Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    Ominous drug-resistance hints appear

    The first signs of partial resistance to an important class of drugs called quinolones have appeared in Haemophilus influenzae, a bacterium that can cause pneumonia and meningitis.

    By Nathan Seppa
  2. Health & Medicine

    Garlic interferes with HIV drug

    Garlic supplements interact negatively with a protease inhibitor medication taken by people infected with HIV.

    By Ben Harder
  3. Health & Medicine

    A glass of red may keep arteries loose

    A newly uncovered effect of a compound abundant in red wines may provide the mechanism needed to explain how reds could outperform whites and rosés in reducing heart disease.

    By Ben Harder
  4. Health & Medicine

    Prenatal folate averts child leukemia

    Even a little supplementary folate during pregnancy now appears to reduce the risk that the child will develop acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

    By Ben Harder
  5. Health & Medicine

    Vaccine prevents urinary-tract infections

    An experimental vaccine designed to repel 10 common bacteria that cause bladder infections has cleared a key hurdle by proving safe and effective in a group of women.

    By Nathan Seppa
  6. Health & Medicine

    Virus Shapes Risk of Multiple Sclerosis

    A huge, decade-long study bolsters the link between Epstein-Barr virus and the autoimmune disorder multiple sclerosis by showing that the common infection is more active in people who later develop symptoms of the disease.

    By Ben Harder
  7. Health & Medicine

    Sometimes lying down is harder work

    Squatting or standing might ease baby delivery by allowing the birth canal more room to expand.

    By Damaris Christensen
  8. Health & Medicine

    Ultrasound boosts drug delivery to tumors

    A beam of ultrasound can make the blood vessels that infiltrate cancerous growths leakier than normal.

    By Damaris Christensen
  9. Health & Medicine

    Weak appetite in elderly ties to hormone

    A hormone known to suppress appetite is more abundant in seniors than in young adults and has a greater effect in squelching hunger in elderly people.

    By Nathan Seppa
  10. Health & Medicine

    Mice reveal the off switch for inflammation

    Working with genetically engineered mice, scientists have identified a crucial natural mechanism that rodents use to shut down inflammation before it does harm.

    By John Travis
  11. Health & Medicine

    Newfound flu protein may kill immune cells

    A dash of serendipity led to the discovery of a new protein, produced by most strains of the influenza A virus.

    By Ben Harder
  12. Health & Medicine

    Boost in protein repair extends fly lives

    In warmer-than-normal conditions, fruit flies that overproduce a protein-repair enzyme live about one-third longer than typical flies.

    By John Travis