Ore. woman gives birth, didn't know she was pregnant: Common?
Kim Nelson of Portland, Ore., and her surprise bundle of joy, Paige
/ KGW(CBS) Talk about a surprise. Kim Nelson went to the hospital with stomach pains, only to discover she was about to give birth.
"I was 39 weeks and didn't have the slightest clue," the Portland, Ore. woman told the city's NBC affiliate, KGW.
PICTURES: 12 crazy myths about pregnancy
Nelson thought her appendix had burst, prompting her trip to the hospital. Pregnancy wasn't on her mind because she wasn't experiencing morning sickness, and the mother-of-two thought her weight gain was a result of other factors.
Continue »
Healthpop video: Chemical cans, burning undies
(CBS) Happy Thanksgiving, from your friends at HealthPop.
There's been a lot of talk this week about the salt and calorie dangers lurking in the average Thanksgiving feast, but in today's holiday edition we ask ourselves - can one big meal really kill you?
The answer may shock you.
Continue »
Charla Nash shows off new face after transplant
Charla Nash before the attack (left), immediately after surgery, and in recent interview.
/ FriendsofCharlaNash.com / Brigham & Women's Hospital / TODAYPICTURES: 7 amazing face transplants (graphic images)
"I've had people tell me I'm beautiful," Nash said in the interview that aired Monday. "And they were not telling me I was beautiful before."
Continue »
HealthPop video: Heart-stopping sex?
(CBS) Are soft drinks dangerous? Folks have heard it all before when it comes to sugary soda, but a surprising new study suggests women who chug two sodas per day significantly up their risk for heart disease.
Continue »Rugby jock says stroke turned him gay
istockphoto
(CBS) Strokes can have strange consequences. Some stroke victims wind up with different accents, others with different personalities. Chris Birch said he discovered he was gay when he woke up after a stroke.
Continue »
Calif. conjoined twins separated: How are they?
Conjoined twins Angelica and Angelina Sabuco
/ AP(CBS/AP) Conjoined twins Angelica and Angelina Sabuco were separated Tuesday, following a nine-hour operation.
PICTURES: Conjoined twins Angelica and Angelina Sabuco
PICTURES: Conjoined twins: 34 amazing photos (GRAPHIC IMAGES)
The operation on the two-year-old sisters- who were joined at the chest and abdomen - was performed by a team of more than 40 at Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.
Continue »
Surgery under way to separate conjoined twins
Dr. Gary Hartman (left) performs surgery on conjoined twins on Tuesday, Nov. 1
/ APPICTURES: Conjoined twins Angelica and Angelina Sabuco
The complicated operation to separate the two-year-olds began at 6:30 a.m. local time at Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto. If things go according to plan, the Philippines-born girls will be out of surgery by mid-afternoon, hospital spokeswoman Reena Mukamal said.
Continue »Scientists engineer blood protein from rice
istockphoto
(CBS) Maybe you can't get blood from a stone, but how about blood from rice? Scientists have found a way to use rice to "grow" the critical human blood protein albumin, which is used to make vaccines and to treat cirrhosis of the liver and other medical problems.
"It looks like an interesting technological step forward," Dr. Richard J. Benjamin, chief medical officer for the American National Red Cross, told Fox News. "It could potentially produce large quantities in a reasonable time."
Continue »
Conjoined twins slated to be separated in Calif.
Angelica (left) and Angelina Sabuco
/ Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford/Sabuco family(CBS/AP) "I want them to live normally, like other children." That's what Ginady Sabuco says she hopes for her two-year-old conjoined twins, who are scheduled to be surgically separated Tuesday at a California hospital after months of planning.
PICTURES - Conjoined twins: 34 amazing photos (graphic images)
Doctors at Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital are planning a nine-hour procedure that, if successful, will allow Angelica and Angelina Sabuco to live independently from each other.
Continue »
FDA warns of decorative contacts danger
FDA
(CBS) Decorative contacts might make for a terrific Halloween costume. But the FDA has issued a warning to consumers, saying that the contacts can cause potentially blinding eye problems.
PICTURES: Halloween: 10 dumb ways to end up in the ER
Case in point: Laura Butler, a woman who dropped $30 on a pair of blue lenses at a beach souvenir shop, which resulted in $2,000 in medical bills and almost cost her her eyesight. No instructions came with the lenses, and the store didn't sell solution, so she just popped them. Soon after, she felt excruciating pain - and it took her nearly 20 minutes to remove the lenses, which had stuck to her eyeballs like suction cups.
Continue »Guilty plea spotlights illegal organ trafficking
Levy Izhak Rosenblum in Newark, N.J. on July 23, 2009.
/ AP Photo/Mel Evans(CBS/AP) Was it organ theft - or a life-saving service? In what's believed to be the first-ever proven case of organ trafficking in the U.S., a New York man admitted in federal court in Trenton that he had brokered three illegal kidney transplants.
Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, 60, said he had helped secure the organs from people in Israel for U.S.-based customers in exchange for payments of $120,000 or more. His attorneys said Rosenbaum had performed a lifesaving service for desperately ill people who had been languishing on official transplant waiting lists.
Continue »
Python heart may point to healthier human hearts
Flickr: Arno & Louise Wildlife
(CBS/AP) Pythons may not be the world's most talkative creatures. But researchers say their unusual "expandable" hearts may speak volumes about heart health in humans.
PICTURES - Snake! 15 deadliest serpents
"It's this amazing biology," Leslie Leinwand - a University of Colorado at Boulder molecular biologist who studies cardiovascular disease in humans - said about pythons' hearts. "They're not swelling up. They're building (heart) muscle."
Continue »
Does rare genetic disorder hold key to autism?
Terry Monkaba
(CBS) Williams syndrome is a rare genetic disorder marked by learning difficulties, heart problems, and odd facial features, including a short, upturned nose and a small chin. But Williams has been in the news recently because people with it tend to be very, very sociable - and some scientists think research into the disorder may help explain the links between genes and behavior.
PICTURES - Williams syndrome: One boy's inspiring story
"We're on the brink of a whole new world," Dr. Ursula Bellugi, a long-time Williams researcher at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif., told msnbc.com. Speaking of a large-scale research project she's involved with - one supported by a new $5.5.-million grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development - she said, "We want to know: Are there links across the levels from the genes to behavior."
Continue »
Super broccoli debuts - what's so super?
A pack of Beneforte super broccoli is shown at a branch of Marks & Spencer in London. The broccoli contains up to three times the amount of glucoraphanin, a nutrient thought to prevent heart disease.
/ APMeet "super broccoli."
PICTURES: Pesticide alert: 12 most contaminated fruits and veggies
British scientists have created a super breed of the love-it or hate-it vegetable that contains nearly three times the normal amount of glucoraphanin - a plant nutrient thought to prevent heart disease by breaking down fat in the body.
Continue »
Mich. restaurant creates 338-pound burger
Mallie's Sports Grill & Bar's "Absolutely Ridiculous Burger"
/ Mike Matkin/Mallie's Sports Grill(CBS/AP) Super-sized may be an understatement when it comes to this big burger.
PICTURES: Flab fest: 8 most shocking restaurant dishes
Mallie's Sports Grill & Bar of Southgate, Mich., created a 3-foot tall, 338-pound burger aptly named the "Absolutely Ridiculous Burger," The Detroit News reported.
Continue »