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

    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
  5. 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
  6. Health & Medicine

    What’s the Beef?

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

    By Janet Raloff
  7. 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
  8. Health & Medicine

    Got Diabetes? Try Ditching Caffeine

    New studies indicate that caffeine impairs the body's ability to use insulin and regulate blood sugar—potentially serious problems for people with diabetes.

    By Janet Raloff
  9. Health & Medicine

    Swallowed a Fly: Insects may spread foodborne microbe to chickens

    Flies sucked through the ventilation ports of industrial chicken coops may spread the pathogen Campylobacter jejuni, which can ultimately sicken people who eat undercooked chicken.

    By Ben Harder
  10. Health & Medicine

    Gene Delivery: Mouse study shows new therapy may reverse muscular dystrophy

    A single defective gene causes muscular dystrophy, and researchers have now found a way to deliver a working copy of that gene to the entire muscular system in mice.

    By Carrie Lock
  11. Health & Medicine

    Stopping Alzheimer’s: Antibody thwarts disease in mice

    Antibodies against amyloid protein, which gums up the brains of Alzheimer's patients, reverse a form of the disease in mice.

    By Nathan Seppa
  12. Health & Medicine

    Computers read mammograms to detect breast cancer

    Mammogram–scanning computers can help radiologists detect breast cancers that would otherwise escape diagnosis.

    By Ben Harder