It's a startling number: 1 in 4 women surveyed by the government say they were violently attacked by their husbands or boyfriends. Experts in domestic violence don't find it too surprising, although some aspects of the survey may have led to higher numbers than are sometimes reported. Even so, a government official who oversaw the research called the results “astounding.” “It's the first time we've had this kind of estimate” on the prevalence of intimate partner violence, said Linda Degutis of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The survey, released by the CDC Wednesday, marks the beginning of a new annual project to look at how many women say they've been abused/Associated Press. More here.

Question: Has anyone in your family been the victim of this kind of abuse?

After introducing a post, titled “Movies are killing our kids,” Rebecca Nappi/End Notes writes: “How's that for a dramatic headline? It's a little bit of an exaggeration but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released today a National Cancer Institute study that says there's a link between “exposure to depictions of smoking in movies and youth smoking initiation.” In science speak the CDC writes: “Adolescents in the top quartile of exposures to onscreen tobacco incidents have been found to be approximately twice as likely to begin smoking as those in the bottom quartile.” More here. (AP file photo, of Joe Camel)

Question (from Rebecca Nappi): Anyone out there start smoking as a young person because it looked cool in movies?

Item: Montana among leading states as births at home rise nationally/Cindy Uken, Billings Gazette

More Info: Less than 1 percent of U.S. births occur at home. But the proportion of home births is markedly increasing, according to researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The spike in home births occurred between 2004 and 2008, rising from 23,150 in 2004 to 28,357 home births in 2008. Between 1990 and 2004, the number of home births had been trending downward. Twenty-seven states had significant increases during those four years. Montana, Vermont and Oregon recorded the highest percentage — about one in 50 births were at home in those states, according to the CDC. In 2008, Montana had the highest number of home births, 275, or 2.18 percent, according to the CDC research.

Question: Were any of your children born at home?

Talk about measly souvenirs. Some  American children are returning home from trips abroad not with a snow globe or silly t-shirt but with a nasty case of measles. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating seven recent cases of “imported” measles among kids under two years of age - and reminding families who travel or live abroad that children should get the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. None of the children who came home with measles recently had gotten the vaccine/CBS News. More here.

Question: Do you remember having measles as a kid? Care to tell us about it?

A new report which shows that use of the harmful drug meth is down among Idaho teens is drawing praise from Gov. Butch Otter, whose wife, Lori, has been instrumental in the state’s effort to reduce consumption of the drug by youth in the state.  The new report, released this week by the Centers for Disease Control, shows that between 2007 and 2009, meth use among Idaho’s teens dropped by about 52 percent, a rate five times higher than the national average. The report, officially known as the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, shows that Idaho held the top spot in the rate of decline of meth use among teens.  Across the nation, there was a 10 percent drop in number of teens using meth/Dustin Hurst, Idaho Reporter. More here.

Question: Do you think the graphic ads circulated by the Idaho Meth Project, depicting the debilitating effect meth has on users, is responsible for this dramatic drop?