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TRIAGING TREATMENTS The problems with the U.S. health care system described by Sharon Begley in “ The Best Medicine ” are accurate

The little tips of chromosomes get shorter every time a cell divides, and this shortening is a mark of cellular aging. If they get short enough, the cell dies or stops dividing

The 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes to Bruce Beutler at the Scripps Research Institute in California, Jules Hoffmann at the French National Center for Scientific Research and Ralph Steinman at Rockefeller University in New York City. Beutler and Hoffman helped to elucidate innate immunity. That’s the non-specific array of initial responses by the body’s immune system that can recognize invading microorganisms as being foreign and try to destroy them

This year’s IgNobel prize in Medicine goes to TWO studies, one of which I knew I would enjoy based entirely on the running title. The running title is, when you read a scientific paper, the few words at the top or bottom to remind you of which paper it is exactly that you’re reading (useful mostly when you’re flipping through a journal, but also with surprising uses in remembering what exactly you’re supposed to be learning about when you’re ten pages into a huge review). The running title of this one is “inhibitory spillover”.

For artists, entrepreneurs, and any other driven creators, exercise is a powerful tool in the quest to help transform the persistent uncertainty, fear, and anxiety that accompanies the quest to create from a source of suffering into something less toxic, then potentially even into fuel. For more than thirty years, Haruki Murakami has dazzled the world with his beautifully crafted words, most often in the form of novels and short stories

The pathway to approving many new medical devices is broken beyond the point of repair, according to a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM). [More]

In Africa, waiting for blood work can take weeks, and many people don't bother getting their results. A new device could make testing in remote villages a possibility, and that could lead to drastically improved treatment. If you were concerned you had HIV (and lived in America), it would be easy enough to get some blood drawn at a clinic near your house, and wait a few days (or even hours) for the results.

Now that we can sequence genomes, doctors now have enough complex genetic information to know what ailments you might encounter in the future and how best to treat them. The IT Future of Medicine project would help docs tailor care for individuals using genetically identical "virtual patients." Personalized medicine--the practice of treating patients based on their genetic makeup--has been a dream of the medical community ever since the human genome was sequenced. But the reality is that most doctors aren't equipped to sift through the mounds of data that come along with treating each patient using individually customized protocols.

Obesity is associated with a host of health problems. But a new study finds that obese people may actually have an advantage in a specific medical situation: they’re less likely to die after surgery from certain respiratory complications than are their non-obese counterparts.

NAME: Zhou-Feng Chen TITLE: Director, Center for the Study of Itch at the Washington University School of Medicine [More]

When genetically engineered, the Long Evans Hooded rat (center) and the Sprague Dawleys may help cure cancer. Not bad for a rodent

It is the ultimate paradox of American health care: going to the hospital can kill you. Every year nearly two million hospital-acquired infections claim roughly 100,000 lives and add $45 billion in costs; that is as many lives and dollars as taken by AIDS, breast cancer and auto accidents combined.

Many people already use their smart

B.U. School of Medicine announces findings on its examination of NFL champion's brain; Duerson shot himself in chest

Today expectant parents concerned about the diseases that could afflict their unborn children don’t have a lot of options. Blood tests can determine whether parents carry mutations for such genetic diseases as cystic fibrosis and Tay-Sachs, but they can’t determine whether the baby will inherit them