Staying healthy can be a full-time endeavor. With that in mind, we at the Post-Gazette hope our Health & Science section this year helped to provide weekly insights into achieving that goal.

In 2007, the H&S section focused on a wide range of health topics including various stories from our series, "Out of Control," which focused on the type 2 diabetes epidemic here and nationwide.

The overriding theme? Good health is each person's responsibility, requiring regular medical checkups and dedication to good diet and exercise. In the process, we also focused on the unhealthy aspects of couches and overeating.

In science, topics ranged from apples and Sputnik, to bees and mouse clicks. It was a busy year.

So what follows are the quotes we consider to be among the best of the year from our Health & Science pages. We hope this end-year review will help promote good health and scientific inquiry in 2008.

"It's such a shock. It's a different kind of grief, parents grieve forever."

-- Eileen Carlins, director of support and educators at SIDS of PA office, which is working to reduce the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome nationwide. The program that started in Pittsburgh has spread to 29 states. Jan. 3.

"I told them it looked like the Sistine Chapel."

-- Dr. David Levenson, a nephrologist, commenting on paintings dialysis patients John Hart and Sandra Rison did on ceiling tiles at the DaVita Dialysis clinic in Bloomfield for fellow patients to enjoy while undergoing dialysis treatment for kidney failure. Jan. 10.

"If standing on a vibrating platform offered real health benefits, subway riders would be the healthiest lot on the planet."

-- Sal Marinello, a strength and conditioning coach who writes a health and fitness column for BlogCritics magazine, commenting on whole-body vibration platforms that are reputed to help users add muscle and burn calories. Jan. 10.

"Science education is as simple as a bucket of water or a magnifying glass in the back yard."

-- Joanna E. Haas, Carnegie Science Center director, discussing the new "Let's Explore" program developed with Family Communications of Fred Rogers fame to encourage science education in preschoolers. Jan. 17.

"We weren't limited by knowledge or expertise, so we gave it a go."

-- Alan J. Russell, University of Pittsburgh professor of chemistry and petroleum engineering and director of Pitt's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, who led a team in developing coatings that prevent mold growth. Jan. 24.

"Cancer cells don't sleep. They're dividing all the time."

-- Mike Ambrogi, NovoCure's U.S. general manager, describing how the company's Novo-TTF device delivers low-intensity, alternating electric fields to slow tumor growth. Feb. 14.

"For instance, the state's $45 million apple crop -- the fourth largest in the country -- is completely dependent on insects for pollination, and 90 percent of that pollination comes from honey bees."

-- Maryann Frazier, agriculture extension associate in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, describing Colony Collapse Disorder that's the subject of university research. Feb. 14.

"You really have to pay attention to what your body is telling you."

-- Nancy Carr, a 70-year-old Moon woman who maintained a healthy weight, checked her cholesterol levels, never smoked, lifted weights and walked 4 to 5 miles on most days. But after feeling tightness in her chest and general fatigue, she underwent a EBCT, or electron beam CT, scan that showed she needed quadruple bypass surgery. March 7.

"They just sound so final."

-- The Rev. John Welch, co-chair of the coalition committee on underserved populations, discussing why there's some reticence in having discussions about end-of-life issues with minority populations. March 14.

"I didn't want to have guys in the back checking out the girls."

-- Ed Lipsman, discussing why he invited only women to participate in a Zumba aerobics event in Wightman School in Squirrel Hill. March 14.

"One woman had six orgasms in 24 minutes. She was crying. I was crying."

-- Beverly Whipple, author of "The Science of Orgasm," describing how a women regained her ability to have an orgasm two years after a spinal cord injury. March 21.

"He was dead -- D-E-A-D -- dead."

-- Dr. Jerome E. Granato, cardiologist and general director of Allegheny General Hospital's Coronary Care Unit, who cooled the body of William Beck after a cardiac arrest to prevent brain and organ damage. Although without a heartbeat for 15 minutes, Mr. Beck recovered and returned to work as McKees Rocks borough manager within months. March 28.

"We respond to people who are really hurting. For some, the crisis is launched by them breaking a fingernail and there are some who are having a full-fledged nervous breakdown."

-- George Fleming, a FamilyLinks worker who supervises the organization's mobile crisis unit for six month that respond to care for local mental health patients suffering psychological or social crises. April 4.

"Our couches are killing us."

-- Dr. Alberto Colombi, PPG's global medical director, describing a month of exercise activities to encourage better health for company employees. April 4.

"You have to remember that if 95 percent of our current population is killed off, there would still be more people living on the planet than at the time of Christ."

-- Lee M. Silver, professor of molecular biology and public policy at Princeton University, discussing the future of humankind during a conference at Children's Hospital. April 17.

"In Egypt there is not a sense of geekness in computer science."

-- Neven "Nevine" Abou Gazala, a native of Egypt, describing her success and the opportunity available for women in computer science. A student at the University of Pittsburgh, she received the national 2006 Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship as an outstanding woman in computer science. April 25.

"We're trying to look at the problem from the user point of view."

-- H. Keith Florig, senior research engineer in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy in Carnegie Mellon University's Engineering College, and co-author of "Individuals' Decisions Affecting Radiation Exposure After a Nuclear Explosion." In this case, the user is the person trying to survive a nuclear blast. May 2.

"In this case, where there's smoke there's fire."

-- Washington County native John Kanzius describing during "John Kanzius Day" in Erie that research on his novel method of using radio frequencies to kill cancer is making progress. May 2.

"Every family is incredibly precious."

-- Nancy Glynn, research assistant professor with the University of Pittsburgh Department of Epidemiology, discussing the Long Life Family Study being conducted by Pitt's Graduate School of Public Health and four other universities to figure out why some families live longer. Dr. Glynn said the study has identified families, but is trying to find many more with a history of longevity. May 16.

"It will ring a bell and flash green and dispense pills like bubblegum down a shoot."

-- Dr. Neil Resnick, chief of the University of Pittsburgh's Divisiion of Geriatric Medicine and director of the Institute of Aging, discussing future technology that automatically will dispense drugs to patients, with physician oversight, inside their homes. May 16.

"But if your brain needs to be exercised, you take it out for a walk every once in a while."

-- James T. Becker, associate director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh, promoting new tools to help baby boomers and seniors to stave off memory loss. May 16.

"But you always have to say we're the building next to the Playhouse. People don't know we exist."

-- Dr. James Roberts, director of Magee-Womens Research Institute, discussing the institute that was expanded to 127,000 square feet in a building near the hospital. June 6.

"We went to a complete peanut and egg lockdown in the house."

-- Katie Goldman of Mt. Lebanon discussing how her daughter Maggie, 4, had an allergy to peanuts but later took a food challenge test at Children's Hospital that proved she no longer had the allergy. June 6.

"The kids go through all this suffering and all you can give them is a sticker."

-- Jean Baruch, president of Beads for Courage in Tucson, Ariz. Children's Hospital adopted a program to award a bead to young heart patients for every procedure they undergo. Some patients have amassed bead collections numbering in the hundreds. June 20.

"I'll find out pretty soon if I'm up to it."

-- Dr. Brack Hattler, a 71-year-old transplant surgeon at UPMC's Heart, Lung and Esophageal Surgery Institute, shortly before he began his bicycle trek across America, from Puget Sound in Seattle to Washington, D.C., to raise money for research into lung disease. June 27.

"Pittsburgh is a real hot spot in the country for asthma -- a lot of it is related to air quality."

-- Dr. Deborah Gentile, director of research at the division of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology at Allegheny General Hospital, noting one complication in a program to control asthma by reducing or eliminating symptoms in children. June 27.

"It's an arms race."

-- Luis von Ahn, assistant professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University who helped to develop Captchas, which aim to thwart hackers by using words or numbers online in weird script that one must identify and type into a space to access a Web site. In May, Dr. von Ahn launched an improved version called reCaptchas, but warns that people continue developing new ways to read weird script, forcing his efforts to come up with even better Captchas. July 18.

"Nobody has ever lost a significant amount of weight drinking diet soda."

-- Leslie Bonci, director of sports medicine nutrition for UPMC, noting that drinking diet sodas can cause weight gain because sweet taste is a stimulus for eating. Aug. 8.

"The lack of clean water affects millions of people, with illness and lost educational opportunities in childhood, leading to poverty in adulthood, and solving this problem can bring a significant dividend for all in terms of better living."

-- University of Pittsburgh alumnus Abul Hussam, who has embarked on a global mission to develop solutions to water problems to help millions worldwide. Aug. 8.

"They told me I'd be awake and talking. I'm awake and talking."

-- Stephen Dubovich, 61, of McClellandtown, Fayette County, talking while undergoing brain surgery. During the procedure known as a craniotomy, Dr. Arian Mintz, director of neurosurgical oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, removed a cancerous tumor. Mr. Dubovich's wakefulness during surgery, which was painless, helped Dr. Mintz avoid damaging healthy areas of the brain. Aug. 15.

"You don't see cup holders in French cars."

-- Will Clower, a neuroscientist from Forest Hills, discussing one of the many reasons why the French stay thin despite eating cheese, croissants and foie gras. Dr. Clower studies how cultural habits that lead to good health can be formed and how those leading to poor health can be altered. Sept. 5.

"Most people come to a gym not because their triglyceride level is high, but because they can't fit into their size 12 jeans."

-- Mark Puchany, 48, fitness director for Club 1 in Shadyside, discussing how women prefer emphasizing health rather than good looks in following an exercise routine. Sept. 12.

"To me there's no doubt that humankind was not designed over the millennia to cope with our present environment ... but was designed to cope with periods of feast and famine. This having plenty of everything is something pretty new."

-- Dr. Eric Ravussin, the Douglas L. Gordon professor of diabetes and metabolism at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University, discussing why 41 percent of American Pima Indians living near Phoenix have type 2 diabetes. It represents one of the highest rates in the world. Sept. 19.

"Change or die. What if you were given that choice? For real. ... What if a well-informed trusted authority figure said you had to make difficult and enduring changes in the way you think, feel and act? If you didn't your time would end soon -- a lot sooner than it had to. Could you change when it really mattered? When it mattered the most? Yes, you say? ... You're probably deluding yourself."

-- From the introduction of "Change or Die" by Alan Deutschman, who notes that fewer than 40 percent of people with diabetes follow doctors' advice on diet and exercise. Sept. 26.

"What I think we have actually is an environment that is somewhat toxic and sets people up to consume more calories and be more inactive than they should be."

-- Dr. Elizabeth Venditti, a University of Pittsburgh psychiatry professor involved in diabetes prevention work. Sept. 26.

"Parents of children with Down syndrome go through a process of grieving, but at some point, the diagnosis becomes less of a focus, and they start to really see their child as a person, not a medical condition."

-- Sheila Cannon, parent of a 21-year-old daughter with Down syndrome and a founding member and coordinator of the medical specialty center at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Sept. 26.

"At the time you thought you were a scientific god."

-- Bob Schmidt of Millvale, describing his involvement as an amateur astronomer with Operation Moonwatch, which helped to track Sputnik during its historic orbit in late 1957. Oct. 3.

"Wow, it's really weird that there is no one to teach this."

-- Thoughts of Linda Siminerio as a child after witnessing her father, who had diabetes, suffer a seizure from low blood sugar. Dr. Siminerio, director of the University of Pittsburgh Diabetes Institute, is now recognized as a pioneer in establishing diabetes education programs worldwide. Oct. 16.

"It's a hard disease, but it's a disease that, with work, you can control and manage. It's not a death sentence unless you let it be."

-- Actress Aida Turturro, who played Janice, Tony Soprano's sister in the HBO series "The Sopranos," discussing how she has learned to manage her type 2 diabetes. She gave a presentation Oct. 9 at West Penn Hospital's Joslin Diabetes Resource Center. Oct. 10.

"I spent 50 percent of my time healing from my workouts."

-- Karl Gustafson, 52, a Lower Burrell resident and order planner for Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corp., describing how his motivation for running got derailed by failing to do it right. He became involved in START, a program designed to get an inactive person running a 5-kilometer race in 12 weeks with an emphasis on reducing injuries and lengthening lives. Oct. 31.

"The story of the earliest mammals is a story of their teeth."

-- Dr. Zhe-Xi Luo, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, describing the Jurassic mole-like mammal Pseudotribos whose specialized cutting and grinding teeth shed light on the evolution of the earliest mammals. Nov. 7.

"Imagine being virtually chauffeured safely in your car while doing your e-mail, eating breakfast and watching the news."

-- Larry Burns, GM vice president of R&D and Strategic Planning, envisioning the future after "Boss," a robotic Chevrolet Tahoe developed by Carnegie Mellon University's Tartan Racing, won the Urban Challenge -- a race of robotic vehicles through 52 miles of cityscape in Victorville, Calif. GM was a major sponsor for Tartan Racing, which earned $2 million for winning the race. Nov. 7.

"We have to do research that will turn the world on its head."

-- Jim Osborn, executive director of the Quality of Life Technology Center, discussing technological developments underway to help disabled and elderly people to stay independent. Delaying nursing home admissions saves $1 billion a month. Nov. 14.

"It's a national justification for overeating."

-- Dr. John D. Massella, regional program director at Gatgeway Rehabilitation, describing Thanksgiving dinner, which often results in bouts of indigestion and weight gain. Nov. 21.

"My disease is less about the drugs I took ... than the reason I took them -- to blot out pain, to alter reality, to change perception, to numb my fear."

-- From William Cope Moyers' book "Broken," that describes the results of his use of illegal drugs. Mr. Moyers, the son of journalist and former presidential adviser Bill Moyers, shared his story of recovery Dec. 13 during Gateway Rehabilitation Center's Hope Has a Home fundraising gala. Dec. 5.

"The plans look like they're stuffing the office into a shoebox."

-- John Tague, a disability rights advocate and member of the statewide Occupational Vocational Rehabilitation Board, criticizing the choice of new offices at 531 Penn Ave. Downtown, that has drawn complaints for being, among other issues, inaccessible to people with disabilities. Dec. 5.

"I am the bionic man."

-- Perry Conrad, 49, of Tyrone, Blair County, who had two thin electrodes inserted into his brain to treat Parkinson's disease. As a result his tremors disappeared and his muscular control actually improved. Dec. 12.

"It's the single most difficult time of the year, and it goes on from pre-Halloween through the Super Bowl."

-- Elizabeth Babcock, a clinical social worker in Peters, Washington County, who is on a mission to increase public understanding of compulsive overeating. Dec. 19.

First Published: December 26, 2007, 5:00 a.m.