Nathan Seppa

Biomedical Writer (retired September 2015)

All Stories by Nathan Seppa

  1. Health & Medicine

    Huntington’s Advance: Drug limits disease effects in laboratory mice

    A compound that inhibits enzymes that act as stop signs for genes counteracts the movement disorders brought on by Huntington's disease, a mouse study suggests.

  2. Health & Medicine

    DNA vaccine for measles shows promise

    A measles vaccine consisting of just a couple of DNA strands proves effective in monkeys, possibly presenting an alternative or complementary vaccine for the standard immunization now used worldwide.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Too Much of a Good Thing: Excess vitamin A may hike bone-fracture rate

    Dietary studies suggest that people who consume large amounts of vitamin A in foods or multivitamins are more likely to suffer hip fractures than are people who ingest modest amounts.

  4. Health & Medicine

    Do liver stem cells come from bone marrow?

    Tests of liver tissue from people who've received liver or blood-marrow transplants show that stem cells in bone marrow can populate the liver as liver cells.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Nifty Spittle: Compound in bat saliva may aid stroke patients

    An anticlotting molecule in the saliva of vampire bats combats strokelike brain damage in mice.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Silencing a gene slows breast-tumor fighter

    The protein encoded by the HOXA5 gene plays a key role in fighting breast cancer, helping to switch on cancer-suppressing genes.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Determined at Birth? Kidney makeup may set hypertension risk

    People lacking a full complement of blood-filtering nephrons in their kidneys at birth are at increased risk of developing high blood pressure.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Researchers target sickle-cell cure

    Using stem cell transplants and a compound called antithymocyte globulin, researchers in Paris have cured 59 of 69 children of sickle-cell disease.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Double cord-blood transplant helps cancer patients

    Two umbilical-cord-blood transplants may work better than one for cancer patients.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Clear Skin: Injections counteract psoriasis in patients

    Injections of an immune system protein called interleukin-4 can alleviate skin problems in people with psoriasis.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Getting the iron out

    A new oral drug called ICL670 works as well as an injectable treatment in relieving iron overload in the blood.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Protein vaccine slows leukemia

    A cancer vaccine fashioned from a piece of a compound called proteinase-3 shows promise against leukemia.