Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    Two steps forward, one step back

    Just a few days after the National Institutes of Health announced it was canceling a large AIDS-vaccine trial, researchers reported preliminary results from a new vaccine that appears safe.

    By Damaris Christensen
  2. Health & Medicine

    New drugs help battle HIV

    Three potential drugs in development rely on novel tactics for attacking the virus that causes AIDS.

    By Damaris Christensen
  3. Health & Medicine

    Genes predict allergies to drug

    Genetic differences among people infected with HIV might help identify the 5 percent of patients who will suffer allergic reactions when given the antiretroviral drug abacavir.

    By Damaris Christensen
  4. Health & Medicine

    Is HAART hard on the heart?

    Two studies came to opposite conclusions on whether multiple-drug regimens known as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for people with AIDS also contribute to heart trouble.

    By Damaris Christensen
  5. Health & Medicine

    Genetic Culprit: Mutation increases risk for uterine fibroids

    Analysis of DNA from families whose women have been beset by uterine growths reveals a mutation that can predispose women to these so-called fibroids.

    By Nathan Seppa
  6. Health & Medicine

    Protein Repair: New compounds may help cells fight off cancer

    Researchers have identified a compound that enables even defective p53 proteins to initiate anticancer chain reactions.

    By Nathan Seppa
  7. Health & Medicine

    Broken Weapon: Mutation disarms HIV-fighting gene

    A gene that once produced a small protein able to prevent HIV from infecting cells now lies unusable in the human genome.

    By John Travis
  8. Health & Medicine

    More good news about chocolate

    The Kuna people of Central America appear to keep their blood pressure down by drinking cocoa rich in chemicals called flavanols.

    By Jessica Gorman
  9. Health & Medicine

    Coffee beans, cavity-causing germs

    Compounds in coffee loosen the grip of bacteria that cause tooth decay.

    By Ben Harder
  10. Health & Medicine

    High homocysteine tied to Alzheimer’s

    Research has linked the incidence of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia to elevated blood concentrations of the amino acid homocysteine.

    By Nathan Seppa
  11. Health & Medicine

    Tracking Tumors

    Researchers are trying to visualize molecular and cellular changes as a cancer responds to therapy in order to predict whether treatments are effective sooner than it's currently possible to determine.

    By Damaris Christensen
  12. Health & Medicine

    Vaccine Power: Immune cells target cancerous tissue

    Researchers are enlisting a person's own immune system to attack prostate tissue, including cancerous cells.

    By John Pickrell