Health
Experts urge caution in choosing gene tests
Published May 6, 2008
WASHINGTON — Everyone’s genes spell out a risk for some disease, and a coming anti-discrimination law is about to give genetic testing a boost.
Former cop gets second shot at mobility after spinal injury
Published May 6, 2008
Each day John Pou spent in the wheelchair, his spirit seemed to die a little more. It was a perpetual reminder of the calamity that had brought him and Marci, even the kids, to this place.
Study opens new way of looking at fat cells, obesity
Published May 6, 2008
Every year, whether you are fat or thin, whether you lose weight or gain, 10 percent of your fat cells die. And every year, those cells that die are replaced with new fat cells, researchers in Sweden reported Sunday.
Study shows diabetes before motherhood on the rise
Published April 29, 2008
LOS ANGELES — The number of pregnant women with pre-existing diabetes has more than doubled in seven years, a California study found, a troubling trend that means health risks for both mothers and newborns.
Mom’s diet could play role in child’s gender
Published April 29, 2008
CHICAGO — Snips and snails and puppydog tails ... and cereal and bananas?
That could be what little boys are made of, according to surprising new research suggesting that what a woman eats before pregnancy influences the gender of her baby.
Anti-addiction pills marred by risk of depression
Published April 29, 2008
CHICAGO — Two years ago, scientists had high hopes for new pills that would help people quit smoking, lose weight and maybe kick other tough addictions like alcohol and cocaine.
Gene therapy experiments improve vision in nearly blind
Published April 29, 2008
NEW YORK — Scientists for the first time have used gene therapy to dramatically improve sight in people with a rare form of blindness, a development experts called a major advance for the experimental technique.
Life expectancy declines in parts of U.S.; race, wealth may be linked
Published April 22, 2008
Life expectancy has long been growing steadily for most Americans. But it has not for a significant minority, according to a new study, which finds a growing disparity in mortality depending on race, income and geography.
Study: Gender, other factors can determine preemies' chances
Published April 22, 2008
ATLANTA — Doctors now have a better way of helping parents make an agonizing decision — whether to take heroic steps to save a very premature baby.
Hawaii first state to tag produce with microchips for food safety
Published April 15, 2008
HONOLULU — A technology used to track everything from cattle and bottles of Viagra to U.S. military weapons will soon be tested on an unlikely candidate for surveillance: tomatoes.
Scientists find genetic variations linked to cigarette addiction, lung cancer
Published April 8, 2008
WASHINGTON — Why do some 90-year-old chain smokers avoid lung cancer, while other people who smoke far less wind up dying of the disease?
Study: Infants who sleep less have greater risk for obesity at age 3
Published April 8, 2008
CHICAGO — When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. And when babies sleep less, they may gain too much weight.
Hospital monitors guard premature babies from noise
Published April 1, 2008
INDIANAPOLIS — Warning lights hover over the snoozing patients in Riley Hospital for Children’s neonatal intensive care unit, ready to flash whenever sound levels creep beyond normal conversation.
Gene-hunting technique paying off with a bounty of discoveries
Published April 1, 2008
NEW YORK — Scientists are scanning human DNA with once-unthinkable precision and scope and rapidly finding genes linked to cancer, arthritis, diabetes and other diseases.
Doctors leery of newer cholesterol drugs
Published April 1, 2008
CHICAGO — Leading doctors urged a return to older, tried-and-true treatments for high cholesterol after hearing full results Sunday of a failed trial of Vytorin.