(HealthDay News) -- Heartburn is the most common symptom of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), which occurs when the acidic contents of the stomach back up into the esophagus.

(HealthDay News) -- Athletes are particularly susceptible to strains or tears of the hamstring, one of three sets of muscles and tendons between the thigh and the knee.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Many children who suffer a stroke had some sort of an infection in the days leading up to the stroke, a new study says.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Many adults whose parents suffered a stroke before age 65 experience vascular changes and brain aging in middle age that may precede a stroke, a new study finds.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Hispanics are less likely to call an ambulance when they're having a stroke, one reason why Hispanics are about half as likely as non-Hispanics to have a favorable outcome after a stroke, a new study suggests.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- High levels of a personality trait called harm avoidance -- which includes excessive worrying, pessimism, fear and fatigue -- is associated with a higher stroke risk, a new study indicates.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists may one day be able to read the minds of people who have lost the ability to speak, new research suggests.

TUESDAY, Jan. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Experts comparing three leading prostate cancer therapies find external beam radiation therapy to be more toxic and expensive than either surgery or a more localized form of radiation therapy known as brachytherapy.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Heart failure is associated with a loss of gray matter in the brain and a decline in mental processes, according to a new study.

TUESDAY, Jan. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Older women who take popular medications to control indigestion and heartburn may put themselves at higher risk for hip fractures, researchers report.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Exercise can improve the health, energy and well-being of cancer patients after they've completed their main cancer treatment, a new review finds.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Treating stroke patients with stem cells taken from their own bone marrow appears to safely help them regain some of their lost abilities, two small new studies suggest.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Sleep apnea, the disorder marked by abnormal pauses in breathing during sleep, is already known to boost the risk of stroke. Now, a new study links sleep apnea to so-called silent strokes, in which there is tissue death in the brain without symptoms.

TUESDAY, Jan. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Testosterone makes people more self-centered and less cooperative, a finding that may explain why group decisions can be affected by dominant individuals, researchers report.

TUESDAY, Jan. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Vigorous exercise causes changes in some 180 prostate genes among men with early stage prostate cancer, a new study suggests.

TUESDAY, Jan. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Two new drugs, taken alone or potentially together, may boost survival for men with advanced prostate cancer, studies suggest.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- The American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending that all boys between the ages of 11 and 12 receive the three-dose vaccine for the human papillomavirus (HPV).

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that it may be safe to give the clot-busting drug tPA to people who wake up with stroke symptoms, even though there is a short time window in which to use the treatment and doctors have no idea when these patients first started experiencing their stroke.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- To open a clogged neck artery, a surgeon has two options: either insert a metal stent to keep blood flowing or perform surgery. A new study finds that both approaches will likely keep the arteries clear for at least two years and help prevent stroke.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- A new study suggests that a brain-clotting plaque linked to Alzheimer's disease may cause cognitive decline even in healthy people, potentially setting the stage for the development of the devastating illness later in life.

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- About one million packets of birth control pills are being recalled in the United States by Pfizer Inc. because of a packaging error that could reduce the effectiveness of the pills and cause unintended pregnancies.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Having a massage after strenuous exercise not only feels good, it reduces inflammation in muscles at the cellular level, researchers have found.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- An investigational drug called apixaban (Eliquis) appears to be better than aspirin at preventing blood clots in certain patients who have already suffered a stroke or so-called "mini-stroke" due to an abnormal heart rhythm, according to the results of a new study.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the Novartis drug Gleevec has been expanded to include adults who have had surgical removal of CD117-positive gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), the agency said in a news release.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Child abuse and neglect cost the United States $124 billion a year, which is comparable to the costs of other major public health problems, a new government study shows.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- The latest trial of a drug called GAD-alum to treat type 1 diabetes failed to show any significant improvement in the common markers of the blood sugar disease.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- The morning-after pill may help shrink painful fibroids and relieve excessive bleeding, new research indicates.