Medications called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) might increase the risk of a type of chronic diarrhea that can lead to severe intestinal problems and, in rare cases, death, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday. These drugs—which include Nexium, Prevacid, and Prilosec—are used to treat heartburn and gastroesophogeal reflux disease (GERD).

This week in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that all boys 11 and 12 years old should be vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV) and that boys ages 13 to 21 receive “catch up” vaccinations if they haven’t already been vaccinated. This follows an action last fall when an advisory committee with the CDC recommended that 11- and 12-year-old boys receive a routine vaccine.

The drug Erivedge has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat adult patients with an advanced form of the most common type of skin cancer—Basal cell carcinoma.

Neck pain is one of the most common and disabling symptoms that prompts patients to visit emergency rooms and primary care offices. Treatment options for neck pain include the use medication; spinal manipulation therapy (SMT) applied by chiropractors, physical therapists and osteopaths; and self-mobilization exercises, or what experts call “home exercise with advice.”

If you have a heart attack in this country you’ll probably go home from the hospital sooner than if you were in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, or 13 European countries. But possibly as a result, you’re also more likely to have to return to the hospital, according to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Taking vitamin D with calcium supplements reduces fracture risk, especially for institutionalized seniors, but whether the sunshine vitamin prevents cancer is uncertain, according to a systematic review of the medical research published earlier this week in Annals of Internal Medicine.

I knew it was more than a tragic coincidence when two of my friends, middle-aged men without the usual risk factors of tobacco and alcohol use, developed late stage (IV) tongue cancer, reportedly the identical condition with which actor Michael Douglas was diagnosed last year. Cancers of the mouth and throat are growing so quickly that experts in the medical and scientific community are calling this an “epidemic,” for which middle aged men appear most at risk.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that it has taken action against eight California surgical centers and the marketing firm 1-800-GET-THIN, for misleading ads for Lap-Band, a surgically implanted gastric band for weight loss.

Many older Americans undergo routine cancer screening tests even though guidelines recommend against them, according to a study published online this week by the Archives of Internal Medicine.

That question is more complicated than it seems, according to a new study in the British Medical Journal. It considered not just the potential benefits of routine breast-cancer screening, but the risks, too.

When it comes to relieving depression, none of the 13 available second-generation antidepressants, such as Cymbalta, Prozac and Zoloft, are any better than older drugs, according to a study out yesterday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor goes generic tomorrow, but you won’t save a lot of money switching to it, at least for now. And even if it could help you save money, it's important to know that Lipitor is often not the best first choice for people who need to lower their LDL (bad) cholesterol.

It's long been known that large doses of acetaminophen (Tylenol and generic) taken all at once can be fatal. But it turns out that cumulative smaller doses that exceed the maximum daily amount might be even riskier. These so-called staggered overdoses are more likely to damage the liver and other organs and increase the risk of dying, according to a study published today in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

High oral doses of milk thistle, a botanical supplement used extensively by patients with chronic liver disease, is no more effective than placebo against chronic hepatitis C, according to preliminary findings of a clinical trial presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) in San Francisco earlier this month.

New guidelines that recommend cholesterol testing for all children between the ages of 9 and 11 and again as young adults 17-21 years of age are likely to surprise most parents and stimulate vigorous debate among physicians.