By LEE BOWMAN, Scripps Howard News Service

Most patrons of fast-food shops are regularly asked if they'd like to "value size" or increase the portions of their meal for a few cents more.

Experts say supersized meals and a "clean plate" culture largely contribute to a national obesity rate among adults greater than 33 percent.

For the first time, scientists have studied the vast array of microbes found in the human digestive tract as one biological system -- almost a stomach within a stomach.

Researchers from the University of Washington found that these complex gut colonies of bacteria organize themselves differently in people who are fat and those who are lean.

Collecting blood and urine specimens can often be messy or painful for patients. And for legally sensitive tests, such as for drugs or alcohol, ensuring the sample's integrity demands close supervision at the expense of privacy.

Chances are, unless you've been forced to pay attention by an insurance snafu or malpractice claim, you probably have not studied the five to seven digit numbers that permeate each and every record of a medical encounter.

Having a baby, so the cooing commercials say, changes everything.

While perhaps not changing everything, parenthood does set in motion an array of hormonal and even structural changes in the brains of Mom and Dad, in ways that researchers continue to try to understand.

Those earphones the dentist offers when you plop in the chair aren't just for entertainment or blocking out the sound of the drill -- they're an adjunct to delivering pain relief in the form of music.

"Go outside and play" may be a parental refrain heard more often during school holidays, but it's also proving to be a prescription for better health on a number of fronts.

One new analysis of recent eye studies among children and teens found that time spent outdoors is related to a reduced risk for nearsightedness.

Ideally, a good family doctor will not only be able to see you when you're sick, but make you feel better. At the least, you'll get a chance to thoroughly discuss what's ailing.

Biomedical research on chimpanzees -- closest cousins to humans -- is no longer needed to support medical advances in most fields and should be allowed to continue with federal support only under the most stringent conditions, an expert advisory panel said Thursday.

Among the dire assumptions about the future of health care in the United States, one of the more persistent has been that the numbers of doctors and nurses are dwindling rapidly.

But several new reports released this fall suggest the shortfalls among key health workers may not be so great as once feared, at least on a national scale.