Today's Globe: treating brain tumors, PTSD diagnoses, red wine, colon cancer mystery, good cholesterol, electronic prescribing, autism browser, food dyes

When the world's top specialists in removing and treating brain tumors talk about surgery, they never utter the word cure. That's because a brain tumor is much like a wildfire, always seeking new territory to conquer. An operation like the one Senator Edward M. Kennedy (left) had Monday can douse the hottest part of the inferno, but doctors know that dangerous embers remain behind.

A Veterans Affairs psychologist denies that she was trying to save money when she suggested that counselors make fewer diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder in injured soldiers.

Red wine may be much more potent than was thought in extending the human lifespan, researchers say in a new report that is likely to give impetus to the rapidly growing search for longevity drugs.

Colon cancer patients with a family history of the disease may live longer once treated than those without the family link, researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute said yesterday.

Good cholesterol that scientists have thought helped unclog arteries had no effect on heart disease in a study, casting doubt on a theory drugmakers have spent more than $1 billion pursuing (second item).

A broad coalition of corporations, consumer groups, and pharmaceutical providers moved closer this week to compelling millions of doctors to file prescriptions electronically.

A grandfather created a Web browser for his autistic 6-year-old grandson, Zackary Villeneuve (left), who found the whirlwind of options presented by PCs so confounding that he threw the mouse in frustration. Now the browser is available free to anyone.

The United States should ban eight food dyes, used in products including General Mills Inc.'s Lucky Charms cereal, because of links to hyperactivity and other disruptive behavior in children, a health advocacy group said.