Health & Medicine
- Health & Medicine
Transplant Hope: New thymus tissue jump-starts immune system in babies
A thymus tissue transplant enables babies born with DiGeorge syndrome to develop functional immune systems.
- Health & Medicine
Anthrax toxin curbs immune cells
A toxin produced by the anthrax bacterium suppresses cells that launch the body's immune response.
- Health & Medicine
Intestinal Fortitude: Treatment for colitis shows early success
Given as a drug, a protein fragment called epidermal growth factor induces remission in people with ulcerative colitis, apparently by healing intestinal lesions.
- Health & Medicine
Sweet Treatment for SARS
Since severe acute respiratory syndrome–or SARS–burst on the scene this past March, physicians have reported more than 8,400 cases worldwide. The flulike lung disease appears to have emerged in mainland China, where officials have acknowledged 7,083 cases so far. In the future, people with the intense flu- and pneumonia-like symptoms of SARS could find relief […]
- Health & Medicine
Promising drug cuts tumor metabolism
Early safety trials of an experimental medicine suggest that it could be used for treating several serious cancers.
- Health & Medicine
Immune test predicts tolerance for radiation
A new blood test can foretell which cancer patients are likely to suffer serious delayed side effects from radiation therapy.
- Health & Medicine
Genes linked to colon cancer take sides
Cancers on opposite sides of the colon are genetically distinct and should be studied and treated as separate entities.
- Health & Medicine
Herbal therapy may carry cancer danger
An herbal extract that some women use to relieve symptoms of menopause increases the likelihood in mice with breast cancer that the disease will spread.
- Health & Medicine
Keeping breathing steady and safe
Scientists may have found a way to avoid the lowered breathing rate that comes from treatment with morphine or other opiate-based narcotics and anesthetics.
- Health & Medicine
Metal’s Mayhem: Cadmium mimics estrogen’s effects, thwarts DNA repair
Cadmium causes endocrine disruption by mimicking estrogen in rats and also thwarts routine DNA repair, causing mutations, two studies show.
- Health & Medicine
Split Ends: Cancers follow shrinkage of chromosomes’ tips
Genetic tabs called telomeres, which normally protect the ends of chromosomes, become undersized in many tissues that later turn cancerous, new studies in people show.
- Health & Medicine
No Hiding Most Trans Fats
The current federal food-labeling law requires that manufacturers identify the major nutrients in processed foods, including total fat. Moreover, the law mandates that the “Nutrition Facts” section of each label separately list nutrients that can pose significant health risks, such as saturated fats. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration announced that beginning in 2006, […]
