Yoga and stretching may provide an effective method of reducing the symptoms of lower back pain, suggest two recent studies.
While previous research has provided some evidence that yoga could alleviate chronic lower back pain, these studies had small sample sizes, short follow-up periods, or other shortcomings. The two new studies, however, followed larger numbers of people over longer periods of time, lending further evidence to the possibility that practicing yoga may improve back pain.

There have been concerns that medications used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children could increase their risk for serious cardiovascular events, such as stroke or sudden cardiac death. However, a large new study reports that there is no evidence that this is a valid concern.

In 1989, hepatitis C, (formerly called non-A, non-B) was first identified. At first it got little attention, but once HIV began to yield to a relentless pharmaceutical assault in the mid- to late-1990s, hepatitis C became the primary target for most antiviral research. And rightly so.

In August, I wrote an op-ed for the New York Post called "Running out of Common Drugs."
It seems that little has been done about it since, as judged by today's front page story in The Times, "Obama Tries to Speed Response to Shortages in Vital Medicines."

Most parents who are concerned about the contents of their child s trick-or-treat loot focus on insubstantial but highly publicized scares about things like artificial colorings and high fructose corn syrup.

Two recent news stories take a look at innovative means of handling the serious nicotine addiction that haunts cigarette smokers. The first, a New York Magazine feature that gives its readers the lowdown on e-cigarettes, conveys much of what anyone trying to quit cigarettes should know about this option.

In Dispatch, we often discuss the changing guidelines for prostate, breast, and cervical cancer screening. In the past two years alone, experts have advised fewer screenings on the basis of the greater harm than benefits too often resulting from the false-positives and unnecessary treatments that frequent screenings can lead to.

In a long-running clinical trial, the drug letrozole (Femara) has proven significantly more effective than tamoxifen, the standard of care for post-operative treatment of women whose breast cancers were estrogen-receptor positive meaning sensitive to estrogen.

People suffering from Lynch Syndrome, a genetic disease carried by about one in every 1000 people, have at least a 10-fold increased risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC), compared to the general population. Out of the approximately 160,000 new cases of CRC that occur in the U.S. every year, Lynch Syndrome accounts for about 8,000.

Rewind to 1991, when a National Cancer Institute study concluded that there was no danger in living near nuclear power plants. Now twenty years later, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is planning a follow-up study and has asked the National Academy of Sciences to begin another investigation into whether living near nuclear facilities is associated with a higher risk of cancer.