U.S. recovery varies greatly by state, county, city

(Reuters) - In a twist on the old aphorism about real estate, the three most important factors for the current U.S. economic recovery seem to be location, location, location.

Growth right now is "extremely concentrated" in a few states, said Chris Mauro head of U.S. Municipal Research Strategy at RBC Capital Markets, adding that there has been "a general stagnation, with the exception of some of the resource-rich states."

Three reports released on Wednesday show wide variations in the rebound from the 2007-09 economic recession, both at the state and local levels.

Unlike past downturns, the recession spared only a few states, largely because it hit nearly every economic sector and the states' economies are interconnected, said Arturo Perez at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"When things started going south, no state was able to ward off the bad stuff that was happening," he said.

But the states did not enter recession at the same time and some suffered less than others.

"They're not in lockstep going into a recession. They're not going to be in lockstep coming out," he said, pointing to Kansas, which did not have the same run-up in housing prices - and therefore not as steep a drop - as Nevada.

Now, energy-rich states are sprinting toward prosperity, helped by a surge in natural gas, while others are closer to shuffling back to stability. That is creating disparities on the personal level and the political one - some states are considering cutting taxes while others are having to close budget gaps.

In the first quarter of 2012, personal income rose in 47 of the 50 states, according to a Commerce Department report released on Wednesday that found state personal income growth was 0.8 percent in the first quarter, compared with 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Personal income declined 0.3 percent in Mississippi and 0.1 percent in Kansas and was unchanged in Oklahoma in the first three months of 2012. On the other end of the spectrum, income grew the most in commodity-abundant North Dakota, 2.3 percent from the quarter before.

Total earnings grew 0.81 percent in the first quarter, according to the report. They ranged from dropping 0.34 percent in Oklahoma to rising 1.12 percent in Washington.

Earlier this month, the US. Census reported that economic growth was scattered across the states in 2011. A boom in mining helped North Dakota's economy grow 7.6 percent, while in six states the economies shrank.

PATCHINESS AT LOCAL LEVEL

Cities and counties also did not enter recession in a uniform way. Some were immediately affected by the housing crisis, while others did not see the downturn until there were massive problems on the national level, said Jackie Byers, a researcher at the National Association of Counties.

In its quarterly review of metropolitan economies released on Wednesday, the Brookings Institution described the wide variations in recovery as "significant patchiness."

Brookings found that from January to March, employment growth accelerated across most of the nation's 100 largest metro areas, while output growth weakened. Unemployment rates fell in more than half of all metropolitan areas, but remained above 6 percent in almost all of them.

Housing prices hit new lows in 73 of the 100 largest metropolitan areas, which typically include a major city and its surrounding suburbs, after showing signs of growth in previous quarters, Brookings found.

"Until there's a recovery across all sectors you won't see a smoothing out in the economy," said Alec Friedhoff, a research analyst for the group's Metropolitan Policy Program.

Brookings found that, yet again, cities in Texas are having the fastest recoveries, largely because they experienced mild recessions and are now benefiting from a boom in natural gas.

Cities in California's Central Valley, such as financially tottering Stockton and other western metropolitan areas such as Colorado Springs, Las Vegas and Tucson continue to lag.

U.S. Labor Department data also released on Wednesday showed the patchiness likely persisted past March.

In May, employment increased in 266 metropolitan areas from a year before, decreased in 101 areas and had no change in five areas. The jobless rate was at least 10 percent in 45 areas, but was lower than 7 percent in 140.

(Additional reporting by Hilary Russ in New York; editing by Andre Grenon)

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Bittersweet homecoming for South Sudanese from Israel

[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

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Long-term calcium and vitamin D supplement use may be linked to increased risk of kidney stones

ScienceDaily (June 26, 2012) ? Calcium and vitamin D supplements are associated with high calcium levels in the blood and urine, which could increase the risk of kidney stones, a new study finds.

The results will be presented Tuesday at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston.

"The use of calcium and vitamin D supplementation may not be as benign as previously thought," said principal investigator J. Christopher Gallagher, M.D., professor and director of the Bone Metabolism Unit at Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, NE. "Pending further information, people should not exceed the guidelines suggested by the Institute of Medicine, which are 800 international units of vitamin D, and 800-1,200 milligrams per day of calcium."

Taking vitamin supplements has become a widespread practice throughout many parts of the world. In the United States alone, it is estimated that nearly two-thirds of women take vitamin supplements, with calcium and vitamin D among the most commonly used. Despite their popularity, the precise health effects of long-term calcium and vitamin D supplementation remain unclear.

Previous research has indicated that high levels of calcium in the urine, or hypercalciuria, may increase the risk of kidney stones. Elevated calcium in the blood, or hypercalcemia, is associated with many complications, including bone and kidney problems.

Gallagher and study lead author Vinod Yalamanchili, M.D., research fellow in Creighton University's Bone Metabolism Unit, studied 163 healthy, postmenopausal women between the ages of 57 and 85 years. All participants were randomly assigned to receive a vitamin D supplement of 400, 800, 1600, 2400, 3200, 4000, or 4800 international units a day, or placebo. Then, their calcium intake was increased from an initial intake of 691 to 1,200-1,400 milligrams per day. Investigators measured blood and urinary calcium levels at the beginning of the study, and then every three months for one year.

They found that approximately 48 participants, or 33 percent, developed high urinary levels of calcium at some time in the study. These participants had 88 episodes of high urinary calcium. Hypercalciuria has been linked to an increased risk of kidney stones identified in previous studies. No incidents of kidney stones were reported during this one-year study, which was funded by The National Institute on Aging.

Additionally, about 10 percent of study subjects developed high blood levels of calcium. This translates into 25 episodes among 16 participants. In both cases, the increases were unrelated to the dosage of vitamin D.

"Because of the unpredictable response, it is not clear whether it is the extra calcium, the vitamin D or both together that cause these problems," Gallagher said. "However, it is possible that long-term use of supplements causes hypercalciuria and hypercalcemia, and this can contribute to kidney stones. For these reasons, it is important to monitor blood and urine calcium levels in people who take these supplements on a long-term basis. This is rarely done in clinical practice."

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Hispanics looking for November gains in US House

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Jose Hernandez worked in farm fields with his Mexican-immigrant parents before becoming an astronaut. Iraq War veteran Julius Melendez is the third generation of his Puerto Rican family to serve in the military. And Tony Cardenas, the youngest of 11 children of immigrant farmers from Jalisco, Mexico, has served in the California Assembly and on the Los Angeles City Council.

Next year, all of them could be coming to Congress.

The 2012 election is shaping up as a big one in the House for Hispanics. There are currently 29 in the House ? including a Pacific islands delegate and Puerto Rico's resident commissioner ? according to the Congressional Research Service. That number is virtually guaranteed to increase by at least three or four seats because of once-a-decade redistricting that's created new Hispanic-majority districts in California and Texas. On top of that, Hispanics could win more seats in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Florida.

"It's a watershed election for the Latino community," said Rep. Raul Grivalja, D-Ariz. "Our ability to influence decisions is evident and present and our ability to motivate voters is critical."

Hispanics are the fastest-growing group in the United States, increasing in population by more than 15 million between 2000 and 2010, according to U.S. Census data. They make up more than 16 percent of the U.S. population, far more than their share of roughly 5 percent of the seats in the House.

In comparison, there are 44 blacks in the House, including two delegates, according to the CRS, a record number. Blacks comprise roughly 10 percent of the House, compared to about 12 percent of the U.S. population. There are 10 Asian-Americans in the House, according to the CRS, including two delegates, roughly 2 percent of the chamber compared to roughly 5 percent of the U.S. population.

Both parties say Hispanic candidates are pivotal in this year's race for control of the House.

Democrats, who need a net gain of 25 seats to take a majority, say Hispanic candidates could make up a fifth or more of that margin. Republicans, challenging in fewer districts because of their large current majority, have recruited strong Hispanic candidates for a handful of districts seen as opportunities to snatch Democratic seats.

The competition for Hispanic votes in congressional races ? whatever the backgrounds of the candidates they're voting for ? mirrors the presidential contest. While Hispanics as a group have historically favored Democrats, Republican Mitt Romney has indicated he will compete vigorously with President Barack Obama for their support.

Democrats say maximizing Hispanic turnout is a key to electoral success. Republicans, in turn, say chipping away at Democrats' margins with the group is crucial.

Obama injected fresh energy into the competition when he announced he was easing enforcement of immigration laws for hundreds of thousands of younger illegal immigrants and offering them a chance to stay in the U.S. and work. That is expected to motivate more Hispanic voters to turn out for Democrats in November.

California is expected to be the center of Hispanic increases in Congress. Democrats are running two Hispanic candidates likely to win in the fall: Cardenas, a Los Angeles City councilman, and Juan Vargas, a state senator and son of Mexican immigrants. Republican David Valadao, a state assemblyman and son of Portuguese immigrants, is likely to win a GOP-leaning district.

In competitive seats in California, both parties are running Hispanic candidates against incumbents who are not.

Hernandez, the former astronaut, is a Democrat challenging first-term GOP Rep. Jeff Denham in the newly drawn 10th Congressional District. As a child Hernandez helped his parents in the field and went on to study engineering in college. He makes his roots a big part of his appeal to voters, telling the story of how he watched the Apollo 17 launch on TV and his father laid out how he could become an astronaut himself.

"I was able to rise from the fields of California and touch the sky on the space shuttle Discovery as an astronaut," he said when he announced his campaign last October.

Democrats also have high hopes for Raul Ruiz, a medical doctor who grew up in a trailer with his Mexican farmworker parents and has received three graduate degrees from Harvard. Ruiz is running against GOP Rep. Mary Bono Mack, who has been in Congress since 1998. Democrats say the seat will be competitive this fall.

For the GOP, a prominent Hispanic candidate, Abel Maldonado, California's former lieutenant governor, is one of its best chances to pick off an incumbent. Maldonado is running against endangered Democratic Rep. Lois Capps, who has seen her district turn more conservative with redistricting. Maldonado's campaign ads highlight his background ? his parents are Mexican immigrant farmers who eventually built their own farming business ? and show him standing in a strawberry field and talking about what he learned from his father.

In one ad, as the camera pans over California farmland, Maldonado says: "It's time to teach Washington the lessons we've learned growing up."

Hispanic candidates are figuring prominently in other states where the Hispanic population has grown quickly.

In New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham is favored to take the state's 1st Congressional District, after Rep. Martin Heinrich decided to run for the Senate. In Nevada, State Assembly Speaker John Oceguera is taking on GOP Rep. Joe Heck in one of the Democrats' top targeted races. If she wins a crowded primary for Arizona's new 9th Congressional District, Leah Campos Schandlbauer, a former CIA agent, could give Republicans a prominent Hispanic on the ballot in what's likely to be a fiercely contested race.

In Florida, which has an August primary, Democrats have two Hispanic candidates ? businesswoman Gloria Romero Roses, who was born in Colombia, and lawyer Joe Garcia, a Cuban-American ? in the race to take on Republican Rep. David Rivera, a Cuban-American whom Democrats see as vulnerable. Republicans have two prominent Puerto Rican candidates vying to take on former Rep. Alan Grayson in Florida's Orlando-area 9th Congressional District: John "Q'' Quinones, a county commissioner and former state representative, and Melendez, the Iraq War veteran and a member of the local school board. Both are appealing to the district's sizable Hispanic population.

There has been one big disappointment for Hispanic growth in the House in 2012: Texas. It was poised to have the most new Hispanic members, with the state adding four new seats in 2012 thanks to large Hispanic growth. But at most two of the new seats will be represented by Hispanic lawmakers. The state is also losing two long-time Hispanic lawmakers, Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, who is retiring, and Rep. Silvestre Reyes, who lost a primary to a non-Hispanic opponent, though Gonzalez is likely to be replaced by Joaquin Castro, a state lawmaker, Harvard Law graduate and second-generation Mexican-American.

Gonzalez, the chairman of the House Hispanic Caucus, said he still believes Hispanic influence is on the rise in the House, and he noted more Hispanic candidates running in competitive districts in 2012.

"Our power will only increase as time goes on," said Gonzalez. "Because of demographics, as goes the future of the Latino family, so goes the future of the United States."

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Researchers Observe Climate Change, First-Hand

Craig Allen, research ecologist, United States Geological Survey
George Divoky, director, Friends of Cooper Island (Alaska)
Richard Harris, science correspondent, NPR

As the climate changes, scientists are documenting measurable shifts in the natural world ? from a tremendous loss in Arctic sea ice and an increase in extreme weather like drought, floods and heatwaves, to the migration of plants and animals to new latitudes.

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Rebel-held Syrian town struggles to keep the peace

MAARET MISREEN, Syria (AP) ? The electrical supply merchant had barely arrived for work when the day's troubles began: Residents were complaining of fuel shortages, rebels had detained teenagers accused of robbing the high school and ? most alarmingly ? Shiite gunmen from a nearby village had kidnapped five Sunnis.

By mid-morning, a dozen men pensively sipped tea in Yasser Mamaar's shop, hoping the head of their town's revolutionary council would know what to do.

Puffing on a cigarette in a long, brown holder, the short, wrinkled, 55-year-old in a gray robe and matching sport coat made calls on an old green phone to find the missing men.

"There is no police station, there is no state, so who else can they go to?" said Mamaar, who now dispenses advice, mediates disputes and issues orders in addition to selling light bulbs, power cords and circuit breakers. "We have to solve people's problems."

The 15-month-old uprising that has pushed Syria toward civil war and left more than 14,000 people dead has also upended power structures in towns and cities across this country of 23 million. As the Syrian government focuses on holding major cities and battling a growing insurgency, many communities have been left to organize their own security and obtain enough food and fuel.

Mamaar has coordinated those efforts in Maaret Misreen, this market town of 40,000 people surrounded by a web of poor farming villages in northern Syria. Since becoming the head of the eight-member revolutionary council late last year, he has helped distribute fuel, brokered a truce with the army and won the release of dozens of locals kidnapped by armed groups.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE: Journalist Ben Hubbard was part of a three-member Associated Press team that spent two weeks with rebels in northern Syria, gathering firsthand information on the increasingly bloody rebellion against President Bashar Assad ? the longest and deadliest uprising of the Arab Spring.

___

While massacres have raised fears of strife between Syria's religious sects, Mamaar, a Sunni Muslim, also works to calm tensions with his Shiite Muslim neighbors ? a task that gets harder every day.

Sectarianism is a rising force in the Syrian conflict, with a predominantly Sunni rebel movement fighting to topple President Bashar Assad's regime, which is largely led by members of his Alawite sect. Other minorities, like Shiites and Christians, have mostly stood by Assad, fearing for their place should he fall.

While dreaming of Assad's ouster, Mamaar's daily work serves a simpler goal: keeping chaos out of his town.

"As soon as there is chaos, the army comes, and as soon as the army comes, who will they kill? Our sons," Mamaar said.

So far, those efforts have brought a level of calm rare in Syria to this town where tractors outnumber cars, the produce market covers several blocks and families collect on their stoops at dusk while children run in the streets.

The revolt in Maaret Misreen started with small anti-regime demonstrations in April 2011. Residents mainly stood up against corruption and meddling by security services in many aspects of town life. Locals often say you needed security clearance to open a falafel stand. They are only partly joking.

"It was a dictatorial system, so they had to keep everything under their control," said activist Muhanad Aon.

Many suspected a local Muslim cleric, Abdel-Ghani Kassab, of being a regime mole planted to spy on residents. Kassab disappeared early in the uprising, only to return in December with a group of pro-regime fighters who then attacked local rebels, residents said. Mamaar's 22-year-old son, Tamer, was killed.

But the cleric and his fighters fled, and all other traces of the national government left soon thereafter. The rebels trashed the cleric's home, which now sits in mounds of rubble near a fountain painted with the revolutionary flag. Nearby graffiti reads: "The regime's house is a dump."

In March, the army shelled the city for two days, killing five people. Afterward, Mamaar helped negotiate a deal in which the rebels removed their checkpoints in exchange for calm. The army hasn't come back since.

"We worked hard to make that happen, and the village hasn't been ruined. So I feel we achieved something," said an opposition writer, Khatib Badli, who served as intermediary between the regime and the town. He also guessed that the army is easier on the town because about 15 percent of its residents are Shiite and it doesn't want to harm them.

Mamaar and his council do much of their work in his shop, its shelves cluttered with electrical outlets, switches, light bulbs and faucets. He has a ring of plastic chairs for the stream of visitors who gossip, tell him their woes, smoke cigarettes and drink the sweet tea he makes on a small gas stove.

Most of the problems one recent morning were relatively small: Rebels had detained some teenagers accused of stealing four computers, a TV, a satellite receiver and a water cooler from the high school; Mamaar was searching for witnesses. A widow complained that she couldn't find cooking gas; Mamaar said he'd replace her empty bottle.

The big issue, however, was the five men kidnapped by gunmen from the highway ? the latest in a string of tit-for-tat attacks between rebels and pro-regime gunmen from two Shiite villages east of town.

Such kidnappings have been going on for months, with scores from both sides held from a few hours to a few weeks. Some had disappeared: The Sunnis accused the Shiites of passing them to state security; the Shiites accused the Sunnis of killing them.

After writing down the missing men's names, Mamaar flipped through a book of handwritten numbers to decide whom to call.

But it's been getting harder to keep open those lines of communication. Mamaar used to drive to the Shiite villages to visit his contacts, he said. Now he rarely does.

When a farmer with a broken grain mill stopped to ask if he could take it to a repairman in a Shiite village, Mamaar told him no.

"If you go you now, you go at your own risk," he said.

The uprising has affected Mamaar's own views of Shiites in nearby villages. He regularly calls them "liars" and says the regime is arming them to work as shabiha ? pro-government thugs that violently suppress protests.

He also accuses them of being loyal to Iran, suggesting they would choose to go to that Shiite country if Assad falls.

"I think it's better if they don't stay in the area," he said.

Reached by phone, a prominent Shiite from one of those villages had some words of his own for those who oppose Assad.

"Those people aren't revolutionaries. They are troublemakers and traders in blood," said Zein al-Deen Taalib, 48.

He said many in his village of Fua served in the army and that they set up checkpoints for their own protection. He praised the Syrian army for doing its "sacred duty" and called Assad "the one real leader in the Arab world."

Echoing the regime line, he blamed the uprising on armed gangs backed by foreign powers trying to destroy the country.

"If I were a Sunni, I'd stand in the market in Maaret Misreen and kill them," Taalib said, noting that because he's a Shiite, a minority in Syria, he has to be more careful.

Many worry that violence between the communities will spread.

Badli, the opposition writer, said rebels were stepping up attacks on army and Shiite checkpoints.

"I don't think the army will let them get away with it for much longer," he said.

Another Shiite leader from the village of Kifarya who often speaks with Mamaar said all needed to work to maintain good relations. Before the uprising began last year, the two sects coexisted without violence.

"We'll try to keep it quiet so we can live together," said Abu Abdallah Hassaneh, 63. "As long as we are alive."

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Timing of menopause symptoms relates to risk markers for heart disease, stroke

ScienceDaily (June 25, 2012) ? The hot flashes and night sweats that most women experience early in menopause are not linked to increased levels of cardiovascular disease risk markers unless the symptoms persist or start many years after menopause begins. These new study results were presented June 23 at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston.

"Our study provides reassurance that the common experience of menopausal symptoms in early menopause is not associated with increases in blood pressure or other risk markers for cardiovascular disease," said lead researcher Emily Szmuilowicz, MD, an assistant professor at Northwestern University's medical school in Chicago.

Researchers have questioned whether vasomotor menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats reflect poor cardiovascular health. However, a 2011 study by Szmuilowicz and co-workers found that women who experienced menopausal symptoms only at the onset of menopause were less likely to have a stroke or heart attack or to die than were women who experienced hot flashes late in menopause or who did not have hot flashes at all.

Their new study focused on markers in the body that have been linked to a raised risk of cardiovascular disease. The risk markers examined were blood pressure, cholesterol, insulin, glucose (blood sugar) and blood markers of abnormal blood vessel function. Because inflammation is common in people with heart disease or stroke, the group also looked at blood markers of inflammation, including white blood cell count -- the number of disease-fighting cells.

This study used retrospective data from nearly 60,000 postmenopausal women who participated in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study. The ongoing study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, is examining the relationships between health outcomes and new risk indicators for disease.

The researchers grouped women into four categories based on timing of their menopausal symptoms of hot flashes and night sweats: only at the start of menopause (early-onset menopausal symptoms), only years later in menopause (late-onset menopausal symptoms), both time periods (persistent menopausal symptoms), and not at all.

The investigators found no association between early-onset vasomotor menopausal symptoms and increased levels of any cardiovascular risk markers. However, both persistent and late-onset menopausal symptoms were associated with higher blood pressure and higher white blood cell count compared with women without menopausal symptoms, they reported. Persistent menopausal symptoms also correlated with higher levels of glucose and insulin, which are markers for diabetes.

It is unclear why women who experience menopausal symptoms at different stages of menopause may have differing levels of cardiovascular disease risk, Szmuilowicz said She speculated that "if menopausal symptoms occur long after menopause begins, this may signal a blood vessel abnormality that could also affect cardiovascular health."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Endocrine Society, via Newswise.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Scam on Facebook steals debit card numbers

(WMC-TV) - My good friends at the Better Business Bureau and FraudAvengers are begging you. They're pleading with you.

Don't fall for a debit card discount offer on Facebook.

Both watchdog groups?have warned us about?an unsolicited offer on?Facebook pages. The offer:? 20 percent cash back if people link their debit cards to their Facebook pages.

I know, I know. Sounds insane, right?

The problem is there are perfectly sane people out there typing their debit card numbers on their Facebook profiles faster than you can say "identity theft," all for a fake 20 percent cut.

If you follow through, the BBB said you will launch a malware virus on your computer.

"The malware scam is particularly malicious because the fraudulent offers appear to come from trusted friends," said the BBB in its contribution to FraudAvengers.

BBB's and FraudAvengers' tips for avoiding Facebook scams:

  • Never install a game or an application that you?re not entirely sure is legitimate.
  • Be wary of posts from friends that use overtly promotional language.
  • Never click on Facebook posts or install applications that claim they will tell you which of your friends viewed your profile. It?s impossible to find out who is viewing your profile.
  • If you mistakenly install an application on Facebook, click the ?Home? icon in the top right-hand corner of the site, and go to ?Account Settings.? On the right-hand column of the page click on the icon that says ?Apps,? and uninstall the suspect application.

Copyright 2012 WMC-TV. All rights reserved.

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