Nathan Seppa

Biomedical Writer (retired September 2015)

All Stories by Nathan Seppa

  1. Health & Medicine

    Measuring Stick: Spinal tap test tracks Alzheimer’s compound

    A new test is the first to measure production and clearance of amyloid-beta in the cerebrospinal fluid of people, enabling scientists to track this Alzheimer's disease peptide.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Pregnancy risk from blood pressure drugs?

    Babies exposed in the first trimester of their mother's pregnancy to blood pressure drugs called ACE inhibitors are at an increased risk of birth defects.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Proof of Protection: Condoms limit infection by cervical cancer virus

    Condom use reduces a woman's risk of being infected with human papillomavirus and of developing precancerous growths on the cervix.

  4. Health & Medicine

    Antidepressant drugs show link to diabetes

    People taking antidepressant medication might be at increased risk of developing diabetes.

  5. Health & Medicine

    New drugs reduce blood sugar

    Two experimental drugs can lower blood sugar significantly in people with type 2 diabetes.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Next Line of Defense: New drugs take on resistant leukemia

    Two experimental drugs stop many cases of chronic myeloid leukemia that are resistant to the drug imatinib (Gleevec).

  7. Health & Medicine

    Homegrown Defender: Urinary infections face natural guard

    Specialized peptides produced by cells lining the urinary tract stand guard as the first line of defense against bacterial infection.

  8. Wrong Impression: Bipolar kids misinterpret facial cues as hostile

    Children with bipolar disorder are more likely than other kids to read hostility in bland facial expressions.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Common drugs offer some hot flash relief

    Antidepressants and some other prescription drugs reduce the number of hot flashes that many women experience during menopause.

  10. Health & Medicine

    For the Birds: New vaccines protect chickens from avian flu

    By piggybacking components of strains of avian-influenza virus onto an existing poultry vaccine, scientists have created experimental vaccines that can prevent bird flu in chickens.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Prescription stimulants are big on campus

    Nearly 1 in 10 students at a New England college admits to using prescription stimulants without authorization.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Many people don’t see well

    Vision screening of a broad sample of people in the United States ages 12 and older finds that 6.4 percent of them have substandard vision.