Today's Globe: twins, late preemies, red tide, doctors' insurer ratings, Bernanke on health spending, antipsychotic drugs, heparin, Leonard Cushner

In a collision of science and demographics, Massachusetts has emerged as the nation's most prolific producer of twins, triplets, and other multiple births.

One in eight babies - well over half a million a year - are born premature, a toll that has risen steadily for two decades with no sign of stopping. The government this week begins an unprecedented push to figure out why, with special aim at preterm births that may be lowered: so-called late preemies, those born weeks, not months, early.

The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries plans this week to begin testing shellfish harvested from federal waters that may have been affected by red tide.

Some insurance companies rate doctors on their performance. Now doctors are turning the tables. The American Medical Association issued its first health insurance report card at the group's annual meeting yesterday. The primary focus is on how quickly and accurately doctors get paid.

Ben S. Bernanke (left), the chairman of the Federal Reserve, told Congress yesterday that health spending would "rise relentlessly" unless lawmakers overhauled the healthcare system, and he recommended an eclectic approach.

Older antipsychotic drugs including Haldol and Thorazine were added to the list of those that increase the risk of death in the elderly when used to treat dementia, the Food and Drug Administration said (sixth item).

The blood thinner heparin has been linked to 149 US deaths in people who had allergic reactions after taking it, US regulators said.

Jury-rigging a camera by combining an expensive, precise lens with a Polaroid body, Dr. Leonard Cushner created a tool that turned out accurate, instant photographs, helping orthodontists mold better mouths for their patients. Dr. Cushner, who for decades ran an orthodontics practice in Newton Center and in Boston before that, died Thursday of complications of surgery performed 10 days earlier. He was 82 and had lived in Brookline.