Nathan Seppa
Biomedical Writer (retired September 2015)
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All Stories by Nathan Seppa
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Health & Medicine
Southern blacks face excess risk of stroke
Blacks living in southern U.S. states have a greater risk of dying of stroke than do blacks living in northern states.
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Health & Medicine
Stroke patients show dearth of vitamin D
People recovering from a stroke have less vitamin D in their systems than do healthy peers, which could explain why stroke patients often have low bone density and risk breaking bones.
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Health & Medicine
High salt intake hikes stroke risk
People who consume a lot of salt are nearly twice as likely to have a stroke as are people who consume less salt, even when their blood pressures are equivalent.
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Health & Medicine
Vampire spit gives strokes a licking
A drug derived from a component of vampire bat saliva can clear blood clots in the brains of people who have had strokes.
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Health & Medicine
Heartfelt Fear: Findings link stress and cardiac symptoms
Emotional stress can lead to symptoms that mimic a heart attack, even in people without coronary artery blockages, possibly by causing an unusual secretion of hormones.
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Health & Medicine
There’s the Rub: Football abrasions can lead to nasty infections
U.S. football players who get scrapes and cuts from playing on artificial turf sometimes develop bacterial infections that are resistant to some antibiotics.
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A new test for Alzheimer’s risk?
Failure in visual short-term memory of objects, called iconic memory, could be a warning sign of Alzheimer's disease.
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Health & Medicine
A drink a day might keep fuzzy thinking away
One alcoholic drink per day can stave off mental decline in elderly women.
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Health & Medicine
Good Exposure: Contact with babies might lessen MS risk
People who grow up with younger siblings close to them in age are less likely to develop multiple sclerosis later in life than are people without such siblings.
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Health & Medicine
Urine test signals pregnancy problem
A simple urine test can warn women that they have an increased risk of preeclampsia, a dangerous complication of pregnancy.
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Health & Medicine
One in a Million
A 15-year-old girl in Wisconsin has survived a rabies infection without receiving the rabies vaccine, a first in medical history.
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Health & Medicine
Phage Attack: Antibacterial virus might suppress cholera
Bacteria-attacking viruses that infect bacteria hold cholera bacteria in check throughout most of the year except during the rainy season when these viruses become diluted.