A foot (plural: feet; symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′ - a prime) is the name of a unit of length, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. Its size can vary from system to system, but in each is around a quarter to a third of a meter. The most commonly used foot today is the international foot. There are 3 feet in a yard and 12 inches in a foot.

The foot is a common and popular unit of measurement in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. In the US and the UK, personal heights are expressed in feet and inches by people of all ages. In Canada, the trend has been shifitng towards metres, as shown on a person's driver's license. The foot is often used to measure distance.

International foot

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In 1958 the United States and countries of the Commonwealth of Nations defined the length of the international yard to be 0.9144 metres. Consequently, the international foot is defined to be equal to 0.3048 metres (equivalent to 30.48 centimetres).

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National Institutes of Health (NIH) News Releases

Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Share Genetic Roots
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:45:00 -0400
A trio of genome-wide studies -- collectively the largest to date -- have pinpointed a vast array of genetic variation that cumulatively may account for at least one third of the genetic risk for schizophrenia. One of the studies traced schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, in part, to the same chromosomal neighborhoods.
Imaging Technique Allows Researchers to Monitor Protein Changes in Mouse Tumors
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:05:00 -0400
A new imaging technique can monitor, in living mice, the HER2 protein found in above-normal amounts in many cases of breast cancer as well as some ovarian, prostate and lung cancers. This new approach, once validated in mice and pending further experiments, could provide a real-time noninvasive method for identifying tumors in humans who express HER2 and who would be candidates for targeted therapy directed against this protein. It may also provide real-time information that will help clinicians optimize treatment for individual patients. The study, published in the July 2009 issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, was conducted by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, both parts of the National Institutes of Health.
Dynasty: Influenza Virus in 1918 and Today
Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:10:00 -0400
The influenza virus that wreaked worldwide havoc in 1918-1919 founded a viral dynasty that persists to this day, according to scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. In an article published online on June 29 by the New England Journal of Medicine, authors Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Jeffery K. Taubenberger, M.D., Ph.D., and David M. Morens, M.D., argue that we have lived in an influenza pandemic era since 1918, and they describe how the novel 2009 H1N1 virus now circling the globe is yet another manifestation of this enduring viral family.

CNN.com - Health

Police: Hospital worker swiped shots, spread hep C
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:18:42 -0400
A former hospital employee may have exposed hundreds or thousands of surgical patients to hepatitis C when she replaced clean needles filled with the powerful painkiller fentanyl with her own dirty needles filled with saline solution.
Health.com picks top beach, lake getaways
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:47:40 -0400
We know your summer vacation time is precious: You want to land where you can truly relax, breathe fresh air, get in some exercise and eat well -- without breaking the bank. That's why we teamed up with a panel of travel and health experts to help us find the healthiest of the nation's most popular beach and lake towns.

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