Daily Rounds: Nurses Vote To Strike; Coakley Blasts Board Pay; Pot And Power; Prematurity Gene ID'd

Nurses at Tufts vote to approve 1-day strike - The Boston Globe "The Massachusetts Nurses Association, which represents 1,100 nurses at Tufts, finished tallying the vote at 10:30 last night. A union spokesman said 70 percent of nurses who turned out supported a one-day strike, but the spokesman would not disclose how many nurses voted." (boston.com)

Attorney General Martha Coakley, insurers spar over board pay ban - BostonHerald.com "Two defiant Bay State health insurers fired back at Attorney General Martha Coakley, saying her move to veto pricey pay for directors at the nonprofits is none of her business.
But Coakley, in a report released yesterday after a series of Herald stories exposing massive payouts and perks at the charities, called paying board members “unjustified.” She announced legislation is being filed that would give her power to block pay to any board member of a public charity." (Boston Herald)

Marijuana Not So Green: Study Finds Growing Pot Indoors Is Energy Intensive : The Two-Way : NPR "To put it in more real-life terms, Mills writes that one joint "represents two pounds of CO2 emissions, an amount equal to running a 100-watt light bulb for 17 hours with average U.S. electricity." (npr.org)

BBC News - 'Premature birth gene' discovered A strong association to pre-term births was found in variants of the FSHR - or follicle stimulating hormone receptor - gene. Follicle stimulating hormone acts on receptors in the ovaries to encourage follicle (a sphere of cells containing an egg) development and production of the hormone oestrogen. Professor Louis Muglia, from the department of paediatrics at Vanderbilt University, said: "Ideally we'd like to predict which women are at greatest risk for having pre-term birth and be able to prevent it. That would really have an impact on infant mortality and the long-term complications of being born prematurely." (The BBC)

Do Cellphones Cause Brain Cancer? - NYTimes.com (nytimes.com) "Yes, no, maybe — the answer seems to change with every new study. Finding the definitive solution turns out to be a science in itself."