Damaris Christensen

All Stories by Damaris Christensen

  1. Health & Medicine

    Waiting to exhale

    A breath test that measures the activity of an enzyme involved in breaking down drugs in a person's body may help doctors minimize side effects from potent drugs such as docetaxel.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Stressing out

    A gene variant reduces people's response to the stress hormone cortisol, and people with the variant are less likely to have risk factors for heart disease and diabetes.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Taking a Break

    Can interrupting their treatment benefit HIV-infected people?

  4. Health & Medicine

    Lingering legacy of Sept. 11, 2001, on firefighters’ health

    Of the New York firefighters involved in the rescue and recovery effort after last year's terrorist attacks, relatively few have developed chronic coughs and respiratory problems, but among those who did, the problems seem unusually severe.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Gene expression helps classify cancers

    Using gene chips to study the activity of thousands of genes simultaneously, researchers showed that a common cancer of white blood cells—diffuse large B-cell lymphoma—is in fact two distinct diseases.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Antacids for asthma sufferers?

    People with asthma have more acidic lungs than do people who don't have the disease, a finding that may prompt the development of novel asthma treatments aimed at restoring the normal pH value of the lungs.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Treating one disease caused another

    Egypt's public health service inadvertently spread hepatitis C while treating patients for schistosomiasis, a common parasitic disease, with injections of antischistomal medications.

  8. Health & Medicine

    New twist on a pet theory

    Growing up with cats may reduce a child's risk of developing asthma—unless the child's mother has asthma as well.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Is Snoring a DiZZZease?

    Snoring may trigger high blood pressure, which can lead to heart disease or stroke.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Targeted Therapies

    Tailoring prescriptions based on a person's genes may help reduce side effects and allow the development of more personalized medicine.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Lost and found

    Researchers have shown that a drug may shepherd a mutated protein—gone astray in people with cystic fibrosis—into its proper place.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Inflammatory Ideas

    Researchers are gathering evidence that inflammation precedes and predicts diabetes.