The Food and Drug Administration warned the medical community on Friday regarding heparin after learning that some of the facilities still had supplies of the contaminated blood thinner. A large number of hospitals, medical societies and pharmaceutical organizations were warned despite a recall by the California Department of Health and the FDA's own recall monitoring. Baxter International Inc. , the largest supplier of heparin, also showed gaps in the recall response.

The value of bed rest on human health will be the subject of a four-month study by NASA scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Participants will stay in a special research unit for the duration of the study and eat a controlled diet.

As Nursing Week begins Sunday, the government and Canadians are concerned about what appears to be declining nursing care. But nurses too are complaining of bullying and intimidation on the job. A finding by the Ontario Health Coalition that care in nursing homes did not move at 2. 85 hours per resident for the past three years has prompted Health Minister George Smitherman to order tougher controls be placed.

New York City plans to start a special ambulance service within a month that will be equipped to preserve the organs of the newly deceased for transplant. Creation of the Rapid Organ Recovery Ambulance followed complaints from families who said their loved ones had wanted to be an organ donor but could not donate because the person died outside a hospital.

Teens who use marijuana to avoid depression have a 40 percent risk of developing mental disorders or suicidal thoughts, according to a White House report released Friday. The report, released to coincide with May's Mental Health Awareness Month, shows a whooping two million teens felt depressed at some point during the past year. Depressed teens are more than twice as likely as non-depressed teens to have used marijuana or other illicit drugs during that same period.

A federal appeals court judge is pondering whether the Bush administration has the authority to stop meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease. The Bush administration made its request on Friday to the court that is considering overturning a ruling that allowed Creekstone Farms Premium Beef of Arkansas City, Kan. , to test all its beef for mad cow disease.

A federal bill permitting the filing of homicide charges on the attacker of a pregnant woman who causes the death of her fetus is dividing Canadians. House Bill C-484 has become a debate between pro-life groups and pro-choice groups. Advocates from both side aired their sentiments Thursday through demonstrations in front of the Nova Scotia legislature.

Nordic countries dominate the top while countries in sub-Saharan Africa dominate the bottom levels of the best and worst places to be a mother and a child. The Mother's Index of US-based global humanitarian organization Save the Children highlighted in the organization's State of the World's Mothers 2008 report compares the well-being of mothers and children in 146 countries.