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Generation Rx? Teens Abusing Prescriptions

About one in five teenagers have tried prescription painkillers such as Vicodin and OxyContin to get high, with the pill-popping members of “Generation Rx” often raiding their parents’ medicine cabinets, according to a study by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.

The 17th annual study on teen drug abuse, released Thursday, found that more teens had abused a prescription painkiller in 2004 than Ecstasy, cocaine, crack or LSD. One in 11 teens had abused over-the-counter products such as cough medicine, the study reported.

Read more about this disturbing new trend at the MSNBC website.

Hibernation Might Lead to New Treatments

It sounds like science fiction, yet an experiment in which mice were forced into hibernation and then revived with no apparent ill effects, might ultimately lead to new ways to treat the critically ill.

Consider it hibernation-on-demand, a way to drastically reduce the amount of oxygen needed to survive, researchers from Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center report Thursday in the journal Science.

Read the complete CNN coverage of this fascinating new treatment.

Researcher to Seek Trial of ALS Treatment

A University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher said he would ask federal regulators Friday to approve the first clinical trial injecting special stem cells into the spinal cords of people with the degenerative nerve ailment called Lou Gehrig's disease.

The trial would test whether a technique anatomy professor Clive Svendsen has pioneered on rats afflicted with the disease is safe to use on people. If successful, Svendsen said a much larger clinical trial aimed at treating the disease could be under way in two or three years.

Read complete coverage at the ABC News website to find out more about the proposed study.

Spring 2005 Worst Allergy Cities

This year, spring allergies have been worst in Lexington, Ky., according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America's annual ranking.

Here is the AAFA's list of the 10 worst U.S. cities for spring allergies:

1. Lexington, Ky. (last year: 16)
2. Little Rock, Ark. (last year: 8)
3. Chattanooga, Tenn. (last year: 14)
4. Louisville, Ky. (last year: 3)
5. Johnson City, Tenn. (last year: 26)
6. Greenville, S.C. (last year: 19)
7. Richmond, Va. (last year: 63)
8. Charlotte, N.C. (last year: 4)
9. Jackson, Miss. (last year: 12)
10. St. Louis (last year: 5)

Rankings are based on annual pollen scores, allergy medicine use per patient, and the number of board-certified allergists per patient, says the AAFA.

U.N.: Marburg Virus Coming Under Control

Medical teams trying to stamp out the worst recorded incidence of Marburg virus in Angola are beginning to get the deadly outbreak under control as cooperation from stricken communities improves, the U.N. health agency said Saturday.

The virus, closely related to the feared Ebola virus, has caused hemorrhagic fever in 266 people and killed 244 of them since March, when the outbreak first came to the attention of health authorities.

As communities began to understand the dangers of the virus, though, the number of new cases dropped from an average of 35 per week to 15, the World Health Organization reported.

Learn more about the continuing action being taken by health agencies to contain the current Marburg outbreak at the ABC News website.

Tests That Can Save Your Life

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." This old expression couldn't be more truthful with today's rising health care costs.

Dr. Sean Kenniff from WFOR TV shares on The Saturday Early Show, several tests that not only could save you money in the long run, but could save your life as well.

Unfortunately, most of these tests are expensive and not always covered by health insurance. So even though it would be great for all to take them, the people who will want to get these tests are those who are at a high risk for the illnesses explained below.

Learn more about these life-saving test that you might want to consider at the CBS News website.