The U.S. National Institutes of Health has announced a new research program designed to solve the medical cases that are stumping doctors. The Undiagnosed Diseases Program will tackle difficult cases that are referred to the center by doctors across the country.

Just imagine the frustration doctors must feel when faced with a patient who's exhibiting symptoms that don't correspond with known illnesses (not to mention the frustration the patients feel.) The development of this research team pulls together a highly trained staff with state-of-the-art equipment -- diagnosticians that spend their whole days solving the unsolvable.

Necessarily, the program will be very selective about which cases it takes on. The case must have first exhausted all standard diagnostic procedures. The program will work with approximately 100 patients per year.

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Jenny Craig spokeswoman Valerie Bertinelli has been in the news a lot lately, announcing her 40-pound weight loss and high-fiving talk show hosts about her new lease on life. Bertinelli's ex-husband, Eddie Van Halen, is making news too. His story is not as bright and cheery as hers.

The band Van Halen has reportedly postponed four concerts while guitarist Eddie Van Halen undergoes medical treatment.

"The Van Halen concerts in Dallas, Cincinnati, Raleigh, and Baltimore have been postponed," reads a new message on the band's Web site. "According to Eddie Van Halen's physician, he is undergoing a battery of comprehensive medical tests to determine a defined diagnosis and recommended medical procedures."

In 2002, Eddie Van Halen announced he was cancer-free after a two-year battle with tongue cancer.

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A new study indicated this week that emergency room doctors are wrong about heart attacks in ER patients 9.2 percent of the time. Researchers from the study said that given the time sensitivity to diagnosing heart attacks in an ER environment, the diagnosis error percentage should be considered tolerable.

Is an 8 percent to 10 percent false positive rate tolerable? In this case, it should be. The mental stress and almost-immediate diagnosis that most go into a heart attack decision would crush many of us.

However, the researchers did say that every effort should be given to reduce the false positive heart attack diagnosis. Of course it should be -- but doctors are human too.

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If you've ever been to the doctor and he or she just can't figure out what is wrong, how do you feel? After all most doctors are incredibly intelligent people, but are not miracle workers when it comes to diagnosing problems 100% perfectly, every time.

The fact that we don't know what we don't know about the human body comes into play here. Areas like fainting, back pain, muscle aches and dizziness are known to cause problems with some physicians, who just can't seem to "fix" these problems in some cases.

But, having an investigative procedure that goes down the extreme detail road trying to find the appropriate answer may be well worth it if you are having trouble finding what your problem may be -- and how to fix it.

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I think there's not a whole lot of difference between practicing healthy habits for general wellness and practicing healthy habits for the prevention of breast cancer. Just check out the points made in this article about warding off the nasty disease that this year will strike about 178,000 American women.

The suggestions seem pretty familiar, don't they? That's because they're generally good for the body. And so it's simple, really. Just live a clean life, shoot for good health, and you'll have a fairly good shot at warding off all sorts of unwanted illness, like breast cancer.

In a nutshell, here's what tops this article's list of healthy habits:

• Maintain a healthy weight. A 2005 study showed women who gained weight after a breast cancer diagnosis had an increased risk of recurrence. Other studies show overweight women have a greater chance of a first-time breast cancer diagnosis. And countless studies indicate excess weight is bad for the heart, cholesterol, bones, joints, and more. Body Mass Index (BMI), although not a perfect measure, can help you chart your healthy weight.

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Though we've made so much progress in the war against cancer in the last few decades, it seems today like the disease is more rampant than ever. So when Prevention Magazine asked the question Are we winning the war on cancer? I had to read.

The short answer: Yes. The disease might seem more prevalent, but the treatments and diagnosis have come a long way in recent years. And awareness is at an all-time high -- more and more people are adopting healthy habits that have been shown to prevent cancer, such as maintaining a healthy weight, eating a diet rich in fruits and veggies and low in fat, getting the recommended amount of exercise and limiting exposure to toxins and hormones in food.

For more info, read the full article.

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It's a little frightening to hear that a misdiagnosis of deadly cancer can happen form something like a lump under the skin, but that is just what happened to a patient recently.

The real diagnosis? A harmful fatty growth -- but no tumor. How can such an incorrect diagnosis happen with a medical professional who is trained to find problems? Hard to say, but when a rare type of lymphoma is not even close to what the real problem is, I say something is terribly wrong.

But, it happens, and quite often. In 2005, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association gave up a startling fact: doctors are wrong 10 percent to 15 percent of the time. That's what all those second opinions are good for, I guess.

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A recent study done on college athletes in Ohio has revealed that a large number of them have exercise-induced asthma -- in fact, 42% of those tested had the condition, and for 36% of those, it was the first time they had received a diagnosis of asthma. The reason? The symptoms and their causes are often overlooked in athletes.

I can see why. I have exercise-induced asthma, and for years I thought my symptoms happened because I was out of shape (even though I worked out often.) Exercise-induced asthma causes lung functioning to significantly decrease when undergoing aerobic activity, so it's important for athletes to be aware of.

Wondering if you might have exercise-induced asthma? If you feel like you had a tight band around your chest, whenever you run, preventing you from taking in enough air, you just might. Talk to your doctor.

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For those who have experienced a panic attack, the moment is not something they'll soon forget. I remember freaking out at a restaurant in London once. I had no reason to panic about anything but suddenly my heart started to pound, my vision got blurry and I was so afraid that people would notice that I felt like I had to get out of there, fast!

It is normal to feel a fight or flight response when in a dangerous situation. During a panic attack, all of the same responses occur, such as elevated heart rate, sweating and increased blood flow to the limbs, but often for no reason at all. When these attacks occur often, you could be dealing with a panic disorder.

This disorder can be debilitating for those trying to endure it. But it is important to know that there are ways to treat the ailment so you don't have to suffer needlessly. Take a look here for lots of information on the condition including a definition, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and prevention. After reading the articles, if you suspect that you may be dealing with a panic disorder, it is important to go see your doctor as they can start you on the road to recovery.

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What would you do if doctors said you only had one year to live? Take a trip? Write a book? Spend your life savings on the best that money could buy?

Then what if, two years later, it turned out that the doctors were wrong?

That's what happened to John Brandrick, a 62-year-old British man who started spending like crazy after doctors told him he was going to die within a year from pancreatic cancer. After quitting his job, Brandrick sold and gave away all his stuff, stopped paying his mortgage, and spent all the money on great food and an amazing vacation.

Now he's going to live -- which is great and all -- but he's totally broke. Subsequently, now that his"tumor" is just an inflamed pancreas, Brandrick figured doctors owed him some of that money back.

The hospital, as you might suspect, says they made their best diagnosis, and aren't responsible for their patent's spending habits.

It's a tired cliche that you should be "living each day as if it were your last," but -- as Mr. Brandrick's situation demonstrates -- that's not exactly practical (though I bet he had a great year).

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If it's your news, or that of a loved one, it's never easy to hear something bad from a doctor. I don't think there's any good way to prepare for the shock that comes from a serious diagnosis, but there are some things you can do to help yourself or a family member deal as positively and effectively as possible.

This article gives 5 ways to help handle the devastation that comes with negative health news, including realizing that the first 48 hours are the worst and not to rush to any decisions. Getting a second opinion is also important, as well as educating yourself on your options and making your own decisions.

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Recently researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida have discovered that what harms you may actually help you: obesity both increases your risk for developing kidney cancer and then may reduce its severity once you have it.

Researchers looked at 970 patients with the most common form of kidney cancer, clear cell renal carcinoma, and found that the overweight or obese individuals had less aggressive tumors than those who were normal or underweight. Using BMI as the guide for weight parameters, at the 5 year point the survival rate from the cancer was 82 percent for the obese patients, 77 percent for the overweight patients, and only 62 percent for the normal-weight patients. This means, compared to patients with an ideal BMI, the death rate was decreased by 52 percent for the obese patients and 36 percent for the overweight patients.

It is still unclear if these findings are related to the obesity itself, or merely due to the fact that obese individuals are more likely to undergo screenings and/or be diagnosed at an earlier stage in the disease.

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