By the time boys are 8 or 10, they’re steeped in Marvel action heroes with bulging, oversized muscles and rock-hard abs. By adolescence, they’re deluged with social media streams of bulked-up male bodies. The underlying messages about power and worth

Continue ReadingA muscle-building obsession in boys: What to know and do

When you first learned the facts about pregnancy — from a parent, perhaps, or a friend — you probably didn’t learn that up to one in three ends in a miscarriage. What causes miscarriage? How is it treated? And why

Continue ReadingWill miscarriage care remain available?

When a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test produces an abnormal result, the next step is usually a prostate biopsy. A biopsy can confirm or rule out a cancer diagnosis, but it also has certain drawbacks. Prostate biopsies are invasive procedures

Continue ReadingNew urine test may help some men with elevated PSA avoid biopsy

A bird flu strain that began circulating in 2020 continues to evolve globally and locally within the United States. If you’re wondering what this means, understanding the basics — what bird flu is, how it spreads, whether foods are safe,

Continue ReadingA bird flu primer: What to know and do

Each year, more than 4.5 million dog bites occur in the United States. Despite what you might assume, most of these incidents don’t happen when an unfamiliar dog attacks someone in a park or another outdoor location. Instead, most dog

Continue ReadingDog bites: How to prevent or treat them

If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then consider the tongue a sort of check-engine light for the body. The tongue’s appearance gives doctors an idea about certain aspects of your health, and its color is an important

Continue ReadingWhat color is your tongue? What’s healthy, what’s not?

Want your child to grow up healthy, happy, smart, capable, and resilient? Play with them. Infants and toddlers thrive on playful games that change as they grow. Why does play matter during the first few years of life? More than

Continue ReadingWhy play? Early games build bonds and brain

One of the more unusual conditions affecting the hands and fingers is Dupuytren’s contracture (also called Dupuytren’s disease). Here, one or more fingers become curled, which can make it difficult to pick up or hold objects or perform everyday activities.

Continue ReadingDupuytren’s contracture of the hand

An F may mean failure in school, but the letter earns high marks in your diet. The two biggest dietary Fs — fiber and fermented foods — are top priorities to help maintain healthy digestion, and they potentially offer much

Continue ReadingHow — and why — to fit more fiber and fermented food into your meals

Concussion is one of the most common injuries to the brain, affecting about two million children and teens every year. It is a particular kind of injury that happens when a blow to the head or somewhere else on the

Continue ReadingConcussion in children: What to know and do