The CDC also said 40% of nonsmokers show signs of secondhand smoke exposure.

The findings should be interpreted with caution, study authors write, because the cost of defensive medicine is so hard to calculate.

An estimated 2% injury rate for luge racers may be an underestimate, study authors write.

Also: Delayed whooping cough diagnoses; BMJ criticizes Avandia; beliefs about stents.

A group proposes some standards for privacy and security for downloading personal medical info.

We assumed medical societies and associations in all 50 states would sign on to the letter, but groups in Alabama, North Dakota and Kansas did not.

Just 5% of small firms reported reviewing performance indicators of health plans' clinical and service quality.

Also: Stem cell legislation in the House; Abbott ends an auction; NYC public hospitals prepare for some changes.

One of every five kids and 9 of 10 older Americans took at least one prescription drug in the previous month, says a survey taken in 2008.

One new study estimates the percentage of workers at firms with 50 or fewer employees offered health insurance will rise to 86% from 60% after health-care overhaul is implemented.

Did you know "Grade A" on an egg carton doesn't indicate whether the eggs inside are safe to eat?

Also: NEJM editors say Meridia should be yanked; stem cell plaintiffs explain themselves to the WSJ; are hospital profits the driver of health-care costs?

DeAngelis will return to Johns Hopkins University when she leaves JAMA next June.

Investors were pleased that a CMS announcement didn't suggest the question of whether or not Provenge should be covered is on the agenda.

The latest on the egg recall: Companies are pointing fingers, the FDA has come back to the farms -- and will customers forgive and forget?

Also: Price hike for last-resort insurance in California; potential warfarin replacements line up; dialysis deal reached in Atlanta; U.S. asks judge to allow embryonic stem cell research to proceed.

Mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes raise the lifetime risk of breast cancer to as much as 84% and of ovarian cancer to as much as 63%.

Some 16 people are expected to enroll in Medicaid due to health-care overhaul legislation.

About 60 million Americans have medical conditions that should be known in an emergency, but only a fraction wear medical ID or carry their health information.

Also: Most C-sections performed before labor starts; American companies push into Chinese electronic medical record market; investigators looking at health-care credit cards.