Doctor's Orders

By Sora Song

STROKE RISK? THE EYES HAVE IT

Your eyes can tell a lot about you, perhaps even your future risk of stroke. A seven-year study of 3,654 adults, published in the journal Neurology, found that people who had retinopathy, or damage in the small blood vessels of the retina, were at least 70% more likely than the rest of us to have a stroke.

1 MILLION

Number of cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, among U.S. teens and adults that could be prevented each year with a booster vaccination. Most children, for whom the long-lasting coughing illness can be fatal, get several pertussis shots by age 6, but immunity wears off. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine says one extra shot for teens and adults would do the trick.

LIFESAVING SKILLS IN A BOX

If a decade of watching ER hasn't taught you how to perform CPR, you can now learn from the American Heart Association's $30 at-home kit, which includes a CPR dummy and a 22-min. DVD.

TAKING THE FAT OUT OF MUSCLE MEMORY

A study in Cell Metabolism reports that the muscles of people who are overweight may be programmed to store fat rather than burn it. The obese produce three times as much SCD1, a fat-building enzyme, as thin people, and their muscles burn 43% less fat. One sure way to reboot your body: exercise.

75%

Five-year survival rate of African-American breast-cancer patients, according to a study in J.A.M.A. White patients, by contrast, have a survival rate of 89%. That discrepancy, doctors say, can be attributed largely to higher rates of other disorders, such as diabetes and hypertension.

HOW TO READ YOUR BIOLOGICAL CLOCK

Countless single women are tortured by the thought that their prime childbearing years are ticking away. A researcher from Britain's University of Sheffield has developed a test that may be able to tell you just how much time you have left. The test measures blood levels of three hormones that determine when you're nearing menopause--and how many of your viable eggs remain. U.K.-based Biofusion plans to release the kit in January 2006.