While California and New York have mandated through legislation the inclusion of calorie counts in the menus of restaurant chains, some fast food dining establishments will voluntarily place the nutrition data on their own even without state fiat.

Leading the pack is Yum Brands, parent company of Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut. Yum senior vice president Jonathan Blum disclosed the information to USA Today ahead of the firm's formal announcement Wednesday. "We're a leader... We hope all restaurants, supermarkets and convenience stores follow our lead," Blum told USA Today.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill Tuesday creating a hospital privacy oversight office for the state. He also inked a second bill fining multiple violators up to $250,000.

The twin measures are in response to frequent peeks into celebrity medical files, which are often leaked to media. Among the victims of the medical file peeking is the governor's wife, Maria Shriver.

Researchers have discovered an important risk factor for pancreatic cancer that could someday possibly help prevent the disease.

The first-of-its-kind finding was made by researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

As people age even if they are healthy enough to remain at home instead of entering a nursing home, they often need assistance during the day that family members are unable to provide.

That care can include anything from cooking and cleaning to help with bathing, getting dressed or taking medications. Getting help with those things can prevent the elderly from trying to do too much and ending up losing their balance and falling.

The latest research indicates that so called light cigarettes deliver nearly as much nicotine to the brain as regular cigarettes. University of California, Los Angeles, found that light cigarettes have nicotine levels of 0.6 to 1 milligram, while regular cigarettes contain between 1.2 and 1.4 milligrams.

The researchers also looked at de-nicotinized cigarettes, which contain only a trace amount of nicotine. They found that even the smallest amount of nicotine in a person's system will activate a significant percentage of receptors in the brain making light cigarettes addictive and tough to quit.