Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    Viral protein could help liver therapy

    Researchers have developed a method of delivering gene therapies to targeted cells that makes use of viral proteins rather than whole virus particles.

    By
  2. Health & Medicine

    DNA Differences Add Risk: Altered genes show up in Lou Gehrig’s disease

    People with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are more likely than healthy people to have certain variations in the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene, suggesting variant VEGF contributes to the disease.

    By
  3. Health & Medicine

    Cholesterol Medicine for Eggs?

    Five years ago, a small natural-products company made waves when it marketed Cholestin, a cholesterol-lowering herbal product. The capsules contained a material made from rice fermented by a certain type of yeast. Though new to U.S. consumers, this dried version of so-called red-yeast rice has for centuries been a Chinese food coloring and herbal remedy […]

    By
  4. Health & Medicine

    Epilepsy drug eases diabetes woes

    The epilepsy drug topiramate relieves pain, seems to initiate nerve repair, aids weight loss, and may have other benefits for persons with diabetes.

    By
  5. Health & Medicine

    Strict regimen pays off years later

    Diabetes patients who adhered to a strict program of blood sugar control over nearly 7 years starting in the 1980s are still showing heart benefits.

    By
  6. Health & Medicine

    Lethal Emergence: Tracing the rise of dengue fever in the Americas

    Using the genetics of viruses, scientists have tracked a virulent form of dengue virus in Latin America back to its roots in India.

    By
  7. Health & Medicine

    Soy Greens—The Coming Health Food?

    Soybeans have gained renown for offering a host of health benefits. Not only do diets rich in products made from this legume appear to protect against heart disease and some cancers, but they also help to preserve bones in aging bodies. Yum? Diets augmented with leaves of the soybean plant might help diners control their […]

    By
  8. Health & Medicine

    Prostate Health

    Many men over age 50 rarely sleep through the night. Instead, they find themselves awake and needing to urinate when, as younger men, this rarely happened. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases offers an excellent resource on the most common cause of frequent and urgent urination in men–benign prostatic hyperplasia, or […]

    By
  9. Health & Medicine

    Can poliovirus fix spinal cord damage?

    Scientists have devised a version of the poliovirus that can deliver genes to motor neurons without harming them, a step toward a gene therapy that reawakens idle neurons in people with spinal cord damage.

    By
  10. Health & Medicine

    Prevention in a Pill? Baldness drug might avert prostate cancer

    The drug finasteride, given to alleviate baldness and prostate problems, might prevent some cases of prostate cancer.

    By
  11. Health & Medicine

    McDonald’s Cutback in Antibiotics Use Could Reduce Drug-Resistant Bacteria

    The fast-food chain McDonald’s announced on June 19 that it will stop its farms under contract from feeding chicken, cattle, and pigs certain antibiotics intended to accelerate the animals’ growth. That step might slow or reverse the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can infect people, scientists say. HAPPIER MEAL. Coming soon to a McDonald’s near […]

    By
  12. Health & Medicine

    Double Duty: Diabetes drug protects reopened heart vessels

    A drug normally prescribed to hold blood sugar in check provides an unexpected benefit to heart patients.

    By