Humans
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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Vaccine Verity
Widely publicized concerns about vaccination leading to autism, multiple sclerosis, and diabetes have not been borne out by research.
- Humans
Cloning hearing creates media frenzy
A panel reviewing human cloning heard the pros and cons of the issue during a fiery debate.
By John Travis - Humans
Bush favors some stem cell research
President Bush said he would support work on stem cells that already had been propagated from embryos otherwise fated for disposal in fertility clinics, but he opposes financing the destruction of additional embryos to create new cell lines.
By John Travis - 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 - Health & Medicine
Protein may post lung cancer warning
The protein Ki-67, sometimes present on tissue lining the lungs, may act as a warning sign of lung cancer risk for ex-smokers.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Once a cesarean, always a cesarean?
Expectant mothers who've already given birth by cesarean section put themselves at increased risk of uterine rupture by trying vaginal birth.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Cox-2 shows up in stomach cancers
The inflammatory enzyme Cox-2 is present in stomach tumors, suggesting that drugs that inhibit the enzyme might help supress tumor formation.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
New drug fights a chronic leukemia
A genetically engineered drug that fuses an antibody to a toxin attacks cancerous cells in hairy-cell leukemia.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Antioxidants + heart drugs = bad medicine?
Taking dietary antioxidant supplements along with certain cholesterol-regulating drugs may diminish the effectiveness of those drugs in boosting the so-called good cholesterol.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Insect-saliva vaccine thwarts parasite
Mice inoculated with a component of sand fly saliva develop immunity to Leishmania, a protozoan that infects hundreds of thousands of people in the tropics each year.
- Health & Medicine
Chemotherapy leads to bone loss
In women with early-stage breast cancer, malfunctioning ovaries and significant bone loss can occur within 6 months of chemotherapy treatment.