Humans
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Health & MedicineVirulent bacterium’s DNA is sequenced
The completed genome sequence of Staphylococcus aureus reveals transfers from other organisms of many of the antibiotic-resistance and virulence genes.
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Health & Medicine
Death of a theory
Three separate analyses of oral polio vaccine used in the 1950s in Africa deflate the theory that such a vaccine could have ignited the AIDS epidemic by containing virus-infected chimpanzee cells.
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Health & Medicine
Gene therapy cures blindness in dogs
Gene therapy to replace a defective RPE65 gene succeeds in bringing sight to three blind dogs, suggesting such therapy might reverse Leber congenital amauosis, a rare condition in which children are blind from birth.
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Health & Medicine
New anthrax treatment works in rats
By distorting a protein in the toxin that makes the anthrax bacterium deadly, scientists have discovered a promising way to treat the disease and possibly even to prevent it with a vaccine.
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Health & Medicine
Tamoxifen dilates arteries in men
The breast cancer drug tamoxifen can widen a narrowed coronary artery in men with heart problems.
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Health & Medicine
Long-term ecstasy use impairs memory
Extended use of the illicit drug called MDMA or ecstasy exacerbated memory problems in users aged 17 to 31, none of whom reported alcohol dependence.
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Health & Medicine
Peptide puts mouse arthritis out of joint
A compound called vasointestinal peptide, which binds to immune system T cells and macrophages, thwarts arthritis in mice.
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Health & Medicine
Epileptic seizures may be predictable
Patterns of mild electrical disturbance in the brains of epilepsy patients appear to foreshadow a seizure hours before its onset.
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Health & Medicine
Novel typhoid vaccine surpasses old ones
A new vaccine links a sugar molecule found on the surface of the bacterium that causes typhoid fever with a genetically engineered version of the exotoxin protein, which arouses the immune system to churn out antibodies against the bacterium.
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Anthropology
Peru Holds Oldest New World City
Construction of massive ceremonial buildings and residential areas at a Peruvian site began 4,000 years ago, making it the earliest known city in the Americas.
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