Health & Medicine
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Health & MedicineInto the Tank: Pressurized oxygen is best at countering carbon monoxide exposure
Oxygen treatment for serious carbon monoxide poisoning prevents long-term brain damage best if delivered as pressurized gas.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicineLoosen Up
Bacterial toxin may lead to less painful treatments for diabetes and brain cancer.
By John Travis -
Health & MedicineBoning up on calcium shouldn’t be sporadic
The gains in bone health can quickly disappear when people stop taking extra calcium.
By Janet Raloff -
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Health & MedicineSilencing the BRCA1 gene spells trouble
Some breast cancer patients without a mutation in the BRCA1 gene nevertheless have an incapacitated gene, silenced by a process called hypermethylation of nearby DNA.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicineLingering legacy of Sept. 11, 2001, on firefighters’ health
Of the New York firefighters involved in the rescue and recovery effort after last year's terrorist attacks, relatively few have developed chronic coughs and respiratory problems, but among those who did, the problems seem unusually severe.
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Health & MedicineChallenges in testing for West Nile virus
The Food and Drug Administration is trying to figure out how blood banks can detect signs of West Nile infection in blood donors and, eventually, test donated blood for the virus itself.
By Janet Raloff -
Health & MedicinePanel ups RDAs for some antioxidants
An Institute of Medicine panel reported that dietary antioxidants such as vitamins A and E can limit cellular damage from free radicals but warned that studies in people have never adequately established a direct connection between antioxidant consumption and prevention of chronic disease.
By Janet Raloff -
Health & MedicineGene expression helps classify cancers
Using gene chips to study the activity of thousands of genes simultaneously, researchers showed that a common cancer of white blood cells—diffuse large B-cell lymphoma—is in fact two distinct diseases.
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Health & MedicineAntacids for asthma sufferers?
People with asthma have more acidic lungs than do people who don't have the disease, a finding that may prompt the development of novel asthma treatments aimed at restoring the normal pH value of the lungs.
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Health & MedicineTreating one disease caused another
Egypt's public health service inadvertently spread hepatitis C while treating patients for schistosomiasis, a common parasitic disease, with injections of antischistomal medications.
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Health & MedicineFrom rabies virus to anti-HIV vaccine
Researchers working with mice are trying to fashion an HIV vaccine by using a weakened rabies virus to bring an HIV glycoprotein to the attention of the immune system.
By Nathan Seppa