Health & Safety

The village of Hoosick Falls, N.Y., sits along the Hoosick River in eastern New York. Elevated levels of a suspected carcinogen known as PFOA were found in the village's well water, which is now filtered.

Elevated Levels Of Suspected Carcinogen Found In States' Drinking Water

4:57pm March 31, 2016

by Hansi Lo Wang

A chemical widely used to make many water-resistant and nonstick items can be found in many community water supplies. But elevated levels of PFOA are turning up in three Northeastern states.

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Opioid Epidemic Sparks HIV Outbreak In Tiny Indiana Town

4:39pm March 31, 2016

by Kelly McEvers

Last spring, Austin, Ind., was at the center of an HIV outbreak linked to intravenous use of the opioid painkiller Opana. In one house in Austin, a man addicted to Opana says he didn't think he would get HIV through sharing needles. The town's only full-time doctor is trying to encourage people to get help, but many people have yet to be tested.

FDA Approves Experimental Zika Screening For Blood Donations

4:27pm March 31, 2016

On Wednesday, the FDA approved an experimental test that screens blood donations for the Zika virus. It's a response to a blood donation shortage in Puerto Rico, where local donations were halted out of fear of spreading the virus.

A man holds Peruvian quinoa. New studies of detailed data gathered by Peru's government find that the global quinoa boom really was good both for Peruvians â both those who grow it and those who eat it.

Your Quinoa Habit Really Did Help Peru's Poor. But There's Trouble Ahead

3:04pm March 31, 2016

by Jeremy Cherfas

Headlines once warned the global quinoa boom was putting the nutritious crop out of the reach of those who grow it. New studies put those fears to rest. But bad news may loom for Andean farmers.

Health & Safety

Doctors Grapple With When To Prescribe Opioids For Pain

2:32pm March 31, 2016

Renee Montagne talks to Dr. Sushrut Jangi, an internist at Beth Israel Hospital, who says doctors wrestle with how to help their patients with pain without contributing to drug abuse.

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Dr. Dorry Segev (right), of Johns Hopkins Medicine, led the team of doctors that transplanted an HIV-positive liver and kidney into two different HIV-positive patients this month.

New Source Of Transplant Organs For Patients With HIV: Others With HIV

2:31pm March 31, 2016

by Rae Ellen Bichell

The organ donor and both recipients in the procedure this month were all HIV-positive — a first in the U.S. Using HIV-positive organs for some patients could enable a thousand more transplants a year.

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"Everyone that's in there right now has probably done it," Clyde Polly says about Opana injections at his home.

Inside A Small Brick House At The Heart Of Indiana's Opioid Crisis

2:29pm March 31, 2016

by NPR Staff

Prescription painkiller abuse sparked an HIV outbreak in rural Indiana. Kelly McEvers takes NPR's new podcast, Embedded, inside the home where IV drug users meet.

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The facial expression for "that's not a good idea" is the same across native speakers of English, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese and American Sign Language.

Health & Safety

It's A Small World When It Comes To :-/

8:13pm March 30, 2016

by Winona Dimeo-Ediger

A new study finds that whether you speak English, Mandarin, Spanish or sign language, your face does the same thing to say "I don't like that."

Fatty plaque (shown here in yellow) blocks about 60 percent of this coronary artery's width. The increasing thickness of artery walls is just one factor that can increase vulnerability to a heart attack or stroke.

Possible Heart Benefits Of Taking Estrogen Get Another Look

8:05pm March 30, 2016

by Rae Ellen Bichell

Evidence has ping-ponged over the decades on the effects of hormone therapy on a woman's arteries. The latest study suggests a brief stint on hormones might be helpful — if given at the right time.

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Bottles of the abortion-inducing drug RU-486, which is used to medically induce abortions in a two-step process. Women take mifepristone (left), and days later, they take misoprostol.

FDA Updates Label For Abortion Drug, Making Access Easier In Some States

7:36pm March 30, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

After Mifeprex (or RU-486) was approved in 2000, doctors found it was effective at a lower dose and with less supervision. But three states passed laws requiring doctors to follow the original label.