Nearly 50 percent of all residents of China now have mobile phones, while the number of fixed-line subscribers has fallen.

The number of cell phone subscribers stood at 592 million at the end of May, out of a total national population of 1.3 billion. The figure was up nine percent from the end of 2007.

The main factor behind the growth was a trend for operators to cut fees in order to gain market share.

Since 2000, doctors have seen about a 5- to 6-fold increase in the number of serious shoulder and elbow injuries in young baseball and softball players.

These injuries in young athletes can cause permanent damage that can affect their future growth and the future health of their joints.

Overuse injuries are also common in gymnastics, cheerleading, swimming, tennis, soccer, football and other sports.

In a recent study, researchers followed almost 500 little league pitchers for one season, and found that 50 percent had elbow or shoulder pain and most had to see a doctor because of the pain.

If you smoke, you can greatly reduce the risk of contractingcancer by drinking carrot juice. This according to the German DoctorHans Nieper, founder of Eumatabolic Medicine, a new alternativemode of treatment which has become very popular in Germany

Use of the cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins rose by 156 percent between 2000 and 2005, rising from 15.8 million people to 29.7 million people. Spending on the drugs jumped from $7.7 billion to $19.7 billion annually over the same period.

The total number of outpatient prescriptions for statins rose from about 90 million in 2000 to nearly 174 million in 2005. Each individual spent $484 a year on average on statins in 2000; this rose to $661 by 2005.

Statins include atorvastatin, sold by Pfizer under the brand name Lipitor; pravastatin or Pravachol, sold by Bristol Myers Squibb; fluvastatin, sold by Novartis under the brand name Lescol, and several others.

The number of Americans with diabetes has grown to about 24 million people, or roughly 8 percent of the U.S. population.

A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on data from 2007, indicates an increase of about 3 million cases since over just two years. The CDC estimates another 57 million people have a condition called pre-diabetes, which puts people at increased risk for the disease.

Diabetes results from defects in insulin production that cause sugar to build up in the body. It is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S.