Medicine

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said Thursday he will prosecute medical marijuana dispensaries for over-the-counter sales, targeting a practice that has become commonplace under an initiative approved by California voters more than a decade ago. "The vast, vast, vast majority, about 100%, of dispensaries in Los Angeles County and the city are operating illegally, they are dealing marijuana illegally, according to our theory," he...

Women have long been told that gaining weight before becoming pregnant or being overweight at the start of pregnancy puts them at higher risk for gestational diabetes. But a new study finds that the first trimester is the most crucial time for weight gain that can increase the danger of developing the condition. The study, released Monday in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, looked at data from an ethnically diverse group of women who had babies between 1996 and 1998; 345 women had gestational diabetes, and 800 who had not developed the disease served as a control group.

It was a little more than a year ago that January Schofield, at age 6, began to drift from reality. Suicidal, violent and plagued by hallucinations of rats and cats who conversed and played with her, she began the first of seven psychiatric hospitalizations. As of today, Jani, 7, has been out of the hospital for 56 days, the longest period in 15 months. Together with her parents, Michael and Susan, and brother, Bodhi, 2, Jani is living a fragile existence -- haunted by delusions that sometimes tell her to hurt herself or others, even the people she loves.

On a rainy January day, Karen Romo, 15, feeds her five younger brothers and sisters an early dinner and tidies the kitchen while waiting for her father to return from work. One of the children vacuums the living room, maneuvering around a large box of diapers. Another sibling holds the baby. When the father, Miguel, arrives home, he's carrying a couple of bags of groceries, enough for a day or two. He rubs his youngest son's head affectionately, and pulls the infant into his arms.

Guiding us through the diet-book swamplands are: Dr. Caroline Apovian, professor of medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine, director of the Nutrition and Weight Management Center at Boston Medical Center and co-developer of DASH for Health; Dr. David Heber, professor of medicine at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine, director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition and author of "The L.A. Shape Diet"; Susan Roberts, professor of...

With at least two flus and plenty of colds, coughs and sore throats circulating this season, some Americans are turning to zinc to ward off viruses. Lozenges, supplements and nasal sprays that contain the mineral claim to boost immunity, and there is some evidence that they might do so. In an effort to stay well, though, we might be making ourselves sick. Consistently taking excessive FOR THE RECORD: Dietitian's name: An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of dietitian Ruth Frechman as Frenchman.

"Nip/Tuck" Wednesday on FX Episode: "Lola Wlodkowski" The premise: Lola (Danica Sheridan), a morbidly obese woman, approaches Dr. Christian Troy (Julian McMahon) for weight-reduction surgery. Before proceeding with the planned liposuction and tummy tuck, Christian becomes sexually involved with his patient. He also discovers and biopsies a melanoma on her back, which has spread to her lymph nodes and will require chemotherapy. Meanwhile, Dr. Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh)

Two weeks ago, Brianna Morrison gave birth to six babies in Minneapolis. Less than a day later, Jenny Masche delivered six babies in a Phoenix hospital. Both of the women had been treated for infertility and had used fertility-enhancing drugs. The two families expressed joy, but many fertility doctors were dismayed. For years, doctors have been pushing to lower the rate of multiple births due to fertility treatment.

Methadone, a potent opiate once used almost exclusively to treat heroin addicts, is increasingly being prescribed by doctors as a pain medication and abused by drug users searching for a cheap, easy way to get high, physicians and federal drug officials say. The drug, which comes in pill or liquid form, recently has come under scrutiny in the death of former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith. A doctor in Studio City prescribed methadone to Smith for pain treatment before she was found dead Feb.

Antidepressant medications probably provide little or no benefit to people with mild or moderate depression, a new study has found. Rather, the mere act of seeing a doctor, discussing symptoms and learning about depression probably triggers the improvements many patients experience while on medication. Only people with very severe depression receive additional benefits from drugs, said the senior author of the study, Robert J. DeRubeis, a University of Pennsylvania psychology professor.