Health News

Courtesy Dick Wagner(NEW YORK) -- Dick Wagner had enjoyed a successful life on stage, playing lead guitar for bands like Alice Cooper, Aerosmith and Kiss, when he had a stroke and a heart attack in 2007."I woke up from a coma after two weeks with a paralyzed left arm," said Wagner, now 70 and living in Arizona.  "My profession as a guitarist, I thought was over."He and Cooper co-wrote the majority of the band's top-selling songs, including the 1975 hit, "Welcome to My Nightmare."But Wagner's own personal horror show had just begun.  He worked hard at rehabilitation, ... Read more!

Michael Temchine/For The Washington Post via Getty Images(PHOENIX) -- Fish pedicures -- in which you sit in a salon with your feet in water while small fish nibble away dead, callused skin -- may be a growing trend overseas, but not in the United States.  Now, an Arizona woman who started offering fish pedicures is going to court to defend her business.Cindy Vong opened a fish spa in the Phoenix suburbs as part of her nail salon in 2008 and spent $50,000, seeing it as an opportunity to expand her business.  Six months later, the Arizona Board of Cosmetology ... Read more!

Stockbyte/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- In an effort to combat the spread of the flu, a kiddie league in New York City has banned players from giving high-fives at soccer games. The rule comes in the wake of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's decision to declare a statewide public health emergency because of the potentially deadly virus. The ban was recommended by Dr. Valerie Parkas, who is not only the Manhattan Soccer Club president, but an infectious disease specialist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, reports WCBS-TV. Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio Read more!

ABC News(NEW YORK) -- "I'm arrested for armed kidnapping and I love knitting."Every Thursday around dusk, a group of men, hardened criminals sentenced for a variety of violent crimes and incarcerated at the Pre-Release Unit in Jessup, Md., can be found with knitting needles in hand and balls of yarn in their laps."I'm in for attempted murder and I'm knitting a small hat for a kid," one inmate said.Lynn Zwerling and Sheila Rovelstad started the "Knitting Behind Bars" program at Jessup two years ago. In that time, they and their all-volunteer group have taught more than 100 ... Read more!

Ingram Publishing/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- New York State officials have passed a new law that they say should prevent the mentally ill from committing violent acts. The law was passed in the aftermath of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.“We must stop the madness,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said, “and lead the way once again in saving lives.”The new law would require mental health professionals to report to state officials any patient they deem to be a “significant risk” or “threat.”Such reporting would block patients from buying weapons -- no court order needed. The law might ... Read more!

Jeffrey Hamilton/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- As the flu epidemic rages on in many parts of the country, experts say the best defense against the virus is getting a seasonal flu shot. But only about a third of people got vaccinated early in the season this year, according to a report by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Richard Besser, ABC News’ chief health and medical editor, held a chat on Twitter on Tuesday, in part to dispel the four biggest myths and misgivings people have about getting the flu vaccine. Medical experts from Boston Children's Hospital, The Mayo Clinic ... Read more!

Digital Vision/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Peter and Shannon McDonald have made their home on a farm with their nine children. They are surrounded by farm animals — filthy ones, including chickens and slobbering pigs — but the eight boys and one brave girl have always been in perfect health.It turns out that in a culture obsessed with cleanliness and anti-bacterial lotion, the animals may be one of the reasons these kids are so healthy.“I live with dirt,” Peter McDonald told ABC News.  “We don’t care about cleaning out the dirt.  Many times they will eat it. I tell them ... Read more!

Photos.com/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Americans don’t like getting sick but they do love to diagnose their health problems, or those of others, by trolling the Internet for information.According to a study of more than 3,000 respondents by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project,  35 percent of Americans consult websites to figure out what ails them, and of that group, about half wind up seeing a doctor.In general, nearly six in ten respondents have used the Internet for health information during the past year, while a quarter of that group says they’ve hit a pay wall that ... Read more!

abcsmartcookies.com(NEW YORK) -- Girl Scout cookie lovers accustomed to seeing items like peanut butter, chocolate, coconut and more chocolate on the ingredient list may do a double take when they see the newest cookie on the order form.Alongside Tagalongs, Thin Mints and Samoas in this year’s Girl Scout cookie repertoire are Mango Crèmes, a crispy cookie featuring mango, coconut, vanilla and Nutrifusion.  Yes, Girl Scout cookies have been vitamin-punched.The Mango Crèmes are the first cookie in the Girl Scouts’ long history to be partnered with NutriFusion, the makers of a product that “supercharges” foods’ nutritional value by adding ... Read more!

John Wang/Photodisc/Thinkstock (file photo)(NEW YORK) -- Could a wild berry grown in West Africa change the future of food and dieting as we know it?The answer is a resounding "yes" from Homaro Cantu, the acclaimed chef known for his futuristic gastronomy and flavor-changing dining experiences at Chicago restaurants Moto and iNG.Cantu discovered wild berries six years ago while working with a cancer patient who’d lost her sense of taste as a result of chemotherapy, and set out to explore the plant and put it to the test in his kitchen.Nicknamed "the miracle berry," the organic, non-genetically modified ... Read more!