Health briefs: E. coli on shopping carts

About 50 percent of shopping cart handles have E. coli on them, as well as other bacteria, say U.S. researchers who tested shopping cart handles in four states, according to msnbc.com. "That's more than you find in a supermarket's restroom," which tends to be cleaned more often, said lead researcher Charles Gerba, a professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona. Gerba said parents should wipe shopping cart handles with a disinfecting wipe before they place their children in the shopping cart seat.

Alzheimer's link

A new study using brain scans adds more weight to research showing the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease is greater if your mother, rather than your father, had the disorder. "It's consistent with other studies that suggest there is something inherited from mothers that influences risk more so than what is passed down through fathers," said senior study author Dr. Jeffrey Burns, an associate professor of neurology at University of Kansas Medical Center. Those whose parents had the disease are four to 10 times more likely to get the disease themselves.

- HealthDay