Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    Head-to-Head Comparison: Coils top clips in brain-aneurysm treatment

    Tiny platinum coils inserted into a ruptured brain aneurysm to seal off the bleeding appear safer in the long run for some patients than traditional brain surgery does.

    By Nathan Seppa
  2. Health & Medicine

    Lead in spice mixes caused poisonings

    Contaminated spices, purchased from poorly regulated sources, can explain some cases of lead poisoning that involve several members of a family.

    By Ben Harder
  3. Health & Medicine

    Oral Exams

    Scientists are taking advantage of the components in spit to develop new, saliva-based diagnostic tests.

    By Christen Brownlee
  4. Health & Medicine

    Critical for Coating: Protein directs nerve-sheath construction

    A protein produced by nerve cells is essential for the manufacture of myelin, the fatty sheath surrounding nerve fibers.

    By Nathan Seppa
  5. Health & Medicine

    Dieting? Don’t Give Up Protein

    Dieters will get a weight-loss boost if they make sure both exercise and ample protein are part of their calorie-trimming regimen.

    By Janet Raloff
  6. Health & Medicine

    Rooting out hidden HIV

    A drug called valproic acid, used in combination with other medications, can ferret out HIV that is lying dormant in cells.

    By Nathan Seppa
  7. Health & Medicine

    Protein fingered in rare psychosis

    A protein is pivotal in bringing on the psychotic attacks that beset people with porphyria, a rare inherited disease.

    By Nathan Seppa
  8. Health & Medicine

    When Flu Flies the Coop

    Scientists are tracking the spread of a threatening influenza virus in birds and exploring strategies that could be used to halt a potential outbreak in people before it explodes into a global epidemic.

    By Ben Harder
  9. Health & Medicine

    A New Role for Statin Drugs? Cholesterol fighters may reduce deaths soon after heart attacks

    Statin drugs given within 24 hours of a heart attack improve a patient's chance of surviving.

    By Nathan Seppa
  10. Health & Medicine

    Dark Side of a Blood Builder: Hormone linked to diabetic blindness

    Erythropoietin, a hormone that orchestrates growth processes, may contribute to eye damage in people with diabetic retinopathy.

    By Nathan Seppa
  11. Health & Medicine

    Stroke site is often not right

    Thousands of strokes in the right half of the brain may go unrecognized because their symptoms are less distinctive than those of left-side strokes.

    By Ben Harder
  12. Health & Medicine

    Targeted Attack

    Scientists are piecing together the details of how mutations in a protein called EGFR can lead to cancer, and they are designing a new class of drugs to stop the protein's destructive behavior.

    By Emily Sohn