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You May Be Among The Things That Go Bump In The Night

To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure I’ve ever walked in my sleep. There’s a family story that I’d like to label fiction about a somnolent bathroom run that ended in a closet. But if it ever happened, I don’t remember it. Turns out sleepwalking is pretty common though. At some point in life, 29 [...]

Cost Of Cancer Pills Can Be Hard For Medicare Patients To Swallow

If you’ve got cancer, chances are you’d rather take a pill to fight the cancer cells than sit for hours hooked up to an IV line as the chemotherapy drips slowly into you. The difficulty is, many of the new cancer pills, which often target cancer cells for destruction but leave healthy cells intact, are [...]

Bills to Reform DHS

State House members released their series of bills which would change the Department of Human Services.

In Talent Hunt, Some Businesses Offer Health Benefits For Same-Sex Couples

President Obama’s pronouncement last week in favor of same-sex marriage has no legal effect on employers’ decisions on whether to offer benefits to workers’ domestic partners. But some advocates say it could reinforce a decade-long trend toward coverage. Last year, a little more than half of employers offered health benefits for domestic partners, according to [...]

Jobs And College Pose Big Challenges For Young People With Autism

Times are tough for young people. Unemployment is high, and college costs are soaring. For those who’ve been diagnosed with autism, the challenges of life after high school are even steeper, according to a study just published in the journal Pediatrics. Within the first six years of getting out of high school, only a little [...]

Doctors’ Due Diligence: Measuring Kids’ Blood Pressure

There have been hints that the obesity epidemic’s rise has slowed a bit among certain populations, but for the most part, it continues to dominate American health. One third of children and teenagers are now overweight or obese. And researchers forecast as many as half of our nation’s population could be obese — not overweight [...]

Alzheimer’s Patients Turn To Stories Instead Of Memories

Ask family members of someone with Alzheimer’s or another dementia: Trying to talk with a loved one who doesn’t even remember exactly who they are can be very frustrating. But here at a senior center in Seattle, things are different. On one recent day, 15 elderly people were forming a circle. The room is typical [...]

Black Pepper May Give You A Kick, But Don’t Count On It For Weight Loss

Is black pepper the new secret weapon against fat? A recent paper in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry claims that the piperine, an ingredient in black pepper, has the power to stop the body from making new fat cells, and could be used to treat obesity. Now before you run out and buy [...]

Wearing Helmets In Tornadoes Gains Momentum

Months after safety advocates embraced wearing helmets during tornadoes — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidelines on the practice. The CDC says there’s not yet enough scientific evidence to fully endorse the idea. But the agency is warming up to people donning helmets when severe weather threatens. Since a horrific outbreak [...]

FDA Gets Advice To Approve First Pill To Cut HIV Infections

In what could mark a watershed in the fight against HIV/AIDS, a panel of experts recommended that the Food and Drug Administration give a green light to a pill that can cut the risk of infections. The daily pill Truvada, made by Gilead Sciences, combines two medicines that inhibit the reproduction of HIV. It’s already [...]