Henry Molaison, known as H.M. in scientific literature, was perhaps the most famous patient in all of brain science in the 20th century.
Henry Molaison, known as H.M. in scientific literature, was perhaps the most famous patient in all of brain science in the 20th century.
Researchers have shown for the first time that if a child is diagnosed with autism as early as 18 months of age, offering the toddler age-appropriate, effective therapy can lead to raised IQ levels and improved language skills and behavior.
A vacation to Washington nearly a decade ago led to a life-changing revelation for Kathi Cordsen. Passing by a breast cancer awareness event, her mother blurted it out: Her doctor had just confirmed that she had breast cancer.
Women in their 40s should not get routine mammograms for early detection of breast cancer, according to updated guidelines set forth by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
Almost half of women who have breast cancer surgery still have pain or numbness two to three years later, according to a new study. Women younger than 40 who receive lumpectomies are at the greatest risk.
In the year since a U.S. cancer researcher's warning drew wide attention, more evidence is emerging that long-term cell phone use is associated with cancer, but there's still not a definitive explanation or proof of cause and effect.
Nearly 24 million Americans have diabetes; another 57 million have prediabetes, a precursor to the disease. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that if the diabetes epidemic continues, one in three Americans will develop it in his or her lifetime.
The 12-year-old girl plucked cold, slimy potato peels out of the garbage containers in a village in eastern Poland. When those trash scraps became scarce, she ate clover.
More than 100,000 cases of cancer each year are caused by excess body fat, according to a report released Thursday in Washington.
People with type 2 diabetes who are taking the blood-sugar-lowering drug Byetta may be at increased risk for kidney problems, including kidney failure, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported this week.
Hannah Powell-Auslam of La Mirada, California, had surgery this month to check her lymph nodes, just in case the breast cancer had spread.
Three years ago, Anne Willis mentioned to the man she was dating that she didn't know about her fertility, since she had undergone cancer treatment as a teenager. His response --"Oh, so you don't know if you're going be able to have kids?" -- was off-putting.
A year after beating breast cancer, Peter Criss, a founding member of the rock band KISS, calls himself "the luckiest man in the planet."
Alisa Rock, whose 10-year-old son Connor has autism, says parents of autistic children often align themselves with one of two camps: There are those who believe that genes cause the disorder, and those firmly convinced that environmental factors are to blame.
A Fort Lauderdale nurse has resigned and more than 1,800 patients have been notified that they may have been exposed to diseases such as HIV and hepatitis, after the nurse allegedly admitted to the hospital that she used disposable IV equipment on multiple patients, a violation of safety standards.
I was 18 when I first felt a lump in my breast. Of course, I was convinced that I was going to die. This was three decades ago -- back when we knew far less about breast cancer. A general surgeon removed the lump, which, thank goodness, wasn't malignant.
Women who develop a mild case of gestational diabetes during pregnancy tend to have fewer complications and healthier babies if the diabetes is treated, according to the first large-scale randomized trial in the U.S. to address whether such treatment leads to health benefits for mother and child.
Alcohol, a drug that is a major cause of accidents, may actually protect the brain from a life-threatening injury when an accident does occur, according to a study published this week in Archives of Surgery.
Actor Patrick Swayze's achievements include several feature films such as "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost," as well as living with advanced pancreatic cancer for longer than most patients.
Men with prostate cancer who were previously infected with the sexually transmitted germ Trichomonas vaginalis are more likely to have an aggressive form of the cancer, compared with men who never had the STD, a new study says.
You know that fat in your body you wish you didn't have? It turns out those cells could be used to create stem cells that one day may be able to cure disease.
Matthew Sanchez had rarely seen his father cry. But when Rudjard Hayes looked at the X-rays of his son's spine after a high school football accident, he held his wife close and broke down, not knowing that his son could see him.
More than one million American men may have been unnecessarily diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer since widespread use of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test began in 1987, a new study says.
Studies already suggest that the Mediterranean diet -- rich in fish, fruits, nuts, and olive oil -- can prevent second heart attacks, delay Alzheimer's disease, and maybe even lower your cancer risk.
It's Saturday night. Three young women are dressed to the nines at a trendy bistro on Rush Street in downtown Chicago. They're having drinks outside on the kind of summer night that makes you fall in love with the city.
When cancer invades the brain, the prognosis is usually grim. Despite his treatment at highly regarded medical centers, Edward "Ted" Kennedy, who served as a Democratic senator from Massachusetts for nearly 47 years, died just over a year after his surgery.
Classes resumed last Thursday at the University of Kansas at Lawrence, and by Monday 47 students had swine flu, a college official said.
From Mexico to China, people around the world have worn face masks to protect against swine flu, also known as the H1N1 virus. The problem? Experts could never say for sure whether such masks actually help you stay healthy.
A soak in a steamy tub, surrounded by candles sure seems like a great way to unwind. But new research suggests that burning certain kinds of candles may generate indoor air pollutants.
Occupational therapist Cathy Kleinman-Barnett works with breast cancer patients, but she has never encouraged women with lymphedema, a breast cancer-related swelling of the arm, to lift weights.
About 1 in 7, or 13.5 percent of adults who encountered intense dust clouds after the collapse of the World Trade Center on September 11 were later found to have asthma, compared with just 8.4 percent who had no dust cloud exposure, researchers in Atlanta and New York City reported on Tuesday.
Regina Regazzi, a 38-year-old New Yorker, is one of the lucky ones. Found to have type 1 diabetes as a child, she has remained relatively free of complications and continues to lead a healthy, active lifestyle. In fact, this executive recruiter has even run several marathons.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday that laboratory tests on popular smoking devices known as electronic cigarettes have found they contain carcinogens and other toxic chemicals dangerous to humans.
An infant girl delivered prematurely from her mother, who has the swine flu virus, has died, hospital officials said Monday.
When the swine flu burst onto the scene in April, the bug arrived with a few particularly ominous signs: The flu was resistant to a class of drugs often used to fight flu in the past, and experts were surprised that a nonhuman virus could have such rapid human-to-human transmission. Why was swine flu resistant to current medicines, and was this strain a new supergerm?
Mainland China reported its first case of swine flu -- a 30-year-old man "currently enrolled in a university in the United States," the country's ministry of health said.
All parents have hopes and dreams for their children. Parents of kids with serious disabilities are no different. But in their moments of wildest imagination, the parents of Vicki Martinez, Chase Ferguson and Travis Cardona could not have envisioned high school graduation -- certainly not in the dark days when they first learned their children had autism.
Two popular anti-smoking drugs will now carry warnings about the risk of severe mental health problems, the Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday.
All parents have hopes and dreams for their children. Parents of kids with serious disabilities are no different. But in their moments of wildest imagination, the parents of Vicki Martinez, Chase Ferguson and Travis Cardona could not have envisioned high school graduation -- certainly not in the dark days when they first learned their children had autism.
As friends of pop star Michael Jackson discuss the role prescription drugs may have played in his Thursday death, the serious health problems that can be triggered by drug interactions are again in the spotlight.
The Southeast is among the areas of the United States with the highest concentration of cases of HIV and AIDS, according to a new online tool called the National HIV/AIDS Atlas.
It always seems so straightforward on TV. You have a cardiac arrest, a handsome doctor rushes to your side, shouts "Clear!" and gives you a couple of zaps to the chest with electricity-generating paddles, and -- ta-da! -- you're back in business. Cue the tears and music.
Pop icon Michael Jackson, 50, who died Thursday afternoon after being rushed to a Los Angeles hospital in cardiac arrest, had a long history of confirmed health problems, in addition to rumored conditions.
The news that one of America's TV icons is suffering from cancer brought sadness. Learning the type of cancer she had made some squeamish.
After years of rising cholesterol levels from fatty diets and pudgy waistlines, there's finally good news, experts say. More people who are trying to lower their cholesterol are actually succeeding in getting their low-density lipoprotein, or bad cholesterol, down to healthy levels.
A Nestle plant linked to an outbreak of illness has been shut temporarily, and the company said Monday that it expects to lay off more than 200 workers as a result.
You've been coughing for weeks. How do you know if it's just a hard-to-shake cold or something more serious?
A cancerous tumor in 13-year-old Danny Hauser's chest has shrunk significantly since he was ordered by a court last month to resume chemotherapy treatment, a family spokesman said.
A nonprofit consumer group said Thursday that it will sue Bayer HealthCare, alleging "deceptive and irresponsible" advertising that contends selenium in two of its multivitamins may reduce men's risk of prostate cancer.
Think that vitamins can only help--but never hurt--a condition? Although that's true in many cases, some vitamins can be harmful to certain people or under special circumstances.
Want to keep your wits sharp as the years go by? You're not alone. Most people are worried about losing their memory as they age, and a new study shows it's a valid concern: In fact, at 53 percent -- more than half of all people -- have at least a minor mental decline in their 70s and 80s, and about 16 percent develop more serious problems with memory and other mental functions as they age.
A diabetes test that measures a person's average blood glucose control over the preceding two to three months is being recommended as the new diagnostic tool for the condition.
A report released Thursday commended the government for developing plans and stockpiling antivirals after the avian flu scare but warned that gaps still exist and that the health system may not be prepared in a more severe outbreak.
The death rate due to cancer has declined in the United States in recent years, largely due to better prevention and treatment. In fact, 650,000 lives were spared from cancer between 1990 to 2005, according to new statistics from the American Cancer Society.
When Tiffany Wilson noticed a small growth on her left hip, she didn't think much of it.
Diabetes advocates are applauding President Obama's selection of Sonia Sotomayor, the 54-year-old New York jurist who was diagnosed with the type 1 diabetes when she was 8.
They're bigger, brawnier, and faster than the typical male, but are National Football League players healthier than other men their age?
Arizona reported its fourth death from the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, health officials said Wednesday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received a candidate vaccine virus for swine flu from one institution Friday, spokesman Thomas Skinner said in an e-mail.
Elton John may be famous for smash hits such as "Tiny Dancer" and scores for films such as "The Lion King," but he's also made a name for himself in HIV/AIDS activism.
Public health officials are seeing a number of outbreaks of swine flu at schools nationwide, but closing those schools may not always be the best public health measure, a federal scientist said Tuesday.
Women with breast cancer in the United States have an average age of 63 when they are diagnosed, and the disease is more common in older women than younger.
Cancer patients may be able to fight chemotherapy-induced nausea using a common pantry spice -- ginger.
Myriad Genetics, a Utah-based company, vowed Wednesday to "vigorously defend" itself against a legal challenge to its patents on two human genes linked to breast and ovarian cancers, its attorney told CNN.
I walk every day, eat a healthful diet, and have no diabetes in my immediate family. I'm not model skinny (truth be told, I've been known to pack on a few extra pounds), but I'm certainly not a couch potato or junk food addict. So, imagine my surprise when a routine blood test showed that my blood sugar was elevated and I was officially prediabetic.
A handful of people with type 1 diabetes have been able to survive without insulin shots for more than two-and-a-half years, on average, after having their own blood stem cells removed and reimplanted through intravenous injection, U.S. and Brazilian researchers reported Tuesday.
While investigators trudge through pig farms and remote villages in Mexico, searching for clues about the new swine flu, answers about the virus' origin may finally appear on a computer, based on genetic codes.
The size of a specific part of the brain may help experts pinpoint when autism could first develop, University of North Carolina researchers report.
Roy Braswell was 9 years old when the flu pandemic of 1918 hit.
In Mexico City, the government ran out of surgical masks after handing them out to one of every five residents.
Swine flu may be inspiring fear worldwide, but for Stephan Zielinski of San Francisco, California, it inspired a song.
For the past few decades when talking about malaria, public health officials and malaria experts have avoided the word "eradication."
When 3-year-old Rowan Isaacson darted away from his father and dived into a herd of grazing horses, it easily could have been the end of the small autistic boy. He was babbling under the hooves of a boss mare.
Smoking is a lot like Russian roulette: You never know who will end up developing lung cancer and who won't. But Dr. Jian-Min Yuan, as well as other researchers from the University of Minnesota, say they are one step closer to determining a smoker's risk for developing the disease. In a study, they tracked the carcinogen and nicotine levels in nearly 500 smokers through a simple urine test and discovered a link between the level of a specific carcinogen and lung cancer. Their findings were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research conference.
More than 5,000 patients of a South Dakota urology clinic may have been exposed to hepatitis and HIV when the facility reused single-use medical products, state health officials said Friday.
Public health officials in Chicago said Monday that they have tested at least 10 family members of the medical intern linked to a tuberculosis scare in the city.
Actor, author and Parkinson's disease activist Michael J. Fox spoke with CNN's "Larry King Live" to be aired Thursday.
William Searing is an Eagle Scout who loves hiking, adventure, art and sports. At age 19, he's in an education program that bridges the gap from high school to getting a job. Wil has autism.
For 8-year-old Ryan Mohar, an elevator isn't just an elevator. He spends hours pressing the buttons and riding up and down, preferring this to the slew of alternatives that his teachers offer -- even candy.
If you have a stash of pistachios in your house, pistachio ice cream in your freezer or trail mix in your backpack, don't eat any of it.
If you're lying awake at night, feeling angry or fatigued, because of stress, you're in the majority, according to a nationwide report released Tuesday.
Seven-year-old Heather McNamara was heading home Tuesday, a month after surgery that temporarily removed organs from her digestive tract to allow removal of a tennis ball-size tumor.
Your saliva is doing all kinds of useful things for you all the time -- for instance, helping you chew and taste food. It's also home to more than 600 species of bacteria, which are harmlessly enjoying the moisture of your mouth.
President Obama's pledge to conquer cancer "in our time" is a great goal, but one of America's top cancer experts isn't sure he'd use the word "cure."
Jake Austin, 10 months old, loves playing on the ground. On a typical February morning, Jake and his 4-year-old brother, Hank, are rolling around on the family's shiny hardwood floor, the same floor where they and their parents track in dirt from outside every day.
A new crop of drug-resistant superbugs is in our midst, and experts believe that they could rival the deadly superbug MRSA.
With a chance of winning an Oscar on Sunday, the director of "The Final Inch" says she hopes her documentary will shed light on the often over-looked issue of polio eradication.
A person's risk of stroke is associated with the number of fast-food restaurants near their residence, according to a study presented Thursday at a stroke conference in San Diego, California.
The government is warning that taking the psoriasis drug Raptiva could result in serious brain infection and even death.
When she heard news of the Continental Airlines plane that plunged into a house in suburban Buffalo, New York, on Thursday night, killing 50 people, Jenny Gomez experienced a familiar feeling creep deep within her psyche. "It definitely sparked those old feelings of anxiety," she said.
A special court's Thursday ruling that no proven link exists between autism and certain early childhood vaccines seems to have done little to change the sometimes-passionate opinion fueling the debate.
Retirement hasn't been full of lazy days, rounds of golf and luxury vacations for Gary Terry. When this former telecommunications executive called it quits after a 32-year career, he took up an equally time-consuming volunteer job as chairman of the American Heart Association's Texas chapter.
Judy LaCour has been taking a multivitamin supplement for the past 30 years: "As often as I can remember, which isn't always, but on and off since I was in my 40s." She buys them in bulk from her local wholesale warehouse.
Pancreatic cancer is rare and extraordinarily lethal, experts say.
Cancer was once assumed to be a death sentence because the disease was often incurable, but a new survey suggests the crisis for many today is paying for available treatments.
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