Lindsay Porter's kidneys were failing rapidly when a friend offered to donate one of his. Then she made an unusual request: Would he donate part of his immune system, too?

Every day for the rest of their lives, transplant recipients must swallow handfuls of pills to keep their bodies from rejecting a donated organ. The Chicago woman hoped to avoid those problematic drugs, enrolling in a study to try to trick her own immune system into accepting a foreign kidney.

A leading Chinese poultry company said Monday it had sacked four employees suspected of being involved in a food safety scandal that saw diseased ducks sold to unsuspecting consumers.

The case is the latest in a long list of high-profile food safety problems to hit China that have included pork deliberately laced with chemicals, dyed buns and tainted milk.

The first study to look at methamphetamine's potential lasting effects on children whose mothers used it in pregnancy finds these kids at higher risk for behavior problems than other children.

The behavior differences — anxiety, depression, moodiness — weren't huge, but lead researcher Linda LaGasse called them "very worrisome."

Angeline Chilton says she can't drive unless she smokes pot.

The suburban Denver woman uses medical marijuana to ease multiple sclerosis symptoms and says she'd never get behind the wheel right after smoking. But her case underscores a problem that no one's sure how to solve: How do you tell if someone is too stoned to drive?

Ailing President Hugo Chavez, just back from cancer surgery in Cuba, said Saturday he would start radiation treatments "in the coming days," amid rising drama over his health as he seeks reelection late his year.

"Now I have to start radiation in the coming days to attack any new threat. This cancer is not going to be the end of Chavez," the leftist president told supporters at Miraflores Palace, without saying if he would be treated in Venezuela or Cuba, his main regional ally.

The Miss Alaska pageant requires contestants to perform a public service project. Under Debbe Ebben's silver tiara is evidence of hers.

Dutch health authorities on Thursday recommended the removal of breast implants manufactured by French company Poly Implant Prothese that were done before 2001.

"Women who had a PIP breast implant before 2001 should have themselves examined by a doctor and, in consultation, eventually have the implants removed," the Dutch government's health watchdog said in a statement.

"Pink slime" just went from a simmer to a boil.

In less than a week earlier this month, the stomach-turning epithet for ammonia-treated ground beef filler suddenly became a potent rallying cry by activists fighting to ban the product from supermarket shelves and school lunch trays.

Health researchers said on Thursday they had found a troubling link between higher consumption of rice and Type 2 diabetes, a disease that in some countries is becoming an epidemic.

Further work is needed to probe the apparent association and diets that are notoriously high in sugar and fats should remain on the no-go list, they cautioned.

Civil unrest is increasing the risk of hunger for 1.4 million people in Syria, which must raise cereal imports by a third to offset a loss in output, the United Nations' food agency said Thursday.

"Continued civil unrest in the Syrian Arab Republic since mid-March 2011 has raised serious concern over the state of food security, particularly for vulnerable groups," the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said.