Wearing a helmet makes good sense, period

There’s something about skateboard fatalities that’s particularly tragic. Perhaps it’s because many involve youthful victims, out wheeling around having a good time. Perhaps, sometimes, it’s wondering whether the wearing of a helmet would have done any good at all.

Whether or not the City Council eventually passes a skateboard helmet law for those under age 17, such a law won’t prevent all situations, of course. But helmets help — and wearing one, or insisting that your kid does, is such an obvious thing to do weighed against the possible grave consequences.

Revisiting the rules on cholesterol

New guidelines issued by the American Heart Association focus on preventing not only heart attacks but also strokes, and indicate that far more Americans between the ages of 40 and 79 should be taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs.

The update is the first in 10 years and the guidelines are sure to be controversial, notably because so many members of the panels issuing them have ties to the pharmaceutical industry. But panel leaders say the guidelines reflect growing scientific evidence that better use of inexpensive statin drugs can help prevent killer strokes, as well as heart attacks.

Bottom line for American adults: It’s a good time for a checkup.