Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    Preventive drugs protect children

    Preventive treatment with inexpensive drugs decreases rainy-season cases of malaria in Senegal.

    By Nathan Seppa
  2. Health & Medicine

    Saturated 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.

    By Diana Parsell
  3. Health & Medicine

    Umbilical 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
  4. Health & Medicine

    Asthma Counterattack

    After several experimental attempts, researchers finally have verified that fighting allergens in the household can reduce symptoms of asthma.

    By Ben Harder
  5. Health & Medicine

    A Carrot Rainbow (with recipe)

    There are more than aesthetic benefits from looking beyond orange when it comes to selecting carrots.

    By Janet Raloff
  6. Health & Medicine

    Lingering Loss: In 2-year diet trial, new pill keeps off weight

    Obese adults who lose weight during a year of taking an experimental diet drug, rimonabant, and dieting keep the weight off during the following year, if they continue the regimen.

    By Ben Harder
  7. Health & Medicine

    Problems for Preemies: Early birth is linked to insulin overproduction

    Children born prematurely are more likely than their full-term counterparts to develop insulin resistance, a marker for diabetes.

    By Nathan Seppa
  8. Health & Medicine

    Staph receptor as drug target

    A receptor molecule on the surface of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus might present an exploitable weak spot in the microbe's defenses.

    By Nathan Seppa
  9. Health & Medicine

    A vaccine for cervical cancer

    A vaccine against human papillomavirus, which causes cervical cancer, has proved 94 percent effective in preventing the virus from infecting women.

    By Nathan Seppa
  10. Health & Medicine

    Vaccine Stretch: Smaller dose packs punch against flu

    A fraction of the standard dose of flu vaccine appears to grant people immunity to influenza if injected into the skin rather than in the muscle of the upper arm.

    By David Shiga
  11. Health & Medicine

    Uranium, the newest ‘hormone’

    Animal experiments indicate that waterborne uranium can mimic the activity of estrogen, a female sex hormone.

    By Janet Raloff
  12. Health & Medicine

    Heavy traffic may trigger heart attacks

    Exposure to traffic can dramatically increase a person's risk of having a heart attack soon afterward.

    By Diana Parsell