Brian Vastag

All Stories by Brian Vastag

  1. Health & Medicine

    Phages break up plaques

    Phages, viruses that infect bacteria, dissolve plaques in the brains of mice with an Alzheimer's-like disease.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Sticky treatment for staph infections

    Honey from New Zealand gums up bacteria, offering a potential new means of combating difficult-to-treat infections.

  3. Health & Medicine

    X-Ray Kin: Radiation risk is hereditary

    Susceptibility to radiation-induced tumors runs in families.

  4. Health & Medicine

    Embryos, please

    Almost half of Spanish couples who were asked recently to donate excess embryos for stem cell research did so.

  5. Humans

    Lethal injection is inhumane, say researchers

    Prisoners killed by lethal injection may be conscious and experience pain and burning sensations while they asphyxiate.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Less Is More (Bone): Yearly osteoporosis drug reduces fractures

    Older women with osteoporosis who received yearly infusions of a drug that prevents bone loss had far fewer fractures than did peers who didn't get the drug.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Diabetes from Depression: Older adults face dual risk

    Adults 65 and older who report depressive symptoms are 50 to 60 percent more likely to develop diabetes than are their peers.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Tenacious STD: Drug-resistant gonorrhea is spreading

    Responding to a surge in tough-to-treat gonorrhea, the CDC has stopped recommending Cipro-class antibiotics for the disease.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Bug versus Bug: Insect virus makes a viable flu vaccine

    A new influenza vaccine churned out by caterpillar cells infected with a genetically engineered virus effectively prevents the flu.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Drug-Resistant Flu Detected: Japanese strains appear transmissible

    For the first time, researchers report drug resistance in type B influenza virus and say the drug-resistant strain may jump from person to person.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Asthma Zap: Heated scope reduces attacks

    A new tool cools asthma by heating lung tissue to kill overgrown smooth muscle in airways, a hallmark of the disease.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Risky Flames: Firefighter coronaries spike during blazes

    A disproportionate number of heart disease deaths among firefighters occur during blazes.