Health & Medicine
- Health & Medicine
Shots stop allergic reactions to venom
An immune therapy prevents allergic reactions to the sting of the jack jumper ant, a pest common to Australia.
- Health & Medicine
Homing In on Ephedra’s Risks
On Feb. 16, pitcher Steve Bechler of the Baltimore Orioles collapsed while running sprints at the team’s spring-training camp in Florida. He died a few hours later. Subsequent investigation linked the 23-year-old player’s apparent heatstroke with a popular diet aid containing both caffeine and ephedra, a botanical product rich in other natural stimulants. Ephedra plant. […]
- Health & Medicine
Deadly Stowaways: Seeds of cancer in transplant recipients are traced back to donors
Precancerous cells that grow into Kaposi's sarcoma are sometimes introduced into a person in an organ transplant.
- Health & Medicine
Danes keeping drugs out of livestock
Reducing the amount of antibiotics given to livestock in Denmark has lowered the amount of drug-resistant Enterococcus faecium bacteria in the meat of these animals.
- Health & Medicine
Indian encephalitis is traced to measles
An outbreak of fatal encephalitis in India appears to have been caused by a strange form of rashless measles in a majority of the sick children tested.
- Health & Medicine
New Australian virus infects people
Australian scientists have identified a new virus, apparently spread by fruit bats, that causes birth defects in pigs and severe illness in some people exposed to infected pigs.
- Health & Medicine
Venison can contain E. coli bacteria
Escherichia coli, which causes severe diarrhea in people, may be widespread in deer, a finding that raises concerns about preparation of wild-game meats.
- Health & Medicine
Weight-loss pill carries risks
The drug ephedra and its presumed active ingredient, ephedrine, provide only modest weight-loss effects and pose health risks.
- Health & Medicine
Microbicide thwarts AIDS virus in monkey test
A microbicidal gel applied vaginally prevents some transmission of the AIDS virus in monkeys.
- Health & Medicine
A Make-Time-For-Sex Diet?
We’re slaves to our hormones. Teenagers and pregnant women are experts on that topic. Both ride an emotional roller coaster as their bodies produce vacillating amounts of sex hormones. In fact, behind the scenes of all human biology–from conception to death–a delicate interplay of hormones drives everything from the expression of our gender to regulation […]
- Health & Medicine
Progress Against Dementia: Drug slows Alzheimer’s in severely ill patients
The drug memantine slows the progression of late-stage Alzheimer's disease in patients previously considered untreatable.
- Health & Medicine
Another Way Saturated Fats Can Hike Heart Risks
Physicians and health columnists have been exhorting the public for years to pare saturated fats from the diet. Numerous studies have linked heavy consumption of these fats to elevated cholesterol, a major risk factor for heart disease. Now, Johns Hopkins University researchers tie high-saturated-fat diets to a second risk factor for cardiovascular disease: abdominal fat. […]
