(HealthDay News) -- Varicose veins are swollen, bulging veins -- usually in the legs. They can make standing and other activities painful.

(HealthDay News) -- A stress test evaluates the way your heart works during exercise and while you're at rest.

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Taking kudzu root extract to curb drinking leads to an increase in blood ethanol levels, which might lessen the desire for more alcohol, researchers report.

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Many U.S. transplant surgeons unnecessarily shun organs from high-risk donors instead of trying to develop new safeguards that would protect and inform transplant recipients, a new study finds.

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- More than 40 percent of cancer survivors experience pain, and the risk is highest among black and female patients, finds a new study.

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Along with all the other well-known reasons to eat more fruits and vegetables, new research indicates that doing so may reduce your risk of dying from heart disease.

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Patients in hospitals where nurses work long hours are much more likely to die of pneumonia and heart attack, researchers have found.

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- If you're considering tongue piercing as a form of self-expression, know that new research suggests that whether the stud used is metal or plastic makes a difference when it comes to chances of infection.

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Stroke rates have increased among people with HIV in recent years while declining in the U.S. population at large, new research shows, raising the possibility that treatments for the AIDS-causing virus may put these patients at higher risk for cardiovascular trouble.

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have a more than threefold increased risk of developing a common form of degenerative dementia called dementia with lewy bodies (DLB), a new study says.

TUESDAY, Jan. 18 (HealthDay News) -- A genetic test seems able to identify which people with stage II colon cancer face a higher risk of recurrence, German researchers report.

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Across the United States, suicide risk appears to be significantly higher among people who live in higher altitudes, new research suggests.

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- For decades, doctors have debated about how to best determine whether a patient's breast cancer has spread, especially in the earliest cases of metastases.

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly 42 percent of U.S. hospices offer some form of alternative medicine end-of-life care services -- such as massages or pet therapy -- to their patients and/or employ an alternative service provider, according to the latest data.

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists studying the genetics of bedbugs believe they know how the critters become resistant to pesticides, and the finding could someday help drive them from homes, stores and offices across the United States.

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Intensive care patients who may be infected with strains of pneumonia that are resistant to many drugs may be more likely to die if current treatment guidelines are followed, a new study suggests.

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

(HealthDay News) -- Here are the latest clinical trials, courtesy of ClinicalConnection.com:

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Twenty percent of heart attack patients stand a good chance of suffering a second attack over the following three years, an event that is nearly as likely to be caused by a new blockage as by the original one, a new study suggests.

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. scientists say they've finished the first detailed description of the complete protein package within the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) thought to be essential to its ability to infect human cells.