This post in KPLU 88.5's "Humanosphere" blog examines how former President Jimmy Carter gave the fight against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) "a good first shove nearly 30 years ago," writing, "Neglected diseases like river blindness, Guinea worm, parasitic (lymphatic) elephantiasis and schistosomiasis have been in Carter's cross hairs since the ...

Heart disease is still the No. 1 killer of women, but 80 percent of heart disease is preventable. Although the majority of heart attacks occur in the ten years after menopause, the disease process starts much earlier. If a woman can keep her risks for cardiac disease low before the ...

A look at hospital news around the country also includes reports on a Mayo collaboration in Minnesota on immigrant health, plans for a proton cancer therapy center in South Florida and efforts by Tufts Medical Center to get a level one trauma center.

According to a new study published online in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, drugs that fight infectious diseases could be designed to block a pathogen's entry into cells rather than to kill the bug itself. Traditionally, drugs for infectious diseases were developed ...

Romney asserts that President Obama wants to "fundamentally transform America," turning the country "into a European-style entitlement society." In fact, (Mitt) Romney and his Republican presidential rivals have a far more radical transformation in mind. They envision a dramatically shrunken federal government and a dangerously unraveled social safety net.

Drugs for infectious diseases have so far been designed to kill the bug itself. However a study published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that these medications could be designed to obstruct the pathogen's entry into cells instead. According to the investigators, this new ...

A promising line of attack against pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer is to be explored further at Cardiff University, thanks to substantial new funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC). Pancreatitis can develop when the enzymes needed for digestion turn on the pancreas itself. Chronic pancreatitis increases the ...

(Cardiff University) In 2011 a Cardiff University team revealed that a protein call calmodulin could protect the pancreas against the effects of alcohol. In cells without calmodulin, alcohol speeds up a chain reaction causing cells to self-destruct, leading to pancreatitis and potentially to pancreatic cancer. Now the team has secured ...

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists studying the behavioural traits of the common sea anemone have discovered that ‘fortune favours the brave’ when it comes to fighting and setting territorial disputes.

Dr. Donald Berwick, who was blocked by Republicans from serving a full term as the administrator of the agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid, has been speaking out. He makes a compelling case about the harm caused by partisan demagoguery and about the need for health care professionals to take ...

The proliferation of metastases is often the main cause of complications and death from cancer. For the first time, researchers are looking very closely at the development of these metastases themselves, instead of focusing on the "primary" cancers from which they originated. In doing so, a team from the Swiss ...

The proliferation of metastases is often the main cause of complications and death from cancer. For the first time, researchers are looking very closely at the development of these metastases themselves, instead of focusing on the "primary" cancers from which they originated. In doing so, a team from the Swiss ...