Briefly . . . NATION/WORLD
Stress of racism seen as reason for high black infant mortality For decades, health experts have tried to determine why African-American babies are twice as likely to die as white infants. Now, a new series of studies from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies' Health Policy Institute suggests that the stressful effects of racism play a role.
Stress of racism seen as reason for high black infant mortality
For decades, health experts have tried to determine why African-American babies are twice as likely to die as white infants. Now, a new series of studies from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies' Health Policy Institute suggests that the stressful effects of racism play a role.
For the 600 black women in Atlanta who participated in a study on the effects of racial discrimination on health, the reasons for their higher stress levels ranged from hearing white teachers comment on "those kids" to working extra hours to win acceptance from white colleagues.
Amoeba living in lake bottoms has killed 6 by eating brains
A killer amoeba - found living in lakes, hot springs, even dirty swimming pools - enters the body through the nose and attacks the brain, where it feeds until you die. Though normally rare, the microscopic bug has killed six boys and young men this year. The spike in cases, attributed to gloval warming, has health officials concerned, and they are predicting more cases in the future.
According to the CDC, the amoeba called Naegleria fowleri (nuh-GLEER-ee-uh FOWL'-erh-eye) killed 23 people in the United States, from 1995 to 2004. People become infected when they wade through shallow water and stir up the bottom. If someone allows water to shoot up the nose - say, by doing a somersault in chest-deep water - the amoeba can latch onto the olfactory nerve and travel to the brain.
In other headline news:
_ A student fired shots inside an Oroville, Calif., high school yesterday and held three students hostage for more than an hour before he was taken into custody, authorities said. No one was injured.
_ Rosinete Serrao, of Rio de Ja-
neiro, Brazil, became the first woman in the world to give birth to her own twin grandchildren after serving as a surrogate mother for her daughter, local media reported yesterday.
_ A Harvard student must be given extra break time during a medical-licensing exam so she can pump breast milk, a Massachusetts appeals-court judge has ruled, saying it would put her on "equal footing" with men and nonlactating women taking the test. *
- Daily News wire services