Health & Medicine
- Health & Medicine
Shingles shot’s value is uncertain
The cost-effectiveness of a new vaccine against shingles remains uncertain, making it difficult to assess whether adults should routinely receive the shot.
By Ben Harder - Health & Medicine
Progestin linked to hearing loss in older women
Elderly women who received progestin as part of hormone replacement therapy have poorer hearing than do women who didn't get progestin.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Calling Death’s Bluff
New methods of assessing a person's risk of sudden death due to a heart arrhythmia may enable doctors to better identify which patients need to receive an implanted defibrillator.
By Ben Harder - Health & Medicine
Babies Motor Better with Breast Milk
Even a few months of breastfeeding appear to confer important motor-coordination benefits on an infant.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Weapon against MS: Transplant drug limits nerve damage
An immune-suppressing drug called fingolimod slows multiple sclerosis relapses in patients.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Forewarning of preeclampsia
Scientists have found an early warning sign of preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication marked by high blood pressure. Pregnant women with too much of a protein called soluble endoglin in their blood have a heightened risk of preeclampsia, the researchers say. Endoglin normally sits on the surface of blood vessels, where it plays a role in […]
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Pick Your Antipoison
New research may soon make treating venomous bites and stings less expensive, less risky, and more effective.
- Health & Medicine
A New Bible for Eating Well
The Institute of Medicine has just summarized in a new book 5,000 pages of comprehensive nutrition guidelines issued over the past decade.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Problem Paternity: Older men seem more apt to have autistic kids
Children born to fathers who are age 40 or older have an increased risk of developing autism.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Herpes simplex viruses dip in prevalence
Two viruses that cause genital herpes decreased in prevalence in the United States during the past 2 decades.
By Ben Harder - Health & Medicine
Old drug can stop clots as well as newer drug does
A decades-old form of the anticlotting drug heparin is as safe, as effective, and potentially as convenient to use as recent derivatives that are many times more expensive.
By Ben Harder - Health & Medicine
Another Way Men and Women Differ
One reason young women face a much lower heart-disease risk than do men may reflect the different way their bodies respond to fats circulating in their blood during the first hours after a meal.
By Janet Raloff