NSTA - Science News

Subcategory: Medicine

Mouse Study Points to Treatment for Down Syndrome
Nov 19 2009 - Reuters
Increasing the levels of a message-carrying chemical in the brain may help prevent some of the memory deficits in Down syndrome that hinder learning and make it hard for the brain to develop normally, according to researchers.

Had Flu? You May Have H1N1 Protection
Nov 17 2009 - Reuters
People who have had repeated flu infections—or repeated flu vaccines—may have some protection against the new pandemic swine influenza, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

Fighting Obesity May Take a Village
Nov 12 2009 - The Wall Street Journal
Exercise more. Avoid junk food. Such common-sense health advice has proved no match against the temptations of modern life, which have sent obesity rates around the world soaring.

Sick of Swine Flu? Here Comes H3N2
Nov 6 2009 - ScienceInsider
Although the world's attention is focused on the novel H1N1 virus causing the swine flu pandemic, H3N2, a seasonal strain of influenza, has popped up in many East Asian countries—and some variants in circulation may outfox the seasonal vaccine in use.

Swine Flu Confirmed in Iowa Cat
Nov 5 2009 - Time
A 13-year-old Iowa cat has been infected with swine flu, veterinary and federal officials said Wednesday in what is believed to be the first case of the H1N1 virus in a feline in the United States.

A Powerful Identity, a Vanishing Diagnosis
Nov 5 2009 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
Experts want to remove an autism label from a diagnostic manual, but people with the disorder are divided.

Aspirin Only for Heart Patients
Nov 3 2009 - BBC News
The use of aspirin to ward off heart attacks and strokes in those who do not have obvious cardiovascular disease should be abandoned, researchers say.

Big Weight Gain For Kids on Psych Drugs
Oct 28 2009 - Time
Children on widely used psychiatric drugs can quickly gain an alarming amount of weight; many pack on nearly 20 pounds and become obese within just 11 weeks, a study found.

Radiation from Medical Scans Soaring
Oct 27 2009 - Healthday.com
Americans' exposure to radiation from medical procedures has exploded over the past few decades, to six times the level of 1980, a new report shows.

"Bionic Eye" May Help Blind See
Oct 21 2009 - ScienceDaily
A new artificial retina, an array of electrodes implanted on the back of the eye, has been found to restore partial vision to totally blind people.

Aging Heart Can Be Prevented, Say Scientists
Oct 14 2009 - Reuters
Scientists in Japan said they have uncovered evidence that shows it may be possible to delay or prevent heart failure in humans.

Breakthrough Claimed in HIV Vaccine Trial
Sep 24 2009 - BBC News
An experimental HIV vaccine has for the first time cut infection rates, in a major trial in Thailand, researchers say.

New Drug Treatment Offers Hope in Skin Cancer
Sep 23 2009 - MSNBC
Scientists offered new hope in the fight against a difficult-to-treat skin cancer on Wednesday as an early-stage clinical trial showed an experimental drug dramatically shrank tumors.

Mixed Results of Swine Flu Vaccine in Kids
Sep 21 2009 - ScienceInsider
Early results from clinical trials suggest that healthy children under the age of 9 will likely need two doses of the swine flu vaccine, but those between 10 and 17 can get by with a single shot, U.S. health officials announced today.

AIDS Vaccine Possible with New Antibodies
Sep 4 2009 - Discovery Channel News
U.S. researchers have discovered two powerful new antibodies which could hold the key to achieving a viable AIDS vaccine, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science.

Specious Report of Bird and Swine Flu Co-Infection
Sep 2 2009 - ScienceInsider
An Egyptian news story that is starting to receive worldwide attention about a nightmare swine flu/bird flu co-infection is inaccurate, according to officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A Breathalyzer for Cancer
Sep 1 2009 - ScienceNow Daily News
A team of researchers may have come up with a golden idea for diagnosing lung cancer. By coating tiny nuggets of gold with a thin layer of organic material, the researchers have developed an "electronic nose" that, with some additional work, could spot lung cancer instantly by analyzing someone's breath.

Study: Ibuprofen is Best for Kids with Broken Arms
Aug 18 2009 - Yahoo! News
Kids with a broken arm do better on a simple over-the-counter painkiller than on a more powerful prescription combination that includes a narcotic, a surprising study finds.

Cancer Deaths Declining, Especially Among Young
Aug 13 2009 - HealthDay
Cancer death rates are declining, especially among younger people, new research shows. And while cancer is poised to become the number one killer in the United States, topping heart disease, that is because deaths from heart disease have decreased faster than for cancer.

Multiple Sclerosis Successfully Reversed In Mice
Aug 12 2009 - ScienceDaily
A new experimental treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) completely reverses the devastating autoimmune disorder in mice, and might work exactly the same way in humans, say researchers.

Do Flu Drugs Help Children?
Aug 11 2009 - ABC News
Children should not routinely be treated with flu drugs like Tamiflu since there is no clear evidence they prevent complications and the medicines may do more harm than good, British researchers said on Monday.

Eye Drops May Reverse Glaucoma
Aug 6 2009 - BBC News
A new type of medicated eye drop may be able to reverse symptoms of glaucoma, an Italian study has suggested. The study of rats and human patients found drops containing a nerve growth factor may stop these cells dying, and actually improve vision.

Mildly High Cholesterol at Midlife Linked to Alzheimer’s
Aug 5 2009 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
Adults who had just slightly elevated blood cholesterol when they were in their early 40s were at greater risk of developing dementia decades later, compared with those whose cholesterol was at optimal levels, a new study has found.

Malaria May Have Come from Chimps
Aug 4 2009 - Reuters
Malaria may have jumped to humans from chimpanzees much as AIDS did, U.S. researchers reported on Monday in a study they hope could help in developing a vaccine against the infection.

Scientists Halt Epilepsy in Mice
Aug 4 2009 - BBC News
Scientists have prevented epilepsy caused by a faulty gene from being passed down the generations in mice. The key gene, Atp1a3, regulates levels of chemicals such as sodium and potassium in brain cells.

Scientists Find New Strain of HIV
Aug 3 2009 - BBC News
Gorillas have been found, for the first time, to be a source of HIV. Previous research had shown the HIV-1 strain, the main source of human infections, with 33m cases worldwide, originated from a virus in chimpanzees.

Americans Spend $34 Billion a Year on Alternative Medicine
Jul 31 2009 - USA Today
While Americans may complain about the high cost of health care, they're still willing to shell out roughly $34 billion a year out-of-pocket on alternative therapies that aren't covered by insurance, a new study shows.

Mosquitoes Deliver Malaria "Vaccine" Through Bites
Jul 30 2009 - Yahoo! News
In a daring experiment in Europe, scientists used mosquitoes as flying needles to deliver a "vaccine" of live malaria parasites through their bites. The results were astounding; everyone in the vaccine group acquired immunity to malaria.

FDA Says Mercury Dental Fillings Not Harmful
Jul 29 2009 - Reuters
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday silver-colored dental fillings that contain mercury are safe for patients, reversing an earlier caution against their use in certain patients, including pregnant women and children.

Dairy for Children Extends Life
Jul 28 2009 - BBC News
Children who eat plenty of dairy foods such as milk and cheese can expect to live longer, a study suggests. Researchers found those who had had high dairy and calcium intakes as children had been protected against stroke and other causes of death.

WHO: Swine Flu Could Infect 2 Billion
Jul 24 2009 - CBS News
The World Health Organization's flu chief says the global H1N1 pandemic is still in its early stages and 2 billion infections over the course of the pandemic is "a reasonable ballpark to be looking at."

Study Finds Chimps Die From Simian AIDS, Dispelling Widely Held Belief
Jul 23 2009 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
For the first time, scientists have shown that chimpanzees in the wild become sick and die from the simian version of AIDS. The finding upsets a widely held scientific belief that chimpanzees can get the virus that causes simian AIDS but without harm.

Genomes Of Parasitic Flatworms Decoded
Jul 16 2009 - ScienceDaily
Two international research teams have determined the complete genetic sequences of two species of parasitic flatworms that cause schistosomiasis, a debilitating condition also known as snail fever.

Don't Blame Birds for 1918 Flu
Jul 14 2009 - ScienceNow Daily News
It has been long thought that the virus that caused the 1918 flu pandemic was an avian strain. But a new study disputes that hypothesis, arguing instead that genes of the 1918 virus had circulated in mammalian hosts, most likely pigs and humans, for several years before 1918.

Autism Tied to Autoimmune Diseases in Immediate Family
Jul 13 2009 - USA Today
Danish researchers have found that many children with autism or related disorders also had a family history of autoimmune diseases.

Vaccine May Someday Thwart Ear Infections
Jul 9 2009 - HealthDay.com
U.S. researchers have developed a pain-free vaccination that might thwart ear infections in children.

Caffeine May Fight Alzheimer's Memory Loss
Jul 7 2009 - WebMD
A new study shows caffeine reversed memory loss in mice bred to develop Alzheimer’s disease and reduced the level of beta-amyloid protein in the blood and brain.

Hong Kong Case Suggests Resistant Swine Flu May Be Spreading
Jul 6 2009 - ScienceInsider
A third case of oseltamivir-resistant swine flu, announced in Hong Kong, has flu experts worried that resistance to the drug is spreading. Unlike the previous two cases, the Hong Kong patient hadn’t taken oseltamivir herself, which suggests she picked up a resistant strain from someone else.

Master Stem Cell for Human Heart Identified
Jul 2 2009 - HealthDay.com
For the first time, researchers have identified a single "master" stem cell in humans that is capable of differentiating into all three major cell types that make up the human heart.

WHO Says Tamiflu-Resistant H1N1 "Isolated Case"
Jul 1 2009 - Reuters
The first H1N1 infection found to be resistant to the antiviral drug Tamiflu represents an isolated case with no current implications for public health, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

The "Rare" Disease That Isn't
Jun 29 2009 - The Wall Street Journal
Fibromuscular dysplasia is a disease largely unknown to the public and even a majority of doctors. Yet evidence suggests that the disease isn't rare at all it: It simply isn't looked for, so it's seldom diagnosed.

New Cancer Drug Shows Promise
Jun 25 2009 - BBC News
Researchers say a new type of cancer treatment has produced highly promising results in preliminary drug trials. Olaparib—a member of a new class of drug called PARP inhibitors—targets cancer cells, but leaves healthy cells relatively unscathed.

Big US Study Will Test Vitamin D, Fish Oil
Jun 23 2009 - The Seattle Times
Two of the most popular and promising dietary supplements—vitamin D and fish oil—will be tested in a large, government-sponsored study to see whether either nutrient can lower a healthy person's risk of getting cancer, heart disease, or having a stroke.

Patients Often Not Told about Abnormal Test Results
Jun 23 2009 - HealthDay
People who visit their primary care physician for routine blood tests or screenings are often not informed of the results, a new study finds.

Can Health Co-Ops Do the Job of a Public Plan?
Jun 22 2009 - Time
Despite no public debate on the issue and scant knowledge about how health cooperatives could be set up, such self-sustaining, member-based organizations are suddenly emerging as the consensus alternative to a public plan.

CDC Sees "Something Different" with New Flu
Jun 19 2009 - Reuters
The new strain of H1N1 flu is causing "something different" to happen in the U.S. this year—perhaps an extended year-round flu season that disproportionately hits young people, health officials said on Thursday.

Australian Swine Flu Spike Could Force WHO Pandemic Declaration
Jun 10 2009 - CNN
A sharp increase in the number of reported cases of the H1N1 virus in Australia may prompt the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the first global pandemic in more than 40 years.

HIV in South Africa Levels Off
Jun 9 2009 - BBC News
South Africa's HIV epidemic has levelled off at an infection rate of 10.9% for those aged two or older, according to a new study.

Depression Diagnoses Drop after FDA Warning
Jun 2 2009 - MSNBC
A persistent decline in the rate of Americans, especially children, newly diagnosed with depression followed the first federal warning on risks connected with antidepressant drugs, a study suggests.

Scientists Develop New Basis for H5N1 Vaccine: WHO
May 28 2009 - Reuters
Scientists have used bird flu virus samples from Egypt to develop a new basis for a vaccine against the toxic H5N1 strain that continues to circulate, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.

Cancer Deaths Continue to Decline, Study Shows
May 27 2009 - MSNBC
The U.S. cancer death rate fell again in 2006, a new analysis shows, continuing a slow downward trend that experts attribute to declines in smoking, earlier detection and better treatment.

Gene Gives Clues to Why Autism More Common in Boys
May 21 2009 - HealthDay
A new gene variant that may increase the risk of autism, particularly in boys, has been identified by U.S. researchers. Autism affects boys four times more often than girls.

NIH's New Drug Pipeline for Neglected Diseases
May 20 2009 - ScienceInsider
The National Institutes of Health announced a $120 million, 5-year plan to set up a drug development service center at the agency. The focus will be on rare and neglected diseases.

Research Reveals How Down Syndrome Shields Against Cancer
May 20 2009 - HealthDay
A pair of genes may explain why people with Down syndrome are largely spared from many types of cancer, researchers report. The same genetic mechanism could be a potent target for new anti-cancer therapies, said the scientists.

Children's Use of Psychiatric Drugs Begins to Decelerate
May 18 2009 - The Wall Street Journal
The growth in antipsychotic-drug prescriptions for children is slowing as state Medicaid agencies heighten their scrutiny of usage and doctors grow more wary of the powerful medications.

Chewable Aspirin Is Best for the Heart
May 18 2009 - WebMD
Chewable aspirin is absorbed faster and is more effective than regular aspirin that is either swallowed whole or chewed and then swallowed, a new study shows. This "seemingly quite simple finding" could lead to improvements in the care of heart attack patients, researchers say.

Common Virus May Cause High Blood Pressure: Study
May 15 2009 - Reuters
A common virus may be a major cause of high blood pressure, researchers said on Thursday in a finding that may bring new approach to treating a condition that affects an estimated 1 billion people worldwide.

Trial Drugs "Reverse" Alzheimer's
May 7 2009 - BBC News
US scientists say they have successfully reversed the effects of Alzheimer's with experimental drugs. The drugs target and boost the function of a newly pinpointed gene involved in the brain's memory formation.

How Infection May Spark Leukaemia
Apr 1 2009 - BBC News
Scientists have shown how common infections might trigger childhood leukaemia. They have identified a molecule, TGF, produced by the body in response to infection that stimulates development of the disease.

Polypill Could Become a Reality
Mar 31 2009 - BBC News
A cheap five-in-one pill can guard against heart attacks and stroke, research suggests. A new trial in India shows such a pill has the desired effects and is safe and well-tolerated by those who take it.

CDC: Most Adults Should Restrict Salt But Don't
Mar 27 2009 - The Washington Post (requires free registration)
Seven out of 10 Americans should restrict their salt consumption, but very few of them do, according to a new government study.

Study: Lots of Red Meat Increases Mortality Risk
Mar 24 2009 - Yahoo! News
The largest study of its kind finds that older Americans who eat large amounts of red meat and processed meats face a greater risk of death from heart disease and cancer. The federal study of more than half a million men and women bolsters prior evidence of the health risks of diets laden with red meat like hamburger and processed meats like hot dogs, bacon, and cold cuts.

New Genes Linked to Sudden Heart Failure: Study
Mar 23 2009 - Yahoo! News
Scientists combing the human genome have discovered 10 common genetic mutations that boost the risk of sudden cardiac arrest by subtly disrupting the heart beat, two studies released Sunday reported.

Sesame Allergies on the Rise in U.S.
Mar 18 2009 - WebMD
Sesame seed allergies are rapidly rising in the U.S., but most Americans never even consider sesame bagels, hummus, or other sesame-containing foods as the source of their or their kids' allergies, food allergy experts say.

Low Vitamin D Hurts Teens' Hearts
Mar 12 2009 - WebMD
Low vitamin D levels greatly increase a teenager's risk of diabetes and heart disease, researchers find. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently suggested a daily intake of 400 IU. But some experts say children and teens need more than 1,000 IU of vitamin D every day.

Fat Neck a Clue to Heart Risk
Mar 12 2009 - BBC News
Measuring the thickness of a person's neck may provide as many clues to their risk of developing heart problems as measuring their waist, a study says.

A Medical Madoff: Anesthesiologist Faked Data in 21 Studies
Mar 11 2009 - Scientific American
A pioneering anesthesiologist has been implicated in a massive research fraud that has altered the way millions of patients are treated for pain during and after orthopedic surgeries. Now, the profession is in shambles after an investigation revealed that at least 21 of his papers were pure fiction, and that the pain drugs he touted in them may have slowed postoperative healing.

Stem Cell "Scaffold" for Stroke
Mar 10 2009 - BBC News
Scientists have developed a tiny scaffold of stem cells to fill holes in the brain caused by stroke damage. So far tested in rats, the biodegradable balls loaded with stem cells were able to replace brain tissue in damaged areas within a week.

A Better Way to Make Embryonic-Like Stem Cells
Mar 4 2009 - ScienceNow Daily News
Scientists in Canada and Scotland have developed a virus-free method for generating embryonic-like stem cells that does not involve destroying embryos. Scientists say the new approach to growing so-called induced pluripotent stem cells is an important step toward creating safe and reliable populations of cells for research and therapy.

Overexposed: Imaging Tests Boost U.S. Radiation Dose
Mar 4 2009 - Reuters
Americans are exposed to seven times more radiation from diagnostic scans than in 1980, a report found on Tuesday as experts said doctors are overusing the tests for profit and raising health risks for patients.

Huge Drop In Kids With High Lead Levels
Mar 3 2009 - CBS News
In a stunning improvement in children's health, far fewer kids have high lead levels than 20 years ago, new government research reports—a testament to aggressive efforts to get lead out of paint, water, and soil.

Study: Old Drugs Might Give TB a 1-2 Punch
Feb 27 2009 - Yahoo! News
Scientists might have found a way to deal drug-resistant tuberculosis a one-two punch using two old, safe antibiotics—and studies in ill patients could begin later this year.

Antibodies Could Provide New Way to Fight Flu
Feb 23 2009 - MSNBC
Researchers have discovered human antibodies that neutralize not only H5N1 bird flu but other strains of influenza as well and say they hope to develop them into lifesaving treatments.

Study: Kids with Eczema More Likely to Have ADHD
Feb 19 2009 - CNN
Children with eczema are more likely to also have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder than those without the skin problem, according to a study.

Genetically Customized Cancer Treatments
Feb 17 2009 - CBS News
The days of one-size-fits-all cancer treatment are numbered: A rush of new research is pointing the way to tailor chemotherapy and other care to what's written in your tumor's genes.

Japan Scientists Identify Cancer-Suppressing Enzyme
Feb 9 2009 - Reuters
Scientists in Japan have identified an enzyme that appears to suppress breast cancer and they hope the finding will spur new therapies to control the second most common cancer in the world.

Drug From Milk of Genetically Engineered Goats Gets OK
Feb 9 2009 - Discovery.com News
The Food and Drug Administration made history Friday as it approved the first drug made with materials from genetically engineered animals, clearing the way for a new class of medical therapies.

Heart Rate Predicts Women's Heart Risk
Feb 4 2009 - WebMD
A woman's resting pulse rate is a good predictor of her heart attack risk regardless of other risk factors, such as smoking and alcohol consumption, researchers say.

MS Stem-Cell Treatment "Success"
Jan 30 2009 - BBC News
Stem-cell transplants may control and even reverse multiple sclerosis symptoms if done early enough, a small study has suggested.

US Approves First Stem Cell Study for Spinal Injury
Jan 23 2009 - ABC News
A U.S. biotech company says it plans to start this summer the world's first study of a treatment based on human embryonic stem cells—a long-awaited project aimed at spinal cord injury. The FDA approves testing of treatment derived from human embryonic stem cells.

One Major Flu Strain Resistant to Tamiflu Treatment
Jan 16 2009 - The Seattle Times
The major type of seasonal influenza has become resistant to Tamiflu, the mainstay antiviral for millions of Americans. Another strain of the flu virus has already developed resistance to a second class of antiviral drugs, leaving doctors with tough choices about how to treat flu patients.

Eye Study Shows How Deadly Form of Malaria Kills
Jan 15 2009 - Reuters
The human eye can help doctors understand how an acute form of malaria attacks the brain, researchers said on Wednesday, opening the way to new and better treatments for one of Africa's biggest killers.

Researchers Unlock Secrets of 1918 Flu Pandemic
Dec 30 2008 - Reuters
Researchers have found out what made the 1918 flu pandemic so deadly—a group of three genes that lets the virus invade the lungs and cause pneumonia.

Surgery Reverses Type 2 Diabetes in Teens
Dec 30 2008 - WebMD
A small new study shows Roux-en-Y gastric bypass weight loss surgery halted the use of medications for type 2 diabetes in 10 out of 11 obese adolescents treated with the procedure. The surgery also reduced their risk factors for heart disease.

Gene Disease Recreated in Lab
Dec 22 2008 - BBC News
US researchers say they can now watch genetic diseases unfolding in the laboratory after finding a way to make large numbers of affected cells.

Study: Bone Drug Helps Chemo Fight Breast Cancer
Dec 12 2008 - Yahoo! News
New research adds fresh hope that a drug that strengthens bones might also fight breast cancer. Women who were given the drug, Zometa, as part of their initial treatment had greater tumor shrinkage and were less likely to need radical surgery, according to a preliminary study.

About 1 in 9 US Kids Use Alternative Medicine
Dec 11 2008 - Time Magazine
More than one in nine children and teens use herbal supplements or some other form of alternative medicine, according to a new national survey. It's the first time children's use of such remedies, including acupuncture, meditation, and chiropractic care, has been measured.

Half-Dose Flu Shots Work Best in Women
Dec 9 2008 - WebMD
Scientists have concludes that if there's another flu vaccine shortage, it might be a good idea to give half-dose vaccines to young adult women, and perhaps to young adult men, but not to older men and women.

Malaria Vaccine Shows Promise in Tests
Dec 8 2008 - MSNBC
Researchers are reporting promising results for what may become the world's first malaria vaccine. In early tests, the experimental vaccine was more than 50% effective in preventing the deadly disease in infants and young children in Africa.

Big Drop in Global Measles Cases
Dec 5 2008 - BBC News
The number of deaths across the world caused by measles has fallen by 74% in the past seven years. In 2007 the World Health Organization registered 197,000 measles deaths, compared to 750,000 in 2000. The WHO said two-thirds of the reduction took place in Africa, where the number of deaths dropped by 89%.

Study: Generic Heart Drugs Just as Good
Dec 3 2008 - WebMD
Brand-name drugs that treat heart disease aren't better than their FDA-approved generic versions, a new study shows. The researchers focused on clinical outcomes—including heart rate, blood pressure, illness, and death—and found no evidence that the brand-name drugs were superior to the generic drugs.

Research on Mice Links Fast Food to Alzheimer's
Dec 1 2008 - Reuters
Mice fed junk food for nine months showed signs of developing the abnormal brain tangles strongly associated with Alzheimer's disease, according to a Swedish researcher.

Study: Breast Cancer May Regress on Own
Nov 25 2008 - CBS News
A significant portion of invasive breast cancers may regress on their own without treatment, a new study that is bound to provoke controversy suggests.

24-Hour Blood Pressure Test Better at Seeing Risks
Nov 25 2008 - Reuters
Blood pressure readings done in the doctor's office may have little value at predicting which patients who continue to have high blood pressure despite treatment will have a stroke, heart attack, or heart failure, according to Brazilian researchers.

First Trachea Transplant from Stem Cells
Nov 19 2008 - WebMD
Doctors in Europe have performed the first trachea transplant that hinges on the patient's own stem cells. Experts say the results should be "highly regarded," but longer follow-up is needed before the procedure is tested in a clinical trial.

Smoking Rate Is Declining in U.S.
Nov 14 2008 - WebMD
The percentage of Americans who smoke cigarettes has fallen below 20% for the first time since at least the mid-1960s, according to a new report. The CDC says cigarette smoking prevalence has been dropping steadily among Americans 18 and older since it began keeping records in 1965, when 42.4% smoked.

Malaria Vaccine Trial to Begin in Africa
Nov 13 2008 - Time Magazine
Researchers trying to create the world's first malaria vaccine are launching a massive medical trial as early as next month involving 16,000 children that could be the largest such trial ever conducted on children in Africa.

Study: Vitamins Don't Thwart Heart Disease
Nov 10 2008 - CBS News
Vitamins C and E—pills taken by millions of Americans—do nothing to prevent heart disease in men, one of the largest and longest studies of these supplements has found. Vitamin E even appeared to raise the risk of bleeding strokes, a danger seen in at least one earlier study.

Scientists Decode Set of Cancer Genes
Nov 6 2008 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
For the first time, researchers have decoded all the genes of a person with cancer and found a set of mutations that might have caused the disease or aided its progression. The findings could lead to new therapies and would almost certainly help doctors make better choices among existing treatments.

Two Lung Cancer Genes Identified
Nov 3 2008 - MSNBC
An international research team has identified two genetic variations that appear to increase a person's risk of developing lung cancer by up to 60%. In April the same researchers identified another gene that raised lung cancer risk and they said their latest finding was relevant for both smokers and non-smokers.

U.S. Diabetes Rate Doubles in Last Decade
Oct 31 2008 - CBS News
The nation's obesity epidemic is exacting a heavy toll: the rate of new diabetes cases nearly doubled in the United States in the past 10 years, the government said Thursday.

Study Links Age of Blood in Transfusions to Infections
Oct 29 2008 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
Patients receiving transfusions of blood stored 29 days or longer—well within American standards—are twice as likely to contract a hospital-acquired infection as those receiving newer blood, according to researchers.

"Full" Artificial Heart Implant
Oct 28 2008 - BBC News
Scientists say they have a working prototype of a fully artificial heart ready for implanting in humans. The device beats almost exactly like the real thing using electronic sensors to regulate heart rate and blood flow.

"One-Stop" Embryo Test Unveiled
Oct 27 2008 - BBC News
A gene mapping test could tell parents-to-be if embryos are affected by almost any inherited disease, UK scientists have claimed. The team from London's Bridge Centre say the test could detect any of the 15,000 inherited diseases in weeks.

50% of Doctors Prescribe Placebos
Oct 24 2008 - WebMD
More than half of doctors offer fake prescriptions to make patients feel better—and that's OK, most doctors say. The findings come from a survey of 679 internists and rheumatologists. Doctors in these specialties often see patients with chronic illnesses or chronic pains that are difficult, if not impossible, to cure. Sometimes make such patients feel better.

Guarded Optimism for Experimental MS Drug
Oct 23 2008 - WebMD
An experimental multiple sclerosis drug proved to be much more effective for the treatment of early MS than a widely used treatment in a study, but the efficacy may come at a price.

Cell Phone Making You Itch?
Oct 20 2008 - WebMD
Some cell phone users may get a skin rash in reaction to the nickel in their cell phones, a condition that the British Association of Dermatologists has dubbed "mobile phone dermatitis." The British Association of Dermatologists issued a news release recently to inform doctors to be aware of the allergic reaction.

Diabetes Aspirin Use Questioned
Oct 17 2008 - BBC News
Aspirin should not routinely be used to prevent heart attacks in people with diabetes, Scottish research suggests. The British Medical Journal reported that in 1,300 adults with no symptoms of heart disease the drug, which can cause stomach bleeds, had no benefit. But there are key high-risk groups who still need the drug, experts said.

Brain Training for Spinal Cord Injury
Oct 16 2008 - WebMD
Scientists at the University of Washington in Seattle report success in their first attempts to harness the brain to treat paralysis in people with spinal cord injuries. Their technique isn't ready for patients yet, but researchers say it may one day be used to help paralyzed people walk.

Stem Cells from Testicles Show Promise
Oct 9 2008 - CBS News
Cells taken from men's testicles seem as versatile as the stem cells derived from embryos, researchers reported in what may be yet another new approach in a burgeoning scientific field.

Study: Calcium No Help in Fat Loss
Oct 9 2008 - WebMD
Eating calcium-rich foods may do a body good, but calcium probably won't help you lose weight, new research shows. Investigators found no evidence that calcium supplementation influenced energy expenditure or fat-burning in overweight people whose regular diets were deficient in the mineral.

Safer Prenatal Down's Syndrome Test Found in U.S.
Oct 7 2008 - Reuters
A prenatal blood test can be used to determine if an unborn baby has Down's syndrome without the small risk to the fetus posed by invasive testing methods such as amniocentesis, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

Vitamin C and Chemotherapy: Bad Combo?
Oct 2 2008 - WebMD
Vitamin C supplements and chemotherapy aren't a good combination, says a team of New York researchers. Vitamin C reduced the effectiveness of many cancer drugs, they found in laboratory and animal studies.

Scientists Identify Narcolepsy Gene
Sep 30 2008 - MSNBC
Scientists in Japan have identified a gene variant that may be linked to narcolepsy—a condition marked by excessive daytime sleepiness, impaired vision, and muscle weakness. It occurs in 1 out of 2,500 individuals in the United States and Europe, but is at least 4 times more frequent in Japanese.

Statins Prevent Artery Ageing
Sep 29 2008 - BBC News
Drugs given to heart patients to lower cholesterol may have an additional benefit—keeping their blood vessels feeling younger. While it has been known for some time that statins can lower cholesterol levels, this did not fully account for the benefits experienced by some patients, and evidence is growing that they can boost the function of the cells lining the heart arteries.

Acetaminophen May Raise Asthma Risk in Kids
Sep 19 2008 - MSNBC
Infants who have been given the common pain reliever paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen, may have a higher risk of developing asthma and eczema by the time they are 6 or 7, a large study covering children in 31 countries has found.

Cancellation of Controversial Autism Study Causes Both Relief and Outrage
Sep 18 2008 - Discover Magazine
A federal health agency has dropped plans for a controversial autism study, pleasing many scientists but disappointing some families with autistic children. The study would have tested a treatment called chelation.

Doctors: Leg Pain May Signal Deadly Blood Clot
Sep 16 2008 - Time Magazine
Far too many Americans are dying of dangerous blood clots that can masquerade as simple leg pain, says a major new government effort to get both patients and their doctors to recognize the emergency in time.

Pollution Hinders Heart Pacing
Sep 10 2008 - BBC News
Air pollution from traffic hinders the heart's ability to conduct electrical signals, a study has suggested.

Vitamin May Prevent Memory Loss
Sep 9 2008 - BBC News
A vitamin found in meat, fish and milk may help stave off memory loss in old age, a study has suggested.

Teenage Obesity Linked to Liver Disease
Sep 8 2008 - CBS News
In a new and disturbing twist on the obesity epidemic, some overweight teenagers have severe liver damage caused by too much body fat, and a handful have needed liver transplants.

Study Clears Measles Vaccine of Autism Link
Sep 5 2008 - Reuters
Scientists who tried to replicate a study that once tied a measles vaccine with autism said on Wednesday they could not find any link and hope their study will encourage parents to vaccinate their children to combat a rash of measles outbreaks.

Treadmill Rewires Brain after Stroke
Sep 2 2008 - CBS News
Treadmill exercise may improve stroke survivors' walking ability by rewiring parts of the brain, according to a new study. The study also shows treadmill exercise may be better than stretching, the traditional exercise prescribed after a stroke, both for walking and overall fitness.

Increase in Cases of Measles Tied to Fears over Vaccine
Aug 22 2008 - The Wall Street Journal
Measles cases in the U.S. are at the highest level in more than a decade, with nearly half of those involving children whose parents rejected vaccination, according to health officials.

Researchers Question Wide Use of HPV Vaccines
Aug 21 2008 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
Two vaccines against cervical cancer are being widely used without sufficient evidence about whether they are worth their high cost or even whether they will effectively stop women from getting the disease, two articles in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine conclude.

Arsenic Linked to Diabetes
Aug 20 2008 - WebMD
Exposure to arsenic, typically through drinking water, is linked to diabetes, according a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers studied 788 adults who had their urine tested for arsenic exposure; participants with type 2 diabetes had a 26% higher level of total arsenic in their urine than those without the disease.

Chew Gum for Colon Surgery Recovery
Aug 19 2008 - WebMD
Simply chewing gum after colon surgery can reduce recovery time and shorten hospital stays, a review of research shows. It could also save more than $100 million in health care spending annually, according to findings from one study.

Newly Detected Air Pollutant Mimics Damaging Effects Of Cigarette Smoke
Aug 18 2008 - ScienceDaily
A previously unrecognized group of air pollutants could have effects remarkably similar to harmful substances found in tobacco smoke, scientists report. Inhaling those pollutants exposes the average person up to 300 times more free radicals daily than from smoking one cigarette. The discovery could help explain the long-standing medical mystery of why non-smokers develop tobacco-related diseases like lung cancer.

Antibodies Still Protect 1918 Flu Survivors
Aug 18 2008 - Reuters
Antibodies from survivors of the 1918 flu pandemic, the worst in human memory, still protect against the highly deadly virus, according to researchers. The findings by a team of influenza and immune system experts suggest new and better ways to fight viruses—especially new pandemic strains that emerge and spread before a vaccine can be formulated.

Experts Find "Scaredy-Cat" Gene
Aug 13 2008 - BBC News
Variations in a gene may help explain why horror movies shock some people and entertain others, say German scientists. People with one version of the COMT gene startled more dramatically to unpleasant images than others. The work suggests inborn differences make some prone to extreme anxiety and stress. Anxiety treatments could be tailored to fit these genes, the authors suggest.

Cell Change Keeps Organs Young
Aug 11 2008 - BBC News
Researchers may have found a way to halt the biological clock that slows down our bodies over the decades. A US team thinks it may have found the genetic levers to help boost a system vital to cleaning up faulty proteins within our cells.

Scientists Create Stem Cells for Diseases
Aug 8 2008 - CBS News
Harvard scientists say they have created stems cells for 10 genetic disorders, which will allow researchers to watch the diseases develop in a lab dish. This early step, using a new technique, could help speed up efforts to find treatments for some of the most confounding ailments, the scientists said.

MDs Urged to Stop Senior Prostate Cancer Test
Aug 5 2008 - Time Magazine
Doctors should stop routine prostate cancer screening of men over 75 because there is more evidence of harm than benefit, a federal task force advised Monday in a new blow to a much scrutinized medical test.

Missing Chunks of DNA Tied to Schizophrenia Risk
Jul 31 2008 - The Wall Street Journal
Two huge international studies show that people who lack certain chunks of DNA run a dramatically higher risk of getting schizophrenia, a finding that could help open new doors to understanding and diagnosing the disease. These deletions are rare, each found in less than 1% of schizophrenia patients. But each one boosts the risk of disease by as much as 15-fold, by one estimate.

Study: "Pre-Dementia" Is Rising, Especially in Men
Jul 29 2008 - Yahoo! News
A milder type of mental decline that often precedes Alzheimer's disease is alarmingly more common than has been believed, and in men more than women, doctors report. Nearly a million older Americans slide from normal memory into mild impairment each year, researchers estimate, based on a Mayo Clinic study of Minnesota residents.

Fit Alzheimer's Patients Better Off
Jul 28 2008 - Time Magazine
Patients in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease who performed better on a treadmill test had less atrophy in the areas of the brain that control memory, according to a new study.

CDC: ADHD Increasing in Older Kids
Jul 25 2008 - Time Magazine
More older children are being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder while the rate is holding steady for children under 12, according to a government report released Wednesday.

The Thinking Bladder
Jul 22 2008 - ScienceNow Daily News
Frequent trips to the bathroom are a regular annoyance for one of every six people in the United States. Now, new research in rats suggests that the bladder may actually influence various brain areas, including those responsible for memory and concentration.

Animal Tissue Rejection Advance
Jul 21 2008 - BBC News
Scientists have found a way to overcome the problem of the human body rejecting animal parts used in transplants. The work means the use of animal tissue such as blood vessels, tendons, and bladders may become common in surgery.

Alzheimer's Drug Trial Promise
Jul 18 2008 - BBC News
A drug once used to treat hayfever "significantly improves" symptoms in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease, research suggests.

Trial for Vaccine Against H.I.V. Is Canceled
Jul 18 2008 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
Plans for a large human trial of a promising government-developed H.I.V. vaccine in the United States were canceled Thursday because a top federal official said scientists realized that they did not know enough about how H.I.V. vaccines and the immune system interact.

Defending Against Disease with Vitamin D
Jul 16 2008 - The Wall Street Journal
It's long been known that D is crucial for strong bones. But new research suggests that it also protects against a wide variety of diseases.

Scientists Uncover Deadly Ebola Virus's "Achilles' Heel"
Jul 14 2008 - Scientific American
In a breakthrough that could eventually help tame one of the deadliest virsuses known to humans, researchers have laid bare the key to Ebola's power: a lone protein that resides on its surface. The discovery paves the way for new treatments that target and destroy the designated culprit, rendering impotent a virus that can kill up to 90% of the people it infects.

Breakthrough in Malaria Fight
Jul 14 2008 - BBC News
Australian scientists have identified a potential treatment to combat malaria, which kills more than a million people each year. Malaria is preventable and curable, but can be fatal if not treated promptly.

New Vaccine Sneaks Into Body, Then Self-Destructs
Jul 10 2008 - Reuters
A new type of vaccine that sneaks into the body and then self-destructs, all without needles, may offer a new way to protect against a range of diseases, researchers report.

New Ways to Diagnose Autism Earlier
Jul 8 2008 - The Wall Street Journal
With the number of autistic children growing, researchers are targeting new technologies to help detect the disorder at ever-younger ages in hopes of reversing some of autism's worst symptoms.

Does Green Tea Help the Heart?
Jul 7 2008 - Time Magazine
A new study shows that green tea can protect heart arteries by keeping them flexible and relaxed, and therefore better able to withstand the ups and downs of constant changes in blood pressure.

Good Cholesterol Dementia Risk
Jul 1 2008 - BBC News
Too little of one type of cholesterol has been linked by research to memory loss and Alzheimer's disease. UK and French scientists studied 3,673 civil servants, revealing low levels of "good" cholesterol were associated with poor memory.

The Worms Crawl In
Jul 1 2008 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
Can hookworms protect against allergies? In a quest to find out, immunologist-biologist David Pritchard infected himself.

One in 10 Had 'Silent Strokes': Study
Jun 27 2008 - Yahoo! News
Routine brain scans in a group of middle-aged people showed that 10% of them had suffered a stroke without knowing it, raising their risk for further strokes and memory loss, U.S. researchers say.

Second Vaccine for Kids' Virus Endorsed
Jun 27 2008 - Time Magazine
A federal advisory panel has endorsed a second vaccine to combat a common and potentially fatal virus that causes diarrhea and vomiting in children.

Drug-Resistant High Blood Pressure on the Rise
Jun 25 2008 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
High blood pressure, the most commonly diagnosed condition in the United States, is becoming increasingly resistant to drugs that lower it, according to a panel of experts assembled by the American Heart Association.

Drug Reverses Mental Retardation Caused by Genetic Disorder; Hope for Correcting How Autism
Jun 23 2008 - Science Daily
Researchers discovered that an FDA-approved drug reverses the brain dysfunction inflicted by a genetic disease called tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). Because half of TSC patients also suffer from autism, the findings offer new hope for addressing learning disorders due to autism.

Clone Cell Cancer Cure Hailed
Jun 19 2008 - BBC News
Scientists claim they have cured advanced skin cancer for the first time using the patient's own cells cloned outside the body.

Can Lifestyle Changes Bring Out the Best in Genes?
Jun 18 2008 - Scientific American
A new pilot study shows that eating right, exercising, and reducing stress may help keep chronic diseases at bay by switching on beneficial genes, including tumor-fighters, and silencing those that trigger malignancies and other ills.

Lack of Vitamin D Rampant in Infants, Teens
Jun 17 2008 - USA Today
Giving your children all they need to grow big and strong may not be as simple as a gummy vitamin and three square meals. They still may be susceptible to an epidemic that's starting to gain the notice of pediatricians and bone doctors across the country: vitamin D deficiency.

Bright Lights May Hold Off Dementia
Jun 11 2008 - Time Magazine
Researchers in the Netherlands have found that a simple nonmedical intervention may be just as effective as drugs to keep elderly patients sharp. They report that elderly patients with dementia who were exposed to bright lights in long-term care facilities scored 5% better on cognitive tests and had 19% fewer depressive symptoms than similar patients residing in less well-lit facilities.

A Black-White Diabetes Divide
Jun 10 2008 - Time Magazine
A study finds that white diabetes patients on average fare better than black patients treated by the same doctors.

Study Finds Big Social Factor in Quitting Smoking
May 22 2008 - New York Times (requires free registration)
A new study finds that stopping smoking is seldom an individual decision. Smokers tend to quit in groups, the study finds, which means smoking cessation programs should work best if they focus on groups rather than individuals. It also means that people may help many more than just themselves by quitting: quitting can have a ripple effect prompting an entire social network to break the habit.

HRT Hype Means Women Miss Out
May 20 2008 - BBC News
Too many women are missing out on hormone replacement therapy because of "overhyped" safety concerns, an international group of experts warns.

Alarm over UK Hybrid Embryo Research
May 20 2008 - CNN.com
Opponents of controversial plans to use hybrid human-animal embryos for research spoke out Tuesday, calling the practice unnecessary, unnatural, and reprehensible a day after British lawmakers voted to allow it. The British parliament debated the issue Monday as part of its discussion of the Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill, which will update legislation on reproduction and embryos.

Do Consumers Understand Drug Ads?
May 19 2008 - Time Magazine
Last week, at a day-long House subcommittee hearing, lawmakers pushed for tougher regulations, taking aim at seemingly deceptive ads by drug companies. It seems the inquiries are coming just in time. A commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine highlights a potentially risky shift in direct-to-consumer ads--from drugs to devices.

CDC: Over 60? Get Vaccinated Against Shingles
May 16 2008 - USA Today
If you're 60 or older, you should get immunized against shingles, even if you had the disease before, according to recommendations published yesterday by the CDC.

Pollution Ups Blood Clot Risk
May 13 2008 - BBC News
Breathing in air pollution from traffic fumes can raise the risk of potentially deadly blood clots, a new study says. Researchers say pollution makes blood more sticky and likely to clot.

A Blood Test To Predict Menopause
May 1 2008 - Time Magazine
Dutch researchers are developing a blood test that could predict the onset of menopause and the decline of fertility.

HIV Drug Resistance Target Found
Apr 30 2008 - BBC News
A specific protein in the body may be the key to overcoming the increasing problem of resistance to HIV drugs. Inactivating the ITK protein, which is involved in the immune response, blocks many steps of HIV replication, laboratory studies show.

Can You Really Be "Fit But Fat?" Study Says No
Apr 29 2008 - MSNBC
New research challenges the notion that you can be fat and fit, finding that being active can lower but not eliminate heart risks faced by heavy women.

Playgroups Cut Leukaemia Risk
Apr 29 2008 - BBC News
Children who attend daycare or playgroups cut their risk of the most common type of childhood leukaemia by around 30%, a study estimates. It is thought early infections may help the body fight off the disease.

Suicide Risk Dims Hope for Anti-Addiction Pills
Apr 24 2008 - MSNBC
Two years ago, scientists had high hopes for new pills that would help people quit smoking, lose weight, and maybe kick other tough addictions. The pills worked by blocking pleasure centers in the brain that provide the feel-good response from smoking or eating. Now it seems the drugs may block pleasure too well, possibly raising the risk of depression and suicide.

Life Expectancy Drops for Some U.S. Women
Apr 22 2008 - Washington Post (requires free registration)
For the first time since the Spanish influenza of 1918, life expectancy is falling for a significant number of American women.

Infected with Insanity: Could Microbes Cause Mental Illness?
Apr 18 2008 - Scientific American
Schizophrenia is a devastating illness. One percent of the world's population suffers from its symptoms of hallucinations, psychosis and impaired cognitive ability. What could cause such frightening damage to the brain? According to a growing body of research, the culprit is surprising: the flu.

Gender Guides Preemies Survival
Apr 17 2008 - Time Magazine
Doctors now have a better way of helping parents make an agonizing decision--whether to take heroic steps to save a very premature baby. The number of weeks in the womb has generally been the chief factor. But a new study shows others are important, too--including whether the infant is a girl and whether the child gets lung-maturing steroids shortly before birth.

Mumps Vaccine Can Lose Punch by College Years
Apr 10 2008 - MSNBC
Most of the college students who got the mumps in a big outbreak in 2006 had received the recommended two vaccine shots, according to a study that raises questions about whether a new vaccine or another booster shot is needed.

Six-Way Kidney Transplant First
Apr 10 2008 - BBC News
U.S. doctors have carried out what is believed to be the world's first simultaneous six-way kidney transplant. Six recipients received organs from six donors. The procedure was made possible after an altruistic donor, neither a friend nor relative of any of the six patients, was found to match one of them.

Are Drugs Trials Stopped Early to Exaggerate Benefits?
Apr 9 2008 - NewScientist.com
Halting the trial of a drug early may mean more patients will be able to reap the benefits, but it may overlook long-term risks.

Genetic Link Tied to Smoking Addiction
Apr 3 2008 - ABC News
Scientists have pinpointed genetic variations that make people more likely to get hooked on cigarettes and more prone to develop lung cancer--a finding that could someday lead to screening tests and customized treatments for smokers trying to kick the habit.

Fasting May Bolster Healthy Cells' Resistance to Chemo Toxins
Apr 3 2008 - Scientific American
Scientists report that fasting for 48 hours before receiving chemotherapy could help limit the treatment's toxic effects to cancer cells--and spare healthy ones. The new finding may pave the way for higher and more frequent chemo doses that better shrink tumors without harming normal cells.

Anti-HIV Drug Heart Attack Risk
Apr 2 2008 - BBC News
A popular anti-HIV drug nearly doubles the risk of heart attack, a study says.

Experts Now Recommend Hands-Only CPR
Apr 1 2008 - U.S. News & World Report
You can skip the mouth-to-mouth breathing and just press on the chest to save a life. In a major change, the American Heart Association said Monday that hands-only CPR - rapid, deep presses on the victim's chest until help arrives - works just as well as standard CPR for sudden cardiac arrest in adults.

Two Popular Cholesterol Drugs May Not Work
Mar 31 2008 - MSNBC
Vytorin and Zetia failed to improve heart disease in a key study. Leading doctors urge a return to older, tried-and-true treatments for high cholesterol.

Pesticide Parkinson's Link Strong
Mar 31 2008 - BBC News
There is strong evidence that exposure to pesticides significantly increases the risk of Parkinson's disease, experts believe.

Cloning Treats Mouse Parkinson's
Mar 24 2008 - BBC News
Therapeutic cloning has been successfully used to treat Parkinson's disease in mice, researchers say. The study provides the best evidence so far that the controversial technique could one day help people with the condition. The team says it is the first time animals have been successfully treated with their own cloned cells.

Old Blood May Pose a Safety Risk
Mar 20 2008 - MSNBC
Heart surgery patients were more likely to die or suffer problems if they received transfusions of blood that is more than two weeks old rather than fresher blood, according to a new study that adds to the debate about the shelf life of blood.

Why a Genetic Blood Disorder Seems to Protect Against Malaria
Mar 19 2008 - New York Times (requires free registration)
Researchers believe they have figured out why the genetic blood disorder alpha thalassemia, found in the tropics, protects against death from malaria.

Growth Hormone Doesn't Boost Athletic Abilities
Mar 18 2008 - MSNBC
Athletes who take human growth hormone may not be getting the boost they expected. While growth hormone adds some muscle, it doesn't appear to improve strength or exercise capacity, according to a review of studies that tested the hormone in mostly athletic young men.

Can Implantable Medical Devices Be Hacked?
Mar 17 2008 - Science Daily
Some medical devices such as implantable cardiac defibrillators and pacemakers are now equipped with wireless technology, allowing for remote device checks. But this convenience may come with unanticipated risks. Researchers have demonstrated that patients' private medical information could be extracted and their devices reprogrammed without the patients' authorization or knowledge.

Vitamin D Cuts Risk of Diabetes
Mar 13 2008 - BBC News
Giving young children vitamin D supplements may reduce their risk of developing type 1 diabetes later in life, research suggests.

"Methuselah" Mutation Linked to Longer Life
Mar 5 2008 - Scientific American
A type of gene mutation long known to extend the lives of worms, flies, and mice also turns up in long-lived humans. Researchers found that among Ashkenazi Jews, those who survived past age 95 were much more likely than their peers to possess one of two similar mutations in the gene for insulinlike growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R).

Why Flu Strikes in Cold Weather
Mar 5 2008 - BBC News
Scientists believe they have uncovered a key reason why flu viruses tend to strike in cold weather. They found the viruses coat themselves in fatty material that hardens to a gel, protecting them in the cold. This coating melts in the higher temperatures of the respiratory tract, allowing the virus to infect cells. Researchers hope their study can lead to new treatments.

Gene Map Becomes a Luxury Item
Mar 4 2008 - New York Times (requires free registration)
Scientists have so far unraveled only a handful of complete human genomes, all financed by governments, foundations, and corporations in the name of medical research. But as the cost of genome sequencing goes from stratospheric to merely very expensive, it is piquing the interest of a new clientele. But while money may buy a full readout of the six billion chemical units in an individual's genome, biologists say the superrich will have to wait like everyone else to learn how the small variations in their sequence influence appearance, behavior, abilities, disease susceptibility, and other traits.

Nanomagnets Could Target Cancer
Mar 4 2008 - BBC News
Tiny magnets made by bacteria could be used to kill tumors, say researchers. A team at the University of Edinburgh has developed a method of making the nanomagnets stronger, opening the way for their use in cancer treatment. The bacteria-produced magnets are better than human-made versions because of their uniform size and shape, the Nature Nanotechnology study reported. It is hoped one day the magnets could be guided to tumor sites and then activated to destroy cancerous cells.

Frog Skin Offers Diabetes Treatment Hope
Mar 3 2008 - BBC News
Skin secretions from a South American "shrinking" frog could be used to treat type 2 diabetes, researchers say. A compound isolated from the frog, which grows to 27 cm as a tadpole before shrinking to 4 cm in adulthood, stimulates insulin release. A synthetic version of the compound (pseudin-2) could be used to produce new drugs.

The Cure for Exhaustion? More Exercise
Mar 3 2008 - New York Times (requires free registration)
When a person is sapped by fatigue, the last thing he or she wants to do is exercise. But new research shows that regular, low-intensity exercise may help boost energy levels in people suffering from fatigue.

WHO Says Drug-Resistant TB Spreads Fast
Feb 28 2008 - Washington Post (requires free registration)
Drug-resistant tuberculosis is spreading even faster than medical experts had feared, the World Health Organization warned in a recent report. The rate of TB patients infected with the drug-resistant strain topped 20% in some countries, the highest ever recorded, the U.N. agency said.

Degenerative Eye Disease Doubles Stroke Risk
Feb 28 2008 - MSNBC
People with age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of severe vision loss, have double the usual risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke, Australian researchers report. They found that for people under the age of 75 when the study began, those who developed early age-related macular degeneration had twice the risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke within the next decade.

U.K. Study Casts Doubt on Antidepressant Drugs
Feb 26 2008 - MSNBC
Antidepressant medications appear to help only very severely depressed people and work no better than placebos in many patients, British researchers said.

Could Embryonic Stem Cells Treat Diabetes?
Feb 21 2008 - ABC News
Doctors may be one step closer to using stem cells to cure diabetes, according to a new study by researchers who report that they managed to convert human embryonic stem cells into insulin-producing cells. Insulin is the chemical produced in the pancreas that allows the body to regulate blood-sugar levels, and it is the substance that many of those with diabetes lack. The researchers found that when they injected these human cells into diabetic mice, the treatment alleviated diabetes in the rodents.

Scientists Find Way to Tell Age Through Eyes
Feb 20 2008 - MSNBC
A new way to decipher a person's age by looking into the lens of the eye could help forensic scientists identify bodies, researchers say. Their new technique uses radiocarbon dating to measure special proteins known as lens crystallines that develop around birth and remain unchanged for the rest of our lives. They are the only part of the body apart from teeth that do so. The researchers correctly identified the ages of 13 people within one-and-a-half years by analyzing a carbon isotope called carbon 14 trapped inside the crystallines.

Reaching 100 Is Easier Than Suspected
Feb 12 2008 - The Washington Post (requires free registration)
Living to 100 is easier than you might think. Surprising new research suggests that even people who develop heart disease or diabetes late in life have a decent shot at reaching the century mark.

Scientists Find New Receptor for H.I.V.
Feb 11 2008 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
Government scientists have discovered a new way that H.I.V. attacks human cells, an advance that could provide fresh avenues for the development of additional therapies to stop AIDS. The discovery is the identification of a new human receptor for H.I.V. The receptor helps guide the virus to the gut after it gains entry to the body, where it begins its relentless attack on the immune system. Scientists have sought to identify receptors because they offer targets for the development of new classes of drugs.

Tattoos May Help Deliver Vaccine
Feb 8 2008 - BBC News
Scientists in Germany say that tattoos could be the ideal way of delivering vaccines into the body. The researchers say that in tests undertaken with mice, tattoos were much more effective in provoking a response from the immune system. Tattoos could be a useful way of delivering therapeutic vaccines in humans, including for some cancers. Such vaccines have often failed to produce the expected immune response when delivered using an injection.

Diabetes Study Partially Halted After Deaths
Feb 7 2008 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
For decades, researchers believed that if people with diabetes lowered their blood sugar to normal levels, they would no longer be at high risk of dying from heart disease. But a major federal study of more than 10,000 middle-aged and older people with Type 2 diabetes has found that lowering blood sugar actually increased their risk of death. Researchers announced that they were abruptly halting that part of the study, whose surprising results call into question how the disease should be managed. Investigators emphasize that patients should consult with their doctors before considering changing their medications.

Three-Parent Embryo Formed in Lab
Feb 5 2008 - BBC News
Scientists believe they have made a breakthrough in IVF treatment by creating a human embryo with three separate parents. The Newcastle University team believe the technique could help to eradicate a whole class of hereditary diseases, including some forms of epilepsy. The embryos have been created using DNA from a man and two women in lab tests. It could ensure women with genetic defects do not pass the diseases on to their children.

Sniffling Mice Raise Therapy Hope
Feb 4 2008 - BBC News
Scientists have created a mouse that can catch a cold, raising hopes of new ways to treat serious respiratory conditions and asthma. It had been thought rhinoviruses, which cause most human colds and can trigger asthma attacks, could only affect higher primates. The researchers hope their genetically modified mice will provide a valuable test-bed for potential new medications.

Why Don't Adults Get Vaccinated?
Jan 31 2008 - Time Magazine
Americans put themselves at needless risk of disease by failing to get key vaccinations as adults, according to a survey by CDC. The survey also suggests the top reason that adults avoid vaccines: They don't even know they exist. According to the National Immunization Survey, conducted last summer, the flu shot is the only recommended adult vaccine that most Americans could name. National adult immunization rates reflect a "kids only" mentality, with rates being lowest for the newer vaccines. It can be tough to concentrate on healthy living before sickness rears its head. But just like eating well and exercising, public-health officials say, vaccines should be a cornerstone of preventive medicine.

Clues to Black Plague’s Fury in 650-Year-Old Skeletons
Jan 30 2008 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
Many historians have assumed that Europe's deadliest plague, the Black Death of 1347 to 1351, killed indiscriminately, young and old, hardy and frail, healthy and sick alike. But two anthropologists were not so sure and took a closer look at the skeletons of people buried more than 650 years ago. Their findings suggest that the plague selectively took the already ill, while many of the otherwise healthy survived the infection. The scientists determined the victims' state of health when they died by counting bone lesions, defects that suggest previous infections and other existing health problems. Most of the bone defects that the researchers found can be caused by malnutrition, and the scientists suggest that the findings may show effects of starvation on immune function.

New Flu Vaccine Would Not Require Needles
Jan 29 2008 - CBS News
South Korean researchers say a new vaccine, placed under the tongue, worked in mice, and may spare humans not only from the painful prick of a needle but also the discomfort some people feel from the inhaled vaccine. Better ways of delivering vaccine have long been under study, ranging from orally to inhaled, but all seem to have drawbacks. Now, researchers say, two doses of influenza vaccine under the tongue of mice primed the animals' immune system to fight off what would otherwise have been a deadly dose of flu. Next, they are turning their attention to people, to see if the under-the-tongue vaccine also prompts a strong immune response.

Scientists Build a Beating Heart
Jan 14 2008 - CBS News
Scientists have built a beating heart inside a rat. “While it still sounds like science fiction, we’ve hopefully opened a new door in the notion that we can build these tissues and one day provide options for patients with end-stage disease,” explained Doris Taylor, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Repair at the University of Minnesota. “We’re not there yet, but at least now we have another tool in our tool belt.”

Mars Experiment Might Help Insomniacs on Earth
May 15 2007 - NewScientist.com
An experiment aimed at finding ways to help astronauts adapt to life on Mars could end up helping insomniacs on Earth, researchers report. Scientists say they have found that two 45-minute exposures to bright light in the evening could help people adjust to a longer, Martian-style day.

Are Scientists Closer to Discovering a Fountain of Youth?
Dec 21 2006 - Scientific American
The case of a 15-year-old Afghan boy with a rare genetic condition that caused him to age rapidly may help scientists unlock the mysteries how and why we age, bringing them closer to finding a way to halt or dramatically slow the aging process.

Breakfast Foods Deliver Buffet of Health Benefits
Sep 12 2006 - Scientific American
A darker than usual, mildly fruity muffin made from wine waste could prove effective in protecting your health. University of Maryland scientists have shown that the leftovers of chardonnay wine production can stop the growth of colon cancer cells in vitro as well as inhibit the growth of E. coli and other bacteria when used as a preservative. And when grape and other fruit seeds are turned into flour, they “naturally carry some fruit flavor,” says Liangli “Lucy” Yu. “All contain significant levels of natural antioxidants” The fruit seed discovery is one of several food–related health findings Yu’s group presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Memory Retention Enhanced By Sleep
Jul 11 2006 - Scientific American
Whether tested in animals or humans, studies have shown that sleep can play a vital role in helping to retain information. But new research shows that declarative memories, such as a sequence of facts, can also benefit from sleep, especially when people are challenged with subsequent and competing information.

The Grim Neurology of Teenage Drinking
Jul 5 2006 - New York Times (Requires free registration)
Mounting research suggests that alcohol causes more damage to the developing brains of teenagers than was previously thought, injuring them significantly more than it does adult brains. Studies conducted over the last eight years by federally financed researchers in San Diego, for example, found that alcoholic teenagers performed poorly on tests of verbal and nonverbal memory, attention focusing, and exercising spatial skills.

Scientists Trying to Clone Human Embryos
Jun 6 2006 - ABC News
Researchers affiliated with Harvard University are creating stem cells by cloning human embryos. The researchers hope to use the stem cells to treat blood diseases such as sickle-cell anemia, leukemia, and other blood disorders. The University of California, San Francisco, is also pursuing the cloning of human embryos, a goal that some find ethically objectionable. Two other researchers, Douglas Melton and Kevin Eggan, have received approval to begin similar work. Melton plans to focus on diabetes and Eggan will work on neurodegenerative conditions like Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Compound from Coral Could Combat Cancer
Mar 13 2006 - Scientific American
A compound isolated from coral collected off the coast of Okinawa has shown the ability to slow and possibly prevent virus replication. The compound may also hold promise as a cancer treatment. Isis hippuris is a yellow, branching coral found in the tropical waters of the western Pacific. By grinding it up and treating it with methanol, researchers isolated a natural steroid dubbed hippuristanol and tested this steroid’s therapeutic abilities. In vitro and in vivo, the steroid blocked a critical step in the process that allows a virus to thrive. For more information on Health, Nutrition, and the Human Body, NSTA members can refer to the March 2006 issue of Science & Children.

Dash of Bleach Boosts Cancer Vaccine
Mar 2 2006 - New Scientist.com
Scientists report that household bleach might be the key to fighting some cancers as the chemical seems to boost the efficacy of cancer vaccines. Benny Chain and his colleagues at University College London found that immune cells react more strongly to dead cancer cells if they have been killed with hypochlorous acid, the active compound in bleach. Chain thinks the immune system is geared to recognize cells killed in this way because many of our white blood cells destroy bacteria by producing microscopic quantities of a type of bleach. The scientists hope to use this method to treat women with ovarian cancer. For more information on Health, Nutrition, and the Human Body, NSTA members can refer to the March 2006 issue of Science & Children.

Cocoa Linked to Lower Risk of Disease
Feb 28 2006 - Scientific American
People who consume cocoa can lower their blood pressure and live longer, according to a new study of aging Dutch men. Researchers from the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in Bilthoven measured the cocoa intake of 470 men between 1985 and 2000 as part of the Zutphen Elderly Study, a longitudinal look at nearly 1,000 Dutch men between the ages of 65 and 84, to make their finding. Although eating chocolate can decrease blood pressure and prolong life, the two are not statistically related. This means that the exact mechanism by which chocolate can help a person’s health remains a mystery, the researchers noted. For more information on Health, Nutrition, and the Human Body, NSTA members can refer to the March 2006 issue of Science & Children.

Scientists Use Web Site to Predict Disease
Jan 26 2006 - ABC News
Scientists think they may have found a better way to predict how diseases like a global flu epidemic could spread: Follow the money. Using the popular "Where's George?" website that tracks U.S. dollars, researchers developed a mathematical tool that could help chart the path of an infectious disease. "We are optimistic that this will drastically improve predictions about the geographical spread of epidemics," said Theo Geisel of the Max Planck Institute in Germany, which developed the tool along with the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Teen Brains Underdeveloped in Areas Related to Motivation
Jan 20 2006 - New Scientist.com
Teens may be more inclined to engage in risky activity, such as drunk driving, because the part of the brain associated with motivation is underdeveloped compared to adults. A recent article in the Journal of Neurosciences reveals that "[i]n adolescents, this part of the brain, known as the right ventrial striatum, appears to be under-active." James Bjork, who led the study, suggests that "[p]erhaps teens seek more extreme behaviours to achieve normal levels of stimulation in this brain region." Bjork told New Scientist that "the next step is to study teen reactions to delayed rewards."

Men and Women React Differently to Aspirin Therapy, Says New Study
Jan 18 2006 - New Scientist.com
Although men and women both receive cardiovascular benefits from aspirin therapy, they respond differently to the treatment. Men have a reduced chance of heart attack, and women have a reduced chance of stroke, particularly if they are in the moderate risk category. David Brown, a cardiologist at the Stony Brook School of Medicine in New York, US, is one of the authors of the report that appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association. "Everything about the study is telling us that there's a gender difference and we don't understand it." The researchers speculate that women may metabolize aspirin differently than men.

Medicine and Physiology Nobel Awarded to H. Pylori Researchers
Oct 4 2005 - Scientific American
For their discovery of ulcer-causing bacteria, Australian doctors Robin Warren and Barry Marshall have received the 2005 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. Until Warren and Marshall’s finding in 1979, physicians thought excess stomach acid caused by stress ate away at the stomach lining and lead to ulcers. Observers note the finding that a common disease of the stomach is linked to a microbe holds the promise of pinpointing the source of other chronic inflammatory conditions such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and atherosclerosis.

'Cane Disrupts Scientific Research
Sep 14 2005 - CBS News
As rising floodwaters swamped New Orleans, Louisiana’s chief epidemiologist enlisted state police on a mission to break into a high-security government lab and destroy any dangerous germs before they could escape or fall into the wrong hands. Armed with bolt cutters and bleach, Dr. Raoult Ratard’s team entered the state’s so-called “hot lab,” and killed all the living samples. “This is what had to be done,” said Ratard, who had to end his lab’s work on dangerous germs. Ratard’s team was able to retrieve laptop computers containing vital scientific data. However, many other scientists in the region were not so fortunate, losing years of research.

Nanotechnology Kills Cancer Cells
Aug 2 2005 - BBC News
Scientists have found a way to use nanotechnology to kill cancer cells without harming healthy tissue. The technique works by inserting microscopic synthetic rods called carbon nanotubules into cancer cells. When the rods are exposed to near-infra red light from a laser they heat up, killing the cell, while cells without rods are left unscathed. More information about the Stanford University work can be found in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Alzheimer's Symptoms Reversed in Mice
Jul 14 2005 - nature.com
Mice with memory loss have had their condition reversed, a discovery that should help refine the search for a cure for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. The study also helps clarify the actual cause of dementia, which should give more focus to drug studies.

Brain Scans Help Scientists "Read" Minds
Apr 25 2005 - Scientific American
Two papers published this week reveal how scientists are achieving their goal of reading people’s minds. Scientists at ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan, Princeton University and University College London showed volunteers various images. The volunteers then underwent a magnetic resonance imaging scan. Data collected from the brain scans revealed what type of images volunteers had observed. Further information about these studies can be found in the publication Nature Neuroscience.

New Science on Tiny Scale
Feb 17 2005 - The Washington Times
Researchers are studying how matter can be manipulated at the nanoscale level to detect and prevent diseases. Several health agencies have developed 61 nanotechnology-based drugs and delivery systems. More than 90 devices and diagnostic tests are in pre-clinical, clinical, and commercial development. “Nanotechnology is starting to crack into people’s consciousness,” noted Jeffery Schloss, program director for technology development at the National Institutes of Health. “It’s still risky. A lot things at the idea stage might not work.”

Toys Have Lasting Impact on Brain
Dec 23 2004 - BBC News
Toys that stimulate a young child's mind could permanently boost their brain function, according to research on owls conducted at Stanford University. Previous studies showed that young owls quickly acquire new skills that leave older owls baffled. In their new experiments, the Stanford team wanted to see if the owls could still remember those skills when they become adults. The research suggests that skills learned very early in life may trigger permanent changes in brain structure, underlining the importance of choosing the right toys for children, even at the earliest stages of life.

Brain Area May Control Urge to Hoard
Dec 22 2004 - Reuters
Researchers may have located the area in the brain that separates the stamp collectors from the pack rats. The findings could ultimately aid in understanding obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, and other neurological conditions where patients sometimes show an abnormal tendency to hoard.

Forgetful? Scientists Say Stress is a Cause
Oct 29 2004 - The Arizona Republic
Although most people know stress can make you forgetful, scientists have learned how it happens. Stressful situations that involved an individual having no control were found to activate an enzyme in the brain called protein kinase C. The protein impairs the short-term memory and other functions in the prefrontal cortex, the "executive decision" part of the brain, notes Dr. Amy F.T. Arnsten of Yale Medical School. Scientists note this discovery could lead to better treatments for illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Science of Smell Scoops Nobel Prize
Oct 4 2004 - New Scientist.com
Two American scientists have won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for explaining how the human sense of smell works. Richard Axel of Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Columbia University in New York and Linda Buck of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle have constructed the entire process by which cells in the nose capture smelly compounds and transmit signals to the brain that are perceived as distinct aromas. Axel and Buck will share a $1.3 million award for their efforts.

New Hughes Research Center to Shift Focus
Sep 29 2004 - New York Times (Requires free registration)
Top scientists will be encouraged to perform creative hands-on activities, thanks to a new $500 million research center being constructed in Virginia by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The two themes selected for the initial focus of the Janelia Farm Research Campus are understanding how the brain works and visualizing what goes on in living cells. Scientists will be able to work at the center in small, interactive groups with no need to write grants or worry about administrative distractions.

Researchers Make Cloning Breakthrough
Feb 12 2004 - Yahoo News/AP
Researchers in South Korea have become the first to successfully clone a human embryo and then cull from it master stem cells that many doctors consider key to one day creating customized cures for diabetes, Parkinson's, and other diseases. The announcement immediately revived controversy over whether to ban all human cloning, as the Bush administration wants, or to allow this "therapeutic cloning" that might eventually let patients grow their own replacement tissue.

How the Brain Reacts to Romance
Nov 12 2003 - BBC News
What happens in your head when you fall in love? Researchers have found that feelings of intense romantic love are linked to activity in two areas of the brain, which have high levels of dopamine activity. But functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans found women's brains showed emotional responses, while men's showed activity linked to sexual arousal. The researchers also found activity in other areas of the brain changed - including one that another study showed was active when people ate chocolate.

Britain Urged to Ban Non-Medical Gender Selection
Nov 12 2003 - Yahoo - Reuters
Britain's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) Wednesday urged the government to regulate sex selection techniques so that people cannot choose to have a boy or a girl for social reasons. A social scientist and bioethicist at the University of Newcastle commented: "By deciding to prohibit sex selection, the HFEA will have reassured society that reproductive technologies can be effectively regulated, and that appropriate boundaries can be set to the exercise of individual choice. Children should be seen as a gift, not a commodity."

Scanning Pioneers Take Medicine Nobel
Oct 6 2003 - New Scientist.com
An American and British scientist will share the 2003 Nobel Prize in Medicine for inventing medical imaging machines routinely used in hospitals across the globe. Paul Lauterbur of the University of Illinois at Urbana and Peter Mansfield of the University of Nottingham were awarded $1.3 million for their part in developing magnetic resonance imaging or MRI scanners. The two scientists made their key contributions in the 1970's, leading to the production of the first scanners about 10 years later. [Click here for a good introduction to magnetic resonance imaging.]

Einstein and Newton Showed Signs of Autism
May 1 2003 - New Scientist.com
Autism expert Simon Baron-Cohen claims Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton might have shown signs of Asperger syndrome, a form of autism that does not cause learning difficulties. Baron-Cohen observed that it’s impossible to make a definite diagnosis for someone who is dead, but noted “this kind of analysis can shed light on why some people with autism excel in life, while others struggle.”

Drug Can Slow Alzheimer's, UK Scientist's Study Shows
Apr 3 2003 - The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)
A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that Memantine is the first drug to slow the progression of symptoms during the advanced stages of Alzheimer's. The study also revealed that patients who took Memantine for six months were able to better perform daily activities such as dressing and bathing compared to patients taking a placebo. "I don't see this as a panacea by any means," said Dr. Barry Reisberg, a New York University psychiatry professor and the study’s lead author. "Scientifically it's a big step, but this is not the end of the story."

Drug Can Slow Alzheimer's, UK Scientist's Study Shows
Apr 3 2003 - The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)
A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that Memantine is the first drug to slow the progression of symptoms during the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s. The study also revealed that patients who took Memantine for six months were able to better perform daily activities such as dressing and bathing compared to patients taking a placebo. “I don’t see this as a panacea by any means,” said Dr. Barry Reisberg, a New York University psychiatry professor and the study’s lead author. “Scientifically it’s a big step, but this is not the end of the story.”

Contacts 'Could Deliver Eye Drugs'
Mar 24 2003 - BBC News
Researchers from the University of Florida claim they have created contact lenses that can treat eye diseases such as glaucoma. The scientists say the contact lenses would release drugs directly into the eye and could be worn for up to 15 days. Scientists hope the medicated lenses would replace eye drops. The contacts could be ready for mainstream use in about a decade, according to researchers.

Bone Marrow Experiments Suggest Diabetes Cure
Mar 17 2003 - New Scientist.com
A cure for diabetes may be in the works. Scientists have discovered that stem cells from bone marrow can transform into cells that produce insulin. Researchers note, however, their experiments have shown between 1.7 and three percent of beta cells in the pancreas from bone marrow cells. A level of 10 to 15 percent of cells would be needed to cure diabetes, according to the study’s leader Mehboob Hussain of the New York University School of Medicine.

Stem and Cancer Cells Have Something in Common
Dec 30 2002 - Nature
A new study shows that the same protein might control the proliferation of stem cells and cancer cells. This new discovery could help scientists understand how both types of cells can divide indefinitely. The study, however, also showed that stem cell transplants could run the risk of seeding cancers.

Scientists Favoring Cautious Appproach to Smallpox Shots
Dec 20 2002 - The New York Times (Requires free registration)
Scientists and doctors are warning the public through a series of articles on the Internet that unless a smallpox attack seems likely, there is no reason to be vaccinated. Government health officials are also recommending the public not be vaccinated. They said, however, people who insist on having the vaccine would be able to receive it as early as 2003.

Antibacterial Soap a Waste of Time, Experts Say
Oct 23 2002 - Yahoo! News/Reuters
You thought you were being smart, scrubbing your hands with that "germ-killing" soap. It turns out you may have been doing more harm than good. Researchers say heavy use of antibacterial soaps "could contribute to a whole new breed of hard-to-kill superbugs." But these researchers also say these soaps are no more "antibacterial" than other soaps. So how can they be a factor encouraging the development of super-resistant bacteria? Perhaps we shouldn't wash our hands at all? We leave it to the reader to sort this out.

Implant May Help Blind to See
Oct 3 2002 - BBC News Online
US scientists are developing a light-sensitive chip that will be implanted into the eyes of blind people to restore some of their vision. The idea is to use a tiny camera and radio-frequency transmitter in the frame of a pair of eyeglasses to transmit information and power to chips placed within the eyeball. The chips will be linked to retinal nerves that will send electrical impulses to the brain for processing.

Keeping Cool: Study Finds Women's Brains Are Better at Handling Anger
Sep 25 2002 - ABCNEWS.com
Researchers say they have evidence that shows there is a physiological reason for why men tend to be more hot headed than women. The research indicates that men are more aggressive than women because the part of the brain that modulates aggression is smaller in men than it is in women. Both genders have about the same ability to produce emotions, but when it comes to keeping those emotions in check, men have been shortchanged.

Brain Cited in "Out-of-Body" Claims
Sep 18 2002 - Yahoo! News / AP
A new study suggests "out-of-body" and "near-death" experiences may be influenced by a portion of the brain misfiring under stress. As reported in Nature, Swiss researchers used electodes to stimulate the angular gyrus, a part of the brain thought to play an important role in the way the brain analyzes sensory information to give us a perception of our own bodies. When electrical stimulation was applied, the patient reported seeing herself "lying in bed, from above, but I only see my legs and lower trunk." She also described herself as "floating" near the ceiling. (See also this item from Nature online.)

Controlling Robots with the Mind
Sep 17 2002 - Scientific American
An owl monkey named Belle was able to control a robot arm from a distant room purely by imagining her own arm moving through three-dimensional space. This feat, and others like it, have been made possible by advances in microwires that can be implanted in the motor cortex and by the development of algorithms that translate the electrical activity of brain neurons into commands able to control mechanical devices. This article addresses the prospects of humans eventually being able to control mechanical and electronic machines purely by "thinking through," or imagining, the motions.

Study Deals Blow to Abilities of Adult Stem Cells
Sep 6 2002 - Scientific American
Stem cell research has been hampered by the ethical issues surrounding their source. To date, the best stem cells have come from fetal tissue. Some studies have shown limited success in coaxing adult stem cells to become different cell types. But a new study indicates that adult stem cells may prove even less useful than previously hoped. According to the lead researcher, the "plasticity" of these cells is "not as robust as it is claimed to be."

Cloned Pigs Raise Transplant Hopes
Aug 23 2002 - BBC News
The shortage of human organs for transplantation is a chronic medical problem, causing thousands of people to die while waiting for their operations. Now, a British biotechnology company is claiming a breakthrough in the quest to create organs for transplant from pigs to humans, saying they have (for the first time) cloned piglets lacking both copies of a gene that makes the human immune system reject pig tissue. Still, many scientists remain skeptical, warning that much more research is needed before xenotransplantation (transplanting organs from one species to another) can be considered a viable medical option.

Study: Gene May Determine West Nile Susceptibility
Aug 21 2002 - NewScientist.com
Some people may be genetically predisposed to have a deadly reaction to the West Nile virus, suggests a new study, which examined mice infected with the virus. The findings could help scientists determine who is most at risk from the virus, as well as how to protect and treat them, the researchers said. So far this year, 251 cases and eleven deaths from West Nile have been recorded in the United States, with the CDC predicting more cases in the months ahead.

U.S. Officials Weighing Responses to Potential Smallpox Attack
Jul 9 2002 - Yahoo -- Reuters
U.S. health officials are struggling with the agonizing dilemma of how to protect the country against a potential smallpox attack, the above article reports. At issue is whether it is better to immunize a lot of people with a vaccine that can have side-effects (including, in very rare instances, death) or to vaccinate fewer people (for example, first responders only), thus limiting the risk of side-effects but leaving more people vulnerable to infection. A final policy decision is expected within a few weeks.

A Genomic Treasure Hunt May Be Striking Gold
Jun 18 2002 - New York Times (requires free registration)
One of the most coveted prizes in science today is a catalog of the deviant genes that cause the most common human diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and asthma. But who will get there first? According to the above article, a front-runner is Dr. Kari Stefansson, a former Harvard neuropathologist who decided that his native Iceland -- because of its isolated population and rich genealogy -- would be the ideal place to seek the causes of multigenic diseases. So far, his hunch has been right on the money.

Gene-Altered Mosquito May Aid Malaria Fight
May 23 2002 - Washington Post
In a genetic engineering breakthrough, scientists have created mosquitoes that have a reduced capacity to transmit malaria, a study in today's issue of the journal Nature reports. The feat points to the possibility of snuffing out wild populations of mosquitoes in malaria-prone countries and then repopulating the areas with laboratory-reared, modified ones. But in addition to the technical challenges posed by such an approach (and there are many), some scientists warn that releasing gene-altered mosquitoes into the environment could be ecologically dangerous, triggering any number of unintended effects.

A Genetic Map to New Antibiotics
May 9 2002 - Nature
In what is being called an important advance for medical research, British scientists have mapped the genome of a common soil bacterium, Streptomyces coelicolor. Researchers hope the achievement will lead the way to more effective antibiotics, including compounds that can overcome the antibiotic resistance that is now prevalent in many bacteria.

Against Depression, a Sugar Pill is Hard to Beat
May 8 2002 - Washington Post
New research suggests that placebos -- or dud pills -- play an extraordinary role in the treatment of depression, often performing as well as or better than actual antidepressants. What's more, placebos have been shown to cause profound chemical changes in the same areas of the brain affected by the medicines. What's causing this "placebo effect," and what are the implications for the treament of mental illnesses? The above article takes a look...

Scientists Complete Draft of Mouse Genome
May 7 2002 - ABC News -- Reuters
Marking yet another milestone in the field of genetics, scientists announced yesterday that they have drafted the genome map of the mouse, one of the most important test organisms in medical research. "This information will allow researchers to gain insights into the function of many human genes because the mouse carries virtually the same set of genes as the human," the National Human Genome Research Institute said in a statement. Find out more...

Monkey Meat Riddled with SIV
Mar 26 2002 - Nature
Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) is the viral ancestor of HIV. A recent survey of bushmeat sold in Camaroon has shown that more than one fifth is tainted with SIV. "Bushmeat" includes monkey, chimpanzee, and gorilla meat. According to researchers, the level and variety of the SIV strains found highlights the risk of new HIV-like viruses entering humans via bushmeat.

Oral Drug is Developed to Fight Smallpox Virus
Mar 20 2002 - Washington Post
A researcher has developed an oral drug that appears to be active against the dreaded smallpox virus. The development raises the hope that large-scale treatment would be possible in the event smallpox, which was eradicated in 1977, reappears. "We're very excited about the findings," said a CDC official. Still, the compound must undergo additional tests before it can be approved for human use.

Alzheimer's Gene Screened from Newborn
Feb 27 2002 - Washington Post
In a medical breakthrough, doctors in Chicago have helped a woman give birth to a baby who is free of her family's curse of early Alzheimer's disease. The work is one of several recent advances in a field known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, in which eggs or embryos are tested for disease genes and only embryos lacking such genes are transferred into a woman's womb. But the work is also raising ethical concerns, with some questioning whether the availability of such tests will induce parents to select for traits that are not strictly linked to disease but instead reflect personal preferences.

Hijacking the Brain Circuits With a Nickel Slot Machine
Feb 19 2002 - New York Times (requires free registration)
We're on autopilot more than we think. This idea has been around at least since Freud, but scientists are now discovering how the various brain circuits - those involved in conscious thought and those processing "survival level" information - interact. The mechanisms involved include expectation vs. reward and the release of dopamine in the brain.

Experts Urge Ban on Cloned Babies, But Back Embryo Research
Jan 22 2002 - Washington Post
In a report released last week, the influential National Academy of Sciences concluded that human reproduction by cloning should be illegal because it poses a high risk of injury or death to the clones and to the women who would bear those clones. At the same time, the group said that Congress should not interfere with the production of human embryo clones for stem cells, which many scientists hope will lead to treatments for a variety of life-threatening diseases. The full report, which looked only at scientific issues and not ethical concerns, can be read online at www.nas.edu.

New Pig Clones Could Provide Organs for Human Transplants
Jan 3 2002 - BBC News
The biopharmaceutical company PPL Therapeutics has produced new cloned pigs, which the company says are a major step towards using animal organs for human transplants. That’s because, according to PPL, a specific gene that makes the human body reject pig organs has been knocked out. PPL says it intends to use the pigs as part of its program to seek a cure for humans suffering from diabetes.

Controversy Over Cloning Reignites in Congress
Dec 18 2001 - New York Times (requires free registration)
The recent announcement by a biotechnology company that it is trying to clone human embryos for stem cells (go to previous story from the Washington Post) has reignited a controversy in Congress over the ethics of embryo experiments. As the New York Times article above notes, "At the heart of the debates over stem cells and cloning are questions that politicians cannot settle: When does life begin, and what is the moral status of the human embryo?"

New Antibiotic Found in Fish Cells
Nov 21 2001 - National Geographic
Scientists have found that certain cells in a hybrid striped bass commonly available in the United States contain a new family of germ killers. Unlike most antibiotics, which target particular bacteria, these proteins mount a general assault: they "make a hole in the membrane, which cause the bacteria to pop open and die within minutes," said a researcher. This unspecific form of attack means that single mutations are unlikely to help bacteria evolve resistance, which is an growing problem with antibiotics.

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