Health and Medical

When it comes to a pandemic flu outbreak, some of the most vulnerable people are the 2.5 million residents of the nation's 18,000 residential care (nursing home) facilities. A team of researchers is figuring out what interventions offer the best protection at various levels of outbreak. --by Skip Derra

Beans, beans, the musical fruit. The more you eat, the more you toot! Everyone remembers the childhood rhyme. But is it true? ASU nutritionist Donna Winham tested the theory. --by Melissa Crytzer Fry

If you want to understand how likely doctors are to use information technology, look at how they get paid. --by Carrie Barnett

Scientists have learned plenty about how life in outer space affects the human body. But what about germs and other nasty microorganisms? Cheryl Nickerson wants to know how disease-causing pathogens themselves are affected by space travel. --by Margaret Coulombe

Being full of beans might not be such a bad thing. ASU nutritionists say that eating a half-cup of the legumes each day may just keep the doctor away. --by Melissa Crytzer Fry

By attempting to solve avian E. coli infections in poultry, ASU researchers are hoping to also protect people against Salmonella, the leading cause of food-borne illness. --by Joe Caspermeyer

We've all heard that playing video games can improve your hand-eye coordination--usually from kids trying to evade mom's order to go play outside. But those kids may be on to something. New research shows that playing a video game on the Nintendo Wii can help medical students become better surgeons by improving hand dexterity. --by Joe Kullman

Anyone who watches television in the United States might logically conclude that this is a nation plagued by allergies, depression and arthritis. Ads for medicines to address such conditions make it seem as though ailment sufferers outnumber the healthy. But, it wasn't always so. --by Carrie Barnett

Taking apple cider vinegar at bedtime favorably affects waking blood glucose in Type 2 diabetics, according to a preliminary study from ASU. --by Christine Lambrakis

Severely low-carbohydrate diets might help you lose weight fast, but they can also lead to bone loss, high cholesterol and low energy, according to ASU researchers and their colleagues. --by Christine Lambrakis