who died Saturday in a hospital in Cantabria, the regional government said.

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