Health & Medicine
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Health & Medicine
Some psychoactive drugs ease harsh PMS
Drugs such as widely prescribed Prozac can relieve a severe form of premenstrual syndrome.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & Medicine
Drug spares eggs from early death
A newly discovered drug that prevents radiation from hastening egg cell death in mice might also prevent some human cancer patients from suffering sterility and premature menopause.
By Laura Sivitz -
Health & Medicine
Diabetes: Coffee and Caffeine Appear Protective
Most studies over the past decade have painted tea as a therapeutic beverage and coffee as its dastardly counterpart–a brew that challenges weak hearts and joints. However, such black-and-white characterizations appear to have overstated coffee’s dark side. New data now indicate that drinking java–lots of it, and especially the caffeinated form–can curb type II diabetes. […]
By Janet Raloff -
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.
By Nathan Seppa -
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.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & Medicine
Age-related anemia hastens death
People who develop low concentrations of iron-containing hemoglobin in their blood as they get older are at elevated risk for serious medical problems and early death.
By Ben Harder -
Health & Medicine
Thalidomide-like drug treats blood disorder
A novel drug appears to help people with myelodysplasia, a persistent condition that leaves them short of crucial blood components.
By Ben Harder -
Health & Medicine
Novel drug fights leukemia
An experimental drug helps a small but significant fraction of people with acute myeloid leukemia and causes minimal side effects.
By Ben Harder -
Health & Medicine
Select immune cells help marrow grafts
By excising certain immune cells from donor bone marrow, physicians have devised a new way of performing marrow transplants.
By Ben Harder -
Health & Medicine
Going against the Grain: Aspirin use linked to pancreatic cancer
Scientists have associated aspirin use with cancer of the pancreas.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & Medicine
Ephedra Finale
Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced that the Food and Drug Administration would soon outlaw U.S. sales of diet products containing stimulants derived from the Ephedra sinica plant. He timed the pronouncement to anticipate the start of the perennial diet season: New Year’s Day. Ephedra plant. Univ. of Calif., Davis […]
By Janet Raloff -
Health & Medicine
SARS vaccine triggers immunity in monkeys
An experimental vaccine against the SARS virus shows promise in a test on monkeys.
By Nathan Seppa