Health & Medicine
-
Health & MedicineTB vaccine gets a needed boost
An experimental vaccine against tuberculosis imparts significant immunity, but only in people who have previously received the existing bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine for TB.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicineSleeve worn on heart fights failure
A new mesh wrap can be placed around an expanded and weakened heart to restore the organ to an efficient, elliptical form.
By Ben Harder -
Health & MedicineUp and down make different workouts
An unusual study conducted on an Alpine mountainside suggests that climbing a steep slope improves the body's ability to process certain fats, while descending such a slope enhances metabolism of a key sugar.
By Ben Harder -
Health & MedicineHow Carbs Can Make Burgers Safer
Though meats can develop carcinogens during grilling, adding potato starch before cooking can limit the carcinogens' formation and possibly uptake by the body.
By Janet Raloff -
Health & MedicineAntioxidant Booster: Protein curbs lung damage caused by smoke
A protein called Nrf2 defends against emphysema by activating dozens of genes that combat free radicals and toxic pollutants, a study in mice suggests.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicineStones-Be-Gone: Gene-targeting drug restores chemical balance protecting the gallbladder
A drug tested in mice prevents gallstones by stimulating a gene that controls levels of different chemicals in the gallbladder.
By David Shiga -
Health & MedicineExtensive test shows cholera vaccine works
A vaccine for cholera has proved up to 81 percent effective in a large-scale public health trial in Mozambique.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicineSoldiers in Iraq coming down with parasitic disease
Hundreds of U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have contracted leishmaniasis, a parasite-borne disease that attacks the skin.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicineProbing a parasite for vulnerability
Researchers have discovered an enzyme that is indispensable to the parasite that causes sleeping sickness, and disabling that enzyme could offer a novel treatment strategy for the disease.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicinePreventive drugs protect children
Preventive treatment with inexpensive drugs decreases rainy-season cases of malaria in Senegal.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicineSaturated Fat Shows Unexpected Benefit
In a study of menopausal women, those who consumed higher amounts of saturated fats over 3 years had less plaque buildup in their arteries.
-
Health & MedicineUmbilical Bounty: Cord blood shows value against leukemia
Umbilical cord blood transplants offer a viable treatment alternative for leukemia patients who don't have a matching bone marrow donor.
By Nathan Seppa