MEDICINE & HEALTHStaci Mishkin was tested for the BRCA breast cancer gene mutation eighteen years ago; at that time she was one of the first women in the US to do so. She had her breasts and ovaries removed to protect herself. Today she is 50 years old-the first woman in her family to live that long, and testing for the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 gene mutations that cause breast cancer are the subject of intense debate.
Elisabeth Bing, co-founder of Lamaze International who popularized what was known as natural childbirth and changed how women and doctors approached the delivery room, died Friday in her New York apartment at the age of 100. The cause of her death wasn't immediately known.
Have you ever wondered what the most distinctive causes of death were in your state? Now, you can find out with a new map from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has published a new map showing the most distinctive causes of death in each of the 50 states in the U.S.
Dr. Ian Crozier fought Ebola for his life for an extended period of time at Emory University Hospital until, in October, the lengthy, bloody battle seemed to have ended with him the victor. But not even two months later searing pressure and pain in his left eye and failing sight landed him back in the hospital. His terrifying discovery? The Ebola virus was thriving inside his eye.
An exciting breakthrough in stem cell research was just announced by the University of Toronto. Using a gel-like biomaterial, scientists were able to prolong the lives of stem cells, improve their integration in living tissues, improve motor coordination following stroke, and even restore partial vision to the blind.
A highly sophisticated new type of drug test can tell if a person has taken cocaine by analyzing chemical traces left behind by their fingerprint, scientists say.
Researchers at the Jacksonville, Florida Mayo Clinic have gained a mouse model for testing potential amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) treatments. ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease is associated with various behavioral features and neuropathological symptoms as is frontotemporal dementia (FTD); both are caused by a mutation in the C9ORF72 gene. Both result in the death of neurons in the spinal cord and brain, which leads to inability to control muscles, paralysis, and death.
We know, you thought the whole The Dress thing was over-and you were glad. But rather than being a simple Internet meme on the scale of dancing babies and funny cats, The Dress is helping neuroscientists understand the way that the human brain perceives and thinks. Three research papers discussion cognition and perception in light of The Dress have just been published in Current Biology.
A California bill that abolishes the "personal belief exemption" for vaccinations is one step closer to becoming a law. The bill, SB 277, passed 25-10 in the California Senate on Thursday. Its next stop is clearing the Assembly before being signed into law and if it is, it will make it that much harder for parents to avoid vaccinating their children; good news for the fight against infectious disease.
Three major universities are now engaged in a patent lawsuit to protect their rights to use genome editing technology called CRISPR-Cas9. The fallout will have far more impact than the simple settling of ownership and intellectual property rights, however; experts believe that CRISPR-Cas9 may be the most efficient route toward a ticking off items on a laundry list of amazing biotechnological discoveries.
A group of scientists in Italy have taken their inspiration from the octopus, creating a robotic arm that can bend, squeeze, and stretch through even cluttered environments. The device was created specifically for surgeons who need to access confined or remote areas of the body more easily.
In our increasingly more narcissistic selfie culture, sometimes the right selfie can deliver a powerful message in an unparalleled way. One woman with skin cancer is trying to use social media to change this part of our American tanning habit by sharing a selfie of her face, blistered and scabbed from skin cancer treatments.
Cancer's deadly calling card has always been its cells' ability to replicate with abandon. Scientists continue to seek effective means of destroying cancer cells, while at the same time, protecting the healthy cells of the body.New research may have found a way to do just that. By stripping the malignant cells of their immortality.
