All Stories by Nathan Seppa
- Health & Medicine
Old and new drugs may fight myeloma
In some people with a bone marrow cancer called multiple myeloma, treatment with thalidomide or PS-341, which induces programmed cell death, may improve their chances of survival.
- Health & Medicine
Trials affirm value of drug
The drug STI-571, previously shown to work against chronic myelogenous leukemia, also helps patients who have slipped into an acute, highly lethal form of this cancer.
- Health & Medicine
Drug aids destruction of lymphoma cells
The drug rituximab, when added to chemotherapy, boosts survival rates in people with diffuse B-cell lymphoma, a kind of cancer.
- Health & Medicine
Is penicillin-allergy rate overstated?
A study finds that 20 of 21 people who reported having a penicillin allergy when filling out paperwork during a hospital visit in fact don't have one, suggesting that the prevalence of this allergy is overstated.
- Health & Medicine
Marker signals esophageal cancer
Silencing of the gene that encodes the cancer-suppressing protein APC is common in people with esophageal cancer, suggesting that physicians might use this genetic abnormality as a marker for the disease.
- Health & Medicine
Vaccine protects monkeys from Ebola virus
A combination of a DNA vaccine and a vaccine based on a genetically modified common cold virus enables monkeys to resist Ebola virus, the first evidence that an Ebola vaccine works in primates.
- Health & Medicine
Sputum Test May Predict Lung Cancer
By zeroing in on aberrations in two cancer-fighting genes, researchers have found a marker for cancer risk that could help doctors screen people for signs of lung cancer early enough for treatment to be effective.
- Health & Medicine
Malaria vaccine waylays parasite in liver
A new malaria vaccine tested in chimpanzees spurs an immune response against the parasite as it passes through the liver, halting it in most cases before it can get into the bloodstream and cause symptoms of the disease.
- Health & Medicine
Colonoscopy screening would avert cancer
Increased use of colonoscopy could significantly reduce the number of colon cancer deaths and wouldn't cost much more overall than other tests.
- Health & Medicine
Mutation linked to sinus infections
People who have frequent sinus infections are more likely on average to carry one copy of the same genetic mutation that causes cystic fibrosis, even though they don't have that disease.
- Health & Medicine
Prostate enzyme triggers cancer drug
A new drug reverses advanced prostate cancer in mice by enlisting the aid of prostate-specific antigen, an enzyme found in most prostate tumors.
- Health & Medicine
Study bolsters head injury, Alzheimer’s link
Veterans who suffered a moderate or severe concussion during World War II face a heightened risk of Alzheimer's disease when they reach old age.
