Immune cells once thought to be innocent bystanders in cystic fibrosis may hold the key to stopping patients' fatal lung disease.

Tagged: cystic fibrosis, Human Health, Medicine

As the spring Stanford Medicine magazine special report on vaccination rolled off the press, judges ruled on three test cases, deciding against claims that vaccines had caused children to develop autism. However, the polarized battle between vaccine opponents and advocates that threatens to destroy hard-won public health gains is not ending any time soon.

Tagged: immunization, Human Health, Medicine

Researchers have taken a step toward the goal of enabling stem cells to become transplantable organs such as livers or pancreases by developing a "bioscaffold" technique that can provide a reliable supply of blood to a developing organ.

Tagged: Health Research, stem cells, Human Health, Medicine

Medical researchers say that more than 40 percent of women, ages 18-59, experience sexual dysfunction, with lack of sexual interest being the most commonly reported complaint.  New research from the School of Medicine and Stanford Hospital sheds light on the role the brain plays in some women's lack of sexual desire. 

Tagged: Human Health, Medicine

Marauding molecules cause the tissue damage that underlies heart attacks, sunburn, Alzheimer’s and hangovers. But scientists at the School of Medicine say they may have found ways to combat the carnage after discovering an important cog in the body’s molecular detoxification machinery.

 

 

Tagged: Alzheimer's, heart disease, Human Health, Medicine

The developed world’s success in extending individual life expectancies  has allowed people to grow old enough to need a second volley of vaccines against infectious diseases. Older bodies’ natural defense systems tend to lose some of their punch, and vaccines can ward off — or at least weaken the severity of — a few diseases capable of inflicting extreme discomfort or worse among otherwise robust seniors.

Not that it’s always easy to convince them this is the case. But Peter Pompei, MD, associate professor of medicine at Stanford, is working on it.

Tagged: longevity, vaccines, Human Health, Medicine

Your DNA affects your hair color, your blood type and even how you react to some medications. Now scientists have taken a big step toward folding your personal genetic profile into many of the prescriptions you carry away from the pharmacy.

Tagged: Health Research, Human Health, Engineering, Medicine

A new open-source software package developed at Stanford is making it possible to do complex simulations of molecular motion on desktop computers at much faster speeds than has been previously possible.  In some cases, simulations that used to take three years can now be completed in a few days.

Tagged: Human Health, Medicine

VIDEO: A pathway that shields normal stem cells from DNA damage appears to also help cancer stem cells withstand radiation treatment for the disease.

Tagged: cancer, stem cells, Human Health, Medicine

Postmenopausal women who take combined estrogen plus progestin menopausal hormone therapy for at least five years double their annual risk of breast cancer, according to new analyses from a major study that clearly establishes a link between hormone use and breast cancer

Tagged: cancer, hormones, Human Health, Medicine