Nathan Seppa

Biomedical Writer (retired September 2015)

All Stories by Nathan Seppa

  1. Health & Medicine

    Surgical Option: Hysterectomy may top drugs for women with heavy bleeding

    Women who suffer from heavy menstrual bleeding and fail to improve on a hormone-based drug fare better if they choose hysterectomy rather than a regimen of other drugs.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Gap in the Defense: Brain cancer patients short on valuable protein

    Brain tumor cells have a dearth of an obscure protein called ING4, whose sister compounds have shown anticancer effects.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Ear piercings cause illness, disfigurement

    Piercing the upper-ear cartilage under nonsterile conditions can leave a person vulnerable to a Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection, as happened in Oregon in 2000.

  4. Health & Medicine

    Heart patients gain from steep cholesterol drop

    Heart patients can lessen their risk of a heart attack and increase their odds of survival by aggressively reducing harmful low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in their blood.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Drug for migraines helps some patients

    An experimental drug that slows blood flow in the brain knocks out migraine headaches in some people.

  6. Health & Medicine

    AIDS Vaccine Tests Well in Monkeys

    An experimental AIDS vaccine bolstered with two immune proteins protects rhesus monkeys from the disease even when they are exposed to a combination of simian and human immunodeficiency virus.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Shutting Off an On Switch: Novel drugs slow two cancers in mice

    By shutting down a signaling molecule on cancerous cells, scientists have found a way to slow multiple myeloma and fibrosarcoma, tests in animals show.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Two arthritis drugs work best in tandem

    Two anti-inflammatory drugs for rheumatoid arthritis—methotrexate and etanercept—work better together than either does individually.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Averting Pain: Epilepsy drug limits migraine attacks

    A drug normally used against epilepsy can prevent migraine headaches.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Putting the brakes on toxic shock

    Scientists have discovered the cascade of molecular events that underpins many cases of toxic shock syndrome.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Some T cells may be a fetus’ best friend

    While pregnant, mice overproduce a kind of T cell that reins in other immune cells that might target the fetus.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Virus might explain respiratory ailments

    Human metapneumovirus, first isolated in 2001, is present in many respiratory infections that had previously gone unexplained.