A treatment called extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) is used in patients both human and equine to speed healing of injured tendons and ligaments. Using high-pressure sonic waves, ESWT is thought to increase blood flow to the treated area and has been shown to reduce pain over the short term. In racehorses, however, masking pain can…
DALLAS – Dec. 10, 2019 – Federal regulations may keep lung cancer patients out of clinical trials simply because these patients are on medications that might affect the electrical system of the heart. Drilling into the details quickly turns up reasons to think these regulations may be preventing a substantial proportion of patients from participating…
Pete Frates, a former college baseball player whose participation in the social media phenomenon known as the Ice Bucket Challenge helped raise more than $100 million toward fighting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as A.L.S. or Lou Gehrig’s disease, died on Monday at his home in Beverly, Mass. He was 34. His death was announced…
As a senior at Cornell in the 1930s, Margaret Lawrence had a nearly perfect academic record and expected to attend the university’s medical school. But Ms. Lawrence (she was Margaret Morgan at the time), the only black student in her class, was denied admission. “Twenty-five years ago there was a Negro man admitted,” the dean…
If you buy something through a link on this page, we may earn a small commission. How this works. Dry mouth occurs when the mouth does not make enough saliva. While it is not dangerous, it can be a bothersome symptom. Sometimes, the solution is as simple as drinking water to avoid a dry mouth…
If you buy something through a link on this page, we may earn a small commission. How this works. Bronchitis is a common infection of the lower respiratory tract. Typically, the same viruses that cause the common cold cause bronchitis. Bronchitis is a common condition, with around 5% of adults reporting a bout of acute…
Both of us have sleep apnea, and both of us receive treatment that makes a world of difference. It could make a big difference in your life, too. Sleep apnea is quite common, with estimates that it affects up to 17 percent of men and 9 percent of women ages 50 to 70, and 10…
About a month ago, I took myself off a medication without first contacting the doctor who prescribed it, a step I have often cautioned others never to do. A neurologist had put me on the anticonvulsant drug Keppra as a preventive in case a seizure had caused an otherwise unexplained fall on my head and…
Even moderate alcohol consumption may increase the risk for cancer. Japanese scientists compared the drinking habits of 63,232 cancer patients in Japan with those of an equal number of healthy controls. All reported their average daily alcohol intake and the number of years they had been drinking. After controlling for smoking, hypertension, diabetes, obesity and…
Physicians use standard disease classifications based on symptoms or location in the body to help make diagnoses. These classifications, called nosologies, can help doctors understand which diseases are closely related, and thus may be caused by the same underlying issues or respond to the same treatments. An important part of understanding disease is estimating its…