(Jennifer Sinco Kelleher / AP)
Psychiatrists have long claimed that gardens hold healing powers for mental illness. Now, scientists are exploring a new field called horticultural therapy for everyone from troubled youth to veterans. But just how gardens affect the brain remains mainly a mystery.
(Yvan Dub / iStockphoto.com)
Women are more likely to have heart attacks that don't announce themselves with crushing chest pain. And women having heart attacks like those are more likely to die than men.
(Melinda Sue Gordon / Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. )
Teenagers who see drinking scenes in movies are more likely to start drinking, and to binge drink themselves, according to a new study. Drinking features in almost all movies, even in many rated for children.
The 1-800-GET-THIN marketing campaign and its affiliated surgical centers, which implant the Lap-Band for weight-loss, are being investigated by local, state and federal authorities. At least three wrongful death lawsuits have been filed and the Department of Insurance has launched an investigation into allegations of insurance fraud.
(Whitney Curtis for NPR)
A little more than a year ago, NPR launched the Road Back to Work series, following six people in St. Louis who started 2011 unemployed and were searching for work. Like so many Americans, the people we followed have had difficulty getting health coverage, even after returning to work.
Virginia state legislators passed a bill requiring women to receive an ultrasound — which is conducted via transvaginal probe in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy — before having an abortion. Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor for Slate magazine, calls the proposed law "an abomination."
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Body piercings often come with complications, including infection and scarring. A new study recommends learning about possible complications before needle meets flesh. Prevention of problems is paramount.
Family, friends and fans flocked to New Jersey during the weekend for the funeral of Whitney Houston. The music legend was public about her struggle with substance abuse, and her daughter is one of millions who had to cope with that addiction. Host Michel Martin and a panel of parents discuss how parents' addictions affect their kids.
(Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Researchers have shown how a bacterium resistant to antibiotic treatment passed from humans to pigs to humans. And now the new resistant human bug appears to be spreading beyond people with direct exposure to livestock.
(Tiplyashin Stanislav Gennadevic / iStockphoto.com)
Insurers often don't cover condoms, contraceptive sponges and spermicides unless people get a prescription for them. And that requires thinking ahead.
The March issue of the medical journal Pediatrics features an editorial looking at gender identity disorder in children. Pediatricians apparently are seeing more young patients who express an interest in changing their gender.
(Courtesy of Karen Schaefer)
Researchers have long known that aspirin can be risky for children who have asthma. Now some researchers are pointing to data that suggests acetaminophen could be a problem, too.
(istockphoto.com)
Pediatric surgeons often have to improvise the tools of their trade, because surgical instruments are not often designed specifically for children. Some surgeons are teaming up with engineers to try to change this.
(Stefano Rellandini / Reuters /Landov)
Traumatic brain injuries are often caused by a blast: A bomb explodes, and the concussive effect violently shakes the brain. The Army has had a mixed record treating soldiers for TBI. Now it's trying to spot the injury close to the battle and get soldiers out of the fight.
(Tom Worner / AP)
The number of deaths from breast cancer has gone down, but the rate of new cases remains about the same. One family has had three generations of women survive the disease. A two-time survivor in that family sometimes hears, "There's so much money that's given all the time, why can't they find a cure?"
Among the thousands of U.S. military men and women still fighting in Afghanistan, many will have their missions cut short by serious injury. Quickly airlifting them out of the war zone requires teams of specially trained medical personnel. Cheri Lawson of WNKU spent the day at a Cincinnati, Ohio, hospital where the rigorous training takes place.
(Courtesy of the Ad Council)
Created during World War II, the Ad Council has launched one iconic public service announcement after another, from Rosie the Riveter to Smokey Bear. The nonprofit organization turns 70 on Saturday; what better way to celebrate than to take a stroll down memory lane?
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Belmont Abbey College alleges that rules requiring no-cost contraceptive coverage for women violate its Catholic mission. The administration has countered that the college's health plan isn't affected by the health law anyway.
Research that produced genetically altered bird flu viruses that could pose a danger to people should remain on hold for now. But a panel of experts recommended the details of the experiments should be published.
BOSTON — Should anyone other than a dentist have permission to use a drill in your mouth? That question is becoming one of the most heated topics in health care.
After being convicted of larceny in 2010, Michael Sheehan was heading back to prison, but the court offered him an alternative that eventually helped to turn his life around.
Once perhaps the best-known hospital chief in Boston, Paul Levy stepped down last year amid a controversy over his personal relationship with a female subordinate. He’s out with a new book on leadership.
BOSTON — WBUR’s new poll finds 62 percent of Massachusetts residents support the state’s health care law and 33 percent oppose it.
BOSTON — What’s called a group purchasing cooperative, formed by the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, will begin enrolling members this week and is promising discounts of at least 20 percent.
BOSTON — A report suggests that Massachusetts cities and towns are on track to exceed the estimated $100 million in statewide savings during the first year of new municipal health care rules.
BOSTON — This threat is the latest volley in a battle between church leaders and the Obama administration over whether the government will force Catholic institutions to pay for insurance that covers contraception, sterilization and abortion medications.
BOSTON — Mental health advocates are calling for greater awareness as the number of suicide deaths in Massachusetts appears to be rising.
BOSTON — According to The Boston Globe, the Justice Department is looking into whether the hospital over-billed Medicare by admitting patients when they could have been treated as outpatients for less.
BOSTON — A $35 million community-based health center built in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood is being hailed as a model for delivering quality health care to underserved urban areas.
NEW YORK — After three days of controversy, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast-cancer charity says it is reversing its decision to cut breast-screening grants to Planned Parenthood.
BOSTON — The bill, unanimously approved by the Senate, would require all doctors who prescribe potentially addictive drugs to sign up for a state program that monitors and tracks the drugs.
BOSTON — UMass Memorial Health Care, and a bone marrow registry it operates, are paying more than $500,000 to settle state investigations into some of the methods used to recruit bone marrow donors.
BOSTON — Forty-four-year-old Steven Lloyd of New Hampshire died last October after sudden bleeding in his brain. His wife Jodi told Channel 5 she decided to donate many of his organs. Those hands went to Richard Mangino of Revere.
BOSTON — UMass Memorial Health Care is planning to cut hundreds of jobs as it looks for ways to cut expenses.
BARNSTABLE, Mass. — Federal and state health officials have confirmed that two people in Massachusetts contracted rabies last year.
BOSTON — Massachusetts Senate leaders are hoping to toughen a state law that calls for monitoring of dangerous prescription drugs.
BOSTON — Partners HealthCare is volunteering to take less in a new contract with Tufts Health Plan. But beneath that headline is a world of spinning changes that will affect hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in spending in Massachusetts.
BOSTON — Partners HealthCare opened an existing contract with Tufts Health Plan and renegotiated a lower payment rate. The change will save Tufts about $105 million.
