Health & Medicine
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Health & MedicineBerry promising anticancer prospects
Twelve years ago, scientists uncovered a mechanism to explain why the folk remedy of eating cranberries fights urinary tract infections. It now appears that the medicinal powers of the pucker-inducing berries might extend to breast cancer as well. Cranberry Marketing Committee For years, Najla Guthrie and her colleagues at the University of Western Ontario in […]
By Janet Raloff -
Health & MedicineMaking Sense of Centenarians
The number of centenarians is expected to double every ten years, making this formerly rare group one of the fastest-growing in the developed world. Researchers are turning to studies of the oldest old to determine how genes, lifestyle, and social factors contribute to longevity.
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Health & MedicineNew drug to treat blood poisoning
For the first time, a drug has reduced deaths from severe sepsis, a life-threatening immune reaction occurring in 750,000 people in the United States each year.
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Health & MedicineLess morphine may be more
In mice, very low doses of morphine combined with even lower doses of a drug that usually blocks morphine's effect can give greater pain relief than higher doses of morphine alone.
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Health & MedicineTwo genes tied to common birth defect
Researchers report that defects in either of two specific genes may be responsible for DiGeorge syndrome, the second most common cause of congenital heart defects in newborns.
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Health & MedicineSedentary Off-hours Link to Alzheimer’s
People who have Alzheimer's disease in old age were generally less active physically and intellectually between the ages of 20 and 60 than were people who don't have the disease.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicineStress-prone? Altering the diet may help
Some people undertake seemingly impossible tasks without frustration, while others become anxious or depressed. A Dutch study now finds that the latter individuals might cope with pressure better if they tailored their diet to fuel the brain with more tryptophan. The brain uses this essential amino acid, a building block of many proteins, to fashion […]
By Janet Raloff -
Health & MedicineSurveying the Swiss: The eyes have it
Magnetic resonance imaging can help determine the health of a wheel of cheese.
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Health & MedicineThe Good Trans Fat
One arcane family of fats may be tapped to treat or prevent a host of diseases.
By Janet Raloff -
Health & MedicineMice reveal new, severe form of allergy
Researchers studying an induced condition in mice akin to multiple sclerosis have stumbled across a situation in which mice suffered a severe allergic reaction to injected protein fragments that mimic one their own proteins.
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Health & MedicineFat harbors cells that could aid joints
Researchers have found a way to trick fat into generating cartilage.
By Linda Wang -
Health & MedicineVaccine may prevent some cervical cancers
A new vaccine spurs people to produce a strong immune response against human papillomavirus, a virus that can infect both men and women and causes cervical cancer in women.
By Nathan Seppa