Research presented last week at a major cancer research conference suggests that morphine, which is regularly prescribed to cancer patients to treat pain, may actually spur cancer growth. For the past seven years, the notion that opiates might stimulate cancer growth has slowly been gaining attention in the medical research community,
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A new technique using human embryonic stem cells may enable doctors to grow “replacement skin” that can be used to help treat burn victims, according to research published this week in the British medical journal The Lancet. Doctors have been using burn patients’ own cells to grow new skin to repair injuries for more than two decades.
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When it comes to innovative and bizarre remedies for injuries, professional athletes have long been trendsetters. And the latest trend in hamstring and ligament repair among English Premier League footballers is no exception. Robin van Persie, who plays striker for Arsenal, was scheduled to fly to Serbia this week to meet with a daring
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Feeling confident and secure about your body is important, and a critical part of having high self-esteem, and as the health care debate continues, advocates for “fat acceptance” are struggling to have their voices heard by lawmakers. Yet, while it is clearly true that weight isn’t the solitary indicator of health, a problem arises when
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Some of the best inventions come about by accident—take corn flakes, for example, silly putty, or, of course, Viagra, which was originally designed as a heart medication. And now, in the tradition of accidental innovation, a team of U.S. researchers are hopeful that while their attempt to create a successful antidepressant for women
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New data released by the Centers for Disease Control show that, in spite of public health efforts and education campaigns to combat them, sexually transmitted diseases continue to rise, with 19 million new cases costing the U.S. health care system some $15.9 billion annually. But what exactly is driving this surge—higher levels of
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In an attempt to bring better diagnostic tools to health care workers and rural patients in developing countries, researchers with STAR Analytical Services are working to develop a mobile phone application that can recognize—and distinguish between—different types of coughs. The goal is to create a simple, portable method to help
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Giving Tamiflu to patients who may have been exposed to swine flu—such as family members of confirmed cases—as a preventive measure, may result in their developing drug-resistant strains of the virus, according to an account published in this week’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. In a letter to the editor, a team of
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As my colleague Laura Fitzpatrick reported last year, the “designer vagina” trend is on the upswing, with a growing number of young women seeking out surgery to trim, sculpt and perfect their private areas. Yet while more women may be going under the knife in hopes of improving their intimate aesthetics, according to research published
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Ever since he appeared at the Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas last week, photos of former baseball slugger Sammy Sosa’s markedly lighter visage have been bouncing around the internet, as everyone from baseball fans and sports commentators to dermatologists and cultural analysts scratched their heads about what might have caused the
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There is a long-standing love affair between sports and alcohol, and the mementos of this relationship abound at football stadiums, baseball parks, and of course, in TV advertising. (As of 2003, some 60% of the advertising budget for the American alcohol industry was dedicated to commercials during televised games, according to data from
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Being crabby may not be a good way to earn new friends, but when it comes to decision-making and critical thinking, grumps may have a leg up on those with a sunnier outlook, according to research published in the current issue of Australasian Science. As the BBC reports, Australian psychologist Joseph Forgas conducted experiments
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A growing body of research suggests that early life experience changes the way genes respond to the world—and this can influence everything from the way people respond to stress to their risks for various diseases.
A new study–published in Nature Neuroscience and led by Chris Murgatroyd of the Max Planck Institute in …
