Health & Medicine
-
HumansBeefy hormones: New routes of exposure
On any given day, some 750,000 U.S feedlots are beefing up between 11 million and 14 million head of cattle. The vast majority of these animals will receive muscle-building steroids — hormones they will eventually excrete into the environment. But traditional notions about where those biologically active pollutants end up may need substantial revising, several new studies find.
By Janet Raloff -
LifeBone regulators moonlight in the brain as fever inducers
Study in mice suggests proteins could be source of post-menopausal hot flashes.
-
Health & MedicineMalaria shows signs of resisting best drug used to fight it
The frontline malaria medicine artemisinin shows gaps in effectiveness in Southeast Asia.
By Nathan Seppa -
HumansObese people can misjudge body size
Survey finds that many overweight individuals consider their body size normal and healthy despite having health problems
By Laura Beil -
Health & MedicineMarathoners’ hearts stressed, but not necessarily by heart attacks
Detailed imaging of runners’ hearts before and after races doesn’t find signatures of heart attacks
By Laura Beil -
Health & MedicineMummies reveal heart disease plagued ancient Egyptians
CT scans of preserved individuals show hardening of arteries similar to that seen in people today.
By Laura Beil -
Health & MedicinePCBs hike blood pressure
No one would choose to eat polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs — yet we unwittingly do. And a new study finds that the cost of their pervasive contamination of our food supply can be elevated blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart disease.
By Janet Raloff -
Health & MedicineHeart attack patients get high radiation dose
Medical imaging can add up to exposure similar to what nuclear power plant workers experience.
By Laura Beil -
EarthPlastics ingredients could make a boy’s play less masculine
Study links boys' fetal phthalate exposure to tendency toward gender-neutral play later on.
By Janet Raloff -
Health & MedicineB vitamin outperforms another drug in keeping arteries clear
The findings led to an early halt of a small study comparing Niaspan and Zetia, two compounds commonly used along with statins to reduce heart attack risk.
By Laura Beil -
Health & MedicineChanging the paradigm around Alzheimer’s disease
Prevention could begin with lifestyle in younger years, one researcher says during the American Public Health Association meeting.
-
Health & MedicineChill-out device may protect brain during heart attacks
A portable method to quickly lower body temperature passes safety tests
By Laura Beil