Today's health and science: natural remedies, nurse on TV nurses, test results, appendicitis clue, cleaning contacts, promising brain protein, nitrogen for plants, public health services, teen death predictions

In g:

More than five years after the US Food and Drug Administration banished an herbal weight-loss compound called ephedra that was blamed for 155 deaths, the love affair with supplements blazes hotter than ever.

Beth Piknick, president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, and a longtime registered nurse at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, weighs in on TV nurses in “HawthoRNe.’’

About 1 out of 14 abnormal test results were never reported to patients, according to a survey of primary care medical records.

A protein found in the urine of children with appendicitis might lead to a better way to accurately diagnose the disease (second item).

Do you have to rub contact lenses to clean them if your cleanser is 'no rub'?

In Science & Innovation:

A protein found on brain cells, known to contribute to nicotine addiction, may also be the key to developing drugs for a wide range of diseases and medical conditions, including obesity, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Why don’t plants get nitrogen from the air?

Also in today's Globe:

The state’s network of community health departments is stretched so thin that some are unable to provide important services, public health officials said.

A surprising number of teenagers - nearly 15 percent - think they’re going to die young, leading many to drug use, suicide attempts, and other unsafe behavior, new research suggests.