If you've ever taken a drink of alcohol before bed to help you fall asleep, you're not alone - approximately 20 percent of Americans do …
Month: December 2014
Clinical trial shows progesterone doesn’t improve recovery from head trauma
Researchers had high hopes that progesterone, that multipurpose endogenous steroid, could stave off some of the worst effects of head injuries. A quick injection soon …
Grand Roundup: Top posts for week of Dec. 6
The five most-read stories this week on Scope were: Role reversal: How I went from med student to ED patient in under two minutes: In …
Sleep apnea linked with male infertility
Over the past two decades, there have been a number of studies suggesting that men's sperm counts have been steadily declining. Now research out of …
Medicare payment reform shown to cut costs and improve patient care
A few years back, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) made a straightforward change: No longer would it pay for easily preventable conditions …
DNA origami: How our genomes fold
Here’s an interesting factoid about our genomes: If you stretched out the DNA in a single cell, which is only a few millionths of an …
Finding cures for the most challenging diseases
The recent Ebola outbreak and the subsequent race to find a vaccine and other treatment options has brought the topic of drug development back in …
High blood sugar linked to reduced brain growth in children with Type 1 diabetes
Some areas of the brain grow more slowly in children with Type 1 diabetes than those without, according to findings published this week in Diabetes. Researchers …
Don’t skip the sunscreen in wintertime
When you’re spending time outdoors during the wintertime, it’s easy to justify skipping the sunscreen when the sun isn’t beating down on you mercilessly and …
Stanford Medicine Music Network brings together healers, musicians and music lovers
More than 100 physicians, students and members of the Stanford community gathered last week at the Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge for …
Using organic chemistry to decipher embryogenesis
Here’s this week’s Biomed Bites, a weekly feature that highlights some of Stanford’s most innovative research and introduces Scope readers to scientists in a variety …
Male infertility can be warning of hypertension, Stanford study finds
A study of more than 9,000 men with fertility problems links poor semen quality to a higher chance of having hypertension and other health conditions. The …
How Stanford researchers are engineering materials that mimic those found in our own bodies
Modern medicine is quite good at replacing the mechanical functions of the body with prosthetics – which have been in development for the past 4000 …
Telomeres tell all about longevity and health
If I were to go back to school for a PhD, I think I'd study telomeres. Telomeres, the protective caps at the end of each …
Role reversal: How I went from med student to ED patient in under two minutes
SMS (“Stanford Medical School”) Unplugged is a forum for students to chronicle their experiences in medical school. The student-penned entries appear on Scope once a …
Easy-to-follow tips to avoid overeating this holiday
'Tis the season for overindulging. A recent report showed that we can easily consume 2,000 calories (or more) during a holiday dinner, particularly if the …