Medical Treatments

More than just a tenant: Enterococcus faecalis thrives in the human intestine with a varied jumble of other bacteria that help us digest food.

Health & Safety

Gut Bacteria's Belch May Play A Role In Heart Disease

10:38am September 09, 2013

by Rob Stein

When gut microbes break down certain foods like red meat and eggs, they produce a compound tied to risks for heart attack, stroke and death, a study found. The research could lead to new ways to prevent heart disease by shifting the mix of gut bacteria.

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The next bed could cost you a lot if the hospital says you're there on observation.

For Hospital Patients, Observation Status Can Prove Costly

9:25am September 05, 2013

by Ina Jaffe

When is an inpatient in the hospital not an inpatient in the hospital? When that patient is on observation status. Patients who are termed on observation can have trouble getting Medicare to pay if they need to go to a nursing home. The practice has sparked lawsuits and legislation.

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Pregnant doctors are less likely than other women to deliver their babies via C-section, recent research suggests. Economists say that may be because the physician patients feel more empowered to question the obstetrician.

Money May Be Motivating Doctors To Do More C-Sections

8:57am September 03, 2013

by Shankar Vedantam

Many obstetricians make more money for C-sections than for vaginal deliveries. In a recent study, these doctors were more likely to perform the costly procedure than doctors paid a flat salary. But when the pregnant women were also physicians, doctors seemed less swayed by financial incentives.

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The tale of the tape may be told, in part, by the microbes inside you.

Health & Safety

Diverse Gut Microbes, A Trim Waistline And Health Go Together

6:39pm August 28, 2013

by Rob Stein

Lean people tend to have many more kinds of intestinal bacteria than obese people. Having too few species, regardless of your weight, appears to increase the risk for Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

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Some images of lung cancer are clear cut. But in many others, a nodule on the screen turns out not to be cancer at all.

Panel Urges Lung Cancer Screening For Millions Of Americans

2:24pm August 22, 2013

by Richard Knox

Most people get diagnosed with lung cancer when it's too late to effectively treat it. A federal panel is trying to improve the odds by saying that longtime smokers and former smokers should get annual CT scans to check for lung cancer.

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Speech-language pathologists Jill Tullman (left) and Mendi Carroll (right) work with Bryce Vernon at Talking with Technology Camp in Empire, Colo., on July 25.

Obamacare: People With Disabilities Face Complex Choices

7:59am August 15, 2013

by Eric Whitney

The Affordable Care Act sets up categories of essential health benefits that insurance plans must cover. Some categories, such as maternity care and drug abuse treatment, are straightforward. But "habilitative services" — including treatments like physical and speech therapy — are much more subjective.

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Could the images common in accounts of near-death experiences be explained by a rush of electrical activity in the brain?

Brains Of Dying Rats Yield Clues About Near-Death Experiences

7:57am August 13, 2013

by Rob Stein

Researchers discovered what appears to be a momentary increase in electrical activity in the brain associated with consciousness. As the brain struggles to survive, it also struggles to make sense of many neurons firing in the survival attempt.

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Belgian Blue bulls look like they are made of muscle because they have a mutation in the gene that codes for the protein myostatin. In humans, as in other types of cattle, myostatin normally limits the number of muscle fibers that form before birth and th

New Muscle Drugs Could Be The Next Big Thing In Sports Doping

11:03am August 12, 2013

by Jon Hamilton

From human growth hormone to EPO, many sports doping products these days come from big drug companies, not rogue chemists. Scientists and body builders warn that new drugs being developed to treat muscle wasting disease will also likely be abused by athletes — with little chance of detection.

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Sally O'Neill decided to have a double mastectomy rather than "do a wait-and-see."

When Treating Abnormal Breast Cells, Sometimes Less Is More

11:39am August 06, 2013

The question of how to treat ductal carcinoma in situ is roiling the medical profession, and making for tough choices for women. The condition may never become invasive cancer. But some women choose to have mastectomies rather than live with uncertainty.

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Red blood cells are normally shaped like doughnuts, but sickle cells (purple) are flattened and clump together.

Sickle Cell Anemia Is On The Rise Worldwide

10:45am July 17, 2013

by Rhitu Chatterjee

The number of babies born with the life-threatening disease will climb by a third in the next 40 years, scientists say. The vast majority of sickle cell cases will occur in developing countries, which don't have the resources to treat deadly complications arising from the genetic disorder.

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