The Doctors Forums

New research from Harvard Medical School and the University of California-San Diego suggests that happiness is influenced not only by the people you know, but by the people they know.

A new study hints at a possible link between poor mental health and the odds of having asthma.

CDC: Under new, less strict exercise guidelines, 2/3 of Americans are "physically active" -- but only half of Americans would have met the older exercise guideline.

US scientists have found evidence suggesting that the 'cancer stem cell' theory may not apply to melanoma - the most deadly form of skin cancer.

Couples who have unused and unwanted frozen embryos as a result of infertility treatment often feel conflicted about what to do with them, with disposal and donation frequently seen as unacceptable options.

Scientists at the University of Nottingham have identified a gene that helps to protect the body against lung cancer.

In the first such partnership, the FDA will publish health alerts, safety information, and polls on WebMD's web site and magazine.

Vermont is the healthiest state and Louisiana has the longest way to go, according to the 2008 America's Health Rankings.

Researchers report that an experimental drug called tasimelteon, which acts like the hormone melatonin, may take the edge off of jet lag.

A new study, part-funded by Cancer Research UK, has helped to pinpoint genetic changes in certain cells that may contribute to Wilms' tumour, the most common form of childhood kidney cancer.

Children and young people with cancer are spending longer than necessary in hospital because there are not enough children's community nurses and social workers, the charity CLIC Sargent has said.

The angst of adolescence has propelled disturbed teens to graduate from self-cutting to a more severe form of self-injury in which they literally jam paper clips, stables, pencil lead, and other objects into their body, researchers say.

Virtual colonoscopy -- colon cancer screening via CT scans -- can also be used to screen people for the bone disorder osteoporosis, researchers report.

A new study shows that brand-name drugs that treat heart disease aren't better than their FDA-approved generic equivalents.

Speed. That's the top reason nearly 600 adults and teens cited for frequently eating fast food in a new study. Nutrition and fun ranked last.

A new type of scan may cut down on the number of false alarms associated with currently used techniques for spotting breast cancer, researchers report.

Cancer Research UK has underlined the importance of authoritative online health information following a study by Microsoft that suggested some people may become anxious as a result of their online searches.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is conferring one of its highest research awards this week upon UC Davis rice geneticist Pamela Ronald and two other scientists, in recognition of their work on developing new rice varieties that can withstand flooding.

The Discovery Award, which recognizes outstanding researchers who address key agricultural problems of national, regional and multistate importance, will be presented Dec. 5 at UC Riverside by Gale A. Buchannan, the USDA's undersecretary for research, education and economics. The award will be given to Ronald; UC Riverside genetics professor Julia Bailey-Serres; and David J. Mackill, a researcher formerly of UC Davis and now at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines.

Ronald's group isolated the rice genomic region that carries the submergence tolerance trait and demonstrated that one of the 13 genes in the region, called Sub1a, confers submergence tolerance. Mackill's team used this information to precisely transfer Sub1a into popular high-yielding rice varieties of countries in South and Southeast Asia.

"The Sub1 project provides an excellent example of a productive research collaboration between a breeder and two molecular geneticists," Ronald said. "Each of the groups brought distinct expertise to the project.

"Dave Mackill led the breeding work and Julia Bailey-Serres, who joined the project in 2002, is leading the work to understand how regulation of the ERF genes control the plant's complex response to submergence stress," she said.

The new rice varieties recently passed field tests in Bangladesh and India, and will be made available within two years to smallholder farmers in flood-prone areas whose crop yields are often destroyed by seasonal rains.

"In Bangladesh and India, four million tons of rice are lost to flooding every year, which is enough rice to feed 30 million people for one year," Ronald said.

The USDA funding of the Rice Sub1 Project began in the mid-1990s with two grants to Ronald and Mackill totaling nearly $490,000. Subsequently, three other USDA grants were awarded to Bailey-Serres and Ronald, bringing the total of USDA funding to the research team to nearly $1.45 million.

This will be the second time in a row that USDA's Discovery Award is presented to a UC Davis scientist. The 2007 Discovery Award went to plant sciences professor Jorge Dubcovsky, in recognition of his genetics research focused on enhancing the nutritional value of wheat.

About UC Davis

For 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has 31,000 students, an annual research budget that exceeds $500 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges -- Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science -- and advanced degrees from five professional schools: Education, Law, Management, Medicine, and Veterinary Medicine. The UC Davis School of Medicine and UC Davis Medical Center are located on the Sacramento campus near downtown.

Almost half of women surveyed in a national poll said they had failed to seek health care for themselves or their families over the previous year because the cost was too high.

Women living in the most deprived areas of England are nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer than their affluent counterparts – according to a report presented by national cancer director Professor Mike Richards at the Britain Against Cancer conference today (Tuesday).