Leg and foot swelling during air travel is common and typically harmless. The most likely culprit is inactivity during a flight.

Sitting with your feet on the floor for a long period causes blood to pool in your leg veins. The position of your legs when you are seated also increases pressure in your leg veins. This contributes to foot swelling by causing fluid to leave the blood and move into the surrounding soft tissues.

To relieve foot swelling during a flight:

• Wear loosefitting clothing
• Take a short walk every hour or so
• Flex and extend your ankles and knees frequently while you're seated
• Flex your calf muscles
• Shift your position in your seat as much as possible, being careful to avoid crossing your legs
• Drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration
• Avoid alcohol and sedatives, which could make you too sleepy or unsteady to walk around the cabin

Foot swelling isn't a serious problem if it lasts only a short time. But excessive swelling that persists for several hours after you resume activity may be due to a more serious condition, such as a blood clot in the leg (deep vein thrombosis). If you have swelling in only one leg and also have leg pain, seek prompt medical care.

If you're at increased risk of blood clots — because you recently had major surgery or you take birth control pills, for example — talk with your doctor before flying. He or she may recommend wearing compression stockings during your flight. In some cases, your doctor may prescribe a blood-thinning medication to be taken before departure.

Public blood pressure machines, such as those found in pharmacies, may provide helpful information about your blood pressure, but they can have limitations too. The accuracy of these machines depends on several factors, such as a correct cuff size and proper use of the machines. Ask your doctor for advice on using public blood pressure machines.

The blood pressure cuffs on some public blood pressure machines may be too small or too large to get an accurate reading on some people with high blood pressure. Having a properly fitting cuff is important because poorly fitting cuffs don't give accurate blood pressure measurements, which could lead you to think your blood pressure is fine when it's not. An additional concern is that these devices aren't standardized, which makes it hard to know how accurate they are.

It's best to have your blood pressure checked in a medical facility or in a community screening program with trained staff. Before getting a diagnosis of or treatment for high blood pressure, you'll need to have your blood pressure measured by a known, accurate instrument in your doctor's office on several separate visits.

If you need to check your blood pressure more frequently, your doctor can instruct you on the best way to monitor your blood pressure at home, and can check your device for a proper fit and accuracy. Home blood pressure monitoring can be a convenient way to get regular blood pressure readings. But home testing can also have limitations such as a lack of standardization from machine to machine.

Don't stop or change your medications or alter any diet changes you've made without talking to your doctor first, even if your home readings seem normal. Grocery store and pharmacy testing and home blood pressure monitoring aren't substitutes for visits to your doctor.

At this time, there is no conclusive evidence that frequent ejaculation reduces the risk of prostate cancer.

Some studies have suggested that men with a higher frequency of ejaculations may have a slightly lower risk of prostate cancer. However, this difference appears to be very small. Other studies haven't supported this conclusion.

Fructose is a sugar found naturally in fruits, fruit juices, some vegetables and honey. Fructose is also a basic component in table sugar (sucrose), and high-fructose corn syrup is used to sweeten many processed foods and beverages.

When your digestive system doesn't absorb fructose properly, it can cause abdominal pain, diarrhea and gas.

People who have fructose intolerance should limit high-fructose foods, such as juices, apples, grapes, watermelon, asparagus, peas and zucchini. Some lower fructose foods — such as bananas, blueberries, strawberries, carrots, avocados, green beans and lettuce — may be tolerated in limited quantities with meals.

Read product labels carefully and avoid foods containing:

• Fructose
• High-fructose corn syrup
• Honey
• Agave syrup
• Invert sugar
• Maple-flavored syrup
• Molasses
• Palm or coconut sugar
• Sorghum

Consult a registered dietitian for a complete list of foods your daughter should eat or avoid if she has fructose intolerance. The dietitian can also help create a healthy diet plan for your daughter to make sure she gets the nutrients she needs.

It's OK for children older than age 1 to drink juice in small amounts. But whole fruit and plain water are better choices.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that fruit juice not be given to children younger than age 1, since it offers no nutritional benefits in this age group. Juice also might increase the risk of tooth decay and cause your baby to prefer sweeter flavors instead of plain water.

The AAP also recommends against giving children fruit juice at bedtime or to treat dehydration or diarrhea. However, a small amount of juice can be given to treat constipation.

For children ages 1 to 6 years, the AAP recommends limiting juice to 4 to 6 ounces (120 to 180 milliliters) a day. But juice should be given as part of a meal or snack. Avoid allowing your child to sip juice throughout the day.

For children ages 7 to 18, consider limiting juice to 8 ounces (240 milliliters) a day — half of the recommended daily fruit servings.

Research suggests that drinking small amounts of 100% fruit juice doesn't affect a child's weight. However, fruit juice contains calories. Just like any other food or calorie-containing drink, too much fruit juice can contribute to weight gain.

If you give your child fruit juice, choose 100% fruit juice instead of sweetened juice or juice cocktails. While 100% fruit juice and sweetened fruit drinks might have similar calorie counts, your child will get more nutrients and fewer additives from 100% juice. Adding water to 100% fruit juice can make a little go a long way.

One cup of 100% fruit juice equals 1 cup of fruit. Juice lacks the fiber of whole fruit, however, and can be consumed more quickly. Although a small amount of fruit juice each day is fine for most children, remember that whole fruit is a better option.

A fundal height measurement is typically done to determine if a baby is small for its gestational age. The measurement is generally defined as the distance in centimeters from the pubic bone to the top of the uterus. The expectation is that after week 24 of pregnancy the fundal height for a normally growing baby will match the number of weeks of pregnancy — plus or minus 2 centimeters. For example, if you're 27 weeks pregnant, your health care provider would expect your fundal height to be about 27 centimeters.

A fundal height measurement might be less accurate, however, if you have a body mass index of 30 or higher (obesity) or have a history of fibroids.

A fundal height that measures smaller or larger than expected — or increases more or less quickly than expected — could indicate:

• Slow fetal growth (intrauterine growth restriction)
• A multiple pregnancy
• A significantly larger than average baby (fetal macrosomia)
• Too little amniotic fluid (oligohydramnios)
• Too much amniotic fluid (polyhydramnios)

Depending on the circumstances, your health care provider might recommend an ultrasound to determine what's causing the unusual measurements or more closely monitor your pregnancy.

But fundal height is only a tool for gauging fetal growth — it's not an exact science. And further research is needed to determine how effective it is in detecting intrauterine growth restriction. Typically, fundal height measurements offer reassurance of a baby's steady growth. If you're concerned about your fundal height measurements, ask your health care provider for details.

A gallbladder cleanse — also called a gallbladder flush or a liver flush — is an alternative remedy for ridding the body of gallstones. However, there's no reliable evidence that a gallbladder cleanse is useful in preventing or treating gallstones or any other disease.

In most cases, a gallbladder cleanse involves eating or drinking a combination of olive oil, herbs and some type of fruit juice over several hours. Proponents claim that gallbladder cleansing helps break up gallstones and stimulates the gallbladder to release them in stool.

Although olive oil can act as a laxative, there's no evidence that it's an effective treatment for gallstones. Also, people who try gallbladder cleansing might see what looks like gallstones in their stool the next day. But they're really seeing globs of oil, juice and other materials.

Gallbladder cleansing is not without risk. Some people have nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain during the flushing or cleansing period. The ingredients used in a gallbladder cleanse can present their own health hazards.

Gallstones that cause no symptoms typically require no treatment. If you have gallstones that require treatment, discuss proven treatment options with your doctor, such as surgical removal, bile salt tablets or sound wave therapy.

Gallbladder polyps are growths that protrude from the lining of the inside of the gallbladder. Polyps can be cancerous, but they rarely are. About 95% of gallbladder polyps are benign.

The size of a gallbladder polyp can help predict whether it's cancerous (malignant) or noncancerous (benign). Small gallbladder polyps that are less than 1/2 inch ― a little more than a centimeter ― in diameter are unlikely to be cancerous and generally don't require treatment.

However, for these polyps, your doctor may suggest follow-up examinations to look for changes that may be an indication of cancer. This can be done using standard abdominal ultrasound or endoscopic ultrasound.

Gallbladder polyps larger than 1/2 inch in diameter are more likely to be cancerous or turn into cancer over time, and those larger than 3/4 inch (almost 2 centimeters) in diameter may pose a significant risk of being malignant. Treatment of larger gallbladder polyps includes surgical removal of the gallbladder (cholecystectomy). Again, malignant polyps are extremely rare. Only about 5% of gallbladder polyps are cancerous.

Your doctor may also recommend cholecystectomy if you have a gallbladder polyp of any size accompanied with gallstones.

If you begin to regain weight after gastric bypass surgery, talk to your doctor. You may have a sense of what's causing your weight gain. However, you may need a more thorough evaluation to determine what factors — medical, psychological, lifestyle — are involved in the weight gain.

You may have gained weight after gastric bypass surgery because of changes in your stomach and intestine that allow you to eat more and absorb more calories.

It's also possible that your diet and exercise habits have slipped, in which case you must typically lose the regained weight the old-fashioned way — both by reducing your calorie intake and increasing your physical activity.

In some cases, a second surgery to repair — or redo — a gastric bypass may be appropriate. This is especially true if the anatomy of your stomach and small intestine have changed, such as with a fistula (additional connection between the stomach and intestine).

However, a second surgery has an increased risk of complications, including infection, bleeding and leaks in the gastrointestinal tract. Because of these risks, gastric bypass surgery usually isn't redone if you regain weight because of poor diet or exercise habits.

Gastric bypass surgery can be an effective treatment for obesity, and most people do lose weight after the procedure if they are adequately prepared for the changes that are necessary. But you'll always be at risk of regaining weight, even years later.

To help reach your weight-loss goal and prevent weight regain, it's crucial to make lifestyle changes along with having gastric bypass surgery.

Gene expression profiling tests (Oncotype DX, MammaPrint, others) analyze a number of different genes within your cancer cells to predict your risk of cancer recurrence.

The results of gene expression profiling tests help doctors determine who may benefit from additional (adjuvant) treatment after surgery. For women with early-stage breast cancer that is sensitive to hormones, gene expression profiling tests are used to determine whether they are likely to benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy.

If all of the standard factors that doctors use to predict the chance of your cancer returning show that your risk is very small, then gene expression profiling tests probably aren't necessary. Nor are these tests very helpful if you have an aggressive cancer in which there is clearly benefit from using chemotherapy. For cancers that fall between these two categories, a decision needs to be made about whether to use chemotherapy, and gene expression profiling can be particularly helpful.

Several gene expression profiling tests exist, and many are being studied in clinical trials. Doctors are still determining how best to use these tests and interpret the results.

One recent study found that chemotherapy might not be helpful for women with gene expression profiling test results that indicate an intermediate risk of recurrence. In the study, some of the women received hormone therapy and chemotherapy after surgery and some women received hormone therapy only.

Both groups had similar survival rates, which indicated that the chemotherapy was unnecessary for most of the women. Chemotherapy showed some benefit for women who were 50 or younger and had gene profiling test scores in the upper end of the intermediate range. The results of this study apply only to women who have intermediate scores on the Oncotype DX test and tumors that are hormone sensitive and HER2 negative and haven't spread to the lymph nodes.

Talk with your doctor about the pros and cons of gene expression profiling. These tests can be expensive, and insurance doesn't always cover the cost.