Health

A new study reports that although the number has decreased, women taking isotretinoin — an acne medication known to cause birth defects — have continued to get pregnant even after the implementation of special distribution restrictions.

Massachusetts General Hospital researchers have identified markers that can distinguish between major subtypes of lung cancer and accurately identify lung cancer stage. Their work could eventually help physicians decide whether lung cancer patients need standard treatment or more aggressive therapy.

A two-day symposium organized by Professor of Medicine Steven Grinspoon of Harvard Medical School examined the scientific, nutritional, and health-related aspects of aging.

Physician burnout is costing the U.S. health care system an estimated $4.6 billion annually, according to new research from an international team led by a Harvard Business School researcher.

Hours of medical residents were capped at 80 per week in 2003 after a string of patient injuries and deaths, spurring fears that doctors-in-training would be less prepared for independent practice than before. A new study suggests their warnings were largely unjustified.

Biology Professor Cassandra G. Extavour debunks old hypotheses about form and function on insect eggs using new big-data tool

Led by vegetarian tech companies looking to mimic and replace meat and other animal products, going vegan is on the verge of going mainstream.

Crashes caused by distracted drivers are believed to have been the biggest cause of a 14 percent rise in traffic fatalities since 2014. The Harvard Chan School’s Center for Health Communication is mounting an anti-distracted driving campaign this fall to make headway against a problem that has proven resistant to change despite efforts by government, insurance companies, carmakers and others. The Gazette spoke to the center’s director, Jay Winsten.

With the Trump administration halting fetal tissue research at two prominent scientific institutions and new plans to review such research elsewhere, Harvard Medical School Dean George Daley discussed the importance of research using these tissues, which would otherwise be discarded, in creating vaccines and treatments and enhancing our understanding of human biology.

A single microbe accumulating in the microbiome of elite athletes can enhance exercise performance in mice, paving the way to highly validated performance-enhancing probiotics.

In a recent online report, researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health have compiled 36 expert tips to help make your home a healthier place to live. Happily, most of them are quick fixes that can have a major impact on well-being.

Study published in Science shows that gut microbes can chew up medications, with serious side effects.

The Gazette spoke with History of Science Professor Anne Harrington about her new book, “Mind Fixers: Psychiatry’s Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness,” which traces the treatment of mental disorders from its early years to the Prozac Nation of today.

Chemists at Harvard and Eisai, a Japanese pharmaceutical company, have synthesized halichondrin, a potent anti-cancer agent found naturally in sea sponges. Because of the molecule’s “fiendishly complex” design, the feat took three decades.

Longitudinal study associates increasing consumption of red meat, especially processed meat, over eight years with a higher risk of death in the subsequent eight years.

Mass. General researchers have found that electronic consultations in allergy and immunology can simplify the process of providing the most appropriate care, often reducing the need for in-person specialist visits.

Harvard public health and public safety experts recommended public education, elimination of nonmedical vaccination exemptions for schoolkids, and potentially more severe penalties as a way to get parents to comply with measles vaccination guidelines.

Two global trends — the aging of the world’s population and the warming of its atmosphere — are set to collide in the decades to come, new work by an MGH and HMS researcher shows.

Compared with vitamins, dietary supplements for weight loss, muscle building, and energy were associated with nearly three times the risk of severe medical events in children and young adults.

Harvard Ph.D. students explore the culture and science of food in the latest episodes of the Veritalk podcast. The talks cover veganism, gut health, food and diaspora, and childhood obesity.

For many older women, the 10,000-step-a-day paradigm may seem daunting, but a new study suggests just 7,500 confers the same mortality-lowering benefit.

A Harvard Chan School study reveals that buprenorphine-naloxone, a highly effective, evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder, is difficult to access in states with high rates of death associated with opiates.

Adding the blood-pressure drug losartan to the intensive chemo and radiation protocol for treating locally advanced pancreatic cancer allowed complete removal of the tumor in 61 percent of trial participants and significantly improved survival rates.

A new study is the first to have observed the complex set of chemical and molecular events that disrupt the microbiome and trigger immune responses during flare-ups of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

In a multiyear randomized clinical trial, investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital found that senior resident physicians who work no more than 16 consecutive hours get an average of 8 percent more sleep than those who work extended-duration shifts of 24 hours or more.

Scientists uncover a key mechanism that allows some of the deadliest human RNA viruses to replicate, and it resides in the tail end of the viruses. The findings identify new targets to inhibit viral replication and may inform the development of a new class of antiviral drugs.

The HarvardX online platform is offering a free course on the FDA and prescription drug prices. Three faculty members behind the course discuss the issues.

Broccoli, Brussels sprouts and other cruciferous vegetables have long been thought to be good for you, new research finds a mechanism for its cancer-fighting abilities and points the way to a new anti-cancer drug.

A University of Michigan-Harvard University summit brought experts from the two universities as well as outside organizations to consider ways to address the opioid epidemic.

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have created miniature, simplified versions of the intestine in vitro to explore how the gut lining and microbiome respond to gluten in both healthy and celiac patients.