Teenage girls who stick close with their circle of friends are less likely to take abuse from the boys they date, a new study suggests.

The intricacies of the teen years include more than the physical sprouting and associated zits. Teenagers begin to define their sense of self as individuals while forming friendships and potentially romantic relationships.

The new research, published in the Sept. 20 issue of the journal BMC Nursing, sheds light on the teen-dating scene and finds that a close-knit circle of same-sex friends provides structure for teenage girls as they navigate the dating course. The maintenance of a strong friendship circle reduces a teen girl's uncertainty about abuse, and in turn protects her from it.

In this study, teens defined abuse, whether physical, verbal, or emotional, as an act in which a boyfriend intended to hurt a girl.

Full report: Close Friends Protect Teen Girls From Abusive Boyfriends  

A Siberian woman who gave birth to her 12th child -- doing more than her fair share to stem Russia's population decline -- was stunned to find that little Nadia weighed in at a massive 7.75 kg (17.1 lb).

Nadia was delivered by caesarean section in the local maternity hospital in the Altai region on September 17, joining eight sisters and three brothers, a local reporter said.

"We were all simply in shock," said Nadia's mother, Tatyana Barabanova, 43. "What did the father say? He couldn't say a thing -- he just stood there blinking."

Full report: Russian woman's 12th baby weighs in at 7.75 kg  

If you want to have lots of kids, look for a Barry White instead of a Justin Timberlake. Men with a deep voices have more offspring, a new study suggests.

Previous studies conducted by David Feinberg of McMaster University in Canada have shown that women are more attracted to men with deeper voices, judging them to be older, healthier and more masculine than their higher-pitched rivals.

Men, on the other hand, go for women with higher pitched voices because they find them more attractive, subordinate, feminine, healthier and younger-sounding.

In the new study, detailed in a recent issue of the journal Biology Letters, Feinberg set out to see how that attraction to deeper-voiced men affected reproduction and the survival of offspring.

Full report: Deep-Voiced Men Have More Kids

Jennifer Garner, who stars in the upcoming film, "The Kingdom," says she's grateful that she can balance her career with motherhood.

"My job is great to have as a mom," she tells Marie Claire magazine in its October issue. "I get to take long breaks and then work hard in a really concentrated way."

Garner nursed her daughter, Violet, during the filming of "The Kingdom," co-starring Jamie Foxx, which opens in theaters Friday. Garner says she found herself staggered by the heat on the Arizona set.

"I checked with a pediatrician, I checked with my gynecologist," she recalls, "and they said, `Breast-feeding? You'll be fine. Just drink plenty of water.' But the rules when it's 138 degrees are different. ... It sent me to the hospital a couple of times."

Full report: Garner Balances Career With Motherhood  

At rail stations and shopping malls around the world, reports are popping up of people, particularly young children, getting their toes caught in escalators. The one common theme seems to be the clunky soft-soled clogs known by the name of the most popular brand, Crocs.

One of the nation's largest subway systems — the Washington Metro — has even posted ads warning riders about wearing such shoes on its moving stairways. The ads feature a photo of a crocodile, though they don't mention Crocs by name.

Four-year-old Rory McDermott got a Croc-clad foot caught in an escalator last month at a mall in northern Virginia. His mother managed to yank him free, but the nail on his big toe was almost completely ripped off, causing heavy bleeding.

At first, Rory's mother had no idea what caused the boy's foot to get caught. It was only later, when someone at the hospital remarked on Rory's shoes, that she began to suspect the Crocs and did an Internet search.

Full report: Got Crocs? Be Careful on the Escalator  

The death of a 3-week-old Tucson infant in his home Thursday morning shows the dangers of a controversial yet popular practice called co-sleeping.

Co-sleeping — a parent and an infant sharing a bed — was a contributing factor in the death and in two other infant deaths here this year.

Thursday's is the 11th such case Sgt. Carlos Valdez, a detective in the Tucson Police Department's dependent-child unit, has handled since he began his job in July 2005.

"It's heart-wrenching when a mom asks me 'How did my baby die?' and we have to say 'It's possible it was from sharing the bed with your baby,' " Valdez said.

Co-sleeping is debated in medical and parental circles.

On one side there's the added bonding that mom and dad can have with a baby who is sharing a bed with them. For moms who are breast-feeding, it's convenient. There are cultural and economic reasons adults and infants share beds, too.

Full report: Risks of parent and baby sharing a bed

Moms-to-be who have low vitamin D levels during pregnancy appear to be at increased risk for suffering from pre-eclampsia, according to a study.

Pre-eclampsia is a condition of pregnancy that usually begins with high blood pressure. The disorder may also lead to seizures, kidney failure or stroke. It slows the growth of the fetus, can cause early delivery, and can be fatal for the mother and the infant. The cause is unknown and there is no treatment, except to manage the symptoms.

In the new study, "women who developed pre-eclampsia had vitamin D concentrations that were significantly lower early in pregnancy compared to women whose pregnancies were normal," lead author Dr. Lisa M. Bodnar, from the University of Pittsburgh, said in a statement. "And even though vitamin D deficiency was common in both groups, the deficiency was more prevalent among those who went on to develop pre-eclampsia."

Full report: Low vitamin D tied to serious pregnancy complication

In total, 522,000 U.S. toys and 322,000 outside the United States are being recalled. The toys were shipped between August 3, 2006, and July 31, 2007, the company said.

The latest recall involves three Fisher-Price toy models and eight Barbie brand playsets. No Barbie dolls were included.

Mattel instructs people to go to its Web site (www.service.mattel.com) to establish whether they own an affected toy. After they fill out a form and send back the affected parts, Mattel will send them replacement and bonus parts.

Full report: Reuters

The roughly 40 percent increase in attention problems among heavy TV viewers was observed in both boys and girls, and was independent of whether a diagnosis of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder was made prior to adolescence.

The link was established by a long-term study of the habits and behaviors of more than 1,000 children born in Dunedin, New Zealand, between April 1972 and March 1973.

The children aged 5 to 11 watched an average of 2.05 hours of weekday television. From age 13 to 15, time spent in front of the tube rose to an average of 3.1 hours a day.

"Those who watched more than two hours, and particularly those who watched more than three hours, of television per day during childhood had above-average symptoms of attention problems in adolescence," Carl Landhuis of the University of Otago in Dunedin wrote in his report, published in the journal Pediatrics.

Full report: Reuters