We all know that exercise is good for us, but why, exactly? What does exercise really do for us, for our bodies, for our minds, for our social lives? Physicians at The Methodist Hospital in Houston propose their Top 10 list of reasons to exercise this holiday season.

1. Exercise helps keep your arteries flexible and malleable, which prevents heart disease and heart attacks.

Mayo Clinic researchers have found that a new combination of medications designed to maximize immune functions improved or stabilized multiple myeloma for 76 percent of patients who had relapsed after previous treatment.

Newswise  You're reading and you notice 3's look like 8's or vice versa. When driving, you find yourself needing to be closer to road signs to make the words out clearly. The world just starts to look a little hazy.

Newswise — A new study directed by Mount Sinai School of Medicine has found that moderate red wine consumption in a form of Cabernet Sauvignon may help reduce the incidence of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The study entitled “Moderate Consumption of Cabernet Sauvignon Attenuates ?-amyloid Neuropathology in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease” is in press, and will be published in the November 2006 issue of The FASEB Journal. The breakthrough study will also be presented at the "Society for Neuroscience Meeting” held in Atlanta, Georgia, October 14-18, 2006.

Newswise — Anyone who has recognized a person but then struggled with the particulars – “I know I know her, but how…?” – can also appreciate the distinction between “familiarity” and “recollection.”

Recollection, as defined by memory specialists, is the ability to call up specific details about an encounter, while familiarity is simply knowing that someone or something has been encountered before. Both are elements of recognition memory and both, new research suggests, are functions of the brain’s hippocampus.

Newswise — A team of scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science, led by Prof. Michal Schwartz of the Neurobiology Department, has come up with new findings that may have implications in delaying and slowing down cognitive deterioration in old age. The basis for these developments is Schwartz's team's observations, published today in the February issue of Nature Neuroscience, that immune cells contribute to maintaining the brain’s ability to maintain cognitive ability and cell renewal throughout life.

Newswise — Researchers at Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, in cooperation with industry partners, have, for the first time, identified tumor specific alterations in the cellular pathway by which the multiple myeloma drug bortezomib (Velcade) works, and they have identified nine new genetic mutations in cancer cells that should increase a patient’s chance of responding to the agent.

Newswise — While millions of Americans place fitness as one of their top New Year's resolutions to improve shape, muscle tone and overall appearance, cancer survivors have another priority - life.

Newswise — The amount of exercise a person engages in per week may be more important than the intensity of the exercise. A study in the October issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), shows that adults who participate in mild exercise, such as walking briskly for 12 miles or exercising for 125 to 200 minutes a week at moderate intensity can significantly improve their aerobic fitness and reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease.