Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    Protein fingered in rare psychosis

    A protein is pivotal in bringing on the psychotic attacks that beset people with porphyria, a rare inherited disease.

    By Nathan Seppa
  2. Health & Medicine

    When Flu Flies the Coop

    Scientists are tracking the spread of a threatening influenza virus in birds and exploring strategies that could be used to halt a potential outbreak in people before it explodes into a global epidemic.

    By Ben Harder
  3. Health & Medicine

    A New Role for Statin Drugs? Cholesterol fighters may reduce deaths soon after heart attacks

    Statin drugs given within 24 hours of a heart attack improve a patient's chance of surviving.

    By Nathan Seppa
  4. Health & Medicine

    Dark Side of a Blood Builder: Hormone linked to diabetic blindness

    Erythropoietin, a hormone that orchestrates growth processes, may contribute to eye damage in people with diabetic retinopathy.

    By Nathan Seppa
  5. Health & Medicine

    Stroke site is often not right

    Thousands of strokes in the right half of the brain may go unrecognized because their symptoms are less distinctive than those of left-side strokes.

    By Ben Harder
  6. Health & Medicine

    Targeted Attack

    Scientists are piecing together the details of how mutations in a protein called EGFR can lead to cancer, and they are designing a new class of drugs to stop the protein's destructive behavior.

    By Emily Sohn
  7. Health & Medicine

    The Kindest Cuts Are Underwater

    Fruits and veggies stay fresher longer when they're peeled and sliced underwater, not on the countertop.

    By Janet Raloff
  8. Health & Medicine

    X Ray Excels: Technique brings a new image to medicine

    Recent advances in a technique called phase-contrast x-ray imaging could make it easier for physicians to spot tumors, clogged arteries, and other soft-tissue problems.

    By Naila Moreira
  9. Health & Medicine

    Comb over Chemicals: Tool may rid heads of pesticideproof lice

    Used systematically, special combs may be more effective than insecticidal shampoos at ridding a child's scalp of head lice.

    By Ben Harder
  10. Health & Medicine

    Outwitting TB: Enhanced vaccine protects mice in lab tests

    An enhanced vaccine appears to offer better protection against tuberculosis than the current version does, a study in mice suggests.

    By Nathan Seppa
  11. Health & Medicine

    Tracking busy genes to get at cancer

    By identifying which genes are overactive in certain breast tumors, researchers have discovered a genetic signature that could help doctors predict if and when a woman's cancer might spread to her lungs.

    By Nathan Seppa
  12. Health & Medicine

    Potent Medicine

    Drugs now used to treat erectile dysfunction might soon assume multiple roles in managing heart disease and other conditions, including some that affect women and infants.

    By Ben Harder