A Regime’s Tight Grip on AIDS

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

Jose Goitia for The New York Times

Juan Carlos Miranda, an AIDS patient, with Dr. Victor Maracha at an AIDS treatment sanitarium near Havana.

Cuba’s success in limiting the epidemic stems partly from harsh early tactics and universal basic health care.

The Soviet leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin on his death bed, in an undated photo.

Lenin’s Stroke: Doctor Has a Theory (and a Suspect)

By GINA KOLATA

Pathologists took up the question of what contributed to the death of the Soviet leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin at the age of 53.

The author Peter Kaminsky shopping for items that advance his theory that you can eat well by focusing on healthy items that deliver maximum flavor.

Eating Well Without the Flavor of Shame

By JEFF GORDINIER

In his new book, the veteran food writer Peter Kaminsky writes that by maximizing flavor, you can satisfy your food cravings with smaller portions.

Post Your Questions on Healthy (and Tasty) Eating

The Vanishing Mind

Ruth French’s husband, Michael, has frontotemporal dementia, which slowly made him more stubborn and withdrawn.

When Illness Makes a Spouse a Stranger

By DENISE GRADY

Like many others, Ruth French finds herself grappling with her spouse’s frontotemporal dementia, a group of brain diseases that eat away at personality and language.

More Articles in This Series »

Research Center to Focus on Cancer Genes

By DENISE GRADY

A new center at the University of Pennsylvania will be dedicated to studying BRCA, a set of genes with ties to breast and ovarian cancer.

F.D.A. Staff Raises Concerns About Arthritis Drug

By KATIE THOMAS

As an advisory panel prepared to consider whether to recommend federal approval of Pfizer’s rheumatoid arthritis pill, F.D.A. documents raise safety questions.

A Cystic Fibrosis Treatment Is Called ‘Game-Changing’

By REUTERS

The data suggested that Vertex could have a multibillion-dollar franchise in treating cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening genetic disorder that affects about 70,000 people worldwide.

Well

Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society.

How Doctors and Patients Do Harm

By TARA PARKER-POPE

Just how broken is the United States health care system? Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society, paints a grim picture in his new book "How We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks About Being Sick In America.''

Global Update

Flood of Donations to Fight AIDS Appears Not to Detract From Other Health Issues

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

The study compared 25 rural Rwandan clinics that offered AIDS treatment with 25 similar clinics that did not.

Novelties

An iPhone app helps amplify and process sound.

For Hard of Hearing, Clarity Out of the Din

By ANNE EISENBERG

Technological advances are helping refine tools for hearing in less-than-ideal circumstances.

Well

The Surprising Shortcut to Better Health

By TARA PARKER-POPE

Perhaps the most unexpected message from the new fitness book "The First 20 Minutes" is not that we all need to exercise more to achieve better health. We just need to do something.

Abbott Settles Marketing Lawsuit

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and KATIE THOMAS

Abbott Laboratories said it reached an agreement with the federal government and most states to pay $1.6 billion in connection with its marketing of the anti-seizure drug Depakote.

Meredith Greisman works out two or three times daily at separate studios, including weights at Velocity Sports and a stint at Body & Pole.

Workouts, Times 2 (or 3)

By COURTNEY RUBIN

Some energetic New Yorkers, many of them professionals with full-time jobs, are fitting in multiple workouts a day at separate studios.

Slide Show

Well

Life, Interrupted: Cancer Is Awkward

By SULEIKA JAOUAD

Cancer can catch even the best of us off guard. Sometimes the emotions come pouring out. Sometimes they stay locked inside. Either way, cancer can be awkward.

Observatory

About 10 percent of indigenous people in the Solomon Islands have a gene variant for blond hair.

Island’s Genetic Quirk: Dark Skin, Blond Hair

By SINDYA N. BHANOO

The gene variant responsible for blondness in dark-skinned indigenous islanders is distinctly different from the gene that causes blond hair in Europeans, researchers report.

More Observatory Columns »

Recipes for Health

Turning Up the Heat on Lettuce: Lettuce and Green Garlic Soup

By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

Lettuce and Green Garlic Soup

Readers whose refrigerators runneth over with lettuce inspired a set of recipes in which salad makes only a cameo appearance.

Parents' Depression Linked to Problems in Children

May 7, 2012

More Omega-3s in Diet, Less of an Alzheimer's Protein

May 7, 2012

Aspirin Seen to Be as Effective as Warfarin

May 7, 2012

Fewer Young Women Complete HPV Vaccine

May 7, 2012

Adding Mussel to Your Meal

May 4, 2012

Go to Well »

Interactive Feature

The Weekly Health Quiz

In the news: Back pain, premature births and strength training. Test your knowledge of this week’s health news.

Therapy of a Different Sort

May 4, 2012

Together Until the End

May 3, 2012

Go to Blog »

Columns

Well

Infinite Itch: Learning to Live With Hives

By JANE E. BRODY

For many, the itchy, red welts can be a long-term affliction, breaking out periodically. While finding a cause may be elusive, the condition can be made manageable with appropriate antihistamines.

Well

Really? Using an iPad Can Strain Your Neck

By ANAHAD O'CONNOR

The lower and flatter a tablet is placed, the greater the risk for taxing neck muscles, a study finds. Researchers recommend placing tablets on tables, preferably propped up for better viewing.

Multimedia

Video

In Love and Loss

Michael French has frontotemporal dementia, for which there is no cure or treatment. As his condition deteriorated, his wife, Ruth, had to move him to a nursing home, where she spends most days.

Slide Show

A Hospital in Bloom

To commemorate the closing of the Massachusetts Mental Health Center’s old building in 2003, the artist Anna Schuleit was asked to create a work of art on the abandoned site. Some 28,000 pots of flowers were used for the “Bloom” installation.

Slide Show

New Yorkers Who Fit In 2 or 3 Workouts a Day

These women (and nearly all of them are women) who sweat through double and occasionally triple workouts at different boutique fitness outfits in the same day aren’t major-league athletes or required to look good for a living.

Women, Weight and Wellness

What should be more important to women: A positive body image or a fit physique that is less at risk for diabetes and other health issues?

Podcast: Science Times

This week: An H.I.V. success story; a Soviet medical mystery; and a hard look at the U.S. health care system.

Letters

Views »

Books

Assumptions and Attitudes Don’t Survive Cancer

By ABIGAIL ZUGER, M.D.

Two new books, one by a group of medical ethicists and another by the feminist critic Susan Gubar, offer searing accounts of confronting a lethal disease.