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Researchers raise questions about the benefits of federal dietary guidelines. They argue that if guidelines can alter behavior, such alteration could have positive or negative effects. They cite how, in 2000, the Dietary Guideline Advisory Committee suggested that the recommendation to lower fat, advised in the 1995 guidelines, had perhaps been ill-advised and might actually have some potential harm.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is making news as a dangerous, sometimes fatal disease for hospital patients, and in recent cases, students. MRSA is also a major source of illness acquired in nursing homes, yet few studies have looked at how to prevent its spread among elderly residents, according to a new review.

For the first time researchers suggest a direct interaction between cigarette smoke carcinogens and the human papillomavirus that may lead to increased risk of cervical cancer.

Brittle tendons in mice reveal the potential downside of myostatin inhibitor drugs that are attracting interest as possible treatments for muscular dystrophy and as illicit performance-enhancing drugs for athletes. A new animal study raises doubts about one approach to treating muscular dystrophy.

A therapist may be able to use music to help some patients fight depression and improve, restore and maintain their health, states a Systematic Review from The Cochrane Library.

A purified form of a patients' own adult stem cells was transplanted into their leg muscles with severely blocked arteries to try to grow new small blood vessels and restore circulation. Severely blocked arteries in the leg can result in the breakdown of tissue, gangrene and amputation. This painful condition is called critical limb ischemia and affects 1.4 million people in the US.

Scientists have found that field mice have evolved a unique way of ensuring faster fertilization, a phenomenon which could explain some cases of infertility in humans. They found that field mice sacrifice some of their immunity protection in favor of a more rapid fertilization process.

A good fight with your spouse may be good for your health, research suggests. Couples in which both the husband and wife suppress their anger when one attacks the other die earlier than members of couples where one or both partners express their anger and resolve the conflict.

Men with localized prostate cancer who were treated with male hormone suppression therapy and radiation treatment had longer survival, but those with moderate to high levels of other illnesses did not experience this effect.

Increased exercise capacity reduces the risk of death in African-American and Caucasian men. The study included 15,660 participants and is the largest known to assess the link between fitness and mortality.