Replacements

For the first time, scientists have created human embryos that are genetic copies of living people and used them to make stem cells - a feat that paves the way for treating a range of diseases with personalized body tissues but also ignites fears of human cloning. If replicated in other labs, the methods detailed Wednesday in the journal Cell would allow researchers to fashion human embryonic stem cells that are custom-made for patients with Alzheimer's disease, diabetes and other health problems.

Healthy middle-aged women who take hormones to ease the misery of hot flashes and night sweats have fewer depressive symptoms, less anxiety and tension, and better and more sex than those who do not, according to a new study. Though the long-term effects of hormone replacement therapy could not be measured by the new research, it did offer some reassuring findings. It suggested that some women's cholesterol profiles and metabolic function might improve on hormone replacement therapy and that blood pressure did not rise during or after a relatively brief stay on hormone replacement.

Baking has been a challenge for people who maintain a gluten-free diet, especially for people trying to make traditional birthday cakes or re-create a childhood favorite. That's in part because flours made from other ingredients (almonds, chickpeas, rice) don't "behave" in the same manner as flour made from wheat. Today there are a number of flours for sale at Whole Foods and other specialty stores that are meant to be replacements for all-purpose wheat flour. With a combination of ingredients such as potato starch, tapioca and rice flour, cooks are told they can use them in place of all-purpose flour in a recipe.

In the nearly 11 years since researchers first rang alarm bells that women on hormone replacement therapy faced an increased risk of breast cancer, some have suggested that taking estrogen and progestin to treat symptoms of menopause might not be so dangerous after all. Though it was generally agreed that woman who took the two hormones to curb their hot flashes and night sweats upped their chances of developing the disease, many studies suggested that...

Elizabeth Taylor, the glamorous queen of American movie stardom, whose achievements as an actress were often overshadowed by her rapturous looks and real-life dramas, has died. She was 79. Hospitalized six weeks ago for congestive heart failure, Taylor died early Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles with her four children at her side, publicist Sally Morrison said. FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this article said Mickey Rooney played Elizabeth Taylor's trainer in "Lassie Come Home.

It's a kitchen degreaser. It's a window cleaner. It kills athlete's foot. Oh, and you can drink it. Sounds like the old "Saturday Night Live" gag for Shimmer, the faux floor polish plugged by Gilda Radner. But the elixir is real. It has been approved by U.S. regulators. And it's starting to replace the toxic chemicals Americans use at home and on the job. The stuff is a simple mixture of table salt and tap water whose ions have been scrambled with an electric current.

Painful arthritis of the knee is on the rise — as is the number of middle-aged people who refuse to let the condition interfere with their favorite sports or exercise. Active people in their 40s and 50s are challenging doctors to provide treatments that not only keep them walking but keep them running and jumping as well. Joints rely on slippery caps of cartilage that allow bones to glide past each other with a minimum of friction. "It's the smoothest material known to man," says Dr. Andrew Spitzer, director of the joint replacement program at the Cedars-Sinai Orthopaedic Center in Los Angeles.

Ronnie James Dio, a legendary heavy metal singer who replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath and also was lead singer for the bands Rainbow and Dio, has died. He was 67. Dio died Sunday, according to a statement on his website by Wendy Dio, his wife and manager. Maureen O'Connor, a Los Angeles publicist, said Dio died in Los Angeles. No cause was given, but Dio had said last summer that he was suffering from stomach cancer. "Today my heart is broken," Wendy Dio wrote. "Many, many friends and family were able to say their private goodbyes before he peacefully passed away."

Manny Hamelburg, 68, a retired businessman, had fought prostate cancer for years. First, he tried radiation, then a drug with side effects that nearly killed him, and finally Lupron, a drug that blocks production of testosterone, the hormone that can fuel prostate cancer. The cancer disappeared. But life was miserable. Without normal levels of testosterone, Hamelburg says, he had no energy, and "zero libido for seven years. I was like a eunuch. I was chemically castrated. Sex was just hugs."

Automation ? long a force in agriculture and manufacturing ? is accelerating in the retail sector, a trend that could hamper efforts to bring down the nation's stubbornly high jobless rate. In an industry that employs nearly 1 in 10 Americans and has long been a reliable job generator, companies increasingly are looking to peddle more products with fewer employees. Shipping and warehousing workers are being replaced by robots that can process packages more efficiently than humans.