Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    Putting the kibosh on black cohosh

    The herbal supplement black cohosh is no more effective than a placebo in reducing the number of daily hot flashes in menopausal women.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Good news for people with clotting disorder

    Several experimental drugs show promise against the bleeding disorder known as immune thrombocytopenic purpura.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    Better Blood: New tool removes agent of brain disease

    Scientists have developed a device that filters from blood the mutant proteins that cause the human form of mad cow disease, an advance that may hold promise for increasing the safety of donated blood.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Bad to the Bone: Acid stoppers appear to have a downside

    Popular acid-reducing drugs called proton-pump inhibitors may increase the risk of hip fractures in people over 50.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Drinking During Pregnancy Emerges As a Possible Male-Infertility Factor

    Alcohol consumption during pregnancy increases the risk of undescended testicles in boy babies, and it may contribute to later fertility problems even in boys born without the defect.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Now This Is Depressing . . .

    People who increased their fish consumption to shed a brooding disposition may want to consider alternative strategies.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    AIDS Avoidance: More studies find that circumcision deters HIV

    Two large trials in Africa find that male circumcision limits HIV infection, which could prompt governments on that continent to promote or subsidize the operation.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Transplant reaction reversed in patients

    From Orlando, Fla., at a meeting of the American Society of Hematology Patients with leukemia get a fighting chance when they receive a transplant of bone marrow cells from a healthy donor. Unfortunately, immune cells from these new arrivals can run amok in the recipient, creating a life-threatening complication called graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Last year, […]

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Experimental clot inhibitors match conventional drugs

    From Orlando, Fla., at a meeting of the American Society of Hematology Two new drugs—one in pill form and another requiring only a single weekly injection—prevent dangerous blood clots in leg veins just as well as do standard treatments that require daily shots, two European research teams report. In one study, scientists in Sweden focused […]

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Drug takes a shot at leukemia cells

    From Orlando, Fla., at a meeting of the American Society of Hematology A drug that targets solid tumors such as those of lung cancer might also fight blood cancers, a lab study shows. Erlotinib (Tarceva) attacks cells by blocking a receptor protein that’s abundant on the surface of some cancer cells (SN: 8/27/05, p. 139: […]

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Trans Fats Are Bad, Aren’t They?

    As New York moves to ban trans fats from fried and baked restaurant fare, little attention has been given to the potentially beneficial trans fats in dairy products and meats.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Catching Flu’s Drift: Vaccines fight unexpected influenza

    Vaccination can prevent three of every four flu infections, even when the vaccines are imperfectly tailored to block the common wintertime pathogens.

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