As Hurricane Earl, packing 145 mph winds, crept closer to the U.S. east coast Thursday, federal officials urged residents to take steps to protect themselves and their property.

Forecasters were trying to pinpoint how close the strongest winds and heaviest storm surge would get to North Carolina's Outer Banks, a fragile chain of barrier islands. They also were trying to determine whether the category-four storm would remain offshore as it heads north, or bring hurricane-force winds to Long Island, Cape Cod and the Boston area, the Associated Press reported.

Many Americans have skewed perceptions when it comes to their weight, often believing they are lighter than they actually are, even when the scales are shouting otherwise, a new poll finds.

As part of the Harris Interactive/HealthDay survey, respondents were asked to provide their height and weight, from which pollsters calculated their body-mass index (BMI), a ratio of weight to height. Respondents were then asked which category of weight they thought they fell into.

Military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, are more likely to develop dementia than those without the disorder, according to researchers at a Veterans Affairs medical center in Texas.

The results were significant even after accounting for other risk factors for dementia such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.

Aggressive treatment to lower high blood pressure may help preserve kidney function and prevent the need for dialysis in some black patients with chronic kidney disease.

That's the finding of a study published Sept. 2 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Percussionists may be at risk for wrist overuse injuries, a case study suggests.

The case involved a 70-year-old man with a growing, but painless, mass on his left wrist, according to rheumatologists at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. A similar growth on the man's right wrist had cleared up without treatment. The patient had no obvious recent injuries to his wrists or hands, but he had been a professional percussionist for more than 30 years.