FRIDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- No matter how cheerful you felt as you wiggled your toes in the sand on that secluded beach, no matter how thrilled you were to finally lay eyes on that Renaissance masterpiece, your vacation bliss won't last long.

Sadly, new research shows the happiness boost many experience while vacationing dissipates soon after they get home to the pile of laundr

FRIDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- A new type of urine test shows that eating plenty of garlic may lower levels of a cancer-causing process within the body.

This process, called nitrosation, converts some substances found in foods or contaminated water into cancer-causing compounds. Nitrosation is most commonly caused by nitrates from certain processed meats or high-heat food preparat

FRIDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- Children with behavioral problems are at increased risk for chronic pain when they reach adulthood, new Scottish research has found.

The study of nearly 20,000 people born in 1958 found that those with "severe behavior disturbances" between the ages of 11 and 16 were about twice as likely to have chronic widespread pain (CWP) by the time they were 45

FRIDAY, March 10 (HealthDay News) -- An extract from dried papaya slows the growth of cancer cells in the laboratory, researchers report.

It's not clear if it will have the same effect on cancer in people, however.

University of Florida researcher Dr. Nam Dang and Japanese colleagues report that the papaya extract appears to affect the regulation of the body's immune system and

FRIDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- If diabetics start the drug metformin early -- within three months of diagnosis -- it appears the drug will remain effective longer, a new study finds.

"This study suggests that to gain full benefit from metformin, patients should start taking it as soon as they find out they have diabetes," lead author Jonathan B. Brown, an investigator with the Ka

FRIDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- Pro football players are more likely to suffer certain types of knee and ankle injuries on an artificial turf called FieldTurf than on natural grass, a new study contends.

Researchers analyzed data from the 2002-2008 National Football League seasons and found that teams playing on FieldTurf had an 88 percent higher rate of anterior cruciate ligament

FRIDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- Good news for women who have used birth control pills: A long-term study finds that those who took oral contraceptives at some point in their lives have a lower risk of death than women who never took the "Pill".

"Many women, especially those who used the first generation of oral contraceptives many years ago, are likely to be reassured by our resu

THURSDAY, March 11 (HealthDay News) -- Obesity plus daily drinking boosts the risk of liver disease in men and women, researchers report in two new studies.

In one study, scientists at the University of Oxford examined the medical records of 1.2 million middle-aged British women. They followed them for an average of about six years and found that overweight or obese women faced a highe

FRIDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- Patients who get a total knee replacement are usually advised to avoid high-impact sports to preserve their new body part. But a new study suggests sport participation is not only safe -- it may even help people gain better knee function.

''Initially, we though high-impact sports were terrible for the prosthesis," said Dr. Sebastien Parratte, a resea

THURSDAY, March 11 (HealthDay News) -- Challenging established medical wisdom about blood pressure and stroke, new British research suggests that extremely variable blood pressure, and not just high blood pressure, can greatly increase a person's risk of stroke.

"Some people have very stable hypertension, in which case simple hypertension is all that matters, but variability and episodi

FRIDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- Doctors and patients often have different expectations for knee and hip replacement surgery, and steps should be taken to close that gap, a new study shows.

Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) researchers compared the expectations of 42 patients and their doctors and found clinically meaningful disagreement in 68 percent of patients, with 53 percent o

FRIDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- Most people will welcome the start of daylight savings time this Sunday because it starts to stay light longer, even if that means the early mornings will be dark once again.

However, that shift may not be such a welcome change for people with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a seasonal depression that occurs in the fall and winter and is caused, a

(HealthDay News) -- Here are the latest clinical trials, courtesy of ClinicalConnection.com:

Flu

This study will evaluate the safety and effectiveness of an investigational drug for people who have influenza, including seasonal flu and the 2009 H1N1 flu.

The research site is in San Diego, Calif.

More information