Report: US adult smoking rate dips to 18 percent
ATLANTA (AP) -- Fewer U.S. adults are smoking, a new government report says....

To ease shortage of organs, grow them in a lab?
NEW YORK (AP) -- By the time 10-year-old Sarah Murnaghan finally got a lung transplant last week, she'd been waiting for months, and her parents had sued to give her a better shot at surgery....

Gender report of Shah Rukh Khan baby investigated
NEW DELHI (AP) -- Health officials in Mumbai are investigating reports that Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and his wife know the sex of a baby they are having through a surrogate mother....

Boston hospital to offer hand transplants for kids
A Boston hospital is starting the world's first hand transplant program for children, and doctors say it won't be long until face transplants and other radical operations to improve appearance and quality of life are offered to kids, too....

Court hearing on hold over lung transplant rules
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A court hearing over organ donor matches involving children is on hold after the 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl at the center of the lawsuit received a lung transplant....

Arizona Gov. Brewer secures Medicaid expansion
PHOENIX (AP) -- Ending a six-month legislative session, Arizona lawmakers endorsed a key element of President Barack Obama's health care law in a huge political victory for Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, after a lengthy fight over Medicaid expansion that divided the state's Republican leadership....

New lungs buy time but don't cure cystic fibrosis
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl who fought for a lung transplant has a difficult journey ahead. The transplant isn't a cure for her cystic fibrosis, and new lungs don't tend to last as long as other transplanted organs....

Court ruling may open up breast cancer gene tests
A ruling by the Supreme Court that human genes can't be patented is expected to increase access and drop the cost for tests for gene mutations that greatly raise the risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer....

Lilly stops mid-stage Alzheimer's drug study
NEW YORK (AP) -- Eli Lilly and Co. said Thursday that it stopped a mid-stage clinical trial of an experimental Alzheimer's disease drug because of potential side effects on patients' livers....

Expert: Dying woman should have got Irish abortion
DUBLIN (AP) -- A miscarrying woman who died in an Irish hospital should have had her blood poisoning detected much sooner and been offered an abortion to improve her odds of survival, an experts' report concluded Thursday in a case that is forcing Ireland to modernize its abortion laws....