Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    For Failing Hearts: Gene therapy stops decline in animals

    Tests in hamsters have raised hopes for creating a gene therapy to stop the common downward spiral of chronic heart failure.

    By Susan Milius
  2. Health & Medicine

    Heart damage tied to immune reaction

    Researchers in Brazil have identified immune proteins that flood the heart tissues of many people with Chagas disease, suggesting a cause of this deadly complication of the parasitic tropical disease.

    By Nathan Seppa
  3. Health & Medicine

    Gene might contribute to asthma risk

    Variations in a gene called ADAM33 may predispose a person to asthma.

    By Nathan Seppa
  4. Health & Medicine

    Hormone therapy falls out of favor

    Several studies now indicate that health risks associated with hormone replacement therapy for postmenopausal women outweigh its benefits.

    By Nathan Seppa
  5. Health & Medicine

    Sleepy Heads: Low fuel may drive brain’s need to sleep

    A new study supports the hypothesis that dwindling energy stores in the waking brain induce sleep.

    By Kristin Cobb
  6. Health & Medicine

    Mixed Blessing: Unusual gene helps heart, hurts immunity

    People carrying a variant of a gene that encodes an immune protein called toll-like receptor 4 have a weaker defense against infections but appear to be less prone to heart disease.

    By Nathan Seppa
  7. Health & Medicine

    More than Skin Deep? Beauty products may damage fetal development

    A new report shows that many cosmetics contain phthalates—a class of chemicals known to cause developmental deformities in animals.

    By John Pickrell
  8. Health & Medicine

    Disabled Defense: HIV protein counters immune-cell gene

    Immune cells contain a protein that can inhibit HIV replication if the AIDS virus lacks a key protein.

    By John Travis
  9. Health & Medicine

    Gender differences in weight loss

    Men and women gain weight differently and may lose it differently, too.

    By Damaris Christensen
  10. Health & Medicine

    Antioxidants for greyhounds? Not a good bet

    Antioxidant vitamins that greyhound racers have been giving their animals to boost performance actually slow down the dogs.

    By Janet Raloff
  11. Health & Medicine

    Study fails to link vasectomy to cancer

    Researchers have found that men with prostate cancer are no more likely to have had a vasectomy than healthy men are.

    By Nathan Seppa
  12. Health & Medicine

    Method could boost diabetes therapy

    Allowing insulin-producing islets to grow in close contact with each other during cell culture may increase the chance of successful transplant into diabetic people.

    By Damaris Christensen