FRIDAY, July 30 (HealthDay News) -- The increasing availability of direct-to-consumer genetic screening tests in the United States increases the risk that consumers will order inappropriate tests or misinterpret the results, warns the National Society of Genetic Counselors.

In the absence of federal regulations governing genetic testing, consumers should get the advice of a genetic...(click link above to read more)

FRIDAY, July 30 (HealthDay News) -- Many people who aspire to leadership actually want to help others, according to a new study that challenges the widespread belief that most leaders are selfish and egoistic.

A team of European researchers used economics-based games to study the personality traits of people who choose to be leaders and found that they were more likely to be rated as...(click link above to read more)

FRIDAY, July 30 (HealthDay News) -- The new Affordable Care Act is likely to help 30 million women obtain better health insurance or coverage if they don't already have any, a new report shows.

Under the new provisions, which are already taking effect, 15 million uninsured women will gain access to health coverage and 14.5 million underinsured women will get better coverage, the report...(click link above to read more)

THURSDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- Although millions of people take calcium supplements to boost bone health and ward off osteoporosis, New Zealand researchers say the supplements have little effect on bone strength and contribute to a small increase in the risk for heart attack among older people.

Rather than relying on calcium supplements, the researchers suggest that people get...(click link above to read more)

THURSDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- Will the new health-reform legislation mean higher taxes for the middle class? Will panels decide what care very sick, older people should receive?

Not sure? Join the crowd.

A new Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll shows confusion still reigns when it comes to the health-reform bill signed into law by President...(click link above to read more)

THURSDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- Children with brain injuries tend to be able to acquire the same language abilities as other children but have greater difficulty developing story-telling skills, a new study shows.

"Our findings suggest that there may be limitations to the remarkable flexibility for language functions displayed by children with brain injuries," study author and...(click link above to read more)

THURSDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- Weight loss has been noted among patients who've had a knee or hip replacement, a new study says.

The research focused on 196 patients, mean age 67 years, who had knee or hip replacement surgery (arthroplasty) at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City between 2005 and 2007.

The researchers found that, after their surgery, nearly 20...(click link above to read more)

THURSDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- Even in so-called "good" neighborhoods, there's a significantly increased risk of violence if teens gather with nothing to do and no adult supervision, a new study suggests.

It included 842 young people who took part in a long-term study of Chicago neighborhoods. The participants were first interviewed when they were between the ages of 8 and 13...(click link above to read more)

THURSDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- Children adopted by gay or lesbian parents develop as well as those adopted by heterosexual couples, a new study has found.

Researchers looked at 106 adoptive preschool-age children living in different parts of the United States and found that all were developing well, regardless of whether their parents were gay, lesbian...(click link above to read more)

THURSDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- The genetic makeup of breast cancer tumors may be a better predictor of how well a woman will fare than a tumor's size and appearance, which has been the traditional way of looking at cancers, new research suggests.

A European team of researchers analyzed the genetic makeup of 595 breast cancer tumors and compared the results to non-cancerous...(click link above to read more)