HEALTH

Computerized systems intended to stop doctors from prescribing dangerous drug combinations can cause potentially harmful treatment delays, new research shows.

Parents and caretakers who drink alcohol may put infants at a higher risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), new research suggests.

Whether your left or right hand reaches for the phone, elevator button or cup of coffee is typically decided unconsciously. Now, a new study suggests that magnetic pulses sent into your brain could alter that choice.

The Obama administration on Monday pleaded with a U.S. appeals court to allow federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research to continue, arguing a ban would ruin numerous projects and cost millions of dollars.

Older women with thinning bones who exercise regularly have sustained improvements in their balance and walking speed that may protect them from fractures and even extend their lives, new research shows

Acupuncture does not help speed recovery after stroke, according to an analysis of 10 trials using fake or sham acupuncture as a control.

Suicide rates for middle-aged people are edging up -- particularly for white men without college degrees -- and a combination of poor health and a poor economy may be driving it, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

Giving cholesterol-lowering statin drugs to more people could be a cost-effective way of preventing heart attacks, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

Employers can expect to pay nearly 9 percent more for health care costs for their workers in 2011, the highest level in five years, according to a forecast released on Monday.

Sanofi-Aventis has not changed its offer of $69 per share for drugmaker Genzyme, a Sanofi spokesman said Monday, declining to comment on a report that the drugmaker had lined up more financing for its bid.

AstraZeneca's experimental prostate cancer pill zibotentan failed to improve survival in a late-stage clinical trial, dealing a fresh blow to the company's oncology pipeline.

British scientists have discovered a genetic mechanism in the development of the nervous system that they say might one day be part of new treatments for stroke, Alzheimer's disease or brain tumors.

Sleepless and sedentary? Instead of counting sheep in a field, try running through a meadow.

Commuting to work on your own two feet, or while spinning two wheels, could help stave off heart failure, suggests a new Finnish study.

Up to a quarter of children in parts of Chad are facing acute hunger despite an easing of the overall famine threat across the Sahel region of Africa, UNICEF warned on Friday, calling on donors to provide more funds.

Spending more on food isn't the only way to buy the healthiest diet, new research shows.

Children who develop problems with memory, attention and behavior after cancer treatment may gain some long-term benefit from a medication commonly used for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a small clinical trial suggests.

Getting enough magnesium in your diet could help prevent diabetes, a new study suggests.

Perhaps it wasn't sex workers and fast-growing cities that launched HIV onto its deadly global rampage, but well-meaning doctors using dirty needles in the first half of the 20th century.

Amgen Inc is recalling several hundred lots of anemia drugs Epogen and Procrit, sold by Johnson & Johnson, because vials of the injectable medicines might develop tiny glass flakes that could cause blood clots and other serious health problems.

Air conditioning not only keeps you cool during the summer heat, it may also keep you alive.

Drivers distracted by talking or texting on cell phones killed an estimated 16,000 people from 2001 to 2007, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.

Perhaps it wasn't sex workers and fast-growing cities that launched HIV onto its deadly global rampage, but well-meaning doctors using dirty needles in the first half of the 20th century.

Health insurers should be able to exclude most federal taxes, but not all, in calculating spending rates to meet new healthcare law requirements, an insurance advisory group has proposed.

Efforts to prevent suicides among U.S. war veterans are failing, in part because distressed troops do not trust the military to help them, top military officials said on Thursday.

Abbott Laboratories posted a list of lot numbers on Thursday for the millions of recalled containers of its Similac powdered infant formulas and expanded Internet and call center capacity to handle a deluge of requests for information from concerned parents.

Nearly one in five gay and bisexual men in 21 major U.S. cities are infected with HIV, and nearly half of them do not know it, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.

Many people have difficulty falling asleep, others can't stay asleep the desired amount of time and others report they toss and turn all night hardly sleeping at all. According to the National Institute of Health this is called problem sleepiness that has many causes and has unwanted consequences.

The lack of clean drinking water and sanitation in the world's poorest nations threatens U.N. goals to cut poverty and disease, and raises the risk of conflict, leaders and aid groups said on Wednesday.