Weight Guidelines Toughened for Obese Mothers-to-Be

The Institute of Medicine , the nation’s most influential medical advisory group, has updated its guidelines for weight gain during pregnancy for the first time since 1990. The revised recommendations, released May 28, which also include the first advice regarding exercise during pregnancy, reflect new data on prenatal health as well as several recent shifts in the obstetric landscape — pregnant women in the U.S. are now older, more likely to deliver multiple births and ethnically more diverse than they were 20 or 30 years ago.

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Hispanic population boom fuels rising U.S. diversity

The nation is becoming even more diverse: More than one third of its population belongs to a minority group, and Hispanics are the fastest-growing segment. The U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday that the minority population reached an estimated 104.6 million — or 34 percent of the nation’s total population — on July 1, 2008, compared to 31 percent when the Census was taken in 2000

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Indians vote in fourth phase of elections

Indians were voting Thursday in the fourth phase of a marathon general election to choose a new federal government. Officials at the meeting are expected to sign a prisoner transfer agreement that would allow Samantha Orobator to serve out a sentence in Britain, if she is convicted at her forthcoming trial, according to an official Laotian source who spoke to CNN.

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Swine flu fears grip Mexico

Fear and skepticism on the streets of Mexico have led to panic buying and deep suspicions about the government. Can officials handle a deadly swine flu epidemic, many people are asking, and are authorities lying about what’s really going on The nervousness and distrust are not limited to Mexico City, where government officials said most of the 159 deaths suspected of coming from the 2009 H1N1 flu strain have occurred. Villahermosa, in Tabasco state, is 567 miles (913 kilometers) away

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