India gay ruling boosts AIDS fight but stigma lingers - NEW DELHI - An Indian court ruling to decriminalize gay sex will boost the fight against AIDS, but a powerful stigma against homosexuality and uneven quality of healthcare will still hamper efforts, a top AIDS worker said.

Many parents lack confidence in changing behavior - Many parents don't have enough self-confidence to implement and enforce changes in their child's behavior that will reduce the child's risk of obesity, researchers from Harvard Medical School in Boston have found.

Wealth, disability factors in alcohol-longevity tie - Moderate drinkers are wealthier, more educated and less likely to be disabled than teetotalers, which explains some, but not all, of the association between moderate alcohol consumption and longer life, according to a new study.

Fertility drug combo promising in older women - The combination of two drugs -- Femara (letrozole) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) -- could be of benefit in infertile women of advanced reproductive age undergoing intrauterine insemination, results of a study indicate.

Fireworks Are Packed With Chemistry - Why do some fireworks shoot golden flaming balls while others produce green sparks? It's just chemistry. Bassam Shakhashiri, chemistry professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explains the science of fireworks.

Celebrate July 4th With Backyard Science - In case you forgot to pick up some sparklers for the holiday weekend, don't despair. Ira Flatow and a team of backyard science experts explain how to (safely) make firecrackers, smoke bombs and even an Oreo-fueled rocket, all while learning some basic scientific principles.

Astronomers See A New Class of Black Hole - Scientists say X-ray data collected by the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton spacecraft show evidence of a new type of black hole in a galaxy about 290 million light years from Earth. Astronomer Sean Farrell explains what the discovery might tell us about galaxy evolution.

Causes: supporting the life of the rainforest - ad - Help the Amazon Rainforest survive and thrive. You can make a difference and help save this natural wonder, simply by supporting businesses that absolutely rely on the rainforest's survival. By supporting what you believe in... and the companies that promote the ethical use of our planet... you can make a huge difference.

10 Worst States for Top Nursing Homes - Most of the states with the lowest percentages of homes with the top rating are in the South.

10 Best States for Top Nursing Homes - Half of the states with the largest percentages of homes with a 5-star rating are in New England.

Diabetes Experts Recommend A1c Testing for Diabetes Diagnosis - An international committee of diabetes experts has recommended that the hemoglobin A1c assay, which now is routinely used to monitor the course of disease in patients with diabetes and signal the pending development of diabetic complications, should become the new "gold standard" for diagnosing diabetes.

CDC Urges Health Care Professionals to Use Proper H1N1 Infection Control Measures - At least 81 health care workers across the country have confirmed or probable cases of novel influenza A (H1N1), evidence that some workers are not following CDC guidance for personal protection from infectious disease. Michael Bell, M.D., associate director for infection control in CDC's Division of Healthcare and Quality Promotion, said in a June 19 news conference that health care workers should use fit-tested respirators, gloves and eye protection when caring for a patient with probable ...

WHO Declares Pandemic, But Little Else Changes - The World Health Organization, or WHO, raised its influenza pandemic alert to its highest level -- phase six -- on June 11, but the distinction is not expected to have much immediate impact on how public health officials, physicians and others deal with the novel H1N1 influenza virus in the United States. Still, says one Academy leader, it offers FPs an opportunity to examine their practices' current pandemic readiness levels.

H1N1 Outbreak Shows Flaws in Pandemic Preparedness, Says Report - A new report from the Trust for America's Health gives U.S. public health officials high marks for communication, coordination and ability to adapt to a rapidly changing situation during the recent outbreak of novel H1N1 influenza, but the report also says the outbreak revealed that the nation's public health capacity would be overwhelmed by a more severe or widespread outbreak.

Significant Proportion of Americans Experience Problems With Care Coordination, Survey Finds - More than four in 10 Americans have experienced at least minor problems with coordinating care among different physicians, and one in six has had "major problems" coordinating health care services. That's according to a new survey issued by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Harvard School of Public Health and National Public Radio.

Academy Resources Encourage Dialogue About Fitness - The AAFP is distributing a children's book and DVD this month to 36,000 active members and more than 450 residency programs. The waiting room materials are intended to encourage patients to talk to their family physicians about fitness and increase patient counseling. The end goal is to reduce childhood obesity.

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Drug curbs severe facial pain: study - Results of a small study suggest that the drug pregabalin (sold as Lyrica) can reduce stabbing facial pain and other symptoms stemming from a condition called trigeminal neuralgia.

Scrub tech may have exposed thousands to hepatitis - DENVER - A former surgery technician may have exposed thousands of Colorado patients to hepatitis C when she swapped her own dirty syringes for ones filled with a powerful narcotic, federal authorities said Thursday....

Advocates are back with real health care stories - When carpenter Greg Douglas crashed his pickup truck, his toolbox hit him and smashed his ribs and collarbone. After a month in the hospital, the medical bills hit him even harder, totaling $165,000....