Obese people with asthma are nearly five times more likely than their non-obese peers to be hospitalized for the ailment.The findings come from a study of more than 1,000 members of a healthcare organization. Compared with normal weight subjects, obese individuals were 2.7 times more likely to have poor asthma control, and 4.6 times more likely to have a history of asthma-related hospitalization.The take-home message of this study, said study co-author Dr. Michael Schatz, "is that obese people with asthma need to be followed more carefully because it's harder to control their asthma, so they are more likely to end up in the hospital."

When Rebecca Killmeyer experienced a miscarriage during her second pregnancy, she wasn't sure if she would ever have another baby. But then she decided to enter a study testing the impact of acupuncture on women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)."To our great surprise we were blessed with a third pregnancy during the PCOS study," said Killmeyer. "I'm absolutely certain the acupuncture treatments helped me ovulate regularly, which allowed me to become pregnant."PCOS causes a hormonal imbalance that interferes with ovulation and fertility. Acupuncture could be an important alternative, non-drug therapy for women with this disorder.

Mind mapping is a way of taking notes, capturing ideas, exploring concepts and breaking down information into a more readily understood format. There are a million and one uses for mind mapping. You can use it to:Study for a big examBrainstorm new article ideasFlesh out what needs to be covered in the business plan for a new ventureOrganize a big moveHere are some free mind mapping applications and web services.Freemind is one of the most popular free mind mapping applications out there, mainly because it’s in Java and thus cross-platform.bubble.us is a free web-based mind mapping application. You can sign up for an account in order to save your mind maps, but they don’t force you to get an account to start creating.Semantik is a KDE Linux application for creating mind maps, though they can be viewed in different formats, such as a linear tree view with retractable and expandable branches.MindMeister is another web app with varying account options; there’s a free account, and several commercial options.RecallPlus is commercial software with a lighter free edition. It combines the process of mind mapping with flash card memorization techniques, and is aimed at students who wish to take notes and then test themselves using them.Mindomo is another mind mapping web app with both a free account option and a commercial one. It allows you to share your mind maps with others, and also embed them into your web pages.Mind42 is a totally free mind mapping web app. The interface is a good one, and it has some excellent features such as easy navigation for large mind maps with zoom and birdview. You can also link branches to other sites and see a preview when you rollover the link.Labyrinth is a very simple and basic mind mapping application for Linux and Windows.Vym (View Your Mind) is an application for Mac OS X and various Linux distributions.WiseMapping is another web app for mind mapping which requires no browser plug-ins at all, which is fantastic when you don’t know which computers you’ll be using in a given day. There is no commercial account option; everything is free and unlimited.PersonalBrain is a cross-platform application. It’s a commercial application, but a lighter free edition is on offer.