However, they did find that women undergoing breast enhancement surgery were running extra risks - but mainly associated with the operation itself.

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The less than spectacular performance of many funds might encourage managers to take extra risks--assuming more leverage, for example--but "now is not the time to start swinging for the fences, " Gradante said.

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Investors who choose to take extra risks in small-cap and value stocks should expect to earn higher returns.

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But they warn IVF treatment carries no guarantees - with a high failure rate and extra risks of multiple pregnancies where it is successful.

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For entrepreneurs that, admittedly, take great risks for the slim chance of substantial financial success, these extra-rational motivations help to tip the balance.

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Few of America's top managers, however, yet seem to be in a mood to take on the kind of extra risks which might meet inflated growth expectations, or beat the long-term trend, until they feel confident that restructuring has indeed dealt with all the excesses of the late 1990s.

ECONOMIST: America's business recovery