familymednews.com
In 1971, when I was four years old, my brother died of a congenital heart condition. Writing about this experience has prompted more responses than anything else I’ve ever written or spoken about. Untold and unheard stories appear in comments sections, strangers tell me cross-culturally consistent tales in the soft corners of conference rooms and speak about the siblings they’ve […]
Continue reading »
Going back to school or work after summer vacation can be an emotional experience. You’ve got to adjust to a new schedule and take on more responsibilities, and you can no longer live in your flip-flops. And if you’re like Savannah Guthrie’s 4-year-old daughter, Vale, you might be experiencing a major case of FOMO. In a recent interview with People, […]
Continue reading »
To ensure that a mouse hears the sounds of an approaching cat better than it hears the sounds its own footsteps make, the mouse’s brain has a built-in noise-cancelling circuit. It’s a direct connection from the motor cortex of the brain to the auditory cortex that says essentially, “we’re running now, pay no attention to the sound of my footsteps.” […]
Continue reading »
Researchers at the University of Oulu in Finland have discovered novel genes and mechanisms that can explain how a genomic variant in a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs11672691 influences prostate cancer aggressiveness. Their findings also suggest ways to improve risk stratification and clinical treatment for advanced prostate cancer. The study is published in the journal Cell. Three billion base pairs […]
Continue reading »
Cautionary tales about having twins aren’t hard to come by. Parenting already requires an endless cycle of feeding, burping, diaper changing, bathing, soothing and rocking — all while you experience serious sleep deprivation, soreness and whacked-out hormones. Now double all that, and you might have a vague idea of what it’s like being a mom of multiples. That said, twins […]
Continue reading »
A potentially new way of treating cerebral malaria has been discovered by scientists at the Universities of Manchester and Glasgow, in a study using mice. The authors found that inhibiting a complex called the inflammasome, at the same time as delivering anti-malarial drugs, reduced mortality from experimental cerebral malaria in mice. The research, published in PNAS and funded by the […]
Continue reading »
Just when you were getting worried about a dearth of royal baby news (at least for a while), Zara Tindall — daughter of Princess Anne and granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth — and her husband have welcomed a second child (their second daughter). The happy news was confirmed by Buckingham Palace, which released a sweetly stuffy statement about the birth. “Mrs […]
Continue reading »
An outbreak of a deadly virus has not spread beyond two areas in south India, officials said, but they have issued a series of warnings to people living in the stricken towns. A total of 12 people have died of Nipah virus since the outbreak began a few weeks ago in the state of Kerala, an unidentified senior Health Ministry […]
Continue reading »
The blood of schizophrenia patients features genetic material from more types of microorganisms than that of people without the debilitating mental illness, research at Oregon State University has found. What’s not known is whether that’s a cause or effect of the severe, chronic condition that strikes about one person in 100. “It’s a common assumption that healthy blood is sterile […]
Continue reading »
The number of confirmed cases of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has increased but health authorities are confident that the outbreak can be contained. At least 17 people have died, according to the country’s health ministry. Nevashan Govender from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases spoke to Health and Medicine Editor Candice Bailey about what’s needed to […]
Continue reading »