The Senate voted 60 to 39 on Saturday night to begin full debate on major health care legislation, propelling the bill over a crucial, preliminary hurdle.

A fight of galactic proportions over health care looms. Here’s a playbook for aficionados of legislative war games.

Tiny particles containing gold and other metals may someday help keep cholesterol from building up in blood vessels.

Several Bay Area doctors who recommend medical marijuana for patients say their client base includes teenagers with psychiatric conditions including A.D.H.D.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said flu activity was declining in all regions of the country.

The new recommendations, released Monday by an influential group, reverse longstanding guidelines.

The Preventive Services Task Force, which urged women to get less-frequent screening for breast cancer, was created to be apolitical.

Backers of science-driven medicine cheered the new recommendations on cancer screening, while many patients still believe that more is always better.

Older patients are top priorities for flu vaccine. But not for swine flu. They face fewer risks because they’ve been exposed to H1N1.

The Senate majority leader’s deep personal involvement in assembling the overhaul of the health care system has led the measure to the brink of a historic Senate debate.

The current dispute over screening tests gives many people a sense of déjà vu. Here’s a timeline of the debate, from 1963 on.

When an Atlanta hospital closed its dialysis unit, many illegal immigrants had to scramble to find treatment.

A British man who said he strangled his wife during a nightmare about fighting off an intruder has been found not guilty in her death.

Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, one of three wavering Democrats, said Friday that he would vote to start debate on a giant health care bill.

The effort had been seen by opponents as a possible new front in the national debate over the matter.

Hot lines, online groups and organizations that charge fees on a sliding scale are options for finding help.

If it survives an appeal, the verdict late Thursday would be the nation’s largest award of damages to an individual suing a tobacco company.

The nation, where one out of eight babies are born prematurely each year, earned a D from the March of Dimes.

Some 20.6 percent of Americans were current smokers in 2008, a drop from 20.9 percent in 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Senator Harry Reid scheduled the first crucial procedural vote on the major health care legislation for Saturday, after what is expected to be two marathon days of debate.