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Such ads don't have to mention any drug risks.

From sports figures like Jack Nicklaus to movie stars like Sylvester Stallone, dozens of famous people have been on TV in recent years urging consumers to ask their doctors for specific prescription drugs for everything from depression to cancer.

Now, more of those celebrities want to make you "aware" of problems you might not know about or even have.

Experts say the shift is because of concerns over medication safety and criticism from medical and consumer groups that ads minimize drug risks.

They also point to talk in Congress about new regulations, possibly banning consumer ads until a drug has been on sale for a year, allowing time for rare side effects to emerge.

"Definitely there has been an increase in spending" on disease awareness ads this year, said Stu Klein, president of Quantum, a health care advertising company in Parsippany, N.J.

"What 2005 will probably show is that percentage going up." Ad spending monitor TNS Media notes consumer drug ad spending, which totaled $4.4 billion in 2004, actually dipped 1.5 percent in th...

More than a third of the women who experienced menopause symptoms were in their 60s and 70s, suggesting that menopause may last longer than doctors had expected.

The study did not look at whether gradually stopping hormone pills might ease symptoms, The Associated Press reports.

The survey results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Anorexia and Brain Chemistry Researchers may be closer to understanding the neurological roots of anorexia.

A small study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry finds evidence that anorexia may be explained by abnormal activity of a certain brain chemical.

In the study, researchers used brain-imaging technology on 10 women with anorexia and 12 women who do not have the illness.

They found that the women with anorexia had overactive dopamine receptors in one part of their brains.

Dopamine is associated with regulating pleasure and positive and negative reinforcement, The Associated Press reports.

The researchers say the irregular dopamine activity could mean that the anorexic women don't feel "rewarded" for losing weight and so are compelled to lose more.

Although they could not explain what causes the problem with dopamine receptors, the researchers say their findings ultimately c...