Health & Medicine
- Health & Medicine
Risk Factor: Genetic defect hikes breast cancer threat
A mutation already linked to several types of cancer doubles the risk of breast cancer in a woman and multiplies men's slight risk of the disease even more dramatically.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Put Out to Pasture: Strategy to prolong antibiotics’ potency
The use of antibiotics to promote growth in farm animals hastens the end of their medical effectiveness.
By Ben Harder - Health & Medicine
Shocking findings
Implanted defibrillators reduce the occurrence of sudden death by about a third among people who had previous heart attacks and continue to suffer impaired heart function.
- Health & Medicine
Mammograms on Trial
New controversy about old data has physicians, women, and policy analysts struggling to decide whether all women should be screened with mammography in order to reduce deaths due to breast cancer.
- Health & Medicine
Honey of a Threat
An all-natural, organic food, honey has a benign–if not wholesome–image. Many people consider it a superior alternative to table sugar and corn syrup–two primary sweeteners in the U.S diet. Though attractive to bees, borage may lace its flowers nectar with toxic chemicals that could then show up in honey. James N. Roitman, USDA-ARS Comfrey, formerly […]
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Cardiac Culprit: Autopsies implicate C-reactive protein in fatal heart attacks
Of people who died suddenly, those who succumbed to a heart attack had an abundance of the inflammation indicator C-reactive protein in the blood, even though few had had outward signs of heart problems.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Drug for dry mouth may prevent lung cancer
A drug prescribed for a condition called dry mouth stymies formation of precancerous lung lesions in cigarette smokers.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Gene mutation tied to lung cancer
Scientists have identified a gene, dubbed LKB1/STK11, that is often mutated in people with a particularly deadly form of lung cancer.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Compound attacks pancreatic cancer
A protein fragment dubbed NK4 can stall the development of pancreatic cancer in mice.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
St. John’s wort hinders cancer drug
The herbal remedy St. John's wort can interfere with the effectiveness of the anticancer drug irinotecan.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Antibiotics don’t seem to protect heart
Two large studies find little evidence that antibiotics can protect some people with cardiovascular disease against subsequent heart attacks.
By Ben Harder - Health & Medicine
Folate cuts family risk of colon cancer
According to a 16-year study of nearly 90,000 women, the vitamin folate has a protective effect against colon cancer among women whose families have been affected by the disease.
By Ben Harder