Citation Brody, Jane E. "Smoking’s Gender Gap Closes." Well Smokings Gender Gap Closes Comments. The New York Times, 18 Feb. 2013. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. Summary This was a report published last month in The New England Journal of Medicine. Half a century ago, the risk of death from lung cancer among men who smoked was five times higher than among women smokers. But now the risk equalized and the risk is 25 times greater than non smokers. Some of the data showed that today, women smokers face 17 times greater risk of dying of lung cancer than women who do not smoke. On average, your life expectancy is 10 years shorter if you smoke daily. Smoking doesn't only cause lung cancer, bu also hear disease, stroke, cancer including breast cancer. Also changes in the way cigarettes are made, increased the amount of nicotine going into your body. But in US, the percent of adults smoking have decreased dramatically. In 1970, 42% smoked but now it is down to 19%. They found that raising taxes help decrease the number of smokers. The state with the highest prevalence of smoking have the lowest tax on cigarettes.

I chose this article, one because I think that it fit well to what we are going to learn in health class. But also because I was surprised that before, it was said that there is higher risk on men. Also I was surprised how the percent of smokers have decreased by about 20% i 50 years. I think that countries all over the world should try to decrease the number of smokers.

Citation Carey, Benedict. "Study Questions Effectiveness of Therapy for Suicidal Teenagers." The New York Times. The New York Times, 09 Jan. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. Summary According to the journal JAMA Psychiatry, 55% of suicidal teenagers have already received some therapy before they thought about suicide, planned it or tried to kill themselves. About one in eighth teenagers had persistent suicidal thought at some point and a third of those who had the thought attempted within a year of having the idea. The study also suggests that access to treatment of depression in fact doesn't make a big difference and help prevent suicides.  In 2010, just between the ages 13 to 18, 1386 people committed suicide. Also they researched 6,483 adolescents and found 9% of male and 15% of female experienced some stretch of having persistent suicidal thoughts. They found out that suicidal behavior was often complex combination of depression, eating disorders, drug abuse.  Alice McConnell is a 17year old girl who committed suicide and her mom claims "there might have been some carelessness in the way the treatment was done." It turns out that Alice was not taking treatment regularly although her mom trusted her that she could take care of her medication. Ms.McConnell claimed " I think therapy does help alot of people, if it's handled right" 

I chose this article because I thought that this was a very relatable article and talks about suicides of our age. I was very surprised by all the facts and made me realize once again that suicide is a big problem and not a rare thing. I found it interesting that therapies and medication doesn't always help and could worsen suicidal thoughts. I agree with Ms.McConnel and I think there needs to be better ways of therapy and medication and many more people need to know the right way to handle people with suicidal thoughts.