Health & Medicine
Through the study and use of genetics, we can identify measures that could lead to the improvement of human health and wellness. These methods and procedures aim to prevent years of chronic disease and thousands of dollars in health care costs, and provide families and communities with knowledge of how to live healthier.
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Viewpoint: Activists push glyphosate cancer scare as proxy to limit use of genetically engineered crops
Monsanto pediatrician and toxicologist Dan Goldstein: As the glyphosate-cancer debate has grown louder, it's become less scientific ...
Drug that reverses diabetes and obesity in mice may strengthen brittle bones
A drug that can reverse diabetes and obesity in mice may have an unexpected benefit: strengthening bones. Experiments with a ...
Some depression sufferers may genetically respond to placebos
In a genome-wide association study examining the placebo and duloxetine response in major depressive disorder (MDD), researchers found an association ...
Viewpoint: ‘Mutation-centric’ cancer treatment ignores critical environmental factors
[Editor's note: The following is part of an interview with James DeGregori is a professor in the Department of Biochemistry ...
Canakinumab not the ‘miracle’ heart attack and cancer prevention drug as hyped
On August 27th the results of a trial of an anti-inflammatory medicine called canakinumab were released at a meeting, in ...
Weakened Zika virus might help fight brain cancer in adults
A new study suggests that the same properties that make Zika a dangerous virus for unborn children could be useful ...
HPV cancer vaccine 10 years old: Why aren’t more kids immunized?
[Editor's note: The following is part of an interview with US National Cancer Institute virologist John Schiller, whose research provided the basis ...
Trial to decide whether coffee must be labeled as a carcinogen in California
Starbucks and a host of other coffee sellers are fighting a lawsuit that alleges roasted coffee beans contain low levels ...
Parkinson’s stem cell treatment shows promise in monkeys–human trials next
Japanese researchers report promising results from an experimental therapy for Parkinson’s disease that involves implanting neurons made from ‘reprogrammed’ stem ...
Ethanol injections cure skin cancer in hamsters, offering hope for cheap treatments
[C]heap, uncomplicated, portable, and preferably non-surgical treatments that do not require electricity are needed [to treat cancer in developing countries] ...
NIH controversy: Should human mind and brain research be considered clinical trials
Scientists studying human behaviour and cognitive brain function are up in arms over a plan by the US National Institutes ...
Finding and destroying tumors with microscopic ‘spasers’
[Research by] Vladimir Zharov of the University of Arkansas and Mark Stockman of Georgia State University, in Atlanta involves injecting ...
Viewpoint: Many consumer DNA tests rely on pseudoscience, ‘useless’ data
In the past decade, DNA sequencing has gotten really, really cheap, paving the way for an onslaught of direct-to-consumer genetic testing ...
Zika vaccine now seen as unlikely, as project dropped
Vaccine giant Sanofi Pasteur has quietly pulled the plug on its Zika vaccine project, a move that underscores how difficult ...
‘Unscrupulous’ stem cell clinics targeted in FDA crackdown
The Food and Drug Administration announced a crackdown on dangerous stem cell clinics...while at the same time pledging to ease the path to approval ...
Older mini-brains could boost study of autism, schizophrenia
[Sergiu Paşca, a neuroscientist at Stanford University] has joined other researchers in growing little balls of human brain tissue, about ...
Xenotransplantation: Pig organ transplants into humans could be achieved as soon as 2019 in China
Chinese scientists are now desperately seeking government approval to launch a clinical trial for xenotransplantation. The goal is to have ...
Marriage changes everything–including your personality
[R]esearch suggests the experience of committing to and settling down with another person really does change our personalities for better ...
Video: DNA ancestry tests help fill in African American history after slavery
“These tests at their best allow new forms of connection that might not have been otherwise possible,” says Alondra Nelson, ...
‘Breakthrough’ treatment for PTSD? FDA approves ecstasy drug trial
One of the main targets in the war on drugs could well become a drug to treat the scars of ...
Ovarian cancer survivors with BRCA gene don’t benefit from prophylactic mastectomies
Patients with BRCA gene mutations have a significantly higher risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers. As a preventive measure, ...
Lung cancer manifests differently in younger patients
As recently as 10 to 20 years ago, it didn't matter if someone smoked or not. Everyone who had lung ...
Far out: Could psychedelics fight ‘treatment-resistant’ depression?
Given existing antidepressants don’t work for many people, the excitement surrounding the development of a new class of treatments from ...
Doubts emerge about first ‘successfully cured’ CRISPR gene-edited human embryos
Doubts have surfaced about a landmark paper claiming that human embryos were cleared of a deadly mutation using genome editing ...
Some schizophrenia, bipolar disorder linked to brain pH imbalances
Sometimes our brains are on acid—literally. A main source of these temporary surges is the carbon dioxide that is constantly ...
Preventing preterm birth: Preemie genes identified
A global team of researchers has zeroed in on genes that affect the length of pregnancy and may foretell elevated ...
Are sperm counts declining? What’s the role of ‘endocrine disruptors’?
The science community is divided over whether reports of declining sperm counts in men is actually occurring. One explanation--exposure to ...
