By now, anyone even slightly versed in health issues understands that cigarette smoking can irretrievably damage the lungs — whether via lung cancer or other disease processes. Even those who've never smoked may develop these conditions. A recent study indicates that never-smoking women are more likely to develop COPD than never-smoking men.

When submitting a scientific manuscript to a journal for review, it's usually safe to say that the worst possible outcome is that it will be rejected. However, a far worse fate is indeed possible – plagiarism – and it happened to Dr. Michael Dansinger. 

Rice goes with chicken. Rice goes with shrimp. Rice goes with beans, and with Chinese food, too.
But R.I.C.E. is also the most essential serving for ankle sprains, yet for one in two of the millions of Americans who are annually hobbled by a misstep, this recuperative dish is not even on their post-injury menu. 
The well-known acronym stands for the four-step treatment that should be administered following any ankle injury:

President-elect Donald Trump is considering candidates to head the Food and Drug Administration. With it, there may be an opportunity to streamline the agency's drug-approval process. But what will really work?

Do you "hold the fries?" You might want to if your pants buttons start blowing off. But don't do so because of a deep-fried, phony chemical scare: acrylamide. 

A new study published in JAMA details the U.S. county-level trends in mortality rates for major causes of death. While a bit flawed, it's a step in the right direction as regional health disparity is often way more vital to informing policy than national tendencies.

The Food and Drug Administration told Swedish Match that its snus tobacco product will not receive a MRTP designation, as a Modified Risk Tobacco Product. Snus, a small packet of moist tobacco used orally, is popular in Sweden, which has a substantially lower rate of cigarette-related death and disability than other European Union nations.

In June, we were besieged with headlines stating that hot drinks cause cancer. It was all due to a letter from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the same letter that overturned its long-standing claim that coffee causes cancer. The bottom line: IARC is confusing. So this holiday season, go ahead and have your coffee -- as hot as you like it.

How about an invention that will benefit everyone? 
They don't come along very often, but with a little luck Dr. George Bonheyo (1) and his group at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) might have something very big on their hands—a novel way to clean up oil spills, with the aid of chemically modified sawdust.

We tend to associate vaccines with prevention of acute illness — which they're quite good at. But future benefits can also accrue to the vaccinated, such as prevention of shingles in those who have avoided chicken pox, and escaping measles-engendered encephalitis.