Health

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  • Cancer chemotherapy: An unfolding story

    To launch his lecture on cancer chemotherapy, Luke Whitesell ’79, RI ’06 displayed an image of an origami crab: a double visual metaphor. The crab is the traditional symbol of…

  • Survey: Nearly half of Americans concerned they or their family may get sick from swine flu

    Following the declaration of a public health emergency due to the new H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, the Harvard Opinion Research Program (HORP) at the Harvard School of…

  • Outwitting mutating flu during a pandemic

    In a global influenza pandemic, small stockpiles of a secondary flu medication – if used early in local outbreaks – could extend the effectiveness of primary drug stockpiles, according to…

  • Raising happy — and moral — children

    A teenager tells her parents she is considering quitting her soccer team. Worried that her daughter is unhappy, her mother wants to let her skip practice. Her father argues that soccer is important on her college résumé. While both parents are concerned about their child, they neglect another question entirely: How would her leaving affect the team?

  • Predicting and tracking pandemics:

    At the end of July 2008, major news agencies reported an outbreak of jalapeño-related salmonella that sickened more than 1,000 people in Mexico and the United States. It was the…

  • Some vocal-mimicking animals, particularly parrots, can move to a musical beat

    Researchers at Harvard University have found that humans aren’t the only ones who can groove to a beat — some other species can dance, too. The capability was previously believed…

  • Scholars discuss ‘medicalization’ of formerly normal characteristics

    Not long ago, a majority of Americans described themselves as “shy,” a condition of reticence or caution that for ages just seemed natural.

  • Smokers get help with the use of electronic health record

    Although the dangers of smoking are well known, tobacco still remains the No. 1 cause of preventable death in the United States. The U.S. Public Health Service recommends that physicians…

  • Majority of new cases of diabetes in older U.S. adults could be prevented

    Even as science searches for more clues about the causes of diabetes and medications to prevent it, the vast majority of new cases of the disease in older adults could…

  • Smoking, high blood pressure and being overweight top three preventable causes of death in the U.S.

    Smoking, having high blood pressure, and being overweight are the leading preventable risk factors for premature mortality in the United States, according to a new study led by researchers at…

  • Electronic system may reduce adverse drug events

    Researchers at Brigham and Women’s and Massachusetts General hospitals report that using a computerized application to record and track patients’ medications could decrease the occurrence of potentially harmful medication discrepancies.…

  • Two Harvard freshmen recognized by Discover Magazine

    Harvard College freshmen Anastasia Roda and Isha Jain have recently been featured in Discover Magazine’s “Teen Genius: 5 Promising Scientists Under 20,” which highlights outstanding young scientists who tackle some of the biggest challenges in science.

  • Chylack, Dowling ARVO Fellows

    The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) has named Harvard Professor of Ophthalmology Leo T. Chylack Jr., and Gordon and Llura Gund Professor of Neurosciences John E. Dowling as 2009 fellows. Chylack and Dowling will receive their fellowships in May at the annual ARVO meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

  • HMS Dean’s Symposium on Clinical and Translational Research set

    Harvard Medical School (HMS) will host a two-day Dean’s Symposium on Clinical and Translational Research on April 30 and May 1. Students, trainees, and faculty who are engaged in, or are interested in, clinical and translational research will convene for the first event of this kind.

  • Scholars take a look at decision making

    Decisions, decisions. We all make them, starting with which side of the bed to get up on in the morning. But on a personal and public scale, many decisions have grave consequences for health, financial well-being, and — true enough — the fate of the planet.

  • Lighting the fuse for the Cambrian Explosion

    Harvard paleontologists have shed new light on one of the most enduring mysteries of life on Earth: the origins of the creatures that suddenly appear in the fossil record 530 million years ago in an event known as the Cambrian Explosion.

  • Microbes thrive under Antarctic glacier

    A reservoir of briny liquid buried deep beneath an Antarctic glacier supports hardy microbes that have lived in isolation for millions of years, researchers report this week in the journal Science.

  • Malnutrition, obesity present global food challenges

    Even as public health officials deal with the age-old problems of starvation and malnutrition, new nutritional maladies linked to Western diets and lifestyles are spreading around the world, complicating the global nutrition picture.

  • Harvard nutritionists take aim at sugary drinks

    Comparing the nation’s obesity epidemic to a house on fire, Harvard nutrition experts took aim at sugar-sweetened beverages Monday (April 20), recommending the creation of a new, low-sugar alternative and urging adults and children alike to quench their thirsts the natural way — with water.

  • Chylack and Dowling named ARVO Fellows

    The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) has named Harvard Professor of Ophthalmology Leo T. Chylack Jr., and Gordon and Llura Gund Professor of Neurosciences John E. Dowling…

  • Eating fatty fish once a week reduces men’s risk of heart failure

    Eating salmon or other fatty fish just once a week helped reduce men’s risk of heart failure, a recent study shows, adding to growing evidence that omega-3 fatty acids are of benefit to cardiac health.

  • A more direct delivery of cancer drugs to tumors

    An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) has demonstrated a better way to deliver cancer drugs…

  • HMS professor devises single test for cancers

    Imagine visiting a doctor’s office five years from now and, as a routine part of your annual physical, getting an accurate test that can tell whether you have cancer long…

  • Universal coverage may narrow gaps in health outcomes

    Health care disparities in the United States have long been noted, with particular attention paid to the gaps separating racial and economic groups. And while some research has looked at…

  • MicroRNA discovered to play role in DNA repair

    Among their many roles as message couriers and gene regulators, microRNA molecules also help control the repair of damaged DNA within cells, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School scientists…

  • Neglected diseases leave sufferers with few options

    Nicholas De Torrente was at Harvard as part of Harvard Global Health Day 2009, sponsored by the Harvard College Global Health and AIDS Coalition and the International Relations on Campus student groups.

  • Geometry plays part in cellular protein arrangement

    Harvard researchers examining the activity of a common type of soil bacteria have taken another step in understanding the inner workings of cells, showing that proteins can arrange themselves according to a cell’s inner geometry.

  • Brigham surgeons perform face transplant

    Surgeons at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital toiled in twin operating rooms Thursday (April 9), becoming just the second U.S. team to perform facial transplant surgery.

  • Breast cancer danger rising in developing countries

    Women in developing nations, once thought to have a small chance of contracting breast cancer, are increasingly getting the disease as lifestyles incorporate risk factors common in industrialized nations, panelists at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) said Tuesday (April 14).

  • Mogae shifts stress to HIV prevention

    An African leader whose anti-AIDS programs resulted in one of the continent’s few HIV success stories said Monday (April 13) that he is shifting his efforts from treatment toward prevention in hopes of creating an “HIV-free” generation.