12/25/06 Benefits from aromatherapy tough to prove

• Aromatherapy -- the use of plant oils to improve well-being -- sounds lovely, doesn't it? How wonderful if a whiff of lavender could make you feel drowsy, or a little dab of rosemary oil could relieve muscle pain. There's certainly a plausible biological basis for the idea that smells can have direct effects on the body. On the yucky side, for instance, nothing makes me nauseated more quickly than the odor of those pine tree-shaped "air fresheners" that taxi drivers hang in their cabs. On the positive side, for me, the scent of a fresh Christmas tree always evokes warm memories of childhood; or the smell of cookies baking in the oven can help sell a house.

11/27/06 Physical therapy arrives, popularity surges for varied reasons

• So there I was, the quintessential battered athlete, standing in a silly, little “johnnie” so physical therapist Susan Lattanzi could put me through my paces. I had arrived on her doorstep at Mount Auburn Physical Therapy Associates in Watertown because my right shoulder was killing me. I had just joined a swim team and suddenly increased my weekly yardage substantially. By the time I saw Lattanzi, I couldn’t swim 15 minutes without my shoulder screeching in protest.

10/30/06 Endometriosis Can Afflict Young Women, Too

• Christina Shimek, a senior at St. Bernard’s High School in Fitchburg, is only 17, but she has already had more pain than many adults have in a lifetime. A year ago, Shimek, who lives with her parents in Leominster, said she woke up one morning “in excruciating pain in my lower back and pelvic area. I was in tears.” Frantic, her parents took her to the hospital, where doctors assumed the trouble was her appendix and took it out. But it turned out to be normal.

10/02/06 Bon Voyage, and Get Well!

• More and more Americans are traveling to foreign countries for surgeries, drawn by lower prices, and side trips to tourist sights. Experts advise patients to do their homework before they go. Eileen Clemenzi , a 56-year-old hairdresser from Vero Beach, Fla., had a great time in Malaysia this summer. She loved the malls, the beaches, and the attentive service she got from hotel staff, including one sweet bellboy who sent her a jade Buddha after she got back home.

09/04/06 Be Sure Those Pills You’re Given Are The Right Ones

• Every year, more than 1.5 million Americans are harmed by medication errors -- preventable mistakes that cost the country well in excess of $3.5 billion to treat, according to a sobering report put out this summer by the Institute of Medicine, a prestigious group of scientists who advise the government.

08/07/06 You can Buy a DNA, Test but Beware

• For years now, worried Americans – and even just the medically curious – have been able to glimpse their potential health future through genetic testing. And until recently, the nearly 1,000 genetic tests on the market have been available mainly through the mainstream medical establishment - clinics, hospitals and doctors’ offices – and have been cautiously interpreted for lay folks by trained genetic counselors.

07/10/06 Sunscreen Isn't Perfect, But Still Worth Using

• For years now, I have been, shall we say, a rather haphazard sunscreen user. And I’m not alone --  a fact that makes dermatologists apoplectic. The American Academy of Dermatology, on its website, recently re-affirmed its message, saying that "scientific evidence supports the beneficial effects of proper sunscreen  usage."

06/26/06 Hyperactive Adults Need Help, Too

• Like many young mothers, Sophie Currier, is a busy woman. There’s all the family stuff at the Brookline home she shares with her partner, Jeremie Gallien, and their 7-month-old son, Theo. There’s work — a teaching assistantship for a biochemistry course at Harvard University.

06/12/06 Privacy Issues Loom in Push for Electronic Medical Records

• Patients of the land, unite! You have nothing to lose but your privacy. There's a growing national effort to bring medical records into the 21st century by converting the paper records now scattered in doctors’ file cabinets to electronic records by 2014. It’s a grand idea -– in many ways.

05/29/06 For The Facts on 'Natural' Remedies, Go Online

• We Americans now spend an estimated $20 billion a year on dietary supplements and so-called “natural” remedies, many of us blissfully -– even willfully -– ignorant of the actual medicinal value, or utter lack thereof, in of these products. It’s not entirely our fault that we buy this stuff so blindly. In 1994, Congress limited the power of the US Food and Drug Administration to regulate supplements and herbal medicines, which now are allowed to get -- and stay -– on the market unless clear evidence of harm is found.

05/15/06 Carotid Stents Get Better, But Proof They Work is Scant

• Stents, long famous for their success in propping open clogged arteries in the heart, are now being used in neck arteries in an effort to reduce strokes. Technical advances have made the stents safer to insert in neck arteries, and some experts now fear that doctors may adopt the procedure — and patients may clamor for it — before there is sufficient research to support it.

05/01/06 For When a Doctor and a Nurse Just Aren't Enough

• The most valuable asset for coping with today’s medical system may be an adult family member -- preferably one who is well-educated, tactful, feisty and unemployed

04/17/06 Runners Who Don't Train Well Can Have Marathon of Miseries

• Today, as an estimated 20,000 runners begin their mad dash from Hopkinton to Boston, Dr. Wood, a cardiologist, four-time marathoner and co-director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Women’s Cardiovascular Health Center, will be setting up shop in the corner of the medical tent at the finish line.