A violent jolt or blow to the head can cause a traumatic brain injury (TBI), a condition that can cause temporary or lasting damage to the brain. TBIs can even cause changes to the tiny blood vessels in the brain. Now researchers think that these changes to the brain's blood vessels are linked to a number of cognitive symptoms, according to a new s...

If you are between the ages of 40 and 50, and are experiencing severe symptoms during or after your period, you may have adenomyosis. This affects your uterus, the hollow muscular organ that carries the baby during pregnancy. Your uterus is lined with endometrial tissue, also known as the endometrium. This tissue thickens during the menstrual cycle...

Almost every medical student learns about the old adage Dr. Theodore Woodward coined in the late 1940s that says, "When you hear hoofbeats , think of horses not zebras." The intent is to teach medical students to look for the most common explanation for a patient's illness. Most people with high blood pressure consume too much salt, do not exercise...

Traditional mammograms are less effective at detecting breast cancer among women with dense breast tissue , so many women request additional screening after a negative mammogram. Results from a new study suggest that abbreviated breast MRI (AB-MRI) may be a valuable tool for detecting cancer in these women. Researchers recruited 195 women into the ...

Mental health issues, such as dementia and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), can significantly decrease the quality of life in the patients who suffer them. In many cases, the signs and symptoms of these mental health issues are quite similar; this can lead to incomplete or even inaccurate diagnoses. There is an association between dementia an...

About 5.5 million people in the U.S. have Alzheimer's disease, according to the Alzheimer's Association , and that number is expected to rise to 16 million by 2050. Alzheimer's is the most common type of dementia and the 6th leading cause of death, causing more deaths every year than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. About one out of ever...

Every year in the U.S., nearly 800,000 people suffer a stroke, according to data from the CDC , and more than 600,000 of those are first-time strokes. What's more the CDC says about 130,000 people die each year as a result of strokes, which are also the leading cause of long-term disability in the U.S. Most strokes - about 85% - are ischemic stroke...

Is it possible to know as early as infancy when a child is on the autism spectrum? This is a topic debated for years in the medical community. In 2011, researchers at Stanford University discovered a distinct difference in the brain chemistry of children with autism. Specifically, they found that the gray matter had a unique organization. It is bel...