Age-releated macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of vision loss in people 55 years and older. In people with AMD the central part of the retina, called the macula, deteriorates, causing loss of central vision. Severe AMD affects more than 1.8 million Americans, and an additional 7.3 million people are at high risk […]

People who stop smoking before they are 50 years of age cut their risk of death by 50 percent. By age 64, the death rate among former smokers who stay quit is about the same as it is among people who have never smoked. These figures, reported by Ellen Gritz, Chair of Behavioral Sciences at

Almost one out of five (18%) of pregnant women will develop gestational diabetes, or diabetes during pregnancy. Gestational diabetes usually develops between the 24th and 28th week of pregnancy. Unlike other forms of diabetes, gestational diabetes usually goes away after pregnancy. Up to 50 percent of women with gestational diabetes will, however, develop permanent type

Wide fluctuations in blood pressure may indicate an increased risk of stroke, suggests a study reported in the Archives of Neurology in November, 2011. For the study, researchers followed 686 people over two years. None of the participants had dementia. Each participant visited the doctor three times during the study period; blood pressure was measured

Up to half of women who are infertile may have endometriosis. Endometriosis is a disorder in which bits of tissue from the inner lining of the uterus (the endometrium) grow inside a woman’s body, outside of the uterus. Patches of misplaced endometrial tissue implant themselves on organs outside of the uterus, such as the ovaries,

Before the discovery of insulin, most children diagnosed with diabetes would die within a year — as parents and doctors stood by, unable to do anything to help them. Then in 1922, a young surgeon named Frederick Banting and his assistant Charles Best, working with chemist James Collip, developed a form of purified insulin. They

Controlling your salt shaker could help you prevent or control high blood pressure. You can cut your risk of developing high blood pressure — or help lower your blood pressure if it’s already high — by reducing the salt in your diet. In most people, blood pressure begins to decrease soon after sodium (salt) intake

Air pollution has been a problem since ancient times. When anthropologists analyzed the remains of the Tyrolean Iceman (“Otzi”) — who lived 5,300 years ago — in September of 1991, they found dust and carbon particles in his lung tissue. While most of the dust and carbon in “Otzi’s” lungs probably came from fires used