Face transplant "feels natural," recipient says
Full face transplant recipient Dallas Wiens (in sunglasses) with doctors at a news conference at Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston on Monday, May 9.
/ AP Photo/Steven Sennes(CBS/AP) "Daddy, you're so handsome." That's what the country's newest face transplant recipient said his young daughter told him when she saw him after his operation.
PICTURES - Dallas Wiens' amazing face transplant
Sporting a goatee and dark sunglasses, Dallas Wiens (pronounced WEENS) joined surgeons Monday at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston in his first public appearance since the 15-hour procedure in March.
Wiens was blinded and his facial features burned away when he hit a power line while painting a church in November 2008. But he was upbeat about his new nose, lips, skin, muscle, and nerves - all from an anonymous donor.
Continue »Are docs too quick to order CT scans for kids?
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(CBS) When kids get conked on the noggin, many emergency doctors are quick to order a CT scan to rule out traumatic brain injury (TBI) - often at the urging of worried parents. But a new study suggests that approach may be bad medicine.
Why is that? Because in addition their high cost, CT scans expose kids to ionizing radiation that may increase the risk of developing cancer down the road.
Continue »More colleges now welcoming autistic students
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(CBS) Autistic kids can't succeed at college? Try telling that to the many colleges and universities that have recently established special programs to help students with Asperger syndrome and other autism spectrum disorders.
Clip-on child seats dangerous, government says
Metoo clip-on seat
/ AP/Consumer Product Safety Commission(CBS/AP) They're unsafe. That's what the government is saying about tens of thousands of tabletop feeding chairs sold for babies and toddlers.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission says kids could be hurt in certain versions of the "metoo" clip-on tabletop chairs imported by Colorado-based phil&teds USA and sold online as well as at nationwide retailers such as Target and Toys R Us.
Continue »Gay men almost twice as likely to have cancer
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(CBS) Cancer is always bad news, but a new study suggests homosexuals may struggle more than the rest.
Researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health found that gay men were 1.9 times more likely to report a cancer diagnosis than their straight counterparts. And lesbian and bisexual female cancer survivors were twice as likely to report fair or poor health compared to straight women. That comes from analysis of more than 120,000 people in a California health survey.
Continue »Cancer in the 1800s (GRAPHIC PICTURES)
Dr. Stanley B. Burns
(CBS) "You have cancer."
Even today, those are some of the scariest words a patient can hear. But things were way worse in the 1800s and early 1900s, when there were no CT scans and when tumor-killing drugs and other advanced treatments were still a far-off dream.
PICTURES: Cancer care in the 1800's
Though he's an eye doctor, Dr. Stanley B. Burns knows a bit about 19th Century cancer care. That's because he possesses one of the world's largest collections of vintage medical photographs, including many images of long-dead cancer patients and doctors.
Continue »Just how common is autism? What new study says
Autism spectrum disorder may be going under-diagnosed in U.S., study suggests.
/ istockphoto(CBS/AP) How many kids have an autism spectrum disorder? U.S. estimates have suggested a rate of about one in 100 children, but a new study from South Korea puts the number at a surprisingly high one in 38.
The scientists behind the new study don't think South Korea has more autistic children than the U.S., but instead that autism often goes undiagnosed in many nations. U.S. estimates are based on education and medical records, not the more time-consuming survey conducted in South Korea.
Continue »Do fat people make you fat too?
Seeing overweight people eat might lead to this
/ istockphoto(CBS) Why is it so hard to lose weight? People offer up all sorts of explanations, from being unable to resist the temptation of fatty food to being too busy to work out. But a new study seems to suggest a rather surprising cause:
Simply looking at fat people.
Continue »Seve Ballesteros' brain tumor: How deadly?
Seve Ballesteros at a tournament in Hoover, Ala. on May 18, 2007
/ AP(CBS/AP) Seve Ballesteros earned fame battling other golfing greats on the pro tour, but in recent years the 54-year-old Spaniard has been engaged in a different sort of fight.
He's been battling a brain tumor - and the fight isn't going well.
Cerebral aneurysm: 8 ways to trigger brain bleed
Cerebral aneurysms can be deadly if they rupture
/ CBS(CBS) Can blowing your nose be deadly? It can if you have an aneurysm in your brain, a.k.a. a cerebral aneurysm. And nose-blowing is just one of eight everyday activities that can trigger a cerebral aneurysm to burst, according to new research published in the May 5 issue of the journal Stroke.
PICTURES - Brain bleed: 8 things that rupture aneurysms
Continue »Gluten-Free Diets All the Rage, But Why?
Kelly Keough's sugar-free, gluten-free cupcakes.
/ Alexandra Weiss Photography(CBS/AP) What's the great shakes with gluten-free eating.
Celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Old Spice guy Isaiah Mustufa sing its praises. Chelsea Clinton's wedding cake was baked without gluten, and grocery store shelves are increasingly stacked with gluten-free pasta, , crackers, cereals and beer.
Why is gluten-free now the "it" diet?
Continue »Obesity in kids: Is bottle-feeding to blame?
Obesity in a bottle?
/ iStockphotoLetting a toddler continue to drink from a baby bottle may be a big fat mistake. Kids who stay glued to the bottle after age two are more likely to become obese, according to a new study.
Continue »What science says about prayer's healing power
Today is the National Day of Prayer.
/ istockphoto(CBS) Religious people take on faith the healing power of prayer - on today's National Day of Prayer as on other days. And even hard-nosed doctors who have studied spirituality say science supports the belief that prayer brings health benefits - though not necessarily because God is listening.
Several studies have linked prayer to better health. A 2001 study showed that reciting rosary prayers or yoga mantras can enhance heart rhythm and breathing, and a 2011 study published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine linked prayer to pain relief.
Research has also shown that the death rate of people who attend church regularly is about 30 percent lower than that among people who spend their Sundays doing something else, according to Dr. Lynda Powell, chairman of preventive medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
What explains churchgoers' lower death rate? Is it because God smiles on the faithful?
Continue »Prostate cancer: Is prompt surgery best bet?
Prostate cancer surgery- earlier the better?
/ iStockphoto(CBS/AP) Men diagnosed with prostate cancer often face a tough decision: head to the operating table right away, or wait to see if the cancer gets worse.
A new study out of Sweden might help patients with this difficult choice.
Continue »Are health police trying to burn tanning salons?
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(CBS/AP) ALBANY, N.Y. - For New York teens that love to tan, a new proposed law may burn. The state is angling to become the first to ban indoor tanning for minors.
The big fear, of course, is skin cancer. A 2010 study found regular use of tanning beds can triple the risk for melanoma, the most deadly form of the disease. The risk was quadruple for people using high-pressure tanning beds, which emit more UVA radiation.
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