Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    H1N1: Call to revise flu-mask policy

    Three groups of healthcare professionals sent a letter to President Obama yesterday asking that he instruct his administration to revise federal flu-mask guidance. What these groups want: formal recognition that two studies last month showed conventional surgical masks are about as protective as the fancy — but much more expensive — N95 respirators in limiting H1N1 infection.

    By Janet Raloff
  2. Tech

    House passes medical isotopes bill

    A spot of encouraging news emerged yesterday on the medical-isotope front. The House of Representatives voted 440 to 17 in favor of a bill to reestablish domestic production of molybdenum-99. It’s the feedstock for the most heavily used nuclear agent in diagnostic medicine.

    By Janet Raloff
  3. Health & Medicine

    Smallpox — The Death of a Disease

    The Inside Story of Eradicating a Worldwide Killer, by D.A. Henderson.

    By Nathan Seppa
  4. Health & Medicine

    Bacteria flourish in favorite ecosystems on the human body

    Study offers most comprehensive inventory yet of the human microbiome and a basis for understanding how those microbes affect health.

    By Laura Sanders
  5. Earth

    Nanoparticles’ indirect threat to DNA

    Tiny metal nanoparticles can damage DNA, essentially by triggering toxic gossip.

    By Janet Raloff
  6. Health & Medicine

    Genome 10K: A new ark

    Featured blog: Researchers are working to catalog the DNA sequences of just about every vertebrate genus.

    By Janet Raloff
  7. Health & Medicine

    Vaccine may head off genital cancer in women

    An experimental immunization can clear up premalignant growths caused by the human papillomavirus in some patients.

    By Nathan Seppa
  8. Humans

    H1N1 vaccine: Counting side effects

    Pregnant women are considered at high risk for suffering complications or death from the new H1N1 pandemic swine flu. So they’re near the top of the list for getting vaccinated. A new international study calculates that up to 400 out of every million pregnant women who receive such swine-flu shots will experience a miscarriage within 24 hours. But not BECAUSE of their flu shots.

    By Janet Raloff
  9. Health & Medicine

    HIV self-test proves accurate

    Study in an ER shows individuals successfully determined their own HIV status.

    By Nathan Seppa
  10. Health & Medicine

    Antibiotic-resistant bacteria strike drug of last resort

    Warning signs emerge in the use of an old drug effective against resistant microbes.

    By Nathan Seppa
  11. Health & Medicine

    Your cholesterol drug might help you weather the flu

    Data suggest illness is less likely to be fatal in those taking statins

    By Nathan Seppa
  12. Health & Medicine

    Flu shots for moms-to-be benefit babies

    Study of about 4,000 pregnant women shows link between newborn health and whether mom got vaccinated

    By Nathan Seppa