Subliminal messages are most effective when they have negative words, English researchers say. Subliminal messages are images shown so quickly that viewers don’t consciously “see” them, according to background information in the University College London study. It included 50 volunteers...

A drug designed to fight anemia appears to double the risk of stroke in patients with diabetes and kidney disease without substantially improving their quality of life, a new study finds. Darbepoetin alfa, marketed as Aranesp and known as an erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA), is often prescribed...

Imagine a polka-dotted postage stamp-sized sensor that can sniff out some known poisonous gases and toxic fumes and show the results simply by changing colors. Support for the development and application of this electronic nose comes from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part...

Dialysis patients with very low body fat are much more likely to die than other people on dialysis, even those with the highest levels of body fat, a new study has found. Researchers measured body fat percentage in 671 dialysis patients in California. In the next five years, the death rate for people...

A potentially deadly stomach infection is on the rise outside of hospital settings, especially among the elderly, researchers warn. The germ that causes the condition, known as Clostridium difficile, can create serious symptoms, including diarrhea and an inflammation of the colon, that can be fatal....

The holy grail of health may well be nutrition. The best nutrition is an elusive beast. We all know we need better nutrition, yet few of us know how to find it. Most of us don’t even know where to look, One way to get better nutrition is to adhere to a vegetarian or semi-vegetarian diet. There are...

Ask any parent — little kids have a tendency to touch everything in sight. Their hands glide blissfully from doorknob to toy to nose to shoe to dog to mouth. So imagine the biological brew stirred up and shared when dozens of germy toddlers gather together. Ick! That’s why the H1N1 flu virus, also...

Today’s guest blog entry is by Katie Dineley, a student at the University of Maryland. She was among the first to receive the H1N1 influenza vaccine in Montgomery County, Md., thanks to a flu-shot clinic organized by the health department there. In mid-October, I went to a local government health...

Although acupuncture has long been used to treat pain, the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms are not fully understood. The process appears to involve the brain’s ability to produce opioids (pain-reducing chemicals) that bind to neurons in distinct regions of the brain, and the ability...

If you want to lose weight, exercise and diet are crucial. But a new study says other factors appear to play a role, too — including the number of TVs in your house and the presence of exercise equipment. “The home environment really came out as a stronger factor than we would have anticipated,”...