despite well-publicized stories of people dropping dead during or after running a marathon, the race isn't all that risky, researchers found.

The death of a loved one can literally be heart-breaking, or at least heart-attack-inducing, researchers have found.

Among a cohort of 1,985 people, the rate of myocardial infarction was more than 21 times higher than normal within 24 hours of losing a loved one.

Concussions are getting much-needed attention in the press, especially given the short- and long-term cognitive loss, early-onset dementia, physical disability and even death resulting from traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Smokers are no more likely to give up cigarettes for good by using nicotine replacement products such as patches and gum than if they did not use those quit-smoking aids, a prospective cohort study showed.

Physical activity during leisure time and on the job was associated with a lower likelihood of having an MI, an analysis of the large INTERHEART study showed.

Staying physically fit throughout life may well be one of the easiest, cheapest, and most effective ways to avoid the coronary care unit.

Community-based weight-loss programs have not been shown to be effective at reducing the incidence of diabetes, so implementing a national program would likely be money down the drain, a diabetes expert said.

The chief scientific and medical officer of the American Diabetes Association for nearly 25 years said that "community programs are ineffective at achieving weight loss.'"

He states that there are two ways to dramatically reduce the toll of diabetes: One is to detect diabetes early and then treat it so effectively that complications from the disease are practically zero. The other is to prevent diabetes before it even happens.

"In sum, to date, we have not seen a demonstration of any program that results in a clinically meaningful weight loss that can be maintained for more than two to three years in the great majority of participants and at a low cost."

Older women who take statins may be at an increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

Nicotine patches may sharpen memory and other mental skills for nonsmokers with mild cognitive impairment, a preliminary study suggested.

A recent study concludes that "the combination of upper cervical and upper thoracic HVLA thrust manipulation is appreciably more effective in the short term than nonthrust mobilization in patients with mechanical neck pain.