HEALTH NEWS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Powerful scans are letting doctors watch just how the brain changes in veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and concussion-like brain injuries - signature damage of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.... Read More
LONDON (AP) -- British scientists begin a new study on Tuesday to consider how human DNA is used in animal experiments and to determine what the boundaries of such controversial science might be.... Read More
EDITOR'S NOTE: Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures from alternative medicine. Yet these mostly unproven treatments are now mainstream and used by more than a third of all Americans. This is one in an occasional Associated Press series on their use and potential risks.... Read More
CHICAGO (AP) -- The American Medical Association on Tuesday voted to oppose the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy, and declared that gay marriage bans contribute to health disparities.... Read More
NEW YORK (AP) -- Male factory workers in China who got very high doses of a chemical that's been widely used in hard plastic bottles had high rates of sexual problems, researchers reported Wednesday.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- As federal regulators take their first tentative steps toward policing the wild west of medical information online, pharmaceutical companies are pressing their case to market drugs via Google, Twitter and other Web sites.... Read More
ROME (AP) -- Nearly 200 million children in poor countries have stunted growth because they don't get enough to eat, according to a new report published by UNICEF Wednesday before a three-day international summit on the problem of world hunger.... Read More
If you're among the hundreds of thousands of Americans with clogged kidney arteries, you might want to consider trying medicines before rushing into angioplasty to open them up. The pricey procedure is no more effective and carries surprisingly big risks, a study found.... Read More
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- Lillian Landry always said she wasn't afraid to die. So when death came last week, the 99-year-old was lying peacefully in a hospice with no needles or tubes. Her final days saw her closest friend at her side and included occasional shots of her favorite whiskey, Canadian Mist.... Read More
Analysis of a dozen published studies testing possible new uses for a Pfizer Inc. epilepsy drug found that reporting of the results was often misleading, indicating the medicine worked better than internal company documents showed.... Read More
ATLANTA (AP) -- Cigarette smoking rose slightly for the first time in almost 15 years, dashing health officials' hopes that the U.S. smoking rate had moved permanently below 20 percent.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration is challenging makers of alcohol-infused energy drinks to prove their beverages are safe, citing complaints that the products can cause risky behavior and injury.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal health regulators have found tiny particles of trash in drugs made by biotechnology firm Genzyme.... Read More
MIAMI (AP) -- For three years, the federal agency in charge of preventing Medicare fraud repeatedly ignored internal watchdog warnings about swindlers stealing millions of dollars by scamming several programs, documents show.... Read More
BEIJING (AP) -- Two people in China who received swine flu vaccinations died in the past week but at least one death appears unrelated to the vaccine and the other was being investigated.... Read More
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- How about some hand sanitizer before greeting Mickey Mouse?... Read More
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- A new study raises fresh concerns about Zetia and its cousin, Vytorin - drugs that are still taken by millions of Americans to lower cholesterol, despite questions raised last year about how well they work.... Read More
ATLANTA (AP) -- Health officials say sexually spread diseases continue to rise, with reported chlamydia cases setting yet another record in 2008.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal health officials on Monday questioned whether to approve an updated version of Pfizer's best-selling anti-infection vaccine for children, despite company studies that failed to meet certain goals.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tom Dougherty jokes that he takes "get-lost walks." To his wife, Cleo, it's a constant fear: When will his Alzheimer's get bad enough that she has to end his 4-mile daily strolls?... Read More
CHICAGO (AP) -- Uninsured patients with traumatic injuries, such as car crashes, falls and gunshot wounds, were almost twice as likely to die in the hospital as similarly injured patients with health insurance, according to a troubling new study.... Read More
DENVER (AP) -- Federal regulators have accused four people and two companies of fraud in an alleged $30 million Ponzi scheme that lured 300 investors nationwide in purported eco-friendly investments.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal health officials said Tuesday a popular variety of heartburn medications can interfere with the blood thinner Plavix, a drug taken by millions of Americans to reduce risks of heart attack and stroke.... Read More
MARIETTA, Pa. (AP) -- Malaria. Tuberculosis. Alzheimer's disease. AIDS. Pandemic flu. Genital herpes. Urinary tract infections. Grass allergies. Traveler's diarrhea. You name it, the pharmaceutical industry is working on a vaccine to prevent it.... Read More
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- For the first time, a miniature heart pump shows the potential to become a widely used, permanent treatment for many older people with severe heart failure. But can we afford it?... Read More
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- You can't blame this one on McDonald's: Researchers have found signs of heart disease in 3,500-year-old mummies.... Read More
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Richard Martin keeps a rearview mirror on his desk to prevent co-workers from startling him in his cubicle. The walls are papered with sticky notes to help him remember things, and he wears noise-canceling headphones to keep his easily distracted mind focused.... Read More
SPRING LAKE, N.J. (AP) -- Lying in bed one night in 2007, Peter Criss felt something strange: a small lump on his left breast.... Read More
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Fallout continues from the summer controversy over the University of Notre Dame awarding an honorary degree to President Barack Obama, who supports abortion rights.... Read More
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- A new study suggests that a type of "super X-ray" can give a faster, cheaper way to tell whether a chest pain sufferer is really having a heart attack.... Read More
LONDON (AP) -- Health experts say extraordinary measures against swine flu - most notably quarantines imposed by China, where entire planeloads of passengers were isolated if one traveler had symptoms - have failed to contain the disease.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A member of the panel whose new mammogram recommendations have led to confusion is defending the task force's report.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Most Americans want Congress to deal with malpractice lawsuits driving up the cost of medical care, says an Associated Press poll.... Read More
ATLANTA (AP) -- The first county-by-county survey of obesity reflects past studies that show the rate of obesity is highest in the Southeast and Appalachia.... Read More
ATLANTA (AP) -- When the nation's swine flu vaccination program began in early October, health officials predicted it was going to be "messy." They were right. The program has been plagued with problems and information gaps:... Read More
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Formerly conjoined Bangladeshi twins separated this week in a marathon surgery will remain in the care of a humanitarian group for at least two years, the organization's CEO said Friday.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Most women in their 20s can have a Pap smear every two years instead of annually, say new guidelines that conclude that's enough to catch slow-growing cervical cancer.... Read More
BEIJING (AP) -- China's health ministry said it will punish officials who underreport cases of swine flu after a doctor famous for exposing the extent of the 2003 SARS epidemic said he believes the true number of swine flu deaths is being covered up.... Read More
TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. (AP) -- Two days before shipping off to war, Marine Pfc. Jesse Sheets sat inside a trailer in the Mojave Desert, his gaze fixed on a computer that flashed a rhythmic pulse of contrasting images.... Read More
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- Babies squirmed and wailed as needles plunged into their chubby thighs at a public health clinic on the outskirts of Hanoi on Friday. Like little ones everywhere, the reaction to the sting was never pretty.... Read More
ATLANTA (AP) -- Health officials say four people in North Carolina have tested positive for a type of swine flu that's resistant to the drug Tamiflu.... Read More
Several doctors groups and advocacy groups set guidelines for cancer screening, and they update that advice periodically as new information emerges. Sometimes they agree, sometimes they don't. Last year, a number of groups got together and issued consensus guidelines for colon cancer.... Read More
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A Pennsylvania university's requirement that overweight undergraduates take a fitness course to receive their degrees has raised the hackles of students and the eyebrows of health and legal experts.... Read More
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) -- Marines treated at Camp Lejeune for post-traumatic stress had to undergo therapy for months in temporary trailers where they could hear bomb blasts, machine-gun fire and war cries through the thin walls, according to servicemen and their former psychiatrist.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans are seizing on this week's recommendations for fewer Pap smears and mammograms to fuel concern about government-rationed medical care - and to try to chip away support by women for President Barack Obama's proposed health care overhaul.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Invoking the memory of Edward M. Kennedy, Democrats united Saturday night to push historic health care legislation past a key Senate hurdle over the opposition of Republicans eager to inflict a punishing defeat on President Barack Obama. There was not a vote to spare.... Read More
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin has banned Rep. Patrick Kennedy from receiving Communion, the central sacrament of the church, in Rhode Island because of the congressman's support for abortion rights, Kennedy said in a newspaper interview published Sunday.... Read More
BROMONT, Quebec (AP) -- A Canadian woman on long-term sick leave for depression says she lost her benefits because her insurance agent found photos of her on Facebook in which she appeared to be having fun.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The former director of the National Institutes of Health is advising women to ignore new guidelines that delay the start of routine mammogram testing for breast cancer.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Democratic lawmaker who has been treated for breast cancer says worries that the proposed health care overhaul would limit cancer screenings are overblown.... Read More
