Dish List; Bottle in Red; Sound Advice; New for the Wrist; Mouthing Off

Dish list

Between the extremes of paper plates and fine china is upscale everyday tableware.

It’s nice enough for company, simple enough for dinner on the coffee table, and reasonable enough that you won’t hurl yourself off the deck if you break one.

“There were so few options for couples today who love modern design and are looking for an alternative to the traditional china they’ll only use once or twice a year,” said Sandra Velvel, owner of Vivi, a new housewares store in Bethesda, Md.

“The trend in dinnerware is china you can use all the time,” said Antonia van der Meer, editor in chief of Modern Bride magazine.

“People are buying what you can utilize every day and not just what couples used to serve only on special occasions.”

Not everything has to be matchy-matchy.

“We sell all of Alex Marshall’s pieces separately so that people can mix and match the pieces in whatever way they’d like,” said Velvel.

And best of all, these pieces can survive the dishwasher.

Bottle in red

The red dress is the key symbol of the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women program, which aims to raise money to support cardiovascular disease research and education.

But what if red’s not your color?

Maybe it could be your scent.

Perfumery house Givaudan created Red Dress the Fragrance, a floral musk that mixes mandarin, freesia and bergamot as top notes, rose, jasmine and linden blossom at its heart, and musk, iris and sandalwood as dry-down notes.

“The strong but feminine optimism of the scent perfectly embodies the American Heart Association’s dedication to helping women take action against cardiovascular disease,” explained Ray Piergiorgi, chief operating officer of Five Star Fragrances, the company responsible for bringing the scent to market.

The full 100 percent of net proceeds from the perfume will go to the Go Red for Women campaign. It’s available at Perfumania stores.

Sound advice

Newborns should be tested for hearing problems more than once before leaving the hospital, a new study has found, because initial tests might falsely indicate auditory problems, resulting in parental anxiety and costly follow-up evaluations later.

A four-year study at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas whose 17,000 annual births make it the largest single birthing center in the United States found that between 2.4 percent and 4.7 percent of newborns were initially diagnosed with hearing problems after just one test. When a second test was given prior to discharge, the tests were much more accurate, with just 0.5 percent to 1 percent of the infants appearing to have auditory problems. About half of those infants were found to have actual hearing problems in follow-up diagnostic tests done within 10 days of discharge.

Many states mandate auditory testing on newborns. If problems are found early enough, hearing aids or cochlear implants can help avert potential development delays. Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School who performed the study found that temporary debris in the external ear canal or middle-ear fluid often caused the false positives. The study appeared in the January edition of Pediatrics.

New for the wrist

Save the Children and 7-Eleven Inc. launched a unique tsunami- relief wristband that will be sold internationally, with 100 percent of the after-tax profits benefiting Save the Children’s Asian Earthquake/Tsunami Relief fund. 7-Eleven will offer the wristband in participating stores in the United States and Canada for $2.99, and in Australia, Mexico and Hong Kong through its licensees.

Mouthing off

Most adults, 97 percent, brush their teeth daily, according to Ketchum Global Research in a survey for Pfizer Inc. However, a lower percentage also use other items, reported a recent issue of USA Today, such as: floss, 62 percent; mouthwash, 58 percent; and whitening products, 19 percent.

From staff and wire reports