Health & Medicine
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Health & MedicineNifty Spittle: Compound in bat saliva may aid stroke patients
An anticlotting molecule in the saliva of vampire bats combats strokelike brain damage in mice.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicineHerbal Activity
The Alternative Medicine Foundation offers a searchable database that provides scientific and general information about the biochemical activity of a variety of herbs, from Achillea (Yarrow) to Ziziphus (Jujube). The entry for each herb includes warnings about dangers to human health and links to relevant abstracts in the scientific literature. Go to: http://www.herbmed.org
By Science News -
Health & MedicineStroke protection: A little fish helps
As little as one serving of fish per month offers protection against the most common form of stroke.
By Janet Raloff -
Health & MedicineDrug protects mouse eggs from radiation
Mice protected by a drug from radiation-induced sterility have normal offspring.
By John Travis -
Health & MedicineCheap hypertension drug works best
An old-fashioned pill for preventing high blood pressure and some heart disease appears to work better than new, more expensive drugs.
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Health & MedicineSilencing a gene slows breast-tumor fighter
The protein encoded by the HOXA5 gene plays a key role in fighting breast cancer, helping to switch on cancer-suppressing genes.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicineThe Shocking Science of Tender Poultry
Just over 24 years ago, I wrote a news note on Australian experiments using low-voltage electricity to stimulate beef muscles after slaughter. Data had indicated that applying up to a 110-volt current for 90 seconds to fresh, uncut carcasses would keep the muscle from tightening–and toughening–during subsequent refrigerated storage, even if removed from the bone. […]
By Janet Raloff -
Health & MedicineMoms’ POPs, Sons’ Problems: Testicular cancer tied to a fetus’ pollutant contact
Women who've had substantial exposure to certain environmental pollutants are more likely than other women to bear sons who develop testicular cancers.
By Ben Harder -
Health & MedicineDetermined at Birth? Kidney makeup may set hypertension risk
People lacking a full complement of blood-filtering nephrons in their kidneys at birth are at increased risk of developing high blood pressure.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicineResearchers target sickle-cell cure
Using stem cell transplants and a compound called antithymocyte globulin, researchers in Paris have cured 59 of 69 children of sickle-cell disease.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicineSnow and Cholera
Most people have heard of cholera, but few know anything about John Snow, the British doctor who determined how the disease is spread. Epidemiologist Ralph R. Frerichs of the University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health has created a Web site devoted to Snow’s life and accomplishments, including such items as the full […]
By Science News -
Health & MedicineHealth on the Net
Assembled by the Health on the Net Foundation in Switzerland, this Web site posts an array of advice on health problems, offers lists of scientific meetings, and reports results from new biomedical studies. Particularly useful is its library of biomedical terms, which includes an allergy glossary designed to help people decipher the immune system. To […]
By Science News