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SNORE NO MORE? The FDA has okayed a new treatment for snoring. Called somnoplasty, the outpatient surgery uses high-frequency radio waves to heat and destroy tissues that block airways. It takes half an hour and is relatively painless.
LICKING LYME DISEASE The oral antibiotic doxycycline is as effective as intravenous antibiotics in treating Lyme infections that have spread beyond the area of the bite. And the pills are less costly too.
Sources: New England Journal of Medicine; U.S. Food and Drug Administration; New England Journal of Medicine
THE BAD NEWS
EQUAL-OPPORTUNITY ANOMALIES Like the daughters of women who took the drug DES to prevent miscarriages, sons too may suffer genital abnormalities. They range from benign cysts to more worrisome problems--such as an increased risk of testicular cancer.
SLEEPING SICKNESS Young adults who struggle with insomnia--even if they show no signs of being depressed--seem to have twice the risk of depression when they reach middle age.
INSIDIOUS SMOKES Though disputed by tobacco companies, a study suggests that the ammonia put in some cigarettes can alter nicotine's chemistry, making it more easily absorbed by the body.
Sources: DES Action USA; American Journal of Epidemiology; Environmental Science and Technology