Health & Medicine
- Health & Medicine
Body fat linked to late puberty in boys
Boys can take a lot of ribbing from their peers for not being macho enough. A new study now indicates that it can take longer to begin transforming into a man if a boy starts out fat.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Neurons may function more solo than thought
Neurons coordinate activity less often than previously thought.
- Health & Medicine
Running barefoot blunts foot’s force
A new study finds that going shoeless tempers impact but can’t say whether this difference reduces injuries.
- Humans
Cigarettes might be infectious
Science & Society blog: The tobacco in cigarettes hosts a bacterial bonanza — literally hundreds of different germs, including those responsible for many human illnesses, a new study finds.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Searing the heart for the better
Electrode-tipped catheter destroys heart tissue to stifle atrial fibrillation, sometimes performing better than meds, study shows.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Millions of women at risk of malaria during pregnancy
Potential problems include undetected illness and anemia in mothers, stillbirth and low birth weight in newborns,
By Nathan Seppa - Life
MRSA bacterial strain mutates quickly as it spreads
Antibiotic-resistant microbe's detailed family tree reveals roots of the global infection.
- Life
Protein may be new target for obesity, diabetes therapies
Molecule regulates flip of a metabolic switch, helps determine how the body uses glucose.
- Earth
BPA is regulated . . . sort of
Food and Drug Administration officials “say they are powerless to regulate BPA” because of a quirk in their rules, according to a story that ran Sunday in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. It comes from a reporter who has made an award-winning habit of documenting the politics that have helped make the hormone-mimicking bisphenol-A a chemical of choice for many manufacturers.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Benefits of omega-3 fatty acids tally up
A study of patients with sepsis and a second in people with heart disease suggest the fish oil compound may aid health.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
BPA and babies: Feds acknowledge concerns
Federal health and research officials outlined new guidance today for parents on the use of plastics made from bisphenol-A, a hard, clear plastic. Their bottom line: Minimize BPA-based products that could make contact with foods or drinks that infants or toddlers might consume — especially hot foods and drinks. But the Food and Drug Administration stopped short of recommending that parents pitch baby bottles and sippy cups made from BPA. Nor did it call for parents to avoid processed infant formulas and baby foods — some of which it acknowledges are contaminated with traces of BPA.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Study supports connection between BPA and heart disease
U.S. population data reveal possible relationship between cardiovascular risk and plastics chemical.