Featured series 
Tag: diseases and treatments
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Campus & Community
A new look at anemia
Leonard Zon and his colleagues at the Harvard Medical School were trying to find out how hemoglobin forms by studying zebrafish, small piscians whose transparent bodies allow their inner workings…
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Health
Critical step traced in anthrax infection
An anthrax bacterium secretes three nontoxic proteins that assemble into a toxic complex on the surface of the host cell to set off a chain of events leading to cell…
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Health
Women’s health study: Long-awaited findings of low-dose aspirin and vitamin E in preventing disease
The WHS trial was led by BWH researchers Nancy Cook, Sc.D., and Julie Buring, Sc.D. Its results are published in the July 6, 2005 Journal of the American Medical Association.…
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Health
Higher levels of systemic inflammatory markers associated with progression of AMD
Researchers led by Johanna M. Seddon, M.D., at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard School of Public Health, conducted a prospective longitudinal study to examine…
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Health
Disease mutation tracked down, ending ‘curse’ for Colombian families
Three years later, Joseph Arboleda-Velasquez, an HMS graduate student who led the scientific team that identified the mutations, and his collaborators have worked out an early step in the events…
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Health
TB gene identified
As many as one out of three people in the world are infected with the bacteria that causes tuberculosis, public health experts estimate. That could lead to a global plague…
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Health
Breathing restored after severe spinal-cord injury
Keeping an animal functioning after a cervical spinal cord injury is nearly impossible. An American researcher developed the lower spinal cord rat model in the early 1900s. He found that…
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Health
Antibiotics do not prevent heart attacks; New findings from the PROVE IT-TIMI 22 clinical trial
Christopher P. Cannon, M.D., of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, noted that the fact that many patients do not exhibit identifiable risk…
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Health
Routine HIV screening recommended for most
Researchers at Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Yale University have shown that routine screening for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, could increase survival, prevent transmission of the disease, and…
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Health
Spread of common day care illnesses caused by misconceptions about illness transmission
A Harvard Medical School study found that only two-thirds of parents believed that contact transmission was important for the spread of colds, and fewer than half believed it was important…
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Health
Researchers find better way to predict stroke risk in sickle cell anemia patients
Researchers from Children’s Hospital Boston, Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Harvard Medical School have developed a novel…
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Health
Largest twin study of age-related macular degeneration finds genetics and environment play large role in disease
Researchers led by Johanna M. Seddon, M.D., at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health conducted the largest study of twins of…
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Campus & Community
Survey: Down syndrome diagnoses found wanting
A survey of mothers in the March issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that obstetricians and genetic counselors are falling short when it comes to delivering…
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Campus & Community
Rx for depression: ‘Mangia, mangia!’
McLean Hospital researchers have added yet another item to the cornucopia of evidence that “we are what we eat,” confirming that elements in our diet can affect not just our…
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Health
Urine test tracks deadly birthmarks
Although not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration, results from simple urine tests are already being used to guide treatment of children with disfiguring birthmarks and adults with…
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Campus & Community
New drug eases effects of Parkinson’s disease
A successful test of a new drug indicates that it can improve life for those with moderate and advanced Parkinson’s disease. Called rasagiline, the medication promises to reduce the time…
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Campus & Community
Physical activity linked to protection from Parkinson’s disease
In the first comprehensive examination of strenuous physical activity and the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have found that men who…
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Campus & Community
Scientists reveal key clue to how HIV infects cells
Harvard researchers have shown for the first time the critical “before” structure of an AIDS virus protein that plays a key role in the virus’ infection of cells. The protein,…
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Health
Solving the mystery of a centuries-old plague
Edward O. Wilson identified two different ant species in investigating the mystery of centuries-old plagues, a tropical fire ant in the early 1500s and an introduced African ant in the…
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Health
Findings recommend herpes vaccine for human trials
Research published in the January 2005 Journal of Virology compared three different experimental vaccines for herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2), which causes most cases of genital herpes. Lead author Stephen…
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Health
One third of U.S. adults use complementary and alternative medicines
The continued widespread use of individual and multiple CAM therapies underscores the need to rigorously evaluate the safety, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of these approaches, according to the study’s lead author…
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Health
Faulty gene signaling could lead to development of Crohn’s disease
According to the study’s lead author, Brigham Women’s Hospital’s Derek W. Abbott, “The discovery of this faulty signaling process is a first step in helping us understand and ultimately address the underlying mechanism that causes Crohn’s disease to develop.
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Health
Study finds women hesitant to take tamoxifen as preventive measure
“Our study underscores the need [for medical professionals] to address psychological factors that may influence decision- making, in order to help women feel confident and satisfied with their treatment choice,”…
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Health
Drugs are effective against eye disease
Results of two large international clinical trials have shown positive results using Macugen, an experimental treatment that targets the abnormal blood vessels found in the “wet” form of macular degeneration.…
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Health
Studies demonstrate positive data in treatment of hepatitis C
Presented by Nezam Afdhal, M.D., chief of Hepatology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, the new findings demonstrate promising results…
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Health
Study says therapy better than pills in treating sleep-onset insomnia
The findings show non-drug techniques yield better short- and long-term results than the most widely prescribed sleeping pill, zolpidem, commonly known as Ambien. “Sleeping pills are the most frequent treatment…
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Health
Many have ‘cancer,’ but few progress to true disease
Folkman and Kalluri suggest that most tumors don’t develop a blood supply that allows them to grow and progress to cancer, because people produce natural inhibitors of blood vessel growth,…
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Health
Study finds no direct links between testosterone therapy, diseases
A comprehensive review of 72 studies addresses the current controversy about testosterone replacement therapy and its potential health risks to men. “We reviewed decades of research and found no compelling…
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Health
Idea inspires new screening test for anti-cancer agents
In a study published in the December 2003 issue of Cell, investigators from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute demonstrated that a new technique has helped them to identify a class of existing…