Health & Medicine
- Health & Medicine
Gene implicated in deadly influenza
A strain of influenza virus that struck in Hong Kong in 1997 got some of its lethality from a mutation in the gene encoding an enzyme called PB2.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Arteries may be vulnerable to HIV attack
HIV may directly interact with cells in arteries, predisposing people to heart attacks.
By John Travis - Health & Medicine
Immunity’s Eyes
Proteins called toll-like receptors allow human immune cells to detect microbes.
By John Travis - Health & Medicine
Milk seems to guard against breast cancer
Norwegian scientists have linked high milk consumption to low incidence of breast cancer.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Hindering glutamate slows rat brain cancer
Compounds that inhibit the amino acid glutamate impede a form of brain cancer called glioma in rats.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Insulin lowers more than blood sugar
Insulin may reduce inflammation and protect the heart.
By John Travis - Health & Medicine
Healing the heart from within
An unusual mouse strain can regenerate heart tissue when the organ is damaged.
By John Travis - Health & Medicine
Stem cell research marches on
Cells from human embryos can be transformed into heart cells or insulin-secreting cells.
By John Travis - Health & Medicine
Drugs Counter Mad Cow Agent in Cells
Fueled only by promising studies of cells, a California research team has invited controversy by beginning to give a little-used malaria drug to patients who have the human version of mad cow disease.
By John Travis - Health & Medicine
Vaccine Verity
Widely publicized concerns about vaccination leading to autism, multiple sclerosis, and diabetes have not been borne out by research.
- Health & Medicine
Could this be the end of the monthly period?
Two compounds stop menstruation in monkeys, suggesting that similar drugs might someday enable women to bypass monthly bleeding.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Germ-Fighting Germs
Plants and animals arent the only things that get sick. Even pathogenic microbes can succumb to infections. Federal plant pathologists are now looking to capitalize on that phenomenon as a strategy to fight off food poisoning. R. Savidge Though nature seals most fruits and vegetables in germ-resistant peels and rinds, once those outer barriers are […]
By Janet Raloff