AP - It can take your pulse, check your body fat, time your jogs and tell you if you have bad breath. It even assesses stress levels and inspires you with a pep talk. Meet your new personal trainer: your cell phone.

  AP - Some scientists think they have figured out the real job of the troublesome and seemingly useless appendix: It produces and protects good germs for your gut. That's the theory from surgeons and immunologists at Duke University Medical School, published online in a scientific journal this week.

  AP - Flu season is almost here, and a new study finds that skipping that annual flu shot could have serious consequences for older people.

  AP - As cooler weather approaches, Arkansas health officials are stressing the importance of flu shots to two groups in particular — young children and pregnant women.

  AP - The Sam's Club warehouse chain has pulled a brand of ground beef patties from its shelves nationwide after four children who ate the food, produced by Cargill Inc., developed E. coli illness.

  AP - Obese women can gain little or no weight during pregnancy — and even lose a few pounds — without harming their babies, new research suggests.

  HealthDay - FRIDAY, Oct. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Primitive plants called cycadsuse heat and scent to manipulate pollinating insects, a new studyreveals.

  HealthDay - (HealthDay News) -- Here are the latest clinical trials, courtesyof Thomson CenterWatch:

  AP - A polio outbreak in Nigeria was caused by the vaccine designed to stop it, international health officials say, leaving at least 69 children paralyzed.

  HealthDay - FRIDAY, Oct. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Elderly patients with multiplemyeloma live longer when thalidomide is added to standard combinationchemotherapy treatment, a new study finds.

  Reuters - Elderly patients with an aggressive form of blood cancer lived about 20 months longer when given the drug thalidomide as part of their treatment, French researchers said on Friday.