Women who experience more than one pregnancy loss — including miscarriage and stillbirth — are at greater risk for heart attack later in life, according to a study of more than 11,000 European women.
Medicine
Wildlife: Protecting Biodiversity Might Just Protect Us From Disease
Over on Ecocentric (home for all your green and green-related needs), I have a post on a neat new study in Nature that makes the case that dwindling animal and plant biodiversity can actually increase the risk of infectious …
3 Ways to Honor World AIDS Day, Without Leaving Your Desk
With 33.3 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, the disease has become more than an illness. HIV/AIDS is a human rights issue, as Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization has said. So how will …
New Version of an Old Drug Could Treat Autism (and Addiction Too)
One night in 2006, Kathy Roberts rushed her autistic daughter, Jenny, to the hospital. Nothing had been able to stop the young woman, then in her mid-20s, from vomiting. Jenny had recently suffered several major seizures and her …
Study: MRI May Detect More Cases of Recurrent Breast Cancer
For anyone who has successfully battled cancer, preventing future recurrence of tumors is a top priority. And a new study of breast cancer patients shows that magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, of the breast, can be an important …
Global Microbe Detectives Are Getting Better at Tracking Disease Outbreaks
I was lucky — or unlucky — enough to have a front-row seat for one of the most surprising and frightening infectious disease outbreaks in recent history.
Post-Thanksgiving Travel? Blame Jet Lag for Your Memory Loss
Jet lag causes memory and learning problems, according to new research, so please excuse any typos or nonsensical sentence constructions in the following article: I am writing it after flying cross-country for Thanksgiving and a …
Do Dental Scans Put Your Child at Risk of Cancer?
In case you missed it, the New York Times ran this week a stunning expose of the overuse of new X-ray technology in children’s dentistry. The article was part of the paper’s ongoing investigation into problems with the use of …
Study: The Link Between Diabetes and Depression Goes Both Ways
Two common conditions — depression and diabetes — frequently appear together, and a new study by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health suggests that each illness may be both a consequence and a contributor to the other.
HIV Drugs May Prevent Infection in Healthy Individuals
As effective as the antiviral drugs have been in controlling the spread of HIV, the ultimate goal of any AIDS therapy is to prevent infection with the virus in the first place.
House M.D. Watch: Is Faith a Mental Illness?
No, you haven’t accidentally clicked on Tuned In. This is still Healthland, but it seems like a good place to look at the latest medical mysteries on the show House M.D., which I have watched since its debut six years ago.
Holy Cadmium, Batman! Heavy Metals Found in Novelty Glasses…Again
In July 2010, following an Associated Press (AP) investigation, McDonald’s recalled a line of promotional Shrek-themed glasses because of concerns that the enamel used in their designs contained cadmium, a heavy metal and known …
FDA Approves Second Trial of Stem-Cell Therapy
For only the second time, the Food and Drug Administration approved a company’s request to test an embryonic stem cell-based therapy on human patients.