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Health Care

Rehab Clinics Prompt Debate in Malibu

Residents of Malibu, Calif., are frustrated that their expensive neighborhood is home to a disproportionately large number of high-end drug and alcohol rehabilation clinics. And as Gloria Hillard reports they're lobbying the state to say "not in my backyard."

Rehab Clinics Prompt Debate in Malibu

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Health

Survey of Alternative Medicine in America

The federal government has just issued the largest survey to date of Americans' use of complementary and alternative medicine. The findings compile data on who uses alternative treatments like echinacea and acupuncture, and why. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.

Survey of Alternative Medicine in America

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Health

Judge to Deadbeat Dads: Vasectomy or Jail

Kentucky family court Judge Michael Foellger is giving some deadbeat dads a choice: Get a vasectomy or go to jail. Some say it drives home an important message to shiftless deadbeats. Others argue there's a shameful history of forced sterilization used against the poor and people of color. NPR's Tavis Smiley weighs both sides with attorney Jeffery Leving, author of the book Father's Rights, and Barbara Harris, director and founder of CRACK (Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity).

Judge to Deadbeat Dads: Vasectomy or Jail

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Research News

Prostate Test in Doubt

Most American men over 50 get an annual blood test, called a PSA, that is thought to indicate whether they may have prostate cancer. But a new study questions the accuracy of the widely used test and raises questions about how best to screen for the cancer. NPR's Richard Knox reports.

Study Casts Doubt on Prostate Cancer Test

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Health

Study: Aspirin Cuts Breast Cancer Risk

A new study shows that women who regularly take aspirin may be less likely to get breast cancer. The findings confirm previous research, but goes further by pinpointing why this common painkiller -- but not other painkillers -- has a beneficial effect. The study's results are in the latest Journal of the American Medical Association. NPR's Joe Palca reports.

Study: Aspirin Cuts Breast Cancer Risk

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Opinion

Commentary: Heat Shock Proteins

Commentator Joe Wright is in his second year of medical school, and sometimes he can't believe how much science he's absorbed in the last year in a half. Here's one thing he's learned from science that he'd like to share... about heat shock proteins.

Commentary: Heat Shock Proteins

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U.S. AIDS Patients Face Treatment Cutbacks

Although the world's attention is focused on the growing AIDS epidemic in Africa and Asia, patients in the U.S. often lack medication and treatment. AIDS activists in the United States are concerned with cutbacks at a time when there are indications of a resurgence of domestic cases. NPR's Brenda Wilson reports.

U.S. AIDS Patients Face Treatment Cutbacks

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