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Shots - Health News
5:36 pm
Wed January 30, 2013

Gut Microbes May Play Deadly Role In Malnutrition

Originally published on Fri February 1, 2013 4:19 pm

There's a part of our body that's only now getting mapped: the trillions of microbes, mostly bacteria, that live in our guts.

Some scientists describe this community as a previously unnoticed vital organ. It appears to play a role in how quickly we gain weight and how well we fight off disease.

A study published in the journal Science suggests that changes in this community of microbes also may cause kwashiorkor, a kind of deadly malnutrition.

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The Two-Way
5:32 pm
Wed January 30, 2013

From Timbuktu, Reports That Manuscripts Have Been Saved

Credit Eric Feferberg / AFP/Getty Images
A man attempts to salvage burnt manuscripts at the Ahmed Baba Institute in Timbuktu, Mali, on Tuesday. While some of the ancient manuscripts were destroyed by Islamist radicals, reports indicate that most were hidden and therefore survived.

Originally published on Wed January 30, 2013 7:35 pm

Reports from Timbuktu, Mali, on Wednesday indicate that most of the ancient manuscripts at a famed library may have been saved by residents before Islamist radicals had the chance to burn them.

"I can say that the vast majority of the collections appear from our reports not to have been destroyed, damaged or harmed in any way," Shamil Jeppie, an expert on the documents who teaches at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, told Reuters.

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It's All Politics
5:31 pm
Wed January 30, 2013

In Immigration Debate, 'Undocumented' vs. 'Illegal' Is More Than Just Semantics

Originally published on Wed January 30, 2013 6:12 pm

On Monday, we pointed to how the bipartisan Gang of Eight senators mostly avoided the term "illegal immigrant" in the language of their immigration reform plan.

It looks like President Obama did the same in his address on the issue the next day.

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The Salt
5:08 pm
Wed January 30, 2013

International Culinary Competition Gold Eludes Americans Again

Originally published on Wed January 30, 2013 6:36 pm

Americans may have perfected food television and exported our fast-food tastes around the world, but we still haven't made it to the podium in the so-called Olympics of Cooking. The prestigious Bocuse d'Or chef competition, held in Lyon, France, on Tuesday and Wednesday, saw Team USA unable to break its dry streak, with a seventh-place finish behind winners France, Denmark and Japan.

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Shots - Health News
5:03 pm
Wed January 30, 2013

Why Some Families Won't Qualify For Subsidized Health Insurance

Credit iStockphoto.com

Quite a few families with expensive job-based health insurance may be ineligible for federal subsidies to help them buy cheaper coverage through new online insurance markets, under final rules released Wednesday by the Internal Revenue Service.

The two rules, published by the Treasury Department here and here, uphold earlier proposals outlining what is considered affordable, employer-sponsored coverage.

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