Medicine | featured news

For some people with diabetes, surgery may be the best medicine. Two studies have found that weight loss operations worked much better than the standard treatments to control Type 2 diabetes in obese and overweight people. Those who had surgery to staple the stomach and reroute the small intestine were much more likely to have their diabetes go into complete remission, or to need less medicine, than people given the typical regimen of drugs, diet and exercise, the studies found. The surgery also helped many to lower their blood pressure and cholesterol.

Researchers believe they have identified why a mutation in a particular gene can lead to obesity.

We all want to think of medicine as an honorable profession and that the people in it work with integrity, but a new survey shows that may not be exactly true.

Ritalin and similar medicines that millions of children and teens take to curb hyperactivity and boost attention do not raise their risk of serious heart problems, the largest safety study of these drugs concludes.

President Obama Monday is pushing drug makers and federal regulators to do more to address dangerous shortages of critical medicines, sidestepping a deadlocked Congress that has not moved legislation to help patients suffering from deadly illnesses.

Steve Jobs had a long run with a rare form of cancer (a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor) that is sometimes curable by early surgery. While I was not his physician and don't have access to the details of his illness or its treatment, assertions that his use of alternative medicine shortened his life strike me as uninformed.

The prize, which cited advances in immunology, was called into question because Dr. Ralph M. Steinman died on Friday, and Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously.

Watson, the IBM supercomputer that defeated the world’s best “Jeopardy!” playersthis year, has found a job in medicine. It won’t be consulting with patients, but a version of the game-show champion could appear in examination rooms, offering assistance to flesh-and-blood physicians. But how soon might you see Dr.

Vaccines can cause certain side effects but serious ones appear very rare - and there's no link with autism and Type 1 diabetes, the Institute of Medicine says in the first comprehensive safety review in 17 years....

When minor medical issues crop up (nosebleeds, insect stings, dandruff!), chances are your medicine cabinet already contains some effective—and surprising—fixes for what ails you.