Nathan Seppa

Biomedical Writer (retired September 2015)

All Stories by Nathan Seppa

  1. Uganda shows strong gains in war on AIDS

    Uganda has shown remarkable progress against HIV, the AIDS virus.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Unsettling Association: Dental X rays linked to low-birth-weight babies

    Getting dental X rays while pregnant might increase a woman's risk of giving birth to a low-birth-weight baby.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Experimental drug boosts HDL counts

    An experimental drug can dramatically increase blood concentrations of high-density lipoprotein, the beneficial cholesterol.

  4. Health & Medicine

    CT scan no match for colonoscopy

    Colonoscopy is better at detecting potentially dangerous colon polyps than computed tomography scanning is.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Zapping Wayward Cells: Therapy sheds light on transplant complication

    Ultraviolet light can curb graft-versus-host disease, a common complication of bone marrow transplants, a study of mice shows.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Drug for preemies linked to problems

    A steroidal drug used to combat lung inflammation in premature infants appears to have long-term negative effects.

  7. Health & Medicine

    SARS vaccine tests well in mouse model

    Scientists have developed a DNA vaccine that stops the SARS infection in mice.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Better-Off Circumcised? Foreskin may permit HIV entry, infection

    Circumcision seems to offer partial protection against HIV infection, but not other sexually transmitted diseases.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Surgical Option: Hysterectomy may top drugs for women with heavy bleeding

    Women who suffer from heavy menstrual bleeding and fail to improve on a hormone-based drug fare better if they choose hysterectomy rather than a regimen of other drugs.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Gap in the Defense: Brain cancer patients short on valuable protein

    Brain tumor cells have a dearth of an obscure protein called ING4, whose sister compounds have shown anticancer effects.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Ear piercings cause illness, disfigurement

    Piercing the upper-ear cartilage under nonsterile conditions can leave a person vulnerable to a Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection, as happened in Oregon in 2000.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Heart patients gain from steep cholesterol drop

    Heart patients can lessen their risk of a heart attack and increase their odds of survival by aggressively reducing harmful low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in their blood.