As many as 2.3 million Americans have a condition called atrial fibrillation, the most common form of irregular heartbeat and a new study indicates the condition isn t as harmless as was once thought.

As many as one in 88 children and one in 54 boys have a form of autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control. A new study attempts to pin the rise in autism to exposure to air pollution during pregnancy but it s a statistically invalid junk study, ACSH experts say.

Ohio hospitals are going to bat for their patients, enacting strict measures to make sure all their workers get flu vaccines. The Columbus Dispatch details how hospitals in the Buckeye State are withholding raises, cutting off computer access and disciplining workers who refuse the shots. Cincinnati-based TriHealth, which operates three area hospitals, has even threatened to fire 150 employees who fail to get vaccinated by Dec.

Josh Bloom, Medical Progress Today 11/27/12, "Tami-flu the Coop? "
Roche has recently been taking considerable heat for not providing certain clinical data on Tamiflu (oseltamivir), its flu drug that has been on the market since 1999. During the 2009 H1N1 flu scare, hospitals, governments and many individuals were panic buying it, and some of them are not too happy about spending a load of money on something that doesn't work very well.

Can getting a routine, screening mammography, as recommended by most medical organizations, including the American Cancer Society, beginning at age 50 and then every one or two years thereafter, actually do more harm than good? Perhaps.

Just in time for the approaching flu season, the Food and Drug Administration has approved the first seasonal vaccine from Novartis manufactured by using animal cell cultures. All previous flu vaccines were produced by growing the virus in chicken eggs.

Who is really behind the articles published in the New England Journal of Medicine? A review by the Washington Post attempted to find out, and they decided to assess each study s funding sources to get an idea.

Women should be able to get birth control pills without a prescription, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended last week. Over-the-counter birth control availability has the potential to reduce unintended pregnancies which make up half of all pregnancies in the United States because lack of access to the pill is one of the main reasons that women fail to use contraception.

For many years, women have been urged, cajoled, brow-beaten even, to be sure to get their annual mammogram. Starting shortly after puberty s arrival and breast development, young women get the word: the annual mammogram is necessary to save your life!

Based in Lyon, France, the International Agency for Research on Cancer is a widely respected body that produces assessments of carcinogens for use by regulators and researchers. But reputable scientists are now disassociating themselves from IARC and its research methods, a cancer epidemiologist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine writes in Forbes.