Medical Treatments

Tom Murphy, 56, in his home in Gainesville, Va., was diagnosed with ALS four years ago. An experimental drug seems to have slowed the progression of his disease, he says, though most ALS patients aren't as lucky.

Patients Vulnerable When Cash-Strapped Scientists Cut Corners

9:09am September 16, 2014

by Richard Harris

A shrinking pool of grant money for medical research has led competing applicants to oversell weak scientific findings, critics say. The result: Many experimental treatments are worthless.

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PCR tests like this can tell if a virus is an enterovirus, but they can't ID the new virus that has caused a surge in serious respiratory infections.

Rare Virus Has Sickened Hundreds More Children, Hospitals Say

5:33pm September 12, 2014

by Nancy Shute

The rare virus is spreading fast, and doctors don't have an instant test to find out who has it. So parents should be ready to seek help quickly if a child has a cold that's rapidly getting worse.

Mountains of "little blue pills" and their chemical kin have transformed the way many people think about sex and aging.

Love And Sex In The Time Of Viagra — 16 Years On

5:37pm September 11, 2014

by Ina Jaffe

Longer lives means more decades of intimacy. Drugs that help male physiology match desire have affected more than just the body, men who take these pills say.

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Randen Patterson left a research career in physiology at U.C. Davis when funding got too tight. He now owns a grocery store in Guinda, Calif.

When Scientists Give Up

3:29pm September 10, 2014

by Richard Harris

They were talented, idealistic risk-takers on the road to what they thought would be important medical discoveries. But when the funding for risk-takers dried up, these two academics called it quits.

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Helen Down holds her 14-month-old daughter, Amelia, for an MMR shot in Swansea, Wales, April 2013. The vaccination was in response to a measles outbreak.

Get The Measles, Get Ready To Be Out For Two Weeks

2:52pm September 09, 2014

by Nancy Shute

Many people think of measles as a mild childhood illness. But people who got the measles during outbreaks in the United Kingdom say they were so sick they missed two weeks of school or work.

Lisa Schlager of Chevy Chase, Md., demonstrates outside of the Supreme Court as arguments were made in a case seeking to determine whether the BRCA breast cancer genes can be patented. The court ruled in 2013 that individual genes can't be patented.

Researcher Urges Wider Genetic Screening For Breast Cancer

12:43pm September 09, 2014

by Rob Stein

Genetic tests are recommended for women with a family history of breast cancer. One researcher says all women should be screened, but others say there's not enough evidence that they are at risk.

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NIH Hopes Ebola Vaccine Will Help Protect Aid Workers

12:33pm August 30, 2014

Next week, the NIH begins its first clinical trial of a vaccine to prevent Ebola. NPR's Scott Simon talks to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

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Bill Gates, Martha Stewart, LeBron James, Lindsay Lohan, Kermit the Frog and Conan O'Brien all got icily drenched for charity.

Life After Ice Buckets: ALS Group Faces $94 Million Challenge

7:29pm August 27, 2014

by Pam Fessler

The ALS Association has raised more than $94 million in recent weeks via its online ice bucket challenge — compared with $2.7 million this time last year. Now what?

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Health & Safety

The Momentum Of The Ice Bucket Challenge — And What It Means For ALS

8:30pm August 20, 2014

A recent fundraising challenge has gone viral on social media, calling attention to research into Lou Gehrig's disease. Forbes contributor Dan Diamond discusses the state of that research.

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Doctored: The Disillusionment of an American Physician cover.

Cardiologist Speaks From The Heart About America's Medical System

7:47pm August 19, 2014

In his new memoir, Doctored, Sandeep Jauhar describes a growing discontent among doctors and how it's affecting patients. He says rushed doctors are often practicing "defensive medicine."

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