Scientists are conducting a research trial in mid-Wales to determine whether a flower-derived compound used to treat Alzheimer's disease can be farmed there. The compound, galantamine, comes from daffodils and has been found to slow down the progression of the disease.

Galantamine has been found in plants in the wild. The researchers say that if it can be farmed it could be massively helpful to those afflicted with the illness

With an aging Baby-Boomer population concerns over the quality of care in nursing homes that are secretive about problems will increase.

U.S. Census Bureau estimates place the percentage of adults over 65 at 35 percent of the population by 2020

Some drugs used to treat patients with Alzheimer's disease do little to calm some of the malady's more dramatic symptoms, and may even pose a risk of serious side effects, according to a study due out, today.

The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, finds that some popular medications prescribed to ease agitation and aggression were no more effective than placebos for most Alzheimer's patients. The study goes on to say that the drugs may actually lead to confusion, sleepiness and Parkinson's disease-like symptoms in some patients

A study released on Wednesday says that boils and pimples severe enough to go to the hospital emergency rooms are caused by deadly bacteria that often cannot be treated with the usual regimen of drugs.

According to doctors at the University of California, Los Angeles, a deadly bug known as MRSA is the known to cause 59 percent of the skin and soft tissue infections seen in 11 emergency rooms across the U.S.

Consumer Reports magazine's review of 16,000 nursing homes in the U.S. finds that while poor quality care is still evident, there are ways to avoid it.

Charles Phillips, director of the Health Services Research Program at Texas A and M, tells WebMD.com, "We ended up classifying 4% of the homes in the country as homes to consider, and 3% of homes in the country as homes to avoid."

Author of the magazine article, Trudy Lieberman, directs the Center for Consumer Health Choices at Consumers Union, publisher of the magazine