Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    Demanding careers may thwart Alzheimer’s

    People who spend many years in mentally taxing jobs are less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than are people who do more-routine work.

    By Nathan Seppa
  2. Health & Medicine

    Joint Effort: Bacteria in yogurt combat arthritis in rats

    Yogurt containing certain types of live bacteria may help prevent or treat arthritis.

    By Ben Harder
  3. Health & Medicine

    Curbing Allergy to Insect Venom: Therapy stops reactions to stings years later

    Some children don't outgrow an allergy to insect stings, but immunizations against such allergies can protect them into adulthood.

    By Nathan Seppa
  4. Health & Medicine

    Cancer cells on the move

    A new study suggests how a gene recently linked to liver, skin, and pancreatic cancer also causes an often-deadly form of breast cancer.

    By Damaris Christensen
  5. Health & Medicine

    Boldly into the breech controversy

    Addressing a long-simmering controversy, a large new study has shown that in pregnancies where the baby has positioned itself to emerge feet or buttocks first, the delivery safest for the mother and child is a planned cesarean section rather than a vaginal birth.

    By Damaris Christensen
  6. Health & Medicine

    A vaccine to help ex-smokers

    By generating antibodies that neutralize nicotine, a vaccine could keep ex-smokers from getting the nicotine high that drives many of them back to their bad habit.

    By John Travis
  7. Health & Medicine

    Caffeine may ward off Parkinson’s

    Scientists may have found an explanation for why coffee drinking prevents Parkinson's disease.

    By John Travis
  8. Health & Medicine

    Sputum Test May Predict Lung Cancer

    By zeroing in on aberrations in two cancer-fighting genes, researchers have found a marker for cancer risk that could help doctors screen people for signs of lung cancer early enough for treatment to be effective.

    By Nathan Seppa
  9. Health & Medicine

    Old-fashioned circumcision can spread herpes

    Boys whose ritual circumcisions involve an ancient, and now rare, practice may acquire herpes during the operation.

    By Ben Harder
  10. Health & Medicine

    Severe sweating treated with Botox

    A new treatment has been approved for excessive sweating, or hyperhidrosis, which is surprisingly common.

    By Ben Harder
  11. Health & Medicine

    What’s the Beef?

    Beef certified as Angus may not always be as tender as consumers expect.

    By Janet Raloff
  12. Health & Medicine

    HIV drugs may stop cervical disease

    A drug combination given to people with HIV, the AIDS virus, helps knock out precancerous cervical lesions in some women.

    By Nathan Seppa