PITTSBURGH, June 30 (UPI) — U.S. researchers say children of non-smoking women exposed to secondhand smoke during pregnancy have genetic mutations that can affect their health permanently.
The study, published online in the Open Pediatric Medicine Journal, found the smoking-related abnormalities were indistinguishable from those found in newborns of mothers who were active smokers.
Study author [...]

NASHVILLE, June 30 (UPI) — A U.S. researcher says sedentary white women are more apt than sedentary African-American women to become obese.
Study leader Maciej Buchowski of Vanderbilt University in Nashville said the odds of severe obesity were nearly 4.5 times higher in white women, among those in the highest quartile of sedentary behavior.
Buchowski and [...]

MINNEAPOLIS, June 30 (UPI) — The vast majority of U.S. adults say winter is the most dangerous time for driving but the Fourth of July weekend is the deadliest time, a survey indicates.
The survey by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Excellence in Rural Safety found 83 percent of Americans consider winter to be [...]

DENVER, June 30 (UPI) — Colorado health officials are calling for more vaccinations following an outbreak of meningococcal disease that has killed three people and infected two others.
Joni Reynolds, director of immunization for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said the deaths of two Fort Collins men this month, and the April [...]

STANFORD, Calif., June 30 (UPI) — U.S. scientists say hand washing can improve the bacterial count of water collected at sources and brought home in containers.
Alexandria Boehm, Jenna Davis of Stanford University say about half of the world’s population, more than 3 billion people, have no access to municipal drinking water and obtain [...]