BEHAVIOR: 1. Super Bowl Etiquette - Dr. Butterworth 2. Intimacy and Recovering Heart Patients - Illinois Institute of Technology 3. Online Dating - udate.com

GENERAL: 4. Health Screenings Help Prevent Obesity Epidemic - HealthScreen America 5. Foot Imbalances may Affect Entire Body - ACA 6. Benefits of Backpacks on Wheels - ACA

INTERNET/CYBERSPACE: 7. Medical and Healthcare Photos, Illustrations Online - CMSP

LAW: 8. High Hopes for Health Care Reform - Powell Goldstein

PUBLIC HEALTH/SAFETY: 9. Red Cross Refuses to End Blood Shortages - American Hemochromatosis Society 10. Flu Fighters Battle Disease on Front Lines - NIAID 11. Mad Cow Blood Ban will Hurt, Not Help - STATS 12. CO Poisoning Threat still Unheeded - Dan Woody 13. FDA Okays limited Claim About B Vitamins and Hearth Disease - Pharmavite

________ SOURCES

BEHAVIOR

**1. SUPER BOWL ETIQUETTE. "Those disinterested folks who have to put up with Super Bowl madness this weekend better learn Super Bowl etiquette, that is, what not to do on Sunday while the game is on," says Robert Butterworth, Los Angeles-based psychologist, who can offer tips for football spouses to help them keep their sanity and relationships intact during the Super Bowl. "Super Bowl Sunday presents a unique opportunity for football haters to visit places that are normally crowded on the weekend -- there are no lines at Disneyland this Sunday. If all else fails and anger and stress levels start to escalate during the game, purchase an inexpensive football and pound on it with a baseball bat; it's a lot cheaper than a visit to the shrink," advises Butterworth. News Contact: Robert R. Butterworth, Ph.D., International Trauma Associates Phone: 213-487-7339 Fax: 213-388-5167

**2. INTIMACY AND RECOVERING HEART PATIENTS. Being in an intimate relationship could increase your chances of recovering successfully from a cardiac event like a heart attack, says Tamara Sher, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Sher has just concluded a small study in which couples participated in an 18-week intervention program providing counseling on nutrition, exercise and compliance with medication. "The couples really seemed to get a lot out of the intervention," says Sher, who is looking to expand this study. News Contact: Sharon Parmet, Illinois Institute of Technology Phone: 312-567-7997 Fax: 312-567-3243

**3. ONLINE DATING. With millions of people looking for relationships online and Valentine's Day approaching, there are plusses and minuses that people should be aware of in the online dating arena, says Leslie Karsner, online relationship counselor for udate.com. Is online dating worth the time and effort verses going out? "Online isn't the answer for everyone since member types or the types of technology differ from site to site, but with the right tool, you may find the right relationship," says Karsner. News Contact: Michael Fischer, SC Communications Phone: 212-780-1900 ext.518

GENERAL

**4. HEALTH SCREENINGS HELP PREVENT OBESITY EPIDEMIC. In honor of National Healthy Weight Week (January 21-27), HealthScreen America urges consumers to take charge of their health and establish a sound eating and exercise routine for lifelong health. The company's first-year screening results show that 62 percent of those paying for private health screenings were deemed overweight or clinically obese, supporting 1999 US findings from the National Center for Health Statistics. "As a preventive health innovator, we're challenging community, business and healthcare partners to join forces with us and support the Surgeon General's preliminary efforts to form a national strategy to deal with what is being called an epidemic of obesity in the United States," says Ed Balbona, chief medical officer for HealthScreen America, whose entire staff has taken on a New Year's weight reduction and awareness campaign. News Contact: Pat Nunno Roque, Business Boomers Phone: 973-389-9555 Cell Phone: 973-809-4445 Web Site: http://www.healthscreenamerica.com

**5. FOOT IMBALANCES MAY AFFECT ENTIRE BODY. According to the lead article in the January issue of the "Journal of the American Chiropractic Association" (JACA), foot imbalances can trigger problems throughout the body -- even without perceptible foot pain. "We're dealing with the lowest level of the biomechanical kinetic chain -- what happens in the foot affects the ankle, the leg, the knee, thigh, pelvis, low back, and so on," says Dr. George McClelland, board member of the American Chiropractic Association (ACA). The ACA can provide information on preventing and dealing with foot pain, as well as the types of exercises prescribed by chiropractors to prevent and alleviate foot pain. News Contact: Patrick Bernat Phone: 800-986-4636 ext. 247

**6. BENEFITS OF BACKPACKS ON WHEELS. What once was considered uncool has now become all the rage -- backpacks on wheels. Across the nation, students who have experienced back and neck pain as the result of over-stuffed backpacks are switching to this safer way to transport books and other necessities to and from school, says Jerome McAndrews, national spokesperson for the American Chiropractic Association. "Back pain is pervasive in our society and much of this suffering is brought on by bad habits initiated during our younger years-such as carrying overweight backpacks to school," says McAndrews. News Contact: Patrick Bernat Phone: 800-986-4636 ext. 247

INTERNET/CYBERSPACE

**7. MEDICAL AND HEALTHCARE PHOTOS, ILLUSTRATIONS ONLINE. Custom Medical Stock Photo, Inc. (CMSP) of Chicago announces the launch of their new full-service Web site containing the world's largest collection of medical and scientific images available online. "We offer the collective works of several hundred individuals encompassing over 1.2 million medical, scientific and healthcare photos, illustrations and animation for all aspects of healthcare, science and medicine," says Mike Fisher, CEO of CMSP, the only medical image agency in the world licensing medical and scientific photographs, illustrations, video clips, cartoons and animation online. Visitors to the site can search by subject or keyword, create and email lightboxes, and download and license digital files for use in editorial or commercial projects in print or electronic form. News Contacts: Mike Fisher, Custom Medical Stock Photo, Inc. Phone: 773-267-3100 or Contact: Henry Schleichkorn, RBP Phone: 773-267-3100 Web Site: http://www.cmsp.com

LAW

**8. HIGH HOPES FOR HEALTH CARE REFORM. During the presidential campaign, George W. Bush often referred to himself as a compassionate conservative. Health care expert Larry S. Gage, a partner at Washington DC law firm Powell, Goldstein, Frazier & Murphy and president of the National Association of Public Hospitals, is hopeful that Bush follows through on campaign promises about health care reform. "I'm encouraged by President Bush's commitment to filling coverage gaps for the uninsured and for providing substantially increased federal support to safety net providers," says Gage. News Contact: William Hanson Phone: 734-761-9879

PUBLIC HEALTH/SAFETY

9. RED CROSS REFUSES TO END BLOOD SHORTAGES. While the American Red Cross logically accepts the FDA's suggestion to not use blood from people who might have been exposed to mad cow disease, the American Hemochromatosis Society questions why the Red Cross illogically still refuses to accept the FDA's suggestion to use the safe blood from millions of Americans with hemochromatosis to permanently end blood shortages. The CDC confirms that hemochromatosis is the most common genetic variant in the US, and regular blood donation prevents this condition from gradually iron-overloading the pancreas, heart and liver (producing disease and death). "The American public is being kept in the dark by the Red Cross about the high frequency of hemochromatosis (a gene which twelve percent of Americans don't know they carry) and that it is harmless provided those with the gene start donating blood regularly in their late teens," according to Dr. Victor Herbert, hematologist from the American Hemochromatosis Society's Medical Advisory Council. News Contact: Pat Nunno Roque, Business Boomers Phone: 973-389-9555 Web Site: http://www.americanhs.org

**10. FLU FIGHTERS BATTLE DISEASE ON FRONT LINES. Each year, an estimated 35 to 50 million Americans get the flu and 20,000 of them die from complications of the disease, underscoring the need to design more effective vaccines and treatments, says Linda Lambert, influenza program officer at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). NIAID supports many of these flu fighters who are conducting cutting-edge research, such as the development of powerful DNA and live vaccines, immunization of entire communities, biological and evolutionary studies of the virus, as well as preparedness measures for the next pandemic. "These researchers are investigating promising new approaches that could potentially have a tremendous impact on public health by reducing the burden of flu and its complications among populations in the United States and abroad," says Lambert. News Contact: Jeffrey Minerd, NIAID Press Office Phone: 301-402-1663 Web Site: http://www.niaid.nih.gov/spotlight/flu00/

**11. MAD COW BLOOD BAN WILL HURT, NOT HELP. The new proposed restrictions on blood donors who have visited Western Europe will unnecessarily deplete the blood supply without making it demonstrably safer from mad cow disease, says Howard Fienberg, research analyst with the Statistical Assessment Service (STATS), a nonprofit nonpartisan think tank in Washington, DC. The FDA is favoring an unmeasureable possibility (that mad cow disease can pass through blood) over a measurable certainty (our blood shortage will worsen). "If a case of mad cow were one day found in the United States, would they ban all blood donations?" asks Fienberg. News Contact: Howard Fienberg, STATS Phone: 202-223-3193 Web site: http://www.stats.org

**12. CO POISONING THREAT STILL UNHEEDED. Even though carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is the leading cause of death by poisoning in the United States, just 10 percent of US homes have CO detectors, says Dan Woody, an industrial hygienist with more than 15 years experience in the environmental, safety, and health industry. And the threat of CO poisoning is much greater during the winter months, thanks to occupancy time and homes that have, because of higher energy costs and better building and insulating materials, become virtually air-tight. "The word about CO poisoning either isn't reaching the masses or people aren't heeding the warnings," says Woody. News Contact: Joe Shields, Wordsworth Communications, Phone: 513-271-7222