Tips

Snow safety: Dr. Richard M. Ruddy, director of emergency medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, and the American Academy of Pediatrics offer these sledding safety tips for children:

• Make sure your child wears a helmet.

• Provide constant adult supervision.

• Find a safe spot: Avoid holes, roots, tree stumps and fences that might be covered with snow and areas with trees.

• Avoid slopes that end in a street, parking lot or pond.

• Dress children sensibly: Layers provide warmth and bright colors provide visibility.

• Children should sit facing forward. It's easier to steer the sled.

• Inflatable snow tubes can't be steered and can propel children into the air if they hit a bump.

• Let one child down the hill - and back up - at a time.

Help wanted

Study: Reproductive Medicine Research at the University of Cincinnati is studying an investigative medication for treating bacterial vaginosis. Women 18 and older who have not used any oral, intravaginal or injectional antifungal or antimicrobial medication within the last two weeks are eligible. Information: 584-4100 or www.researchforwomen.com.

Resource

Guide: The American Health Care Association is offering a new free brochure, "A Consumer's Guide to Nursing Facilities," to help senior and disabled Americans and their families plan for long-term care needs. Information: (800) 628-8140 or www.longtermcareliving.com

Research

Smoke-free: New moms who want to make their home a smoke-free zone have better success if they start the new policy soon after the baby's birth.

Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine found three to six months after birth the most effective window, according to a new study.

Mothers who had established a no-smoking policy at three months were most likely to still follow the policy at six months.

Secondhand smoke has been linked to higher risk of asthma, ear and lung infections and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Hot news

At work: Employee health problems cost U.S. employers $226 billion annually, a new study shows.

And 71 percent of that cost results from reduced productivity, not work absences, researchers note. Losses averaged about $1,700 per worker and two hours per employee per week.

Researchers found that workers in "low-demand, high-control" jobs were least likely to lose productivity because of illness, probably because they could adjust their schedules depending on their health.

Workers earning more than $50,000 a year accounted for 17 percent of lost productivity time, but 34 percent of resulting costs.

Dr. Walter F. Stewart of the AdvancePCS Center for Work and Health led the study.

Contact Peggy O'Farrell by phone, 768-8510; fax, 768-8330, or e-mail, pofarrell@enquirer .com