Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    You’re Feeling Sleepy . . . : Anesthetics activate brain’s sleep switch

    Anesthesia's sedative effect may depend on activating sleep circuits in the brain.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Flower Power: Corn lily compound stops cancer in mice

    A new study in mice suggests that cyclopamine, a plant derivative that causes birth defects in animals, can inhibit medulloblastoma, a brain cancer in children.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    Lost and found

    Researchers have shown that a drug may shepherd a mutated protein—gone astray in people with cystic fibrosis—into its proper place.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Processing corn boosts antioxidants

    Cooking sweet corn increases its disease-fighting antioxidant activity, despite decreasing its vitamin C content.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Inflammatory Ideas

    Researchers are gathering evidence that inflammation precedes and predicts diabetes.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Surgery Guide

    Designed for patients and their families, physicians, and students, this Web site provides detailed information about a variety of common surgical procedures, ranging from hernia repair to LASIK for vision correction. Illuminating diagrams and cutting-edge animation accompany each description of a type of surgery. Go to: http://yoursurgery.com/index.cfm

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Tracking signs of memory loss

    A new imaging agent may allow researchers to detect the plaques characteristic of Alzheimer's disease before symptoms are present, when therapies may be most effective.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Cooking Up a Carcinogen

    The discovery that acrylamide—a known animal carcinogen—forms in many foods as they fry or bake has prompted the development of an international research network to investigate whether it poses a threat.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Budding Tastes: Higher blood pressure in newborns links to salt preference

    Babies who tolerate a salty flavor have higher blood pressure on average than their less tolerant counterparts do.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Toxin Trumped: New malaria vaccine protects mice

    An experimental vaccine neutralizes a toxic molecule made by malaria-causing parasites.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Fruit: Towards Virtual Taste Tests

    When it comes to fresh fruit, looks can be deceiving. The prettiest apples may be tasteless or their texture mealy. Intact, ruby-hued skin may hide a large, mushy bruise. As a result, each purchase becomes somewhat of a gamble. Federal engineers with the Agricultural Research Service hope to up a buyer’s odds with a system […]

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Worm genes take on bacterial foes

    Creatures as simple as worms have an effective immune defense.

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