John Everdell had lived most of his life with kidney disease. As a young man awaiting a transplant, he had briefly undergone dialysis. That’s how he knew, when the prospect of kidney failure loomed again in his late 60s, that he would refuse dialysis this round. “He was a very independent man, with an idea…
People often wonder if a fetus can hear while in the womb. Many expectant parents will speak to or play music for a developing fetus. Evidence suggests that the auditory system starts forming at the 18th week of pregnancy and continues to develop until the baby is between 5 and 6 months of age. Everything…
Fresh research offers further information on the potential for diet drinks — that is, beverages sweetened with artificial sugar substitutes — to harm cardiovascular health. Artificially sweetened soft drinks may raise the risk of heart disease and death in postmenopausal women. A study that followed tens of thousands of postmenopausal women for more than 10…
Image CreditAna Galvañ Welcome to In Her Words, where women rule the headlines. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Let me know what you think at dearmaya@nytimes.com. Are you on Instagram? Follow us here. “If the C-suite gets paid leave, then the factory floor worker should also get paid leave.” —…
New research finds that estrogen improves insulin sensitivity and details the mechanism behind this effect. The findings have a “profound impact on our understanding of obesity and diabetes, as well as potential dietary interventions,” say the researchers. The female sex hormone may have significant metabolic benefits. About 84 million people in the United States are…
As we age, we may experience a decline in our mental ability. A recent study has concluded that chronic inflammation in midlife might speed up this decline as we get older. Could influencing inflammation slow cognitive decline? The average age of the population of the United States is gradually increasing, so conditions of old age…
There are many instances in medicine when it would be helpful to stop, or greatly slow down, time. Doing so could spare a limb from amputation, prevent paralysis after a stroke or save your life following a heart attack. Across the tree of life, there are many organisms that can essentially cheat time by decelerating…
For decades, researchers and physicians tended to think about pregnancies as either planned or unplanned. But new data reveals that for a significant group of women, their feelings don’t neatly fit into one category or another. As many as one-fifth of women who become pregnant aren’t sure whether they want a baby. This fact may…
Q. Can you desensitize yourself to a food intolerance? A. Food intolerances, which the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology defines as “difficulty digesting a particular food,” are different than food allergies and often resolve on their own. Food allergies involve the immune system, whereas food intolerances generally do not. Some food intolerances are…
Results from the NRG Oncology clinical study NRG-RTOG 0415 determined that a hypofractionated radiotherapy schedule (H-RT), a treatment schedule that delivers a total dose of radiotherapy over a shorter period of time, is not worse than the conventional radiotherapy schedule (C-RT) in terms of bowel, bladder, sexual, and general quality of life (QOL) as well…