The latest issue of the ‘New England Journal of Medicine’ carries a report that indicates losing weight helps ease the symptoms of incontinence experienced by as many as 13 million American women.  Incontinence, or the loss of control of the…

When US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientist Renee Dufault found measurable amounts of the toxic heavy metal, mercury, in nine of 20 samples of high fructose corn syrup, she reported it to her supervisors.  Her supervisors weren’t interested but…

Bisphenol A (BPA) is back in the news but no concrete conclusions of its safety have yet been established.  The latest evidence feeding the BPA safety controversy is a study that suggests BPA lingers in the human body longer than…

The current issue of the ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’ carries a study suggesting human brains are wired for rhythm and, within just a few days of birth, can detect when that rhythm goes awry.  Istvan Winkler, lead…

The January issue of ‘The Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease’ features a study of long-term coffee drinking and its effect on age-related dementia.  The findings suggest drinking coffee today keeps dementia away.

In June, people on three continents will know if the pills they’ve been taking to prevent HIV infection were the real thing or placebos.  As the test of tenofovir, said to be an HIV prevention pill, nears the end of…

This week marks the launching of the largest and most in-depth study of children’s health ever conducted.  To accomplish that mission, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) plans to recruit 100,000 mothers-to-be who will allow their children to be monitored…

The new year brought a new ban on smoking in public places in Oregon and, along with that ban, comes increased conversation about the perils of secondhand cigarette smoke.  Many veterinarians are describing how ailing pets have regained their health…

Cognitive impairment in older patients battling type 2 diabetes is a troubling but expected effect of the disease but researchers at the University of Alberta, Canada, have just published a report that suggests cognitive damage occurs soon after the development…

Smoking cigarettes is a bad idea and medical science is continuously proving it’s even worse than originally imagined.  Science has proven that smoking often kills the smoker, by way of inhaled (first-hand) smoke.  Second-hand smoking is both annoying and dangerous…

Adults raised under the “don’t kiss and tell” school of thought would never consider posting tales of their sexual exploits online nor would they consider revealing their illicit drug use or acts of violence.  Their children, however, enjoy a heightened…

Medical researchers have discovered snoring is a lot of work.  Snorers burn as many as 373 more calories during sleep each night than people who sleep more soundly.  That’s about as much as a person would burn during 30 minutes…

High triglyceride levels have long been associated with the development of heart disease but until researchers at the University of Maryland tapped into the nearby Amish gene pool, no identifiable link had been found.  Now however, researchers say they’ve not…

The virtues of a good night’s sleep just got better, with the arrival of the news that the immune system functions best during the night.  Researchers at Stanford University used fruit flies to test their theory but there is strong…