Health News

NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. has been named a recipient of the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research for his leading role in mapping the human genome. While accepting the honor, Dr. Collins declined his portion of the $500,000 prize in order to comply with government ethics rules.

An independent panel convened this week by the National Institutes of Health confronted a troubling fact that pregnant women currently have limited access to clinicians and facilities able and willing to offer a trial of labor after previous cesarean delivery because of so-called VBAC bans. Many, even those at low risk for complications in a trial of labor, are not offered this option. The panel affirmed that a trial of labor is a reasonable option for many women with a prior cesarean delivery. They also urged that current VBAC guidelines be revisited, malpractice concerns be addressed, and additional research undertaken to better understand the medical and non-medical factors that influence decision making for women with previous cesarean deliveries.

If you are young and healthy but have a family history of cardiovascular disease, are you at high risk of having a heart attack?

Through a controversial practice called vision therapy, some optometrists say they can treat learning disabilities.

As much as 16 percent of the U.S. population between the ages of 14 and 49 has genital herpes, according to a government study released Tuesday.

I have been diagnosed with chronic sinusitis. It would seem like every six months or so, I have an episode where I am unable to go to work for about three days because I develop a temperature, swollen lymph nodes, (recently, swollen, inflammed tonsils) headaches and skin flora on my scalp. How is skin flora associated with sinusitis? Will this ever stop?

DePuy Orthopaedics alerted doctors to a high early failure rate of its artificial hip after announcing it would phase out the device citing slow sales.

President Obama’s health reform plan is a mixed bag, but it may be the only program passed.

The combined business would jointly control about 29 percent of the $19 billion-a-year global market for medicines for pets and livestock.

Healthier men, no matter their age, are going to have better sex more frequently and desire it more often than healthier women.

A study of isolated Hutterite farming colonies in Canada found that giving flu vaccine to schoolchildren protected the entire community from the disease.

Results of a clinical trial conducted in a largely self-contained religious community during the 2008-09 influenza season show that immunizing children against seasonal influenza can significantly protect unvaccinated community members against influenza as well. The study was conducted to determine if immunized children could act as a barrier to limit the spread of influenza to the wider, unvaccinated community, a concept known as herd immunity.

This wonderful winter seafood stew is easy to make and to serve.

When you blanch the greens, these panini make for a quick and wonderful meal.

People come up to Aimee Mullins all the time and say, "you know, I have to tell you, you just don't look disabled."

This week, Dr. Charles Raison offers part two of his answer to the viewer question: Can a 9- or 10-year-old be bipolar?

Francisca Terrazas and other Latinas are about 1.5 times more likely than Anglos to develop Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, a new report says. Read how her family copes.

Dr. Childs helped shape the understanding of inherited diseases as scientists learned more about so-called inborn errors of metabolism, biochemistry and molecular biology.

Experts said state officials might be left to worry about the solvency of insurers, the ultimate consumer protection.

The investigation will focus on Select Medical, which runs more long-term care facilities than any other company.