A Chinese scientist recently claimed he had produced the world’s first gene-edited babies, setting off a global firestorm. If true — the scientist has not yet published data that would confirm it — his actions would be a sensational breach of international scientific conventions. Although gene editing holds promise to potentially correct dangerous disease-causing mutations…
Multiple sclerosis is a condition that affects the nervous system, and some people believe that a ketogenic diet may slow the progression of the disease or control its symptoms. The ketogenic diet is low in carbohydrate, moderate in protein, and high in fat. There is currently not enough evidence to recommend it for everyone with…
A woman who received a uterus transplanted from a deceased donor has given birth to a healthy child, researchers in Brazil said on Tuesday. It is the first such birth to be reported. Uterine transplants from living donors have succeeded; at least 11 babies have been born this way since 2013. But a viable procedure…
Two years ago, my son, who is now 14, erupted in anger and stormed off to his bedroom. He’d been having frequent fits of rage and anxiety, yelling and throwing things around the house or simply breaking down in tears. During his latest one, I was startled by how his tantrum abruptly fell silent. His…
An upper respiratory infection, or the common cold, is an infection that affects the nasal passages and throat. Treatment is usually simple, unless a person also has a chronic respiratory condition such as asthma. For an upper respiratory infection (URI) to occur, a virus enters the body, usually through the mouth or nose. A person…
Type 1 and type 2 diabetes limit the body’s ability to control the amount of glucose, or sugar, in the blood. Both types of diabetes present similar symptoms, so knowing the signs of each can help a person seek immediate and appropriate care. The two primary types of diabetes are called type 1 and type…
When Patrick Mannion heard about the Michigan woman denied a heart transplant because she couldn’t afford the anti-rejection drugs, he knew what she was up against. On social media posts of a letter that went viral last month, Hedda Martin, 60, of Grand Rapids, was informed that she was not a candidate for a heart…
Despite the muscle-building, flab-trimming and, according to recent research, mood-boosting benefits of lifting weights, such resistance exercise has generally been thought not to contribute much to heart health, as endurance workouts like jogging and cycling do. But a study published in October in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise provides evidence for…
With a slow moving disease like Alzheimer’s, there’s still time for doubt. Perhaps the diagnosis is wrong and the memory holes and struggle for words are just normal aging. Deep in your psyche, there’s still a little spark of hope. But there comes a moment when denial is no longer an option. Like Alzheimer’s itself,…
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Steve Singer, who has bipolar and borderline personality disorders, knows when he’s on the verge of a mental health crisis. The female voice he hears incessantly in his head suddenly shuts up, and the hula hoop he gyrates while walking to the grocery store stops easing his anxieties. That’s when he gets…