By Deborah Kotz and Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff

Mayor Thomas M. Menino declared a public health emergency Wednesday morning because of the expanding flu outbreak. Health care centers across the city will be offering free vaccines to anyone who hasn’t yet been immunized. The city has 700 confirmed cases of flu so and four flu-related deaths. Last year Boston had only 70 confirmed cases. Massachusetts has had 18 flu-related deaths so far this season, according to the state Department of Public Health.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

U.S. News & World Report released its annual diet rankings today including the best plant-based diets for the first time; just three of the top 10 contain no animal products, while the rest are nearly, though not fully, vegetarian. What didn’t make the US News list? The new 8-hour diet from Men’s Health editors that basically gives you permission to eat whatever you want, as much as you want within an eight hour time span every day.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

While Medicare costs for mammography screening in women over 65 top $1 billion a year, areas in the country that spend more on new screening technologies such as digital mammography are seeing more women diagnosed in the early stages of breast cancer but no corresponding drop in late-stage breast cancer diagnoses, according to a study published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. The authors say this raises questions about the benefits of the new tools.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

Regular gym members know to expect the flood of new arrivals in January, with longer waits for the cross trainers and overfilled gym classes. But come March, the gym gets quiet again, with most of those newly resolved exercisers having gone back to their old ways. If you promised to get more active in the New Year -- the number one New Year’s resolution -- get a game plan now, while you’re still gung-ho, to help you stay active. Here’s what experts suggest.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

Any children who stand apart from their peers for whatever reason -- they look, speak, or dress a little differently -- has a greater likelihood of being bullied, and now it turns out that even common health problems like food allergies can set children up for being victimized. A new study published in the journal Pediatrics finds that the prevalence is particularly high in kids who have food allergies and that nearly a third of them are teased and taunted for their allergies sometimes having offending foods thrown at them.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

When oncologists run through the list of possible side effects of surgery and other treatments for prostate cancer, rarely mentioned is one that leaves some men to regret their treatment choice: shrinkage. Yet a significant percentage of men who undergo surgery to remove their prostate gland or hormone therapy combined with radiation report that they experience a decrease in their penis size after treatment, which can affect their relationships and quality of life, according to a Dana-Farber Cancer Institute study.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

Medication adherence is one of the biggest challenges doctors face when trying to control chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease, and now a new study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital suggests that when patients are switched to generic medications with a different color or shape, they’re more likely to stop taking the drug.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

A new study concluded that being overweight or even moderately obese is associated with a lower death risk. Does this mean we can forget about the scale and eat to our heart’s desire? No way, say obesity experts. Gaining weight is a slippery slope and getting to the extreme end of the weight spectrum can shorten our lifespan. Here’s what to make of the new finding.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

Not to put a damper on the joys of ringing in the New Year, but studies show that on New Year’s Eve, nearly four times as many people are admitted to the emergency room than on any other day of the year. Most of the ER admissions stem from alcohol-related incidents -- like drinking to the point of toxicity or being involved in an alcohol-related driving accident. Here are some tips on drinking safely and uncorking that champagne without any eye injuries.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

In a scenario that seems ripped from the pages of a “CSI” script, geneticist sleuths have been analyzing the blood of Newtown mass murderer Adam Lanza to see what secrets it may reveal in his DNA -- whether he carried any gene mutations that predisposed him to violence. But a Harvard geneticist pointed out that science hasn’t yet determined whether there are any gene mutations linked to violence.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

Any children who stand apart from their peers for whatever reason -- they look, speak, or dress a little differently -- has a greater likelihood of being bullied, and now it turns out that even common health problems like food allergies can set children up for being victimized. A new study published in the journal Pediatrics finds that the prevalence is particularly high in kids who have food allergies and that nearly a third of them are teased and taunted for their allergies sometimes having offending foods thrown at them.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

Speaking gibberish has long been known to be a telltale sign of a stroke, but how about sending nonsensical text messages? It turns out, those can also be a key indicator of a life-threatening loss of blood supply to the brain -- a newly recognized phenomenon called dystextia.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

Perhaps keeping an eye on the upcoming dead week between Christmas and New Year’s, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a string of announcements at the end of last week approving a list of new drugs; here’s a rundown.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

The holiday season with its gift-giving deadlines, dietary challenges, and travel requirements can be a stressful time for anyone, but for those undergoing cancer treatments it can be especially challenging. Dana Farber social worker Sarah Reed provides these tips.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

It’s been nearly two years since Massachusetts passed one of the strongest laws in the nation mandating that insurers provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of autism, without any annual or lifetime limits on the amount of coverage. Yet some of the state’s biggest employers -- including Boston University and Harvard -- don’t provide coverage for therapeutic services that can cost families tens of thousands of dollars every year.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

A study published this week in the journal Neuron might just put the nail in the coffin on the standard IQ test and could pave the way for better tests to measure intelligence. Researchers from the Brain and Mind Institute in Ontario got more than 100,000 volunteers to complete an online test that included 12 cognitive tests to assess memory, reasoning, concentration, and planning abilities, and found that all these intelligence skills couldn’t be measured by a single component such as IQ.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

Despite abundant evidence showing that antibiotics don’t work against viral infections, many doctors still prescribe them -- especially amoxicillin -- for lower respiratory infections such as bronchitis, even after ruling out pneumonia. That practice should change if medical practictioners follow the latest research published Wednesday in the journal Lancet, which finds the drugs don’t work against bronchitis.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

Unconfirmed news reports after the Connecticut school shooting that gunman Adam Lanza had been diagnosed with a milder form of autism prompted strongly-worded statements from autism advocacy groups that the mental health condition was not associated with “planned violence.” Psychologists who treat people with autism point out that pre-meditated violence toward others isn’t one of the traits associated with the disorder in the psychiatric diagnostic manual.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

The Humane Society recommends against giving pets as holiday gifts to unsuspecting friends or loved ones who may not be prepared to take on that responsibility. “We see a variety of animals that were gifts,” said the Humane Society’s Cherie Wachter in this video interview posted on MSN. “The most recent example was a chocolate lab puppy who came in with her toenails painted red.”

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

Nearly 1 million Massachusetts residents who don’t smoke and live in apartments or attached houses are exposed regularly to cigarette smoke from their neighbors’ homes, according to a report released Friday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nationally, about 45 percent of apartment dwellers -- or 29 million Americans -- are exposed to health risks from secondhand tobacco smoke, even though they enforce smoke-free rules in their own apartments.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

At least 25 people, including 18 children, were killed this morning in a frightening massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. Children will no doubt hear about this and wonder whether it’s safe to go to school. After the July movie theater killings in Aurora, Colorado, I spoke with Boston-area mental health specialists on how parents should talk to their children about horrific news events. Here’s what they recommended.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

Life expectancy is increasing among the world’s population, including in the United States, but people are living longer in chronic pain and with physical and mental disabilities, according to findings from the giant Global Burden of Disease study, published Thursday. Seven separate reports conducted by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and elsewhere determined that developing countries are looking more like richer Westernized countries in terms of the health problems that pose the biggest burden.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

How dangerous is it, really, to text and walk? Is it as bad as distracted driving? University of Washington researchers last summer decided to observe more than 1100 pedestrians at 20 busy intersections in Seattle and found that nearly one-third performed a distracted activity while walking like emailing, talking to a friend, or listening to music.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

A new device for hearing loss in one ear could help patients avoid surgery. It’s being used at Boston Medical Center and elsewhere. Manufacturers are also trying to develop implantable hearing aids for those with hearing loss in both ears.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

Massachusetts moved up three places in an annual state health ranking this year, grabbing the No. 4 spot for healthiest state overall in a measure of 24 parameters including rates for smoking, alcohol abuse, exercise, violent crime, diabetes, heart disease, and infectious diseases, as well as access to primary care physicians.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

Should doctors who forget where exam rooms are be allowed to stay in practice? How about a physician who forgets to leave his hospital patients in the care of another doctor when he heads out of town for vacation? A provocative piece published in the Washington Post on Tuesday in conjunction with Kaiser Health News raises those questions and points out that most hospitals don’t have policies in place to require that doctors maintain their cognitive abilities and medical skills as they age.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

When Worcester Polytechnic Institute grad Mike Abramson went to a Boston club three years ago, he took a sip of his first drink, felt extremely woozy a few minutes later, and quickly realized his drink had been spiked with a drug. That inspired him to invent a product that could detect common “date rape” drugs. With the help of one of his old chemistry professors, the two came up with plastic straws, cups, and stirrers that change color when they come in contact with a drug-laced drink.

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

A government task force recommended on Monday that doctors discuss the dangers of smoking with all patients ages 10 to 17, citing evidence that children who learn about the dangers of smoking from their doctors will be less likely to become addicted to cigarettes. What may be most surprising to both parents and physicians is that such recommendations weren’t already in place.