Good morning,

On this day in the year 73, the Masada fell to the Romans. In 1799, Napoleon drove the Ottoman Turks across the River Jordan. Charlie Chaplin was born on April 16, 1889 and Marie Tussaud, founder of the famous wax museum, died on this date in 1850.

And this date marks the swan song for the Better Life blog, which is being discontinued in a reorganization of the site. The reporters whose work you've seen here, including Rita Rubin, Liz Szabo, Nanci Hellmich, Mary Brophy Marcus, Sharon Jayson, Michelle Healy and Steve Sternberg, will still be filing stories to the newspaper and to health.usatoday.com. Anne Godlasky, the online producer who wrote many items herself, will still be creating dynamic online presentations.

So don't touch that dial. Check out the Health and Behavior page. Look up your favorite reporters on the reporter index and you'll be directed to their stories. Or follow @USATODAYhealth on Twitter for the latest news and tips that we find around the Web. Don't forget to take this poll telling us which health issues you're most interested in (you can vote for more than one topic).

Some famous people are known for their last words. Humphrey Bogart was reported to have said, "I should never have switched from Scotch to martinis." Henry VIII is said to have exclaimed, "All is lost! Monks! Monks! Monks!" Neither seems quite appropriate for this moment, although each has its unique charms.

Perhaps the best sign-off is the phrase that has been part of this blog's title: "Wishing you well." Which we do.

--By Sue Kelly, USA TODAY

Good morning,

Filed your income taxes yet? If not, you've only got until tomorrow, April 15. The Internal Revenue Service acknowledges on its site that these are tough times for many Americans. If you owe taxes and can't pay, the IRS says to file a return and it will work with you on a payment plan. 

Tax time can be very stressful. If you're right on deadline with this, the helpful about.com has some tips on how to relieve some of the tension. Try to lighten the mood in the room as you work on the IRS papers. Put on your favorite music. Light a few candles, although not too close to the papers. And reward yourself when you're done by doing something fun or eating something (healthy) you really like. 

USA TODAY can also help take the edge off with lots of advice on its taxes page, including 25 tips from columnist Sandra Block and, speaking about rewards, information about how to get free or discounted foods at restaurants on tax day.

If you're feeling stressed, you can take comfort in the fact that you're not alone. Humorist Dave Barry once said, "It's income tax time again, Americans:  time to gather up those receipts, get out those tax forms, sharpen up that pencil, and stab yourself in the aorta."  Hmmm. Maybe he needs to light a few candles.

Photo by Karen Bleier, AFP/Getty Images

--By Sue Kelly, USA TODAY

When Great-Grandma took a nip of the elderberry wine "for medicinal purposes," she was following a tradition that goes back thousands of years.

Researchers say they have found evidence that the Egyptians spiked their wine with medicinal herbs as long as 5,000 years ago. A chemical analysis of pottery dating to 3150 BC shows that herbs and resins were added to grape wine, researchers report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Adding tree resin to wine to prevent disease also has been reported in ancient China and continuing into the Middle Ages, the researchers note. Chemicals recovered from the Egyptian pottery indicate that in addition to wine, there were savory, blue tansy and artemisia a member of the wormwood family present. Other chemicals indicate the possible presence of balm, senna, coriander, germander, mint and sage.

Of course, now red wine without all the herbs is also touted for health -- numerous studies suggest it's beneficial for the heart in moderation, and some studies also say it reduces the risk of dementia.

USA TODAY file photo

--By Michelle Healy from staff and wire reports

Today is the third week of our annual USA TODAY Weight-Loss Challenge, and this week we’re profiling Ebony Lugo, 23, of New York City. She has lost almost 50 pounds. She goes to the gym to work out, but at the beginning of her weight-loss journey, “I started walking on a path in the Bronx and around my neighborhood. I lost 5 pounds immediately.”

It’s not only moderate to vigorous exercise that burns calories, but other non-exercise activities do, too, says endocrinologist James Levine of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Levine, co-author of Move a Little, Lose a Lot, with Selene Yeager, says even doing a little more can add up.  His advice:

For office workers: Walk more at work. Take three 15-minute walks during the work day. Take one right when you get to work, one at lunch and one in mid-afternoon. Keep track of this on a chart on your desk or on your refrigerator at home.

For travelers: Whether it’s in the hotel or throughout your day, weave three 15-minute walks into your day. Pace at the airport or before a meeting, take a quick walk at lunch and walk around the hotel when you get back to your room at night.

Photo by Todd Plitt, USA TODAY: Ebony Lugo lifts weights in her local Dolphin Gym in the Bronx.

--By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY

I was so sad to learn that Sheryl Monkemeyer (above, left), whose fight against Huntington's Disease I wrote about last fall, died a week ago.

"She was a wonderful person. A lot of people didn't see that," her husband Jonathan Monkemeyer (shown with her) told me yesterday. "I really loved being a caregiver. It's a different kind of love on top of your regular love."

Besides her husband, Sheryl, 46, leaves behind their son, also named Jonathan, a fifth-grader who's well aware he has a 50-50 chance of having inherited the degenerative brain disease from his mother. "He hasn't really cried too much, because he knows Mommy is in a better place," the elder Jonathan said.

About five weeks ago, Sheryl slipped and fell in her family's suburban Philadelphia home. "She was falling all the time, so I didn't think anything of it," Jonathan said. "She seemed fine, but then the next day she couldn't walk."

The pain from her fall left her unable to sit up, Jonathan said, making it difficult for her to consume the thousands of calories she needed each day to maintain her body weight. (The uncontrolled movements that characterize Huntington's burn a lot of calories, and tetrabenazine, a drug Sheryl took to quell them, didn't work so well in times of stress, Jonathan says).

She dropped from 103 pounds to 83 pounds. Apparently, Jonathan says, her body couldn't take the dramatic weight loss. She suffered a heart attack at home and died the next day in the hospital. "I didn't expect it," Jonathan said. "I thought we were going to win against this disease."

Photo by Joan Fairman Kanes for USA TODAY

Police say two people have been killed today in what they believe was a murder-suicide at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn, Mich. This would be the eighth U.S. mass shooting or murder-suicide in the past two weeks.

The public is disgusted. Experts are concerned. All are left asking why? Is it due to the economy? The change of seasons? The age in which we're living? News sources are rounding up theories from psychologists and criminologists.

Jeffrey Adler, a criminology professor at the University of Florida, dismisses the economy as the culprit.

"It's too easy and too formulaic to say that this is a response to the downturn in the economy," he told ABC. "If that's the case, then other depressions in U.S. history should have left the nation awash with blood, which they didn't." 

Shawn Johnston, a semi-retired forensic psychologist in Portland, Ore., points to the seasonal change. He speculates that the shooters' homicidal and suicidal thoughts festered in winter, then came alive with energy provided spring's sunshine and warmth. He tells MedPage Today that many patients on antidepressants who commit suicide do so at a point "where they're just starting to get better and now have energy but haven't yet had a complete mitigation of all of their delusional thoughts."

The Columbine and Virginia Tech massacres both occurred in April.

Rather than look at the time of year, Mark Kopta, University of Evansville's (Ind.) chairman of the psychology department, looks at the decade. He tells ABC he found three mass murders from 1930-1970, three more in the '70s, 10 in the '80s, 17 in the '90s and 25 since 2000.

However, many experts say there's no single cause for this type of violence. Grant Duwe, Minnesota Department of Corrections criminologist and author of Mass Murder in the United States: A History, identifies 10 links between mass shootings, including mental illness, social isolation, a motive of revenge and a triggering event.

If you suspect someone is a danger to themselves or others, call 911.

Photo by Heather Ainsworth, AP: Family members of Roberta King on Friday console each other after planting a tulip plant in her memory alongside tulips planted for the 12 other victims of last Friday's shooting rampage in Binghamton, N.Y. From left, Jeff and Tamar King, Cathy Tanenhaus and Beth Naukam are seen embracing one another.

--Compiled by Anne Godlasky, USA TODAY

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new treatment for head lice, a pest that affects more than 1 million children each year and which has become increasingly resistant to older therapies.

The new drug, benzyl alcohol lotion, was approved for people ages 6 months and older.

Two studies examined a total of 628 people who received either a placebo or two 10-minute treatments, one week apart. Two weeks after the second treatment, more than 75% of people given the benzyl alcohol lotion were lice-free, the FDA says.

Although the FDA found benzyl alcohol to be safe, some people who used it developed skin, scalp or eye irritations. Some also developed numbness in the areas where the lotion was spread. Using this lotion on premature babies can cause serious problems, such as seizure, coma or death, according to the FDA.

Some parents have become concerned about the safety of older treatments, which use pesticides that can be absorbed through the skin.

Photo by Vincent S. Smith, University of Glasgow

--By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY

Good morning,

In this holy time for Jews celebrating Passover, which started Wednesday night, and Christians honoring Good Friday today and celebrating Easter on Sunday, there are many families that are interfaith, having relatives in each religion. In this, as in all things, there's lots of advice on the Internet. As the site InterfaithFamily.com asks, "Is it ok to eat matzoh and peeps?"

There is an article on this site written by Penina Hoffnung about what she calls "the Spring Dilemma." Her family has both Jewish and Christian members and she talks about the strange family scenes born of their efforts to honor each other's traditions. In the end, she writes, "We have much to consider about the power of traditions and identities, both separate from others and when we blend them with others' -- both ways have potential power and value." On the same site, Ellen Glazer writes movingly of how holidays changed when her Jewish daughter married a young Catholic man.

The always helpful about.com suggests that interfaith couples use this opportunity to learn about their spouse's faith, its prayers, songs and symbolism. And start new traditions as a couple, like saying grace before each meal you share and planting a spring garden in the spirit of rebirth and renewal.

The site Jewish-Gentile Couples echoes this advice on how to make the best of what it calls "the Spring Standoff." It suggests using this as a time to build a spiritual harmony in the family, sharing the blessings of both faiths.

In another interfaith example, President Obama presided over a Passover Seder last night at the White House. USA TODAY's Cathy Lynn Grossman ponders this in her Faith & Reason blog.

No matter what your religion, the Bible (Galatians 5:22) offers inspiration: "The fruit of the spirit is love, joy and peace." Happy holidays.

Photo by Leslie Smith Jr., USA TODAY

-- By Sue Kelly, USA TODAY

Here's a selection from some of today's @USATODAYhealth posts on Twitter, where we round up what's buzzed about in health news -- not just from our site, but from around the Web.

(For those of you who are new to Twitter, it's a website that allows users to post 140-character updates. The hashtag [#] indicates a keyword, RT signals a "re-tweet" and @JaneDoe is an example of a username.)

This hour

• Men's Fitness: Is there such a thing as healthy #cookies? Dietitian reviews Snackwells, Kashi, sugar-free Oreos, etc. http://digg.com/d1oG7A

• #Pomegranates overrated? RT @LATimeshealth Fruit of eternal life? Maybe not ... http://tinyurl.com/ctgetl

Noon to 5 p.m.

• The New Republic http://bit.ly/BQNpR and Washington Times http://bit.ly/HapYe go at it over #Obama's #health reform, comparing USA and U.K.

• Fat men get promotions, but #fat women don't? Study finds 61% of male bosses but only 22% of female ones are overweight http://bit.ly/1iS96t

• Michael J. Fox was just on Jon Stewart http://bit.ly/7dIH and 2nite on Larry King talks of Obama's lift of stemcell ban http://bit.ly/Jyqqe

• Following up on "energy-burning fat": good, brown #fat stored near collar; bad, white/yellow fat stored in #belly http://tinyurl.com/c7tnjf

• Rash of shootings may indicate that spring's a trigger for people with psychological disorders, experts tell MedPage Today http://ow.ly/2s5h

Middle school sex isn’t unheard of, according to researchers at the University of Texas School of Public Health who found some kids as young as 12 are sexually experienced.

Having children comes with a cost and it’s not only financial, according to a new study that found 90% of couples experienced decreased marital satisfaction after the first child’s birth.

Researchers from the University of Denver and Texas A&M University studied 218 couples for eight years and found that even though childless couples also show diminished marital bliss over time, those with children had an accelerated decline -- particularly during adjustment to parenthood right after the birth.

The study published in March in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found some of the 436 individuals said their relationships were stronger post-birth. Those couples who had been married longer or who had higher incomes had fewer marital problems associated with kids than those with lower incomes or shorter unions.

The research also found more problems among couples who lived together before marriage than those who lived separately prior to the wedding.

However, the researchers say there are limitations to the research because most participants were well-educated and white, were from a metro area, received some type of premarital education and were married in religious ceremonies. Also, they say having children doesn’t mean children harm overall life happiness; there’s just more post-baby stress.

--By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY

Good morning,

As you suit up and ride out today, keep in mind that driving is not a calling for all of your fellow motorists.

A case in point is a 69-year-old German woman who, according to a Reuters report, was involved in three car accidents this week in less than an hour. She crashed into three cars while trying to exit a supermarket parking lot on a Baltic resort island. Then she accidentally stepped on the accelerator and sped across a nearby lawn, crashing into the house. As she was being taken to the hospital, the ambulance was hit by a truck, which wasn't really her fault.

Miraculously, there were no serious injuries but it does give one pause. Even if you're not on a Baltic resort island, how do you avoid drivers like this unfortunate motorist?

The site How To Get Rid of Stuff has some good advice: If you see a bad driver from a distance, stay as far away as possible. Don't try pulling up alongside the offending motorist and having a stern chat through your respective windows. It may look cool in the movies, but you could hurt yourself and your car. Pull to the curb and call the police.

Not sure if you're a bad driver yourself? OkCupid has an "Are You a Bad Driver" test. After all, the site notes: "Everyone thinks everyone else is a bad driver. And they're right. Which means we're all very horrible drivers!"

Are you?

Photo by Brian Ray, AP: University of Iowa researcher Jeffery Dawson drives the Nissan-Iowa Instrumented Research Vehicle for Advanced Neuroergonomic (NIRVANA), a new system used to predict safe and unsafe driving abilities in elderly drivers, including those with Alzheimer's.

--By Sue Kelly, USA TODAY

Looking to glam-up this year's seder menu? Or perhaps enhance a few favorite family dishes a tad? For those celebrating Passover -- the Jewish holiday commemorating the Jews' exodus from ancient Egypt -- which begins tonight, there are new, kosher-friendly products and gourmet recipes aplenty:

• Southern pecan pie from Zelda's Sweet Shoppe won accolades for best in show new product at the most recent Kosherfest food and beverage industry meeting. 
• Beit Yitzhak's pomegranate spread also won an award at Kosherfest.
• Gourmet magazine touts a kosher-Champagne cocktail recipe.
• Whip-up mouthwatering chocolate-covered caramelized matzoh crunch by David Lebovitz, author of The Great Book of Chocolate.
• Try celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck's matzoh ball soup recipe from the Food Network.

No time to cook? Whole Foods Market stores are offering an array of packaged and freshly prepared kosher dishes, many with an updated gourmet twist, including braided salmon with citrus and fennel, spinach and feta latkes, or a Persian salad of cucumbers dressed in yogurt with raisins, walnuts, radishes, onions and mint.

--By Mary Brophy Marcus, USA TODAY

California's groundbreaking anti-smoking campaign has saved 1 million lives in the past 20 years, new research shows.

California celebrated the campaign's 20th anniversary Tuesday. The state was the first to ban smoking on trains, planes, buses, public buildings, workplaces, restaurants and bars. Last year, California prohibited smoking in a car when a child is present. California's free telephone quit line, which became a model for other states, has counseled nearly 500,000 people.

Those measures have had a big impact, according to the California Department of Public Health.

The state has saved $86 billion in health-care costs.

The adult smoking rate has decreased from 22.7% in 1988 to 13.3% in 2008. That's significantly lower than the national average of 19.8%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The rates of six kinds of cancer are falling faster in California than in the rest of the country.

Photo by Justin Sullivan, Getty Images.

By Liz Szabo