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Herbal prostate drug goes mainstream
The gradual enlargement of the prostate gland with age is “the most common benign disease of mankind,” says Dr. Kevin R. Loughlin, director of urologic research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. And while many men now try to treat it with herbal remedies, many still prefer the traditional therapies, for which there are…
Cell transplants, drugs tested for spinal injuries
The experiments creating the biggest buzz among spinal cord researchers are those involving fetal cell, stem cell or embryonic stem cell transplants. So far, most of the research is in animals, though some studies are beginning in people. In all three methods, the idea is essentially the same: To implant in the damaged spinal cord…
A glimmer of hope
Ten years ago scientists scoffed at the thought that a paralyzed person could walk again; today they’re counting on it. Four years after being paralyzed from the neck down in a riding accident, Christopher Reeve is preparing to walk again, a feat long assumed to be impossible for any quadriplegic, even Superman. As scientists work…
Plaque can gum up the works in legs
Dr. Zdan Korduba, an anesthesiologist at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York, wound up having one toe amputated, losing months of work and feeling like a total chump for missing symptoms he’d have spotted right away in a patient. Beginning five years ago, he says ruefully, he began noticing that his legs hurt after…
Spit’s new image: a tool for diagnosing disease
Among ancient peoples, it is said, this precious bodily fluid was used as the basis of a primitive lie detector test. The accused would be given a handful of rice and told to swallow it; if he couldn’t, it meant he was nervous – and guilty. This slippery stuff also helps moisten and digest food,…
Odd remedy said to slow deadly cancer
Four years ago, Betty Frizzell, a retired schoolteacher from Cookeville, Tenn., was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest malignancies there is. Normally, people with advanced tumors, like Frizzell’s, live only about five months after they are diagnosed. Frizzell, now 64, is thriving on a diet of fruits and vegetables plus a regimen of…
FETAL SURGERY — MIRACLE BEFORE BIRTH — PROCEDURES DONE IN THE WOMB BOTH AMAZE AND RAISE MANY QUESTIONS
A SPECIAL REPORT Etched in the memories of Dennis and Melinda Stover is the day they learned their baby would be born with spina bifida. It was January, and Melinda, a 26-year-old-bank teller from Murfreesboro, Tenn., was 20 weeks pregnant. She was having an ultrasound exam because they already had two girls “and if it…
Rotator cuff is a tough but fragile thing
Problems with the shoulder, the second most unruly joint in the body after the knee, send 4 million Americans to their doctors each year. With young people – and active older folks as well – it’s usually a sports injury. But aging, along with plain old wear-and-tear, also wreak havoc on this flexible yet delicate…
Picturing heart disease another way
Richard Knorr’s heart is making medical history. But there’s actually not much that’s unusual about it. Though two of his coronary arteries are partially blocked, the 64-year-old Framingham man has never had a heart attack and he can control his chest pain with medications. Still, doctors are fascinated by his heart, and those of a…
Cancer patients battle fatigue
By this time Dr. Candace Jennings, 50, an orthopedic surgeon from Ipswich, figured she’d be back to work and blessed again with plenty of energy for her husband and sons, 7 and 13. But even though it’s been a year since she finished chemotherapy and radiation for breast cancer, she’s only got half the energy…
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