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Daily Rounds: Fraudulent Red-Wine Research; Binge-Drinking Nation; Insurers Cherry-Picking; Hunting For Lyme Disease

Red wine-heart research slammed with fraud charges (uk.reuters.com) "A University of Connecticut researcher who studied the link between aging and a substance found in red wine has committed more than 100 acts of data fabrication and falsification, the university said Wednesday, throwing much of his work into doubt.

America's Drinking Binge - NYTimes.com (well.blogs.nytimes.com) "New research shows that four times a month, one in six Americans goes on a drinking binge, knocking back an average of eight alcoholic beverages within a few hours.The findings, based on a survey of 457,677 Americans around the country, show that while binge drinking remains common among the young, it’s also an issue for people well past their 20s. Over all, about 36 percent of binge drinking occurs among people 35 and older, and older people tend to binge-drink more frequently than the young."

Insurers Offer Gym Memberships With Medicare Programs- Bloomberg (mobile.bloomberg.com) "The report found 35.3 percent of new enrollees in a fitness membership benefit plan reported “excellent” or “very good” health, compared with 29.1 percent in the group without the benefit. The number of plans offering the memberships rose to 58 in 2008 from 4 in 2002, according to the study.
The five largest insurers are looking to expand their roles in offering government-subsidized health plans as the number of Americans covered by them grows under the 2010 U.S. health law. In doing so, the companies may try to “cherry pick” members who are more likely to be healthy using the fitness memberships, said Amal Trivedi, an assistant professor of community health at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and the author of the report."

In Dover, Medfield and other communities, deer hunting is seen as key to fighting Lyme disease - The Boston Globe (boston.com) “I have never been for hunting before. Not ever. But it has to be done,’’ Webb said.Now she serves on the town’s Lyme Disease Committee, which is considering asking the state’s Division of Fisheries and Wildlife to expand hunting in Massachusetts, even as the accidental shooting of a woman by a hunter in Norton rekindles the debate over its place in such a heavily populated state."

This program aired on January 12, 2012. The audio for this program is not available.

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