Health roundup: Physical abuse of babies may be rising

Your Monday morning health roundup:

Abused babies: A new report on child abuse suggests physical abuse of infants has risen in recent years, contradicting government reports showing broad declines in child abuse. Researchers reporting in Pediatrics found serious injuries rose 11% in 12 years among babies one year old and younger. One possibility is that doctors are getting better at recognizing and reporting such cases, but the findings are cause for concern, experts say. (NBC News)

Patients at risk: Boston health officials are contacting 57 patients treated by an ambulance paramedic who may have exposed them to infectious diseases when he tampered with vials of painkillers and sedatives. The possible exposures happened more than a year ago. (Boston Globe)

Breast cancer drug: There's no apparent advantage to taking the breast cancer drug Herceptin for more or less time than the one year now typically prescribed, new research suggests.The drug helps prevent recurrences in some breast cancer patients and studies will continue to look at whether shorter treatment works for certain subgroups. (New York Times)

Today's talker: Have you had your dose of cute Internet kitties or puppies yet today? New research suggests you should go ahead and indulge -- especially if you are at work. It just might improve your powers of concentration, say Japanese researchers who showed cute animal pictures to college students and then had them perform certain tasks, including playing the game Operation. The pictures seemed to make students more careful and deliberate, the researchers say. (Wall Street Journal)