Nathan Seppa
Biomedical Writer (retired September 2015)
Trustworthy journalism comes at a price.
Scientists and journalists share a core belief in questioning, observing and verifying to reach the truth. Science News reports on crucial research and discovery across science disciplines. We need your financial support to make it happen – every contribution makes a difference.
All Stories by Nathan Seppa
-
Health & Medicine
Coming to a Bad End: Lost chromosome tips linked to heart problems
Men with short telomeres, the ends of chromosomes, are twice as likely to develop heart disease as are men with longer telomeres.
-
Health & Medicine
No Fluke: New weapon against tropical parasite
An experimental drug shows potential against schistosomiasis.
-
Health & Medicine
Putting the kibosh on black cohosh
The herbal supplement black cohosh is no more effective than a placebo in reducing the number of daily hot flashes in menopausal women.
-
Health & Medicine
Good news for people with clotting disorder
Several experimental drugs show promise against the bleeding disorder known as immune thrombocytopenic purpura.
-
Health & Medicine
Bad to the Bone: Acid stoppers appear to have a downside
Popular acid-reducing drugs called proton-pump inhibitors may increase the risk of hip fractures in people over 50.
-
Health & Medicine
AIDS Avoidance: More studies find that circumcision deters HIV
Two large trials in Africa find that male circumcision limits HIV infection, which could prompt governments on that continent to promote or subsidize the operation.
-
Health & Medicine
Transplant reaction reversed in patients
From Orlando, Fla., at a meeting of the American Society of Hematology Patients with leukemia get a fighting chance when they receive a transplant of bone marrow cells from a healthy donor. Unfortunately, immune cells from these new arrivals can run amok in the recipient, creating a life-threatening complication called graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Last year, […]
-
Health & Medicine
Experimental clot inhibitors match conventional drugs
From Orlando, Fla., at a meeting of the American Society of Hematology Two new drugs—one in pill form and another requiring only a single weekly injection—prevent dangerous blood clots in leg veins just as well as do standard treatments that require daily shots, two European research teams report. In one study, scientists in Sweden focused […]
-
Health & Medicine
Drug takes a shot at leukemia cells
From Orlando, Fla., at a meeting of the American Society of Hematology A drug that targets solid tumors such as those of lung cancer might also fight blood cancers, a lab study shows. Erlotinib (Tarceva) attacks cells by blocking a receptor protein that’s abundant on the surface of some cancer cells (SN: 8/27/05, p. 139: […]
-
Decoding a protein to fend off sepsis
From Orlando, Fla., at a meeting of the American Society of Hematology Sepsis is a lethal blood disorder that typically arises from bacterial infections. It’s marked by organ damage caused by inflammation and blood vessel leakage. A synthetic version of activated protein C (ACP) is the sole drug approved to specifically attack sepsis, but it […]
-
Animals
Ebola Die-Off: Gorilla losses tallied in central Africa
Between 2001 and 2005, Ebola virus killed at least 5,500 lowland gorillas in the Republic of the Congo.
-
Health & Medicine
Indian men are prone to insulin resistance
Men from India are more likely than those in other large ethnic groups to have a condition that predisposes them to adult-onset diabetes.