NEW YORK - Drugstore operator Walgreen will offer free walk-in clinic services to the unemployed and uninsured for the rest of the year, though they'll still pay for prescriptions. The program provides tests and routine treatment for minor ailments and illnesses to patients who lose their job and health insurance after March 31. Walgreen says it doesn't know how much the ...

CHICAGO — If your pants are feeling a bit tight around the waistline, take note: Belly bulge can be deadly for older adults, even those who aren't overweight or obese by other measures.

Are you more stressed than you think? The occasional manic Monday is a fact of modern life. But if you’re under chronic stress—suffering a daily assault of stress hormones from a demanding job or a personal life in turmoil—symptoms may be subtler, says Stevan E. Hobfoll, PhD, chair of the department of behavioral sciences at Rush University Medical Center. If you ...

WASHINGTON - A critical new report declares high blood pressure in the U.S. to be a neglected disease - a term that usually describes mysterious tropical illnesses, not a well-known plague of rich countries. The prestigious Institute of Medicine said Monday that even though nearly one in three adults has hypertension, and it's on the rise, fighting it apparently has fallen ...

WASHINGTON – Scientists begin recruiting mothers-to-be in North Carolina and New York this week for the largest study of U.S. children ever performed — aiming eventually to track 100,000 around the country from conception to age 21. "We are embarking on the road to discovering the preventable causes of the major chronic diseases that plague American children today," Dr. Philip Landrigan ...

I thought this was an interesting article regarding mad cow disease.    Previously believed to be a food-borne disease, researchers have discovered that so

ADELPHI, Md. - Government experts say the maximum dose listed for Tylenol and dozens of other painkillers should be reduced to help curb deadly overdoses. In a series of votes Tuesday, a Food and Drug Administration panel endorsed lowering the maximum dose of over-the-counter acetaminophen - the key ingredient in Tylenol, Excedrin and other medications. But panelists rejected a proposal to ...

WASHINGTON (AP) - That Caesar salad you're about to eat? It's 800 calories, and that's without the croutons. The fettuccine alfredo? A whopping 1,220 calories. You may choose to ignore the numbers, but soon it's going to be tough to deny you saw them. A requirement tucked into the nation's massive health care bill will make calorie counts impossible for thousands ...

Losing another source  of education for new nurses - diploma schools/training continues its steady decline

WASHINGTON - The long-awaited first vaccinations against swine flu - the squirt-in-the-nose kind - begin early next week in parts of the country, and states are urging people to be patient until more arrives. Just a trickle of vaccine, 600,000 doses of the nasal spray FluMist, will be divided among 21 states and four large cities by Tuesday, with more small ...

THURSDAY, Oct. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Taking blood-pressure pills at night, rather than in the morning, may better control hypertension and significantly reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, new research suggests.

FRIDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- An increasingly stubborn strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, a common bacterial infection acquired in hospitals, has been identified in Ohio, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Stressful day? Don't reach for a candy bar. Try one of these soothing liquids instead.

Intellectual curiosity is one of humankind's most admirable traits. We're fascinated by what we don't fully understand. Were this not true, we'd have no ongoing preoccupation with black holes, or what really happened to Amelia Earhart, or why you can't eat just one Pringle.

New parents and pregnant women are urged to get the swine flu vaccine to protect themselves and their children.

GENEVA — The World Health Organization told its member nations it was declaring a swine flu pandemic Thursday – the first global flu epidemic in 41 years – as infections climbed in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere. In a statement sent to member countries, WHO said it decided to raise the pandemic warning level from phase 5 ...

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A New York meat company has recalled almost 546,000 pounds of ground beef because it may be contaminated with a bacteria that has caused illness and one death, according to health officials. The meat sold by Ashville, N.Y.-based Fairbank Farms was linked to cases of E. coli-related illness in Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ...

In lieu of a vaccine, Shamokin Area Community Hospital (SACH) is using information as an inoculation against H1N1 Influenza A, also known as swine flu. The hospital has educated staff and faculty, and is hoping to inform the public about H1N1 in hopes of preventing a major outbreak in the region during peak flu season. In Danville, Geisinger Medical Center (GMC) ...

        "  There is a movement afoot in childbirth education and perinatal health urging mothers to avoid nighttime breastfeeding to decrease their risk for postpartum depression. We know that if mothers follow this advice, it will have a negative impact on breastfeeding. But let’s put that issue aside for the moment and consider whether avoiding nighttime breastfeeding will preserve women’s mental health ...

SATURDAY, Sept. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Children in the United States are not drinking as much water as they should, and the deficiency can have far-reaching implications, a new study suggests.