CHECKUP : TIME ONCE AGAIN TO GET THOSE FREE FLU SHOTS NEWS, TIPS AND TRENDS.

A number of local clinics are providing free flu shots to people in high-risk groups, including one set up for your driving convenience.

Drive-up flu shots at the Medical Arts Building parking lot at 2950 N. Sycamore Drive in Simi Valley will be available on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For the by-appointment-only service, call Ask-a-Nurse at [phone], seven days a week. Participants must be at least 18 years old. Shots are limited to the first 2,000 callers.

The American Red Cross also will be providing free flu shots to people at high risk of getting the flu at 60 locations in Los Angeles County over a 10-week period beginning today through Dec. 1. To qualify for the free vaccines, you have to be 60 years or older, have a chronic illness, or an immuno-compromised or immuno-suppressed disorder. For more information, call the toll-free hotline at [phone].

Los Angeles County's Department of Health Services also begins offering free flu shots today through Dec. 6 at a variety of locations throughout the county. To find the clinic offering this service nearest you, call [phone].

The Glendale Adventist Medical Center will give free flu shots to seniors 65 years and older on Oct. 28 and 29, and Nov. 4 and 5, from 7 to 10 a.m. and from 3 to 6 p.m. in the center's emergency department, 1509 Wilson Terrace, Glendale. For more information, call [phone].

Growing your own: Dr. Linda Griffith-Cima, an assistant professor at MIT, is in the early stages of a project with a uniquely ambitious goal: Starting with liver cells taken from donors or from patients themselves, she and her colleagues hope eventually to grow livers in the laboratory, so that one day, instead of waiting for donor organs, patients with liver failure might be given fully developed organs created specifically for them in a matter of weeks or months. In many cases, the team envisions, it may be possible to implant the new organ without removing the patient's own liver.

Killer caterpillars: Most people trekking the rain forests of South America probably would assume that their deadliest enemy is a poisonous snake. But lurking in the brush is another creature just as lethal: a particular breed of caterpillar.

While the snake is a known danger - killing one of every 200 people bitten in Brazil each year - an innocent-looking caterpillar also is a substantial threat, researchers report.

Over the last 15 years, deaths caused by caterpillars have increased, making them a real health threat.

Dr. Hui Wen Fan of the Hospital Vital Brazil in Sao Paulo and colleagues found that the death rate from caterpillar contact is three to six times higher than that observed for snake bites in southern Brazil.

The species mainly to blame is called Lonomia obliqua. The tiny hairs on this caterpillar contain a powerful venom that prevents human blood from clotting. By simply touching this caterpillar's hairs, a person will begin to bleed uncontrollably for 12 to 24 hours and eventually die if not treated, according to the researchers.

In one case, reported by Fan and colleagues this week in the international medical journal the Lancet, a healthy 52-year-old woman who came into contact with a Lonomia caterpillar died four days later from the venom.

The woman brushed her arm against the creature and immediately began to feel a burning pain at the site. A few hours later, she felt weak and had a headache.

Within two days, she developed bruises, grew sicker and began vomiting. By the time the woman was admitted to the hospital, she was in a coma and died two days after being admitted, Fan said.

Though the Lonomia caterpillar may appear harmless, people living in or traveling to South America need to be aware of the potential dangers of coming into contact with it, Fan advised.

Kids get a C- on health: Although the health of American children improved slightly to a C-minus grade this year compared with a D grade last year, the health of millions of children remains in jeopardy, according to Dr. Christine Williams of the American Health Foundation.

The foundation, which annually rates the health of the nation's children, found that cases of measles, mumps and rubella have declined, as have cases of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Fifty-five percent of school-age children are free of cavities and they are exercising more.

On the negative side, more high school seniors are smoking, drinking alcohol and trying drugs. Violent deaths of children and adolescents are also on the upswing, said Dr. Ernst Wynder, foundation president.

Bodily fluid tests are a waste: Giving some blood and urine for testing is common practice when someone sees a physician, even if there's no outward sign of illness. Most of this is a waste of time and money, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic looked at more than 500 patients who were given five routine tests that included a complete blood count, chemistry panel, lipid profile, thyroid test and urinalysis. They then checked to see whether these tests yielded diagnosis of any new disease or any change in ongoing treatment.

Overall, more than 95 percent of the tests yielded no useful results, the authors wrote in the August issue of the American Journal of Medicine.