Health & Medicine
- Health & Medicine
DREAMing away pain
Mutant mice lacking a certain regulatory protein overproduce a natural opioid and are less sensitive to pain than are other mice.
- Health & Medicine
An El Niño link with a tropical disease?
An analysis of recent outbreaks of an often fatal disease in Peru may strengthen a link between the malady and the warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean known as El Niño.
- Health & Medicine
Compound mimics calorie restriction
A new compound, part of a family of proteins that regulate fat transport, lowers the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes in monkeys.
- Health & Medicine
Ominous signals: Genes may identify the worst breast cancers
By using a technology that reveals patterns of gene activity in tumor cells, researchers can detect breast cancers that are likely to spread and become deadly.
- Health & Medicine
Drink and thrive: Moderate alcohol use reduces dementia risk
Alcohol appears to reduce aging drinkers' risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and other forms of age-related dementia.
- Health & Medicine
Germs That Do a Body Good
Research on probiotic bacteria—living microbes that confer health benefits when introduced into the body—offers growing medical promise.
- Health & Medicine
A new way to lower cholesterol
New agents lower cholesterol in a slightly different way than do statins, the most widely used cholesterol-lowering drugs.
- Health & Medicine
The Persistent Problem of Cystic Fibrosis
Ten years after the discovery of the gene that, when mutated, causes cystic fibrosis, researchers are still struggling to understand why deadly lung infections are so common among people with the disease.
- Health & Medicine
The right fats: Omega-3 fatty acids soothe inflamed colons
A diet containing fish oil, which is rich in healthful omega-3 fatty acids, reduces symptoms of a colitis-like condition in rats.
- Health & Medicine
Anthrax-toxin component deciphered
Scientists have figured out the molecular structure of edema factor, a component of the anthrax toxin.
- Health & Medicine
Cancer clue: RNA-destroying enzyme may thwart prostate-tumor growth
Scientists have found a mutated gene that predisposes men of some families to prostate cancer.
- Health & Medicine
Painful Thoughts
It may not surprise people terrified by a visit to the dentist that one of the top pain research groups at the National Institutes of Health is located within the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. Check out the group’s history in NIDCR’s fascinating primer on the science of pain. Go to: http://history.nih.gov/exhibits/pain/
