This is the time of year when respiratory tract infections act up, so we've created a brief guided tour to the common cold and four of its fellow misery makers. Please refer to the illustration as you read along. Flu is not included because the focus is on anatomical locations in the respiratory tract, and flu's effects are widespread. A couple of themes emerged as we put this article together. First, it's true: washing your hands may be your best defense against respiratory infection. Second, antibiotics are important arrows in the treatment quiver, but they've been overused, especially for sinusitis ...

Remember acrylamide? Its 15 minutes of fame occurred in 2002, when Swedish researchers and food regulators reported that fried and baked goods — French fries and potato chips especially — contained large amounts of the chemical. Subsequent analyses by researchers in other countries, including the United States, confirmed what the Swedes had found and then some: acrylamide was found in breads, cereals, cookies, crackers, coffee, and cocoa. By some reckonings, over a third of the calories we get each day come from foods that contain the chemical.

Although new to most of us, acrylamide (pronounced a-KRIL-a-mide) was a known entity ...

Early life exposures, including those in the womb, may increase stroke risk later in life.

When we think about the risk factors for having a heart attack or stroke, the rogues' gallery includes poor eating habits, being overweight, having high blood pressure or elevated LDL cholesterol levels, and, of course, smoking. As adults, many of us fight the good fight against these risk factors in hopes of staving off cardiovascular calamity. Countless studies show that if we follow through, the efforts pay off, although obviously there are no guarantees. Unknown risk factors, and those that experts are less certain about, ...

Several types of hip replacements are available, and hip resurfacing has made a comeback.

The total hip replacement has become one of the most common and most successful operations performed in the United States, and perhaps the world. Over 200,000 hip replacements are performed on Americans each year, a number that may almost triple over the next couple of decades as baby boomers get older and their hips creakier. With this popularity has come choice in everything from the type of incisions (minimally invasive vs. conventional) to the material used in the new hip (metal, polyethylene, ceramic) to how the ...

I have read that people who have had their gallbladders removed should take bile salts. My gallbladder was removed many years ago, and no doctor has said I should take bile salts. Should I?

I take a statin. Should I be taking coenzyme Q10 to protect myself against the muscle pain that statins can cause?