All Stories by Nathan Seppa
- Health & Medicine
Head-to-Head Comparison: Coils top clips in brain-aneurysm treatment
Tiny platinum coils inserted into a ruptured brain aneurysm to seal off the bleeding appear safer in the long run for some patients than traditional brain surgery does.
- Health & Medicine
Critical for Coating: Protein directs nerve-sheath construction
A protein produced by nerve cells is essential for the manufacture of myelin, the fatty sheath surrounding nerve fibers.
- Health & Medicine
Rooting out hidden HIV
A drug called valproic acid, used in combination with other medications, can ferret out HIV that is lying dormant in cells.
- Health & Medicine
Protein fingered in rare psychosis
A protein is pivotal in bringing on the psychotic attacks that beset people with porphyria, a rare inherited disease.
- Health & Medicine
A New Role for Statin Drugs? Cholesterol fighters may reduce deaths soon after heart attacks
Statin drugs given within 24 hours of a heart attack improve a patient's chance of surviving.
- Humans
Movies put smoking in a bad light
Smokers in American films are more likely to be villains than heroes, a review of movies from the 1990s shows.
- Health & Medicine
Dark Side of a Blood Builder: Hormone linked to diabetic blindness
Erythropoietin, a hormone that orchestrates growth processes, may contribute to eye damage in people with diabetic retinopathy.
- Health & Medicine
Outwitting TB: Enhanced vaccine protects mice in lab tests
An enhanced vaccine appears to offer better protection against tuberculosis than the current version does, a study in mice suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Tracking busy genes to get at cancer
By identifying which genes are overactive in certain breast tumors, researchers have discovered a genetic signature that could help doctors predict if and when a woman's cancer might spread to her lungs.
- Health & Medicine
New Carrier: Common tick implicated in spread of fever
The brown dog tick is capable of spreading the bacterium that causes Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
- Health & Medicine
Virus Attack on Cancer: Heat makes neglected technology work better
Adding heat sensitizes tumor cells to the effects of a genetically modified virus, which then can kill them.
- Health & Medicine
King George III should have sued
The madness of England's King George III may have been partly due to arsenic poisoning.
