Health & Medicine
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Health & MedicineChocolate Therapies (with Recipe for Janet’s Chocolate Medicinal Mousse Pie)
Recently harvested cacao pods. Each holds several dozen seeds, from which chocolate and cocoa are made. (Allen M. Young) Copy of 1688 engraving by Phillippe Sylvestre Dufour of South American native with a chocolate pot and drinking cup at his feet and a molinet to stir the medicinal brew in his left hand. In his […]
By Janet Raloff -
Health & MedicineSmoking Gun? Mouse tests link nicotine to crib death
Nicotine may impair a molecule that's necessary for arousing people and other animals from sleep, an effect that could account for the heightened risk of sudden infant death syndrome in babies born to women who smoked during pregnancy.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicineTargeted Therapies
Tailoring prescriptions based on a person's genes may help reduce side effects and allow the development of more personalized medicine.
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Health & MedicineProtein flags colon, prostate cancers
A compound first identified as a possible culprit in Huntington's disease may be an indicator of cancers of the prostate gland and colon.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicineArctic Sneeze: Greenlanders’ allergies are increasing
Allergies in Greenland nearly doubled from 1987 to 1998.
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Health & MedicineStroke Stopper: New vaccine curbs blood vessel damage in lab animals
A vaccine that desensitizes the immune system to a protein inside blood vessels prevents some strokes in laboratory rats.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicinePet exposure may reduce allergies
Exposing children to cats or dogs at an early age may make them less prone to allergies later in life.
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Health & MedicineMissed ZZZ’s, More Disease?
New evidence suggests that chronic lack of sleep may be as important as poor nutrition and physical inactivity in the development of chronic illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
By Kristin Cobb -
Health & MedicineBacteria offer drug for organ recipients
Korean investigators have identified a compound that suppresses the immune system of animals.
By John Travis -
Health & MedicineYou’re Feeling Sleepy . . . : Anesthetics activate brain’s sleep switch
Anesthesia's sedative effect may depend on activating sleep circuits in the brain.
By John Travis -
Health & MedicineFlower Power: Corn lily compound stops cancer in mice
A new study in mice suggests that cyclopamine, a plant derivative that causes birth defects in animals, can inhibit medulloblastoma, a brain cancer in children.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicineLost and found
Researchers have shown that a drug may shepherd a mutated protein—gone astray in people with cystic fibrosis—into its proper place.