The brain has evolved a method of protecting itself called the blood-brain barrier. But the BBB can backfire when it prevents drugs to treat brain diseases – for example, a malignant brain tumor – from reaching the site of the disease. Science has come up with some clever methods for defeating the brain's own defenses.
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In New Zealand, the Chief Censor adjusted the movie's rating due to "triggering" content. Is this a reasonable health-based decision to protect moviegoers?
As your mother probably told you, "It's better to give than to receive." While we know it to be true for surgery, a new study suggests it's true for advice, as well. Can it help explain the value to support groups?
Ours is a culture that prioritizes instant gratification, and is instinctually reflexive about taking a pill or other fix immediately to end pain. When, actually, it is pain that can in a number of conditions be our greatest gift.
Did you know if you had a cardiac arrest, the decision to give you a potentially life-saving medication or placebo – in the fleeting moment where seconds matter – might be made at random by those coordinating a study? A little-known FDA exemption allows for it.
A company named Concrobium sells a safe, environmentally-friendly mold killer. It seems to work pretty well, but comes with a hefty price tag. What's in it that makes it cost so much? It sure ain't the chemicals.
Americans benefit from the terrific advancements science and health have brought. That's, ironically, how NGOs and alternative hucksters have gained ground. If you don't know anyone with polio you can be convinced it was never real, or that acupuncture can fix it. That said, take a good look at the results of this national survey.
Since everything in California needs a cancer warning label, we need to ask: Where are the bodies?
The Sierra Club's adventure and lifestyle editor wrote about toxic chemicals in food (which aren't even toxic). And she had help. From a bug expert and shampoo salesman.
We haven't had a flu pandemic in a hundred years. And vaccines are why.
Though e-cigarettes gained a fast following, the number of people using them isn't increasing. So why has the U.S. government started spending taxpayer money to undermine them as a tool for smoking cessation and harm reduction? And why does the U.K. endorse them? A look through conflicting studies seeks to find out.
Would GlaxoSmithKline hire Robert De Niro to host an award ceremony for vaccine research? Or would Unilever hire Gwyneth Paltrow for awards on food science? Those would be equivalent to what the Breakthrough Prize is doing by paying Pierce Brosnan.
Does our technology improve in an evolutionary way? Is it a random walk of trial and error, with false starts and breakthroughs? Or can a theory accelerate improvement and eliminate the needless dead ends?
Just like the hapless victim in Three Card Monte, physicians will bear the brunt of financial risk in Medicare Advantage and other "risk sharing" plans. It is not that they shouldn't have skin in the game, it's just that all the skin should not be theirs.
Despite the chant that correlation is not causation, some researchers believe the design of scatter plots nudges us to the wrong conclusions. Can a change in their design lessen that risk?
A new report on the plight of practicing physicians reflects a broken system. Nearly half of physicians plan to change careers, so maybe it's finally time to include them in the discussion on healthcare fixes.
It's a well-known fact that we spend a lot of money on the healthcare of those who are dying, especially during the last 12 months of life. But is that "wasted" money a bad thing?
Researchers have found that white, educated women are most likely to receive outpatient dermatologic services. To learn which demographic is on the flip side of this metaphorical magnifying glass ...
Beginning with Prohibition, all U.S. efforts to control drugs of abuse have made matters worse. Here's another. Methamphetamine is back, and it's killing more and more people. This was entirely predictable.
Roundup can only affect the shikimate pathway in plants, so how can it be argued the weedkiller harms bees? By invoking the mystical, ill-defined "microbiome." What's next, their chakras?
Glyphosate, presently the world's most hated chemical, has been blamed for just about every ailment in humans and animals. Now a group in Hawaii is claiming that the herbicide is harming bees by altering their gut biome. Is there anything to it?
With some fanfare, The Lancet announced it will hold governments accountable for promises they have made to the World Health Organization about reducing non-communicable diseases. But the reporting makes it seem a bigger crisis than it is. We're afraid that these commitments are, as Mary Poppins said, pie crust promises. Easily made, easily broken.
You can't buy Sudafed OTC anymore. In its place is something called Sudafed PE, which is useless. Why? It's all about crystal meth. A little chemistry lesson.
Exercise is good for us, and inactivity isn't. A new study emphasizes that not only is that true, but the pattern of inactivity – as well as the amount of inactive time – can increase the risk of mortality.
Despite years of research, our understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder is limited. But the National Institutes of Health is hoping to change that, by awarding $100 million in grants to nine different groups working on various aspects of ASD.
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