Most Recommended Health News

A radioactive tracer that "lights up" cancer hiding inside dense breasts showed promise in its first big test against mammograms, revealing more tumors and giving fewer false alarms, doctors reported Wednesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Scientists reported this week new evidence that low doses of the chemical bisphenol A (BPA), widely used to make plastic food and drinking containers, can impair brain function in primates, extending the findings of previous research conducted in rats.

WASHINGTON - Scientists have mapped the cascade of genetic changes that turn normal cells in the brain and pancreas into two of the most lethal cancers. The result points to a new approach for fighting tumors and maybe even catching them sooner. Genes blamed for one person's brain tumor were different from the culprits for the next patient, making the puzzle of cancer genetics even more complicated.

WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration ordered stronger warnings Thursday on four medications widely used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other serious illnesses, saying they can raise the risk of possibly fatal fungal infections.

List of medications with potential safety problems

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cancer experts who probed every gene in tumors from two of the hardest-to-treat cancers found that cancer is much more complicated than anyone thought -- and say they found why a cure is so unlikely after a tumor has spread.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly half of U.S. adults will develop painful arthritis of the knee, a leading cause of disability, and hospitalizations for the condition are soaring, researchers reported on Wednesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Adults who are regularly active, whether through exercise or work, are less likely to develop a range of cancers, a new study suggests.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Women with newly diagnosed breast cancer who get an MRI scan wait about three weeks longer before their surgery and are far more likely to get a mastectomy than women who have only a mammogram, U.S. researchers said on Saturday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Although researchers have discovered ways to make powerful stem cells without the use of human embryos, the controversial use of embryonic stem cells is still necessary, a panel of experts said on Friday.

NEW YORK - A lifesaving shock from an implanted heart defibrillator provides relief that a crisis was avoided, but new research suggests it can also be a sign that more trouble is ahead.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Army is on track to break last year's all-time record for suicides, a pace that would top the civilian suicide rate for the first time since the Vietnam war, army officials said Thursday.

WASHINGTON - The government on Friday began posting a list of prescription drugs under investigation for potential safety problems in an effort to better inform doctors and patients.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health officials have disclosed safety probes into over 20 medicines by companies such as Eli Lilly and Co and Biogen Idec, a step required by Congress to address concerns the agency had been slow to warn of risks.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Rates of depression, and possibly some types of anxiety disorder, are high among people with inflammatory bowel disease or IBD -- conditions such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis -- Canadian researchers report.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tobacco use caused 2.4 million cases of cancer in the United States from 1999 to 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More young adults abused prescription pain drugs last year but their use of cocaine and methamphetamines fell, while illicit drug use by baby boomers in their late fifties soared, a U.S. agency said on Thursday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Older people who have had a stroke or mini-stroke benefit from cholesterol-lowering statin drugs just as much as younger people do, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.