The list of nutritional supplements that live up to their promises keeps getting shorter. The latest one on the firing line is pine-bark extract. Although …
Month: September 2010
Wider statin use may be cost-effective way to prevent heart attack, stroke
Two years ago, a large trial known as JUPITER made headlines when it showed millions more people - those with normal cholesterol levels but an …
Are sports drinks healthier than sodas? Study shows teens think so
Advertisements for sports drinks usually claim that the neon-colored tonics are better at replenishing and rehydrating athletes' bodies than water. The connection between sports drinks …
Doctors call for a single-payer system
Tomorrow afternoon, Stanford will host a policy forum on health care, with a focus on whether the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act can fix …
Using light to get muscles moving
Did you ever think photosynthetic algae would throw light on the problem of helping paraplegics walk before they run? A new study in Nature Medicine …
Image of the week: penicillin production, 20th century
The above image shows equipment (glass flasks and milk churns) used for making early forms of penicillin. Though Alexander Fleming is credited with having discovered …
Grand Roundup: Top posts for the week of Sept. 20
The five most-read posts on Scope this week were: Do you have the chocolate gene? Study hints consumer preferences may be inherited: A study by …
The health-care law: Still confused? Join the crowd
Earlier this week President Obama traveled outside Washington to sell his health-care plan as key elements of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act kicked …
Accelerating the translation of biomedical research into clinical applications
Translating biomedical research from the laboratory to commercial applications is a time-consuming and expensive process. But efforts are underway to increase collaboration between scientists and …
KQED health program explores HIV/AIDS in California
Californians living with HIV/AIDS and the pioneering research on the virus are the focus of KQED's latest Health Dialogues, which debuted last night. On the …
A new approach to elusive diagnoses
It's been just over a year since my favorite aunt died of pancreatic cancer. I've been thinking about her a lot this week - about …
Program helps local entrepreneurs get business ideas off the ground
In today's San Francisco Chronicle, writer Kathryn Roethel features Stanford's Program in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, a Graduate School of Business initiative that helps student-entrepreneurs and …
Using off-grid cell towers to maintain vaccine "cold chain"
A major hurdle in distributing vaccines to remote areas is the limited energy infrastructure in developing nations. To their maintain potency, vaccines need to be …
Stanford researchers describe experimental treatment for deadly heart disease
My colleague Tracie White reported yesterday on an experimental new treatment for patients with severe aortic stenosis, a deadly heart condition. In this KGO-TV segment, …
A biomechanical approach to studying muscles, motor conditions
Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship recipient Melinda Cromie is developing a biomechanical approach to study sarcomeres, the smallest contractile unit of skeletal muscle fibers. In this …
CyberKnife: From promising technique to proven tumor treatment
Twenty-five years ago, neurosurgeon John Adler, MD, conceived of the idea to invent a system combining computer imaging and robotic motion to treat the most …