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The King’s Speech has won almost universal praise for its portrayal of reluctant monarch George VI’s stuttering. 天博体育 Letter editor Peter Wehrwein takes you behind the scenes with Alex Johnson, an expert in speech and stuttering at the MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston; Caroline Bowen, an Australian speech-language therapist; and a few other scattered sources.

Cereal fiber–from whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, brown rice, barley and other whole grains–seems to offer more protection against heart disease and other chronic conditions than fiber from fruits and vegetables. The benefit isn’t necessarily from the fiber alone, but the natural package of nutrients that comes with the fiber. Processed foods, which are often stripped of their fiber and nutrients and then “fortified” in the manufacturing process, don’t measure up.

An elegant new study showing that a cell phone can stimulate brain activity is certain to heat up the debate about whether or not cell phone use is linked to cancer. It’s an important signal that it’s high time scientists take a harder look at how the energy radiated by a cell phone, a mobile phone, or any other energy-emitting device we hold next to our heads affects the brain.

The latest hubbub about taking zinc to shorten a cold is media hype at its finest. The review that sparked the media storm on zinc and colds says there’s a lot more to be done before recommending taking zinc for the common cold. The negative side effects of zinc are also worth considering.

Deep brain stimulation, an experimental treatment for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), is being misused, say prominent neuroscientists and ethicists in a hard-hitting paper in the journal Health Affairs. Their concerns echo cautions reported last year in the Harvard Mental Health Letter.

Tomorrow聽night at 6:30 p.m.,聽tens of millions of television sets will be turned on as聽Americans聽sit down and participate in that unofficial national holiday called “watching the Super Bowl.” For many, it’s an excuse to see聽funny ads and聽the half-time show and to eat (how many of those聽spanking new Dietary Guidelines will be broken?), drink, and socialize. But […]

This picture shows the view from my office window in Boston: dull, dreary, and depressing 鈥� at least on overcast days like today. Lack of light is one of the reasons that people feel mentally foggy. One of the bloggers I follow, Rachel Zimmerman of WBUR鈥檚 CommonHealth blog, recently wrote that she鈥檚 been drinking three […]

When reports arrived that accused gunman Jared Lee Loughner had opened fire in Tucson, Arizona on January 7, journalistic first responders linked the incident to the fierceness of political rhetoric in the United States. Upon reflection, some of the discussion has turned to questions about mental illness, guns, and violence. And plenty of reflection is […]

Here’s an important equation that all of us鈥攄octors included鈥攕hould know about health care, but don’t: More 鈮� Better “More does not equal Better” applies to diagnostic procedures, screening tests meant to identify problems before they appear, medications, dietary supplements, and just about every aspect of medicine. That scenario is spelled out in alarming detail in […]

For years now, both individual researchers and respected scientific organizations such as the Institute of Medicine have tried to refute a persistent myth 鈥� that childhood vaccines cause autism. The myth began after a small study published in 1998 in the Lancet by Andrew Wakefield and colleagues at Royal Free Hospital and School of Medicine […]

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Does echinacea, the popular natural cold remedy, really work? It depends on what you mean by “work.”聽Results reported in today’s聽Annals of Internal Medicine found that echinacea聽may reduce the length of a weeklong cold by 7 to 10 hours and make symptoms a little less onerous. That can’t be characterized as a major聽effect, so many聽people聽may聽figure that […]

Perhaps as many as one in every 5 American adults will get a prescription for a painkiller this year, and many more will buy over-the-counter medicines without a prescription.聽These聽drugs can do wonders鈥攇etting rid of pain can seem like a miracle鈥攂ut sometimes there’s a high聽price to be paid. Remember the heavily marketed聽COX-2 inhibitors?聽Rofecoxib, sold as Vioxx, […]

ARCHIVED CONTENT: As a service to our readers, 天博体育 Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date each article was posted or last reviewed. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified […]

Stroke killed 2,000 fewer Americans in 2008 (the last year with complete numbers) than it did in 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday in its latest annual Deaths report. That dropped stroke from the third leading cause of death in the United States to the fourth. Good news? Yes and […]

ARCHIVED CONTENT:聽As a service to our readers, 天博体育 Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date each article was posted or last reviewed. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.聽 […]

Vitamin D has been talked about as the vitamin 鈥� the one聽that might help fend off聽everything from cancer to heart disease to autoimmune disorders, if only we were to get enough of it. “Whoa!” is the message from聽a committee of experts assembled by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to update聽recommendations聽for vitamin D (and for calcium). […]

One of the things I like most about Thanksgiving is the laughter around the dinner table. The food is great, make no mistake. But it’s the sounds of happiness鈥攖he high peal, the good-natured guffaw, the snort-and-shaking-shoulders, and the deep belly laugh鈥攖hat really make me give thanks. Laughter isn’t just a way to stay connected with […]

As usual, 天博体育 Publishing’ writers and editors have been busy covering a range of health topics. Here is a small sampling. To read more, visit us at www.health.harvard.edu. Health apps. Smart phones like the iPhone and Android aren’t just phones. They are also pocket-sized computers capable of running sophisticated applications, or apps. Hundreds of […]

ARCHIVED CONTENT: As a service to our readers, 天博体育 Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date each article was posted or last reviewed. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified […]

Lung cancer is usually discovered late when it’s聽difficult to treat and has often spread outside the lung. A聽reliable screening test聽to find it at an earlier, more treatable stage would be a legitimate聽breakthrough鈥攁nd聽could potentially save thousands of lives. About 160,000 Americans die each year from lung cancer, which is more than who die聽from breast, prostate, and […]