Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    Danger, danger, cry injured cells

    Damaged cells may release uric acid to rouse the immune system.

    By John Travis
  2. Health & Medicine

    Do Arctic diets protect prostates?

    Marine diets appear to explain why the incidence of prostate cancer among Inuit men is lower than that of males anywhere else in the world.

    By Janet Raloff
  3. Health & Medicine

    Was President Taft cognitively impaired?

    President William Howard Taft apparently had sleep apnea, a breathing disorder that could explain his propensity to nod off.

    By Nathan Seppa
  4. Health & Medicine

    Making the heart burn

    Burning chest pain during a heart attack may stem from a protein that also responds to chili peppers.

    By John Travis
  5. Health & Medicine

    Coronary Fix: Coated inserts keep vessels unclogged

    Mesh cylinders called stents, which doctors use to prop open coronary arteries, work better when they are coated with sirolimus, a drug that inhibits the accumulation of cells along the device.

    By Nathan Seppa
  6. Health & Medicine

    Timing That First Spoonful: Diabetes risk reflects when cereals enter infant diet

    The timing of cereals' introduction into children's diets may affect their risk of developing type 1 diabetes, two studies suggest.

    By Ben Harder
  7. Health & Medicine

    One bug’s bane may be another’s break

    People who carry pneumococcus bacteria in their nasal passages may be partially protected against having their noses colonized by Staphylococcus aureus.

    By Ben Harder
  8. Health & Medicine

    Drug combination unexpectedly flops

    A combination of therapies that researchers anticipated would work well against HIV failed to stop the virus from replicating in more than half the volunteers who received it.

    By Ben Harder
  9. Health & Medicine

    Resistant staph spreads in communities

    Antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus—once a problem limited mainly to health care settings—has become a menace in communities around the world.

    By Ben Harder
  10. Health & Medicine

    Amid bleak outlook, antibiotic shines

    Encouraging research on a novel antibiotic offers a rare shot of optimism at a time when existing microbe-killing compounds are losing effectiveness and efforts to develop replacements are flagging.

    By Ben Harder
  11. Health & Medicine

    Scientists retract ecstasy drug finding

    Scientists have recanted a controversial report on the dangers of the drug commonly called ecstasy.

    By Ben Harder
  12. Health & Medicine

    Broken arms way up

    Broken arms among adolescents have risen sharply from 30 years ago, possibly because of the popularity of high-risk sports such as skateboarding and a combination of less milk intake and more soft drink consumption.

    By Nathan Seppa