A small amount of bleeding was detected in and around the brains of one-fourth of babies delivered vaginally in the first study to use MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) to examine the brains of a large group of infants soon after birth. The findings are published in the journal Radiology (http://radiology.rsnajnls.org/)..

Many consumers are running up credit card bills trying to pay for their health care.

Japanese officials have confirmed the country's third outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in the past month, following the deaths of dozens of birds at a poultry farm in the Okayama prefecture..

A quick and easy way to eliminate many of the bacteria, viruses, parasites and spores in the average kitchen is to sterilize household sponges in a microwave oven..

Scientists have identfied another gene linked to higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, according to a report published in the journal Nature Genetics (http://www.nature.com/ng/index.html)..

Under a proposal that President Bush will outline Tuesday in his State of the Union address, people who buy private health insurance, as well as those who get coverage through their employers, would be entitled to tax deductions of $7,500 for individuals and $15,000 for families..

In the years between 1998 and 2005, the amount of nicotine inhaled by a smoker increased by by 1.6 percent per year on average, or 11 percent overall, Harvard researchers discovered..

The class of cholesterol-lowering drugs known as "statins," which account for more drug sales worldwide than any other class of medications, has been linked to an increased risk of Parkinson's disease in research carried out at the University of North Carolina..

Los Angeles is considering following in New York City's footsteps by banning the use of artificial trans fats in restaurant food. On Tuesday, county supervisors voted to study the feasibility of regulating use of the ingredient county-wide or in unincorporated areas..

A simple, blood test costing $20 to $40 may be useful for identifying individuals at the highest risk of suffering a stroke or heart attack, suggests a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (http://www.jama)..

The US Food and Drug Administration (http://www.fda.gov) has approved Slentrol, a new drug to combat obesity in dogs, which the agency says is on the rise..

The UK charity Cancer Research (http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/) reported on Wednesday that about one-fourth of Brits believe that whether they get cancer or not is mainly a matter of chance..