With Dallas Keuchel and Charlie Morton leaving in free agency and Lance McCullers Jr. on the mend following Tommy John surgery, Collin McHugh is returning to his roots this year and is back in the Houston rotation. He said his experience as a reliever will only help him evolve as a starter.

You can't help but learn a few things when you had the kind of year Astros star shortstop Carlos Correa experienced last season, when a nagging back injury derailed him in the second half and forced him to deal with the biggest adversity of his career.

Astros third baseman Alex Bregman continues to progress from the arthroscopic elbow surgery he had a month to remove bone chips.

On this opening week of Spring Training, all 30 Major League teams have one thing in common: optimism. Here's an optimism cheat sheet for each of them.

Astros outfielder Josh Reddick vows to start hitting to the opposite field more this year, which is something he did well in 2017, but not '18. Reddick hit .242 with 17 homers and 47 RBIs last year after hitting .314 with 13 homers and 82 RBIs to help the Astros to the World Series title in '17.

They wrestled with the decision to start a family for five years. It's something most young couples discuss at some point. Timing is important, and considering their busy lives, even more so for Astros pitcher Joe Smith and his wife, TV sports reporter Allie LaForce. The issue facing the couple is far more momentous than most others have to deal with -- one that's a matter of life and death.

The first Hall of Famer to join the Astros at Spring Training is Craig Biggio, who was in uniform for morning workouts on Tuesday and will remain with the team throughout the week.

It took only two words for Alex Bregman to send 9-year-old Jax Nystrom into a frenzy, but this kind of reaction -- young people freaking out at the slightest bit of attention from him -- has become commonplace for the Astros' All-Star third baseman.

  WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 40 public companies are pledging to return money to the government’s small business coronavirus fund now that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is threatening criminal prosecutions for...

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) — A Pennsylvania inmate whose dreadlocks violated a jail’s haircut policy has been released from solitary confinement after more than a year, although his federal lawsuit is still pending. A federal...

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) director, Dr Carissa Etienne, is warning that lifting COVID-19 restrictions too soon could accelerate the spread of the virus and open the door for a dramatic upsurge in countries of the region. The warning...

HYDERABAD, India (AP) — A gas leak at a chemical factory owned by a South Korean company in southern India early Thursday left at least 11 people dead and about 1,000 struggling to breathe. The chemical styrene, used to make plastic and...

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii authorities are cracking down on rogue tourists who are visiting beaches, riding personal watercraft, shopping and generally flouting strict requirements that they quarantine for 14 days after arriving. A newlywed...

Dozens of United States children have been hospitalised with a serious inflammatory condition possibly linked with the coronavirus and first seen in Europe. New York authorities announced Wednesday that 64 potential cases had been reported to...

COVID-19-ravaged regional economies, including Jamaica, will need the united strength of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) to help revive their micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sectors, many of which have been decimated. That...

MANILA (AP): The Philippines’ largest TV and radio network, which was shutdown this week by a government regulator, asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow it to return to the air amid an uproar over its closure. ABS-CBN Corp said in its...

LONDON — Britain’s minister for the environment, food and rural affairs says Prime Minister Boris Johnson won’t be announcing immediate changes to the country’s coronavirus lockdown when he addresses the nation on Sunday....

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A Colombian advertising company is pitching a novel, if morbid, solution to shortages of hospital beds and coffins during the coronavirus pandemic: combine them. ABC Displays has created a cardboard bed with metal...

JAMAICA OLYMPIC Association (JOA) President Christopher Samuda believes that his sports administration experience will aid him in helping to finally shape a professional football league in the Caribbean. Concacaf announced Samuda’s appointment to...

ROSEAU, Dominica (CMC): A top West Indies Cricket Umpires Association (WICUA) official says regional umpires have also been heavily impacted by the cessation of cricket, stemming from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vivian Johnson, who...

Western Bureau: A number of swimming officials in western Jamaica say that the region’s struggles with underdevelopment will continue even if the COVID-19 pandemic is brought under control. They say this is because they still lack proper pools to...

Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited, operators of Caymanas Track, has announced the re-opening of the main track, effective tomorrow. The company said in a press release on Thursday evening that the track will be opened for two days...

Former national footballer Arthur Lattimore has died. Lattimore, who represented Jamaica in the 1970s, lost his battle with throat cancer at his home in Florida on Thursday. Lattimore, who was known as one of Jamaica's most skilful left-sided...

BERLIN, Germany (AP): THE BUNDESLIGA football season will resume on May 16 in empty stadiums, picking up right where it left off two months ago amid the coronavirus pandemic. Yesterday’s announcement comes one day after clubs were told the season...

National 400m hurdles champion Rushell Clayton is concerned about what she says are inequalities between men and women in track and field. Clayton was speaking at a Women in Sports Conference in Kingston recently and discussed issues of inequality...

Premier League Clubs Association (PLCA) vice-chairman Carvel Stewart says that the Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) could return in July at the earliest. The nation’s top flight has been on hiatus since March, with four games left in the regular...

Former national footballer Arthur Lattimore passed away after a long battle with throat cancer. Lattimore, who represented Jamaica’s football team through­out the 1970s, died at his home in Florida, leaving behind five children, grandchildren, and...

Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) general secretary Dalton Wint says that any potential changes to the Concacaf hexagonal round for the FIFA World Cup qualifiers could present challenges to the nation’s aim of qualifying for Qatar 2022. Wint’s...

The UK’s austerity programme has disproportionately affected children and people with disabilities, says David Taylor-Robinson, a senior clinical lecturer in public health at the University of Liverpool. He joins us to discuss why the evidence shows the vulnerable are hit hardest by the cuts to public services, despite the UN conventions on...

One hundred years ago, Pennsylvanian surgeon Evan Kane penned a brief letter to JAMA in which he declared himself a rigorous proponent of the “benefic [sic] effects of the phonograph within the operating room.” Now David Bosenquet, a surgeon from University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff has written a Christmas editorial about the evidence for the...

Winners of the Darwin Award must eliminate themselves from the gene pool in such an idiotic manner that their action ensures one less idiot will survive. Ben and Dennis Lendrem, and colleagues, have reviewed the data on winners of the Darwin Award over a 20 year period and they join us to discuss why men are idiots, and why their team is not the...

Waiting times in theatre can be a source of friction – but is the delay due to mandatory anaesthetic faff around time (MAFAT), or AWOL surgeons? Elizabeth Travis, and orthopaedic house officer in New Zealand and colleagues, have been trying to create and evidence base to argue the toss, and she joins me now to discuss her study, Operating...

Until recently, hepatitis C screening was offered to people at increased risk of infection - such as intravenous drug users - but now, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended screening all people born between 1945 and 1965. Kenny Lin, associate professor of family medicine at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and...

Multimorbidity presents a number of different challenges, for the patients living with the conditions, but also for the health professionals caring for them in systems that often are not designed with these more complex needs in mind. Emma Wallace, general practice lecturer, and Susan Smith, a professor of general practice at the Royal College of...

Private hospital chains have been “buying” referrals by offering clinicians lucrative packages, including free facilities in sought after locations. And the doctors’ regulator is turning a blind eye to those who are tempted, Reporter Jonathan Gornall joins us to discuss the investigation. Read the full...

Karen Grépin, assistant professor of global health policy at New York University, has been examining the pledges made by the international community to help fight the ebola virus outbreak - was it really too little, too late? Read her full analysis: http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h376

Participants in our discussion on person centred care in January agreed that a change in culture and better use of technology could benefit both patients and doctors. At the roundtable: Fiona Godlee (chair), editor in chief, The BMJ Tessa Richards, senior editor, patient partnership, The BMJ Rosamund Snow, patient editor, The BMJ Navjoyt Ladher,...

Mark Folman, a GP in Nottinghamshire, is concerned that more and more work, with more and more patients, means less time with those who really need him. BMJ Voices is a collection of readers’ experiences of working in the NHS. For this, The BMJ is seeking short audio submissions from UK listeners. These submissions will be published on...

Michelle Sinclar, a GP in Hampshire who is concerned that GP premises aren't fit for purpose and limit her ability to provide fully rounded patient care. BMJ Voices is a collection of readers’ experiences of working in the NHS. For this, The BMJ is seeking short audio submissions from UK listeners. These submissions will be published on...

In this podcast Alexandra Barratt, professor of public health at the University of Sydney, discusses how questions about overdiagnosis in breast cancer screening programmes were first raised 45 years ago, and why it has taken so long for the concept to become mainstream. Read her full analysis: http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h867

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) are usually asymptomatic until they rupture, which is fatal in more than 80% of cases. Screening aims to detect the aneurysm before it ruptures, enabling preventive surgery and hence reducing morbidity and mortality. However, preventive surgery has a mortality of 3.9-4.5%. As the prevalence of risk factors, ie...

BMJ Voices is a collection of readers’ experiences of working in the NHS. For this, The BMJ is seeking short audio submissions from UK listeners. These submissions will be published on thebmj.com. Patrick Keating, a GP from Enfield, is concerned that small practices are under pressure to increase list size, but aren't able to muster resources to...

Obioma Ezekobe is a GP in an urgent care centre in Central Middlesex Hospital. She believes that the public need to be educated about the use of NHS resources, and be taught when it is appropriate to seek care. If you would like to contribute to this collection, please email a brief audio recording to voices@bmj.com or phone +44 (20) 3058 7427...

In the US the licence, or marketing authorisation, for alteplase is limited to 0-3 hours after onset of stroke, but some other countries - including the UK and Australia - have extended the licence to 4.5 hours. In an analysis article on thebmj.com Brian Alper, vice president of evidence based medicine research and development at Dynamed, and...

The movement to make data from clinical trials widely accessible has achieved enormous success, and it is now time for medical journals to play their part. From 1 July The BMJ will extend its requirements for data sharing to apply to all submitted clinical trials, not just those that test drugs or devices. The BMJ's Elizabeth Loder explains what...

Cervical screening programmes in many countries stop at around the age of 65 and much of the focus is often on younger women. However, comparatively little attention has been given to older women despite the fact that they account for about a fifth of cases each year and half of deaths. In this podcast Susan Sherman, a senior lecturer in...

The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) has been examining the treatment of acute GI bleeds in England's NHS. Two of the authors, Martin Sinclair, consultant surgeon, and Simon McPherson, consultant vascular radiologist, join us to talk about their findings. Read the full...

A recent review by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council concluded that “there are no health conditions for which there is reliable evidence that homeopathy is effective”, but Europe currently spends €1bn annually on such remedies - often at the recommendation of doctors. So a recent head to head debate in The BMJ asks,...

Hepatic encephalopathy constitutes a spectrum of neuropsychiatric abnormalities, beginning with subtle psychomotor changes and progressing to confusion with asterixis, somnolence, and then coma, arising in patients with impaired liver function. In this podcast, Tim Cross, a consultant hepatologist from the Royal Liverpool University Hospital,...

They have a big impact on the diet of American citizens, and those of most Western nations, so why does the expert advice underpinning US government dietary guidelines not take account of all the relevant scientific evidence asks Nina Teicholz. Read the full investigation: http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h4962