Nathan Seppa

Biomedical Writer (retired September 2015)

All Stories by Nathan Seppa

  1. Health & Medicine

    Early Warning? Inflammatory protein is tied to colon cancer risk

    C-reactive protein, an inflammatory protein linked to heart disease, might also signal susceptibility to colon cancer.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Malaria drug boosts recovery rates

    Adding the herbal-extract drug artesunate to standard malaria treatment reduces the relapse rate, even in areas where the malaria parasite is resistant to standard drugs.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Bacteria Provide a Frontline Defense

    Bacteria genetically engineered to secrete microbe-killing compounds can fight disease in mice and rats.

  4. Health & Medicine

    Busy hospitals may not be best choice

    A large number of heart surgeries done at a hospital doesn't always correlate with a low mortality rate from such operations at the facility.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Good to the Bone: Strontium compound prevents some fractures

    An experimental drug containing strontium makes bones denser and decreases the risk of fractures, a study of elderly women finds.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Cluster Buster: Might a simple sugar derail Huntington’s?

    A study in mice with a disease resembling Huntington's shows that a simple sugar impedes the protein aggregation that kills brain cells.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Some psychoactive drugs ease harsh PMS

    Drugs such as widely prescribed Prozac can relieve a severe form of premenstrual syndrome.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Clear Airways: Quelling a protein stops mucus overload

    By interfering with a protein that earlier research implicated in mucus secretion, scientists have countered overstimulation of mucus secretion in the airways of mice.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Could refrigeration explain Crohn’s rise?

    Crohn's disease, marked by inflammation of the small intestine, could be caused by refrigeration of meats, a process that selects for hardy bacteria that handle cold temperatures well, researchers hypothesize.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Going against the Grain: Aspirin use linked to pancreatic cancer

    Scientists have associated aspirin use with cancer of the pancreas.

  11. Health & Medicine

    SARS vaccine triggers immunity in monkeys

    An experimental vaccine against the SARS virus shows promise in a test on monkeys.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Pivotal Protein: Inhibiting immune compound slows sepsis

    By restraining the action of an immune system protein that can run amok, scientists experimenting on mice have reversed the course of severe sepsis.