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The head of a prominent cancer research institute issued an unprecedented warning to his faculty and staff Wednesday: Limit cell phone use because of the possible risk of cancer.
Scientists may have found a way to test for and possibly avoid the most serious side effect of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, one of the top-selling medicines in the world.
Viagra's effect in women has been disappointing, but a new small study finds that those on antidepressants may benefit from taking the little blue pills.
Investigators had a "significant break" in tracking the salmonella outbreak when they found the bacteria on a jalapeño pepper imported from Mexico at a Texas food supplier, the Food and Drug Administration announced Monday.
Lisle Nolan started noticing the symptoms four months ago: headaches, mood swings and a menstrual cycle that was out of whack.
Tomatoes are again safe to eat, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday, weeks after the food was blamed as a source of a salmonella outbreak in the United States and Canada.
Four months into a nationwide Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak, investigators Thursday still couldn't say where it originated.
Your genes don't ordain heart disease. Researchers are learning more about the lifestyle factors that predict heart health, and these are in your hands.
Planning a road trip vacation can be tricky and downright frightening for people who are susceptible to carsickness.
An E. coli outbreak traced to recalled beef in Michigan and Ohio has spawned cases in three other states, U.S. health officials said Tuesday.
The head of a prominent cancer research institute issued an unprecedented warning to his faculty and staff Wednesday: Limit cell phone use because of the possible risk of cancer.
Scientists may have found a way to test for and possibly avoid the most serious side effect of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, one of the top-selling medicines in the world.
Viagra's effect in women has been disappointing, but a new small study finds that those on antidepressants may benefit from taking the little blue pills.
Investigators had a "significant break" in tracking the salmonella outbreak when they found the bacteria on a jalapeño pepper imported from Mexico at a Texas food supplier, the Food and Drug Administration announced Monday.
Lisle Nolan started noticing the symptoms four months ago: headaches, mood swings and a menstrual cycle that was out of whack.
Tomatoes are again safe to eat, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday, weeks after the food was blamed as a source of a salmonella outbreak in the United States and Canada.
Four months into a nationwide Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak, investigators Thursday still couldn't say where it originated.
Your genes don't ordain heart disease. Researchers are learning more about the lifestyle factors that predict heart health, and these are in your hands.
Planning a road trip vacation can be tricky and downright frightening for people who are susceptible to carsickness.
An E. coli outbreak traced to recalled beef in Michigan and Ohio has spawned cases in three other states, U.S. health officials said Tuesday.
Getting a lot of exercise may help slow brain shrinkage in people with early Alzheimer's disease, a preliminary study suggests.
Sen. Arlen Specter has completed his last scheduled round of chemotherapy. He says he plans to celebrate with a martini and dinner with friends.
Each year heart attacks kill more than 150,000 Americans, nearly half of them women. If such a grim statistic can have a bright side, it's this: Most heart attacks today aren't fatal.
You wouldn't know it by looking at her, but at any given moment Dana Poole hurts all over.
Pressured by desperate parents, government researchers are pushing to test an unproven treatment on autistic children, a move some scientists see as an unethical experiment in voodoo medicine.
Harvard researchers have discovered half a dozen new genes involved in autism that suggest the disorder strikes in a brain that can't properly form new connections.
More than 1,000 people now are confirmed ill from salmonella initially linked to raw tomatoes, a grim milestone Wednesday that makes this the worst food-borne outbreak in at least a decade. Adding to the confusion, the government is warning certain people to avoid types of hot peppers, too.
Like millions of others, 37-year-old Wafaa al Nuaimi fled Iraq in the hopes of giving her three children a chance at a better life. But what separates her from the sea of humanity fleeing unimaginable violence is her dedication to her 8-year-old son, Mustafa, who has autism.
For the first time, an influential doctors group is recommending that some children as young as 8 be given cholesterol-fighting drugs to ward off future heart problems.
It was a long night, and Susan Niebur was feeling low. Normally, this working mom in Silver Spring, Maryland, can keep a shocking number of balls in the air and still smile. She's a physicist who works part-time as a consultant to NASA; an at-home mom to Matt, 1, and Andrew, 3; an animal-rescue volunteer; and a daily blogger. But Niebur, 35, is also a full-time cancer patient, and one night last fall her characteristic attitude of resolve and optimism failed her. After nearly six months of chemotherapy, the treatment's side effects -- which are cumulative -- were brutal.
Parents claiming that childhood vaccines cause autism should not be rewarded by the courts when the scientific community has already rejected any link, government lawyers argued Monday on the first day of a hearing in federal court.
A vaccine designed to prevent cervical cancer is coming under fresh scrutiny amid thousands of complaints linking it to a range of health problems.
For more than 10 years, Mandy Hughes drifted in an out of what she calls the horrible, debilitating pain of Lyme disease.
A good friend of mine recently learned she has breast cancer. Even though I spend most of my time writing for a living, I was at a loss for the right words to comfort her.
Growing up, my Sherman tank-like aunt constantly blamed her thyroid for inability to lose weight.
Diabetes drugs would be subject to more stringent safety standards that could cost manufacturers millions of dollars, under recommendations made Wednesday by a government panel.
A three-year initiative will seek to give HIV tests to everyone in the Bronx from age 18 to 64, the New York City Department of Health announced Thursday.
The number of Americans with diabetes has grown to about 24 million people, or roughly 8 percent of the U.S. population, the government said Tuesday.
New research linking low vitamin D levels with deaths from heart disease and other causes bolsters mounting evidence about the "sunshine" vitamin's role in good health.
Researchers have uncovered a new clue to the cause of Alzheimer's disease.
Lakshmi Tatma whirls around in her walker at a charity school for disabled children in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India, one tiny arm holding a balloon, her bandaged legs splayed wide apart, an enormous smile on her face.
Investigators looking for the source of a salmonella outbreak linked to tomatoes will focus on farms in Mexico and Florida, federal health authorities said Friday.
One in eight babies -- well over half a million a year -- are born prematurely, a toll that's risen steadily for two decades with no sign of stopping.
An Oregon man, given less than a year to live, had a complete remission of advanced deadly skin cancer after an experimental treatment that revved up his immune system to fight the tumors.
Sen. Arlen Specter woke at 4 a.m. one day last week with an excruciating headache, a side effect of chemotherapy. Ninety minutes later, he was on the squash court, playing a partner less than half his age. That's the way Specter faces cancer and chemo. Borrowing a phrase from Winston Churchill, he calls it the "never-give-in" approach.
Two U.S. fast food companies are putting tomatoes back on the menu now that federal health officials have identified tomato crops that are safe from a salmonella scare.
There's no lab test or imaging study like a CT scan or an MRI to measure how much progress you've made in therapy. But there is a strong movement away from endless navel-gazing -- the Woody Allen stereotype of therapy going on for years, even decades, without resolution.
A cluster of nine cases linked to tomatoes from a single source is the "most fruitful lead to date" in an investigation of a 23-state salmonella outbreak, a U.S. health official said Monday.
Cheryl Reed's morning routine starts like that of millions of other mothers around the country. She makes breakfast for her 8-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter, piles them into a minivan and drops them off at school.
One look at Eileen Mulligan lying soberly on the exam table and Dr. John Marshall knew the time for the Big Talk had arrived.
Federal health officials haven't yet traced the source of salmonella-tainted tomatoes but, amid an outcry from farmers, are clearing innocent crops as fast as possible.
Aggressively treating diabetes does not prevent heart problems and deaths any better than standard treatment for lowering blood sugar, Australian researchers reported recently.
When doctors told Kelly Harmsen that her son, Joshua, 2, had amblyopia, or lazy eye, she couldn't imagine keeping an eye patch on him for three hours a day. He pulled it off after about 30 seconds.
Don Hayen has a handy way of deflecting the instant pity that comes when he reveals his Alzheimer's disease: "But I haven't lost my keys all day," he quickly jokes.
A consumer advocacy group called on the Food and Drug Administration Tuesday to ban the use of eight artificial colorings in food because they have been linked to hyperactivity and behavior problems in children.
The 59-year-old Chicago native picked to operate Monday on Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy's cancerous brain tumor is a respected leader in the giant field of neuro-oncology, experts said.
Surprising research suggests that childhood cancer is most common in the Northeast, results that even caught experts off guard. But some specialists say it could just reflect differences in reporting.
One cold November weekend five years ago, Kelli Phillips and her husband traveled from their home in Norman, Oklahoma, to Kansas City, Missouri, to watch their beloved Oklahoma Sooners play in a Big 12 championship against Kansas State. Checking into the hotel, they looked forward with great excitement to the game.
The number of people hospitalized with a dangerous intestinal superbug has been growing by more than 10,000 cases a year, according to a new study.
Rana Parker tells pudgy police they have the right to remain chubby, but it can and will be used against them on the streets of Los Angeles.
Doctors may want to give stroke victims antidepressants right away instead of waiting until they develop depression, a common complication, new research suggests.
Everyone with high blood pressure -- 72 million Americans -- should own a home monitor and do regular pressure checks, the American Heart Association and other groups urged Thursday in an unprecedented endorsement of a medical device for consumers.
One minute, Dr. Bernadine Healy was a perfectly healthy woman, in bed with her husband watching the Oscar De La Hoya fight on HBO. A few hours later, she was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.
Under a huge tent just outside the medical unit at Camp Liberty, shielded from the blazing sun, soldiers watch and cheer as two men at a time get their heads shaved. Clumps of hair fall to the hot sand below.
Give Brad Williams a date, and he can usually tell you not only what he was doing but what world events happened that day. He can do this for almost every day of his life.
Breast cancer patients with low levels of vitamin D were much more likely to die of the disease or have it spread than patients getting enough of the nutrient, a study found -- adding to evidence the "sunshine vitamin" has anti-cancer benefits.
Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor took her family's private battle with Alzheimer's disease public Wednesday as she urged Congress to speed research and aid to fight the coming epidemic of the mind-destroying illness.
New research shows exercise during the teen years -- starting as young as age 12 -- can help protect girls from breast cancer when they are grown.
Testimony resumed Monday in a long-running case involving thousands of children with autism that their parents contend was triggered by an early childhood vaccination.
Flu vaccine manufacturers expect to make a record number of doses for the next flu season despite concerns that demand may drop because this year's vaccine was largely ineffective.
Imagine what a pacemaker does to your heart: Its electrical impulses regulate a heartbeat that's out of whack.
Insulin pumps are used by tens of thousands of teenagers worldwide with Type 1 diabetes, but they can be risky and have been linked to injuries and even deaths, a review by federal regulators finds.
At 33, Lori Hamilton is young and healthy. So what is she doing at an oral, head and neck cancer screening at an Atlanta, Georgia, hospital?
Sixty-four cases of measles have been diagnosed in the United States this year, the most in seven years, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
A 3-year-old boy in Indonesia died from bird flu, boosting the death toll in the country hardest hit by the disease to 108, the health ministry announced Wednesday.
Gayle Parseghian's life changed while she and her husband were moving furniture into their new ski cabin in November of 2006. She strained her back.
Driving a taxi for a living can be exhausting. Just ask 62-year-old Stephen Belcher of Atlanta, Georgia.
Children should be screened for heart problems with an electrocardiogram before getting drugs such as Ritalin to treat hyperactivity and attention-deficit disorder, the American Heart Association recommended Monday.
As a mature woman -- at least chronologically -- I don't spend a lot of time thinking or worrying about menopause.
This year's flu season has shaped up to be the worst in three years, partly because the vaccine didn't work well against the viruses that made most people sick, health officials said Thursday.
Many people think they know the legendary Herschel Walker: 1982 Heisman Trophy winner, pro football star, Olympian and last week in San Francisco, an Olympic torchbearer.
A large study offers the strongest evidence yet that a diet the government recommends for lowering blood pressure can save people from heart attack and stroke.
The rampage carried out nearly a year ago by a deranged Virginia Tech student who slipped through the mental health system has changed how American colleges reach out to troubled students.
Must. Stay. Awake. Yes, it's the 3 o'clock mantra. And who hasn't mumbled it while fighting off midday yawns and drooping eyes?
Babies and toddlers who sleep fewer than 12 hours daily are at greater risk for being overweight in preschool, a new Harvard study finds, providing startling evidence that the link between sleep and obesity may affect even very young children.
Add another risk to hormone therapy after menopause: Benign breast lumps.
Two big studies offer good news to people with high blood pressure, finding that novel ways to use cheap drugs already on the market can lower their risk of heart attacks, stroke and death -- even if they are very old.
Dyslexia affects different parts of children's brains depending on whether they are raised reading English or Chinese.
This week, the world has come together to focus on a major public health issue that affects thousands of children and their families around the world -- autism.
Soldiers and firefighters have joined the fight against dengue, a sometimes deadly mosquito-borne disease that has infected at least 55,000 people in Brazil this year.
This week, the world has come together to focus on a major public health issue that affects thousands of children and their families around the world -- autism.
More than 55,000 cases of dengue, a sometimes deadly mosquito-borne disease, have been reported in a southeastern Brazilian state in the past four months, authorities said Thursday.
He's only 5½ years old, and yet he's practically memorized the entire New York subway grid.
It remains one of the greatest mysteries of medicine. Although autism will be diagnosed in more than 25,000 U.S. children this year, more than new pediatric cases of AIDS, diabetes and cancer combined, scientists and doctors still know very little about the neurological disorder.
When -- after many visits to doctors and hospitals --- Tian Huiping's son was finally diagnosed with autism, the only advice she was given was to make use of a loophole in China's "one-child" policy that allows parents with disabled children to have one more.
A small study of toddlers finds that about one-quarter of babies born very prematurely had signs of autism on an early screening test.
Ryan Unumb just turned 7 years old. He has about 100 words in his vocabulary, even if they are difficult to understand. He's potty trained. He loves playing with water. He follows instructions, he asks for food when he's hungry, and he gives lots of kisses.
Having a defibrillator at home can help a heart attack survivor live through a second crisis, but so can CPR and at a much lower cost. That's the bottom line from the first test of using these heart-shocking devices in the home.
When meeting Jeff Donohoo, it's not immediately apparent he is a 36-year-old man living with autism. In fact, unless you get him talking about the Atlanta Braves -- one of his true passions in life -- he is a very quiet person.
Elevating the head of her bed with bricks doesn't do much for the décor in Deborah Kronenberg's bedroom, but it has made a big difference in her persistent nighttime heartburn.
Recently, at 48 years of age, I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. For most of my life, I knew that I was "other," not quite like everyone else. I searched for years for answers and found none, until an assignment at work required me to research autism. During that research, I found in the lives of other people with Asperger's threads of similarity that led to the diagnosis. Although having the diagnosis has been cathartic, it does not change the "otherness." It only confirms it.
Walk into Naughty Auties, a virtual resource center for those with autism, and you'll find palm trees swaying against a striking ocean sunset. Were it not for the pixelated graphics on the computer screen in front of you, you would swear you were looking at a tropical hideaway.
Having a big belly in your 40s can boost your risk of getting Alzheimer's disease or other dementia decades later, a new study suggests.
The largest-ever study of the long-term consequences of premature birth finds that children born early have higher death rates in childhood and are more likely to be childless in adulthood.
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