All Stories by Nathan Seppa
- Health & Medicine
Neuron Savers: Gene therapy slows Alzheimer’s disease
Putting extra copies of the gene for a cellular growth factor into the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease appears to slow the degenerative condition.
- Health & Medicine
When the stomach gets low on acid
A study in mice shows that a shortage of stomach acid can lead to cancer, apparently as a result of bacterial overgrowth and inflammation.
- Health & Medicine
Licorice ingredient ferrets out herpes
A compound in licorice homes in on lab-grown cells infected with a herpes virus and induces them to self-destruct.
- Health & Medicine
Messy Mix? Combined vaccine yields fewer antibodies
Some common childhood vaccines don't seem to work as well when administered with, or at the same time as, other vaccines.
- Health & Medicine
Molecular Switch: Protein may influence chronic-pain disorder
A cell-surface protein found in the nervous system may play a central role in a chronic-pain condition known as neuropathy.
- Health & Medicine
Vitamin E Loses Luster: Nutrient tests show disappointing results
In people who have a history of heart disease or diabetes, vitamin E supplements don't improve overall health and might even boost heart-failure risk.
- Health & Medicine
Hepatitis B link to cancer is clarified
A kind of hepatitis B called genotype C is more likely to lead to liver cancer than are other genotypes of the hepatitis virus.
- Health & Medicine
Tungsten-alloy shrapnel might cause cancer
Wounds caused by shrapnel comprising tungsten alloyed with nickel and cobalt cause cancer in rats, raising questions about the wisdom of using tungsten in munitions.
- Health & Medicine
Blindness Hazard: Gene variant tied to macular degeneration
People who make a particular form of an immune system protein have a heightened risk of developing old-age blindness.
- Health & Medicine
Protein may aid stroke recovery
Tests in mice have shown that erythropoietin, a red blood cell growth factor, can reverse brain damage caused by strokes.
- Health & Medicine
Cell transplants make gains versus diabetes
Transplanting insulin-making cells from a single cadaver into people with type 1 diabetes can reverse the disease in some people.
- Health & Medicine
To Stanch the Flow: Hemophilia drug curbs brain hemorrhage
A blood-clotting drug helps some people recover from a bleeding stroke.
