Health

All Health

  • Coronavirus screening may miss two-thirds of infected travelers entering U.S.

    Harvard epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch says two-thirds of travelers with coronavirus who are entering U.S. may have been missed by screening efforts.

    People in an airport.
  • So how bad is coronavirus in U.S.? We don’t know yet

    A rapid expansion of coronavirus testing is needed to understand the extent and nature of the epidemic’s track in the U.S., Harvard experts said.

    Barry Bloom.
  • A big coronavirus mystery: What about the children?

    A key unanswered question in the coronavirus epidemic concerns why children seem to be getting fewer or less-serious infections from the new contagion.

    Adult and child wearing flu masks.
  • Endurance athletes found to have enlarged aortas

    A new study has found that like their younger counterparts, a high percentage of endurance athletes aged 50 to 75 years have an enlarged aorta. Now researchers must determine if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

    The old and young sportsmen running on the road.
  • A ‘call to duty’ to battle a deadly global threat

    Boston-area researchers are collaborating as part of an international partnership working on a response to the new coronavirus.

    Lab with researcher doing test.
  • What we know and don’t know about pot

    With legal marijuana easier to find, a Harvard professor addresses myths and progress finding answers about pot’s health impacts.

    A jar with marijuana in it.
  • Scientists from Harvard, China to unite against coronavirus

    With nearly 78,000 cases and more than 2,300 deaths from the novel coronavirus, Harvard University scientists will join forces with colleagues from China to improve diagnostics, develop vaccines to prevent new infections, and antiviral therapies to treat existing ones.

    Pipette dripping sample into test tube on color background, closeup.
  • Drop in cancer deaths lifts U.S. life expectancy

    A decline in cancer mortality was a prominent feature of recent good news about U.S. life expectancy. The Gazette spoke with the director of the Chan School’s Zhu Family Center for Global Cancer Prevention to understand why.

    Timothy Rebbeck, who heads up Chan School's Center for Global Cancer Prevention.
  • In soda tax fight, echoes of tobacco battles

    Taxes on sugary drinks are potentially effective tools to fight the obesity epidemic and advocates are drawing lessons from the long battle against tobacco as they plot what they know will be a tough road ahead.

    Three people sitting in front of a screen with Soda Taxes on it.
  • ‘Game Changers’ puts muscle behind plant-based diet

    “The Game Changers” brought a panel of athletes and experts to tout the benefits of a plant-based diet to Harvard.

    Vegan runner set to take off.
  • Coronavirus likely to infect the global economy

    A Harvard Business School expert says effects will strengthen as manufacturers everywhere feel the pinch of slowing one of the world’s largest economies.

    HBS Prof Willy Shih.
  • Targeted drug shows promise in advanced kidney cancer

    Harvard researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have developed a novel targeted drug that shows promise in advanced kidney cancer by interfering with the abnormal blood vessel formation that fuels tumor growth.

    Micrograph of clear cell renal cell carcinoma.
  • Coronavirus likely now ‘gathering steam’

    Harvard’s Marc Lipsitch said evidence indicates that the international cordon keeping coronavirus cases bottled up in China is a leaky one, and it’s likely that the relative handful of global cases reported so far are undercounted. If true, that will lead to widespread illness internationally, including in the U.S.

    Patients in a makeshift hospital in China.
  • Heatwave = heat stroke = ER visit

    Bringing climate change into the examining room by discussing links between a warming environment and the everyday health of patients.

    Renee Salas.
  • Antioxidant reverses most BPA-induced fertility damage in worms

    Treatment with a naturally occurring antioxidant, CoQ10, restores many aspects of fertility in C. elegans worms following exposure to BPA. The findings offer a possible path toward undoing BPA-induced reproductive harms in people.

    Spilled bottle of yellow capsules.
  • Coronavirus cases hit 17,400 and are likely to surge

    Harvard epidemiologist Michael Mina said as many as 100,000 people are likely already infected with the new coronavirus, with many more likely to come.

    Coronavirus magnified.
  • What we know — and don’t know — about the coronavirus outbreak

    As the number of coronavirus cases rapidly grows, the Gazette spoke with Professor of Epidemiology Marc Lipsitch, an expert in the spread of infectious disease and director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics.

    People with masks on at a Chinese metro station.
  • Disinfecting your hands with ‘magic’

    Harvard researchers have devised what they hope is a better way to disinfect hands, using tiny aerosolized nanodroplets of water and nontoxic disinfectants that not only leave hands sterile, but use so little water the hands stay dry.

    Nano-enabled platform to clean hands.
  • Super cool way to lose fat

    The lab that invented cryolipolisis or “Coolsculpting,” a popular nonsurgical method for reducing fat under the skin, is developing a promising new form of the technology that can selectively reduce fat almost anywhere in the body using an injectable ice solution or “slurry.”

    A 3D rendering of fat cells.
  • A solid vaccine for liquid tumors

    A new study presents an alternative treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) that has the potential to eliminate AML cells completely.

    Petri dish with cells.
  • 5 healthy habits to live by

    A Harvard study has found that people who practice healthy habits at age 50 lived more years free of chronic diseases compared to those who did not practice any of these habits.

    An older man jogging.
  • DNA damage linked to plastic additive

    New findings shed light as to how DEHP, a common chemical in plastic, may impact human reproductive health.

    Plastic toys floating on water.
  • Troubling predictions

    Researchers predict a marked rise in American adults with obesity or severe obesity in 10 years, leaving several states with obesity prevalence close to 60 percent.

    Overweight woman using scales indoors.
  • An algorithm to help predict Alzheimer’s

    Researchers have developed a software-based method of scanning electronic health records to estimate the risk that a healthy person will receive a dementia diagnosis in the future.

    Elderly woman sitting.
  • Merry and bright?

    Natalie Dattilo discusses how the holiday season can trigger the blues — and how to help avoid them.

    Sad-faced pug with holiday lights in background.
  • Home hospital model reduces costs by 38%, study says

    The first randomized controlled trial of the home hospital model in the U.S. reports improvements in health care outcomes while reducing costs by 38 percent.

    Doctor holding hand of patient.
  • Pediatric antibiotic exposure ‘alarming’

    A new study has found that between 2007 and 2017, children in eight low- and middle-income countries received, on average, 25 antibiotic prescriptions from birth through age 5 — up to five times higher than the already high levels observed in high-income settings.

    Black African boy holding antibiotic pills.
  • Fewer Americans are getting primary care

    A national analysis revealed an alarming decline in primary care use, which is associated with better health outcomes than episodic, inconsistent care. The decline was most pronounced among younger Americans and those without complex medical conditions.

    Doctor standing in hallway.
  • Psychology’s new openness to religion

    A McLean psychologist has pioneered a program that aims to bring together two key emotional forces at work in patients’ lives: spirituality and counseling.

    David Rosmarin on a staircase
  • More than a watchdog

    A study in mice shows the nervous system not only detects the presence of Salmonella in the gut but actively stops the organism from infecting the body by shutting the cellular gates that allow bacteria to invade the intestine and spread beyond it.

    Salmonella magnified.